Sales Force Management Techniques - Essay Example

? SALES FORCE MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES Sales force just like any other category of workers dictates theperformance record of an organization. The sales personnel suffer fatigue, discouragement and as a result three is a decline in performance. Sales optimization alludes to deriving the maximum outcome from an organization’s sales personnel though subject to a constraint. Therefore in order to have the best derived from the employees; management requires adopting measures and mechanisms that will boost the overall output per worker. Decisions that influence the performance of the sales team eventually determine the level of profitability. The sales personnel dictates the way an organization launches new products into markets, how new customers are acquired, how a business expands though using existing customers and achieving the targets set in revenue acquisition. It is therefore necessary that the team leaders adopt favorable techniques in managing the performance of the sales personnel. It involves understanding the important elements of a sales force and knowing why this be the case. Sales personnel management entails a number of interrelated mechanisms of influencing the fruitfulness of the team. It comprises of many techniques drawn from varying fields in psychology sociology and many others. These techniques include hiring, training, promotion, career development and motivation. Motivation as a way of sales force management entails giving a listening g ear to them and answering by the sales force leaders. It also entails adopting positive feedback verbally. By enriching the salesperson through information motivates the workers. The management can have salary variations as a way to motivate and encourage the sales personnel. Profit sharing and extending bonuses to the sales force also boosts personnel spirit of delivering. It raises self gratification for the personnel by increasing the hourly rate and other benefits. Motivation is therefore one of the mechanisms that the human resource managers employ in coordinating the performance of the sales force (Nicolescu, 2009, 6-12). . Promotion in human resource management entails appreciating the efforts of a person in one rank and rising by grading the level of his job prescription. It entails offering better remuneration to the person as he/she is ranked higher than previous position held. More too rising in ranks, promotion also involves getting involved at higher level of decision making, positions that were previously held by the management team before. This is equally within the sales personnel field where the management ascends a person to higher posts within the same field of sales force, offering improved salary packages as well as involving the individual to decision making processes. Career development entails much more than just offering the sales personnel an opportunity to serve an organization but to grow in the career path. Good management practices for the sales force also involves understanding the need to continuously improve the career path for the sales force as part of the entire human resource. Among other practices that helps improve the career of a sales agent is clear job analysis, understanding and developing a clear career plan and engaging in proper tutorials for the job market. Mentoring entails walking the career path with other professionals in the career, through whom the sales agent, earns how to navigate through the job field. Tutorials and coaching are equally better methods through which the management assists develop the careers of their employees. This therefore adds to many other ways through which the sales force is managed. (Nicolescu, 2009, 6-12) Training As part of the mechanisms that the management undertakes in influencing the performance of sales agents, it involves assisting the force access better training through which the performance of the employees gets boosted. We find that managements of firm encourage individual study as part of their strategies to alleviate the production capacity of individual workers. For instance, sales agent who has a bachelor’s degree is encouraged to pursue master’s degree in an effort to harness his/her skills in the field of service. Vocational programs in many organizational are designed to allow the workers of whom the sales force is part of to access further education especially when not in service. Another mechanism through which training is involved in intervening in sales force performance is through apprenticeship at workplace (Nicolescu, 2009, 6-12). . Hiring The process through which a firm acquires and recruits people for service as the workers is understood as hiring. This process entails laying down strategies for remunerations and of lying off the human resources when need be. In most instances, human resource management sector develops proper models through which the sales force is recruited and or is fired. Many of the processes involved in this undertake tests to ascertain the knowledge ability of the right persons. The tests also evaluate the acquired skills, past experiences, personal qualities and tests as well as conducting live interviews to ascertain the authenticity of the candidates. Moreover, the human resource department may engage other employers or referees to get commendations on the appropriateness of the candidates contending for the sales personnel position (Nicolescu, 2009, 6-12) In studying the sales dynamics in a print media organization, we find that it is inevitable that the human resource team fails to human sales. This entails the use of specific tools that enable the management assess the effect of the sales team over time. Such methods as the sales quotas and reports form the basis of these evaluations. The evaluations illustrate the position of this organization in terms of revenues, opportunities available as well as the pitfalls that the organization should avoid. Sales quotas refer to minimum targets that the human resource department in this organization stipulates for every employee over a given period of time. Moreover, the print media organization employs use of periodical reports by the sales force in order to set the targets for the future while at the same time managing the available resources. It also employs the use of charts for the current analysis of past performance of the organization in terms of the resource performances (Anon, 2008, 1) Sales plans and the reports are collaboratively prepared by the sales force management team with the aid of the sales force personnel. It is the role of the sales force go collects the data from the field work during the sales. Collected data then gets tabulated and charts are henceforth drawn. These charts and reports indicates the performance of the team over a period of time in a rather easy model which is easy for the management to interpret as well as make future projections. The importance of these records is to give a picture of the organization’s performance at a specific time in record. The department that deals with the storage of data and information is equally tasked with the safety of these management tools. Technological advancement especially with the inception of computerized techniques in sales has completely changed the face of organization sales cultures. The sales force is now in a position to track and monitor his/her sales market using technology. More so, venturing into new markets has become even easier with the organizations adopting information technology to penetrate into new markets and use the same to regulate the already existing markets. Furthermore, precious studies on the application of technology and the benefits thereof in the field of sale personnel have revealed that it is a common practice that is being adopted by sales agencies for the convenience of advertising and meeting customers (Schillewaert and Ahearne, 2001, 29) In conclusion, the dynamics in sales department in organizations are inevitable. Various organizations adopt different strategies for sales force and in proper exploitation; an organization’s expectations and plans are realized. However, for optimum level of productivity to be realized, the management is required to adopt management strategies and tools that boost the working of the sales personnel. Moreover, information technology has been seen to slowly infiltrate into the management of sales force. References Anonymous. 2008. 1. ORACLE SIEBEL SALES. ORACLE DATA SHEET. [Accesed on 29/4/2013]. Web: http://www.oracle.com/us/products/applications/siebel/051150.pdf Nicolescu O. 2009. 6-12. Methods and Techniques Specific to Human Resource Management. The Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, Romania. Review of International Comparative Management Volume 10, Issue 1, March 2009 Schillewaert N. and Ahearne M. 2001. 29. The Effect of Information Technology on Salesperson Performance. Institute for the Study of Business Markets The Pennsylvania State University. 4/19 Read More