The key to successful sales is effective sales force management. The sales force is the face of any organization and as such, companies spend considerable time and money on sales and not on any other commercial engagement. However, more and more companies today are looking to manage their sales force efficiently and effectively as managing sales force can be expensive if not done right.
Managing a sales force is required to reach your sales goals. All organizations need to sell to stay in business and enjoy sustainable growth. Focusing on effectively managing your sales force will help you to increase sales, add new customers, and build a stronger relationship with existing customers.
Designing and Structuring Your Sales Force
To effectively manage your sales force, you need to design and structure your sales force properly. The first step in the process is to set out an objective for the sales force. In the past, organizations had only one objective for their salespeople—increasing sales. While increasing sales is still the primary objective for salespeople, the process to get there has changed significantly over the years.
Today, salespeople are required to perform a search for prospective clients or lead, balance time between a prospective customer and current customer, and effectively communicate products and services to close the deal. Salespeople also play an important role in after-sales service, which can make a difference for the company. Salespeople are the eyes and ears of your company and, thus, should be treated as such.
The second step to properly design and structure your sales force is using salespeople strategically. Make sure the efforts of your salespeople are aligned with those of other team members to achieve the objective set The third step in the process is deciding the structure for your sales force. Common sales force structures include:
- Territorial structure
- Product structure
- Market structure
- Complex structure
Once you’re decided on a structure for your sales force, you can move onto the fourth and final step in the process which is designing compensation for the sales force. For salespeople, compensation is a huge motivating factor, which makes it a crucial part of sales force management. Design a compensation plan for your sales force after taking into consideration the individual needs and wants of your salespeople.
Automating the Management of Your Sales Force
Wouldn’t you love it if you didn’t have to do any of the above to manage your sales force? That is now possible thanks to automated solutions built to assist organizations in managing sales force. Using these automated solutions, you can manage your sales force without any trouble, which makes them a great investment.
Elevating Your Sales Performance in 2020 with the Right SPM Software
We’re almost halfway through 2020 and the year so far has been tough for most companies, mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there’s still time for businesses to turn the tide around and elevate their sales performance in 2020. To make that happen, you need to find and use the right sales performance management solutions. At the start of every year, the following questions are the subject of much debate in many organizations:
- How can we drive increased revenue from sales performance management technology?
- What critical capabilities are most likely to improve our sales execution and operational efficiency?
An organization is right to ask and discuss these questions because frankly speaking, these questions deserve all the attention in the world. Why do we say that? Discussing ways to increase revenue from sales performance management technology provides an organization with valuable industry insights into the advantages provided by SPM technology as experienced by other organizations. Moreover, it allows them to learn how to evaluate a sales performance management solution properly.
On the other hand, discussing critical capabilities most likely to improve the sales execution and operational efficiency allows an organization to choose the right SPM software. To arrive at the right sales performance management solutions, some of the things an organization needs to consider when discussing critical capabilities and that are most likely to improve its sales execution and operational efficiency include:
- Why sales performance management (SPM) matters
- How can an effective sales compensation plan boost sales performance?
- Why technology is necessary and how to create our evaluation process?
Make sure to look for deeper insights into vendor products and service offerings when answering the above questions. Additionally, focus on the critical capabilities that matter the most and get actionable advice about SPM software to add to your vendor shortlist for further evaluation.
What to Look for in an SPM Solution
By now, you know that investing in a sales performance management solution is crucial to the success of your sales organization. But how do you choose an SPM solution for your organization? You choose it by looking for the following.
Data and Insights
Look for an SPM solution that can provide you with in-depth reports, reduce sales performance management costs, and capitalize on your sales data to provide you with valuable insights that ultimately help your bottom line.
Timeliness and Accessibility
With the increased adoption of mobile devices in sales, timeliness has become critical. Going forward, the focus needs to be on finding solutions that make incentive compensation information available on an ongoing basis. The SPM solution of an organization must enable salespeople to check how they are doing against their goals, which of their opportunities they should be prioritizing, and ultimately what’s going to impact their pay.
Final Word
It is no longer feasible for your sales reps to wait a month to find out what they are earning and how they are achieving compared to their goals. With the right sales performance management solutions, you can elevate your sales performance management in 2020 and beyond.
by Bobby J Davidson
We love our company and we love what we do. Check out the ‘Why Percento‘ page to learn more: Love of Technology and Business! As the President of Percento Technologies International, I provide day-to-day leadership to the company’s senior management and I am personally involved in the strategy, business development and sales activities of the firm.
The company was founded in 1999 with the purpose of providing a one call source for organizations in need of Enterprise IT Consulting and Management. We also provide a line of products in the boutique Cloud Server space with a touch of high-end website strategy consulting and design services. We personalizes the IT Service experience with a team approach, working with clients from diverse sectors of industry, including energy services, financial, legal, entertainment, healthcare, hospitality, retail and general and/or corporate business. percentotech.com/contact