Sales Team Structure, Roles and Rewards - Appropriate Technologies Company - Case Study Example

Sales Team Structure, Roles and Rewards Name Institution Name Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Executive Summary 3 Introduction 3 Sales Team Organizational Structure 4 Role Description 5 National Sales Director 6 State Sales Manager 7 Division Sales Manager 9 Salesperson 10 Salary Packaging 11 National Sales Director 11 State Sales Manager 11 Division Sales Manager 12 Salesperson 12 Conclusion 14 Bibliography 14 Executive Summary Having an excellent sales force structure empowers the company to meet its sales objectives. Structuring the company’s sales force is vitally important to its business model while at the same time helping the salespeople to achieve the organization’s sales objectives. This report describes the sales force structure of Appropriate Technologies Company; a speculative company selling mobile phones to other businesses in Australia. The company has four levels of sales management including national, state, division, and the field sales personnel. Similarly, the report describes the roles of each level of management together with their annual salary packaging. Introduction The core driver of any company is its sales, for this reason, a company can’t afford taking its sales department lightly. Structuring the company’s sales force is vitally important to its business model while at the same time helping the salespeople to achieve the organization’s sales objectives. In coming up with a good and working sales structure, the company has to consider its products, its clientele together with how its sales force think and function. After having the right system as well as the right talents, the organization will then have easy time making the system work optimally. The chosen sales structure will ultimately determine the company’s success. This business report discusses the sales team structure and budget allocation by location. Using mobile phones product, the report provides, Appropriate Technologies Company sales team organizational Structure, role description and salary packaging to the Company’s CEO. Appropriate Technologies Company is a speculative company that deals in mobile phone products selling them to other business organizations in Australia. Sales Team Organizational Structure Sales operations are critical business activities together with processes that are essential in helping the company to run effectively, efficiently and support the organization’s business strategies and objectives. As aforementioned above, the sales force structure has a singular objective of guiding the sales team and their actions and thus has massive impact on the company’s bottom line. There are various sales force structures that a company can use in meeting its sales objectives and they include: product-based structure; this requires the salespeople becoming experts in a specific product or product line. The geographical based structure on the other hand is largely focused on salespeople thoroughly understanding specific geographical areas; this allows them to have comprehensive knowledge about their markets and come up with appropriate and relevant approaches for making maximum sales (Boone & Kurtz 2012). Client based sales structure; this requires organizing and/or arranging sales efforts around the company’s clients. Lastly, hybrid sales structure; this may involve the combination of the above discussed structures. Given the above understanding, Telstra Company should use geographical based sales force structure; for instance, Australia is a big country with wide geographical settings (O’Fallon & Rutherfor 2011). The country is divided into different state territories; these territories have dissimilar market settings and thus each market has its own unique market requirements. Accordingly, this geographical based sales structure will empower sales people to understand their markets and come up with unique marketing strategies that will suit each specific region. Similarly, this structure will be superbly defined and thus it will prevent salespeople from bumping into each other. In this regard, the company will have four levels of management, national, state, Division, and salespeople. Figure 1: Appropriate Technologies Company Sales Force Structure. Role Description National Sales Director The national sales director will be responsible for identifying, creating, and implementing national sales strategies together with supervising the state’s and/or regional sales managers. Accordingly, he will work collaboratively with the entire sales team to ensure that revenues are maximized together with optimization of company profits (Bidgoli 2010). Additionally, he will be responsible for increasing coming up with strategies aimed at increasing the company’s market share. Consequently, the national sales director will also be responsible for managing other staff functions to make sure that appropriate resources are available and focused to support the company sales objectives. Duties and responsibilities i. Development together with implementation of sales plans and forecasts essential for achieving company corporate objectives for products and services. ii. Determining the annual unit and gross-profit plans through implementation of marketing strategies; analysing trends and results iii. Establishing sales objectives by forecasting annual sales quotas for states and territories; projecting the sales volume expected together with profits for new and existing products. iv. Maintaining product mix, sales volume, and selling price through keeping current with supply and demand, economic indicators, changing trends, and competitors. v. Establishing and adjusting selling prices through cost monitoring, supply and demand, and competition (Moore 2010) vi. Maintaining national sales staff through recruitment, selecting, orienting, and training employees. vii. Completing national sales operational requirements through scheduling as well as assessing employees; work results follow up. For instance, reviewing and analysing sales performances against programs, quotas and plans in order to determine effectiveness. viii. Maintaining national sales staff job results by counselling and disciplining employees; planning, monitoring and appraising job results. ix. Maintaining technical and professional knowledge by planning and attending educational workshops, reviewing professional publications, establishing personal networks, and participating in professional societies. This can be achieved through establishing relationship with industry influencers together with key strategic partners. x. Maintaining competitive knowledge to create and adjust sales strategies xi. Contributing to team effort by accomplishing related results as required. xii. Analyse and control expenditures of states to conform to budgetary requirements xiii. Assisting the sales force with maintaining relationships and negotiating and closing deals. xiv. Cultivate and maintain effective business relationship with executive decision makers in large accounts. xv. Apply research insights together with providing compelling advertising solutions with regard to the company’s corporate strengths. State Sales Manager The state’s sales manager job purpose if to sell products through maintaining and expanding customer base while at the same time managing the regional staff Duties and responsibilities a. Accomplishing regional sales human resource objectives through recruiting, selecting, orienting, training, assigning, scheduling, coaching, counselling, and disciplining employees in assigned Divisions. He also communicates expectations; planning monitoring, appraising, and reviewing job contributions; planning and reviewing remuneration actions; and enforcing policies and procedures (King & Lawley 2013). b. Achieving state/regional sales operational objectives through contribution to regional sales information together with recommendations to strategic plans and reviews; preparing and completing action plans; implementing production, productivity quality, and customer service standards; resolving problems; completing audits, identifying trends; determining state/regional sales system improvement and change implementation. c. Meeting the regional sales objectives through forecasting of requirements; annual budget preparing; scheduling expenditures, analysing variances, and initiating corrective actions. d. Establishing the sales objectives through sales plan and quota creation for Divisions in support of the national sales objectives e. Maintaining and expanding customer base by counselling Division sales representatives; building and maintaining report with company’s key customers while at the same time identifying new customer opportunities. f. Implementation of company trade promotions through publishing, tracking as well as evaluating trade spending g. Recommending product lines by identifying new product opportunities, product, packaging and service changes; surveying customer needs and tracking competitors h. Updating job knowledge through participation in educational opportunities, reading professional publications, attending sales conferences and maintaining personal networks i. Accomplishing sales and organizational mission by completing related results as required. Division Sales Manager The main job purpose for the Division sales manager is to manage and direct the sales force achieve the sales and profit goals within his area of jurisdiction. He is responsible for building relationships as well as generates and executes sales objectives for the assigned area of responsibility. Additionally, liaise with salespersons in the Division to ensure an aligned approach towards generating sales in the market. Duties and responsibilities i. Creating and implementing direct effective direct sales strategies and partnering with salespersons in order to achieve the company’s corporate sales goals and objectives. ii. Developing a sound knowledge of all corporate capabilities with a singular objective of selling a full suit of products and services iii. Participating in hiring, orienting, training and development of sales staff iv. Driving profitable growth at assigned accounts where a lead role is required together with participating in joint calls with the state/regional sales force as necessary v. Participating in the development of account strategy and preparation of bids for national accounts in collaboration with the National Sales Director vi. Developing and analysing market sales report (Johnston & Marshall 2013) vii. Collaborate with the general manager and sales personnel to develop key customer relations together with strategies for state/regional sales. Salesperson The salesperson or sales representative job purpose is to serve customers through selling products as well as meeting customer needs and by helping them to select products (Feigon 2013) Duties and Responsibility a. Obtaining orders, servicing existing accounts, and establishing new accounts by planning and organizing daily work schedule to call on potential and/or existing sales outlets and other trade factors b. Adjusting content of sales presentations by studying the type of sales outlet or trade factor c. Focusing sales efforts through studying existing and potential volume of dealers d. Keeping management informed by submitting activity and results reports including daily call reports, weekly work plans and monthly and annual territory analyses e. Monitoring competition through gathering current marketplace information on pricing, products, delivery schedules, new products, and merchandising techniques f. Recommending changes in products, service, and policy through evaluating results and competitive developments g. Resolving customer complaints by investigating their problems, coming up with solutions, preparing reports, making recommendation to management h. Helping customers to make selection by building customer confidence; offering suggestions and opinions i. Processing payments by totalling purchases; processing checks, cash and store or other credit cards j. Keeping clientele informed by notifying them of preferred customer sales and future merchandise of potential interest. Salary Packaging National Sales Director In Australia, the average salary for the national sales director is AU$98,494 per year (PayScale, 2014). The main skills associated with this high pay for this particular job are leadership skills, people management, and strategic sales skills. Following this understanding, the salary scale of the Appropriate Technologies Company will be as described below: Basic salary AU$95,250 Bonus AU$25,350 Profit sharing AU$16,210 Commission AU$30,200 Other benefits AU$20,000 Total annual pay AU$187,010 State Sales Manager The average salary for a state sales manager in Australia is AU$96,815 per year (PayScale, 2014). The skills in operations management is associated with high pay for the job. The salary description for all state/regional sales managers for Appropriate Technologies Company is as shown below. Basic Salary AU$87,384 Bonus AU$10,225 Profit Sharing AU$13,420 Commission AU$08,550 Other benefits AU$15,000 Total Annual Pay AU$124,579 Division Sales Manager The Division sales manager average annual salary in Australia is AU$87,117 (PayScale, 2014). The highest paying skills for this job are contract negotiation, people management, budget management, and operations management. Appropriate Technologies Company’s salary description for Division sales manager is described below; Basic Salary AU$73,234 Bonus AU$08,678 Profit Sharing AU$13,290 Commission AU$07,500 Other Benefits AU$12,250 Total Annual Pay AU$114,952 Salesperson In Australia, the salesperson or sales representative average annual salary is AU$48,174. The most important skill associated with this job is inside sales (PayScale, 2014). The description of Appropriate Technologies Company’s salesperson salary is given below Basic salary AU$45,564 Bonus AU$02,532 Commission AU$05,667 Other Benefits AU$07,500 Total Annual Pay AU$62,263 Note: other benefits in this salary packaging represents things like cars, laptops, phones and training allowances that the Appropriate Technologies Company offers its sales force. Australia has six states including New South Wales (NSW), Queensland (Qld), South Australia (SA), Tasmania (Tas), Victoria (Vic.), and Western Australia (WA). Accordingly, Appropriate Technologies Company will divide each state in the following sales geographic divisions New South Wales 6divisions Victoria 4divisions Queensland 3divisions Western Australia 2divisions South Australia 3divisions Tasmania 2divisions Total number of sales divisions 20 divisions Given these territorial statistics, Appropriate Technologies Company will have 1 national sales director, 6 state sales manager, 20division sales managers, and 60 salespersons; three per division. With regard to this information the following is the summary of Appropriate Technologies Company’s annual salary expenditure. Personnel No Annual pay (AU$) Total Amount (AU$) National Sales Director 1 187,010 187,010 State Sales Manager 6 124,579 747,474 Division Sales Manager 20 114,952 2,299,040 Salesperson 60 62,263 3,735,780 Total Company Salary Expenditure 6,969,304 Conclusion The sales team in any company is a critical driver of all company sales operations; any company with sales objectives directed towards sales success always take the sales department more seriously. For instance, the company must equip this department with the necessary resources required for it to accomplish its sales goals. Having a sound sales team structure is key in helping the company to guide its sales resources including the sales team to perform superbly and meet the set company objectives. There are different sales force structures that companies use including geographical based, product based, client based, and hybrid sales structures. The above discussion has used Appropriate Technologies Company; a speculative company selling mobile phones to other business in Australia. The discussion provides the company’s sales team structure, description of their roles together with their annual salary packages. Bibliography Bidgoli, H 2010, The Handbook of Technology Management: Supply Chain Management, Marketing and Advertising, and Global Management, New York, John Wiley & Sons Boone, L & Kurtz, D 2012, Contemporary Marketing, 2013 Update, 15th Ed, London, Cengage Learning Feigon, J 2013, Hotel Management and Operations, London, AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn Johnston, M & Marshall, G 2013, Sales Force Management: Leadership, Innovation, Technology - 11th edition, Sydney, Routledge Publishers King, D & Lawley, S 2013, Organizational Behaviour, Oxford, Oxford University Press Moore, G 2010, Taking Charge of Distribution Sales: 9 Proven Skills to Lead and Manage Your Sales Team, London, Natl Assn Wholesale-Distr O’Fallon, M & Rutherford, D 2011, Hotel Management and Operations, New York, John Wiley & Sons PayScale, 2014, Home, Retrieved from http://www.payscale.com/research/AU/Job=National_Sales_Manager/Salary Read More