Sales Team Structure, Roles and Rewards in Australia - Case Study Example

Sales Team Structure, Roles and Rewards Name Course Lecturer Date Executive summary Sales department plays a significant role in an organisation. It is responsible for ensuring that an organisation makes increasing sales. An organisation makes revenue and profits from the sale of its products and services. This is through the sales and department. To keep growing sales and therefore increase profitability, it is important to equip the sales department with human and physical resources. This report provides an analysis of the roles of the various persons in the sales department. It provides the roles and the salary [packaging of the various persons in the sales department from the sales director to the sales person. Table of Contents Table of Contents iii 1.0 Sales Team Organisational Structure & Role Descriptions 1 1.1 Roles of the Sales Director 3 1.2 Roles and Responsibilities of National Sales Manager 4 1.3 State and Territorial Sales Managers 5 1.4 Sales Supervisors 6 1.5 Roles of Sales Persons 8 2.0 Salary Packaging and Supporting Arguments 8 2.1 Sales Director Salary Packaging 8 2.2 Salary Packaging of the National Sales Manager 9 2.3 State and Territorial Sales Managers 10 2.4 Salary Package of Sales Supervisors 11 2.5 Salary Package of the Sales Persons 12 3.0 Conclusion 13 4.0 References 14 1.0 Sales Team Organisational Structure & Role Descriptions Sales Team Structure This is how the sales department of the company is organised. It is defined by reporting hierarchies, titles as well as job descriptions. It is organised so that it can be able to carry out its mission of maximising revenue. The aim of the structure is to achieve its primary goal of getting more than just its fair share of business in the market (Ingram et al., 2012). The structure also aims to execute effectively on our primary sales as well as sales management strategies. This structure will build and maintain a flexible and fast sales department in order to take advantage of market opportunities. This structure will also eliminate redundant levels within the department as well as eliminate bureaucratic behaviours and structure; this will improve efficiency and effectiveness within the sales department (Shields 2005). As the sales director, I will put the best personnel closest to the sales field and keep the front line performance very much alive. The product that the organisation will sell is Dell Computers; they will be sold and made available to all regions, state and territories in Australia. This sales department structure follows sales strategy developed by the sales department, the strategy lines sales with the organisations goals, mission, strategies and objectives. This was a major reason for coming up with this sales structure. This structure will enable the sales persons to have and develop a better understanding of unique customer characteristics and needs (Zoltners, Sinha & Lorimer 2008). Importantly, the salespersons will be efficient in doing sales activities in the field. This is because it gives them the power to make decisions while in the field as opposed to the consulting with the sales manager (it would take time and hence may lose customers). It will also make management control to be more effective in selling allocated to the various markets. 1.1 Roles of the Sales Director The sales director is very important in making decisions about sales according to the market performance. As the sales director, I will manage support functions necessary to the productivity of the sales force. This will involve planning, optimisation of the sales process, reporting, setting quota and management, implementation of sales program, hiring and selecting sales force talent, designing of compensation and administration and designing sales job for the sales force and other officers in the sales department. I will be responsible for the overall effectiveness and productivity of the sales organisation (Jobber & Lancaster 2006). I will be reporting to the company management and the board of directors on the progress of sales department. The roles of the sales director are; Coordinating sales planning, forecasting and budgeting processes used within the sales department. To proactively monitor as well as strive to maintain high quality levels, process consistency and accuracy in sales planning efforts. Also, I will be responsible for coordinating planning activities with other stakeholders and I functions within the organisation. To support equitable sales force quote assignment as well as ensure that the quotas are allocated optimally to all channels and resources. Working to ensure that all sales department objectives are achieved in timely fashion To proactively identify opportunities for improving sales process, should work closely with the management to examine the quality of all sales process and prioritise opportunities for improving the sales processes. The sales director should assist the management to understand inconsistencies and bottlenecks in the sales process. To monitor the efficiency and accuracy of distribution of sales reports and other related intelligent essentials in the department. The sales director should examine and recommend revisions to reports as well as assist in development of reporting facilities as required. To implement empowering technologies to field sales persons, to monitor compliance with required standards for maintaining good and accurate CRM data 1.2 Roles and Responsibilities of National Sales Manager To coordinate training of sales teams, the sales manager is responsible for ensuring that the sales teams are equipped with the necessary information to enable them effective. The sales manager is responsible for ensuring that the sales teams get training periodically in order to keep up with market developments as well (Schillewaert et al., 2005). To provide required input to the sales director in the administration and development of sales as well as the incentive compensation program. He or she is supposed to work closely with the other departments especially the finance and accounting, human resource management to get necessary information. He or she should clarify or arbitrate between all these departments. To support and direct consistent implementation of organisational initiatives in the sales department To build peer support as well as strong internal relationship within the sales department for all employees from the sales persons to the sales director Sales manager is responsible for getting profitable sales results through the sales persons by way of motivating them, developing their skills, counseling and product knowledge growth. To effectively manage sales administration function, streamlining the sales systems and processes, operational performance reporting and advice the senior management when to maximise relationships as well as when to create new environments for flourishing customer service. To manage the sales force, develop business plan to cover sales, expenses revenue and agreed targets to promote the company in all parts of Australia. To assist in the formulation of marketing plan specifically advising on achievable forecasts, for different states and territories based on the past performance and data. To promote the performance of the sales persons by establishing a communication and reporting system Plan with the sales director and implement staff appraisal system that describes the responsibilities of the each employee as well as setting commissions (Schillewaert et al., 2005). 1.3 State and Territorial Sales Managers The state and territorial are representatives of the company and the department in each of the states and territory in of Australia. They will serve a strategic function of developing sales in their given state or territory. This is very important because it determines how the sales will grow. They will be supposed to identify new markets and increase sales volume. They will be tasked with forging new relationships with customers and more specifically with institutions, state or territory governments and other large business. This will ensure that the company will have sustained customers. In addition, they will establish special and strategic partnerships with entities; they will seek to establish the loyalty of the main customers. They will also be the contact persons for the sales supervisors and sales persons in their respective states and territories. They will provide strategic information to help them maximise sales such as technical and practical information. They will also set sales targets and issue orders to the sales supervisors (Raman, Wittmann & Rauseo 2006). They will work very closely with the national sales manager and the marketing department to develop forecasts and build market share. They will be at the forefront to promote and commercialise the products especially with the major customers. On the other hand, they will be responsible for sales made by the supervisors and sales persons. As senior managers within the company, they will ensure that the performance of the salespersons is effective; they will also evaluate and propose the relevant training required by the sales supervisors and sales persons. To be able to carry out these responsibilities effectively, they will have analytical ability and skills to see the bigger picture, be resourceful, sense of responsibility, and be versatile (Ahearne, Mathieu & Rapp, 2005). 1.4 Sales Supervisors They will be in every state and territory in Australia. They will be independent and therefore will need not attention in stocking the product. The sales supervisors are under the state and territorial sales managers. They play a significant role in developing sales team as well as gathering market information. They are supposed to coordinate sales initiatives with the sales persons including display and pricing of the products with an aim of realising the outlined sales goals and targets (Mantere, 2008). Sales supervisors are required to have extensive knowledge and skills in marketing sales. These are the roles of sales supervisor; To manage the sales persons, it is the responsibility of the sales supervisors to provide guidance to the sales persons and also motivate them in achieving goals and even surpassing sales targets. The sales supervisor provides advice to the sales manager on the performance of the sales persons as well as the market movements. They play an important link between the management and the sales force in the field. They are supposed to coordinate sales activities in their respective areas. They oversee sales activities and functions; they provide advice to sales teams on how to increase sales. They use their skills and knowledge to determine when and where the products will be displayed in the market. Another important role of sales supervisors is to compile sales reports. They get sales data and information from the sales persons and compile sales reports; they then send the sales reports to the sales manager to assess the performance of the product, this enables the managers to make informed and sound decisions. This indicates that they should have good writing skills as well; they should be able to use different parameters ranging from performance of individual sales to product sales in various markets to customer complaints to prepare good reports. It is the responsibilities of the sales supervisors to resolve customer complaints, they are supposed to resolve customer complaints quickly, and this enhances customer loyalty and satisfaction. They have a duty to address complaints from customers related to the product sales. This indicates that the sales supervisor should have good communication skills just like the sales persons. The sales supervisors have a role to look and search for new markets for the products. While the sales persons sell the products to the customers and make direct contact with the customers, the sales supervisors are supposed to build new customer base in order to maximise sales. The sales supervisors should ensure that they retain the existing customers. As such, providing prompt customer services is very essential. While they focus to look and build new markets, they should also ensure that the existing market is well satisfied and guided. It is very important for the sales supervisors to provide advice to the sales persons in the field; this would not only increase sales but also increase their effectiveness (Ahearne, Mathieu & Rapp, 2005). 1.5 Roles of Sales Persons To make sales to customers To reach out to new customers To ensure that the customers get the right information about the product To ensure that the customers get the product at the authorised price by the company To make information available to customers at all times 2.0 Salary Packaging and Supporting Arguments 2.1 Sales Director Salary Packaging Salary - $80,000 Bonus - $25,000 Profit sharing - $2,000 (if it exceeds 25% of revenue) Benefits Social security -$8000 Superannuation - $7,200 Disability - $1,000 Healthcare - $6,000 Pension - $7,000 Leave - $10,000 Total pay - $144,200 or $146,200 The salary package for the director is very important. It ranks as the highest in the sales department. This is because of the valuable experience of the director, high quality education, the size of the resources that the director controls in making sales and growth in sales (Mantere, 2008). The sales director has 15 years of experience; this is a major factor in this salary package. The sales director deserves this salary package as he has indicated his potential ion growing sales year after. 2.2 Salary Packaging of the National Sales Manager Salary - $70,000 Bonus - $15,000 Commission - $2,000 Benefits Social security -$6,000 Superannuation - $6,300 Disability - $1,000 Healthcare - $5,500 Pension - $6,000 Leave - $8,000 Total pay - $ 119,800 The salary package of the national sales director is very within the industry average. It is a good salary package; this is a reward to the efforts of the sales director. He is involved in strategic planning on how to improve and grow sales in the different markets. The sales director is also part of the senior management of the company. 2.3 State and Territorial Sales Managers Salary - $55,000 Bonus - $10,000 Commission - $5,000 Benefits Social security -$5,500 Superannuation - $4,950 Disability - $1,000 Healthcare - $5,000 Pension - $6,000 Leave - $7,000 Total pay - $ 99,450 The state and territorial sales managers are very important in this organisation. They develop markets, build partnerships and look for new markets for the product. As such, they deserve this salary package. 2.4 Salary Package of Sales Supervisors Salary - $47,000 Bonus - $5,000 Commission - $10,000 Benefits Social security -$5,000 Superannuation - $4,250 Disability - $1,000 Healthcare - $4,500 Pension - $6,000 Leave - $6,000 Total pay - $88,750 The sales supervisors have an experience of three years. They are promoted from the sales persons. They have a college education in sales and marketing. This salary package is very attractive; it recognises the hard work of the supervisors of finding new markets as well as filling reports for their respective regions as assigned by the state and territorial sales managers. 2.5 Salary Package of the Sales Persons Salary - $30,000 Bonus - $5,000 Commission - $20,000 Benefits Social security -$4,000 Superannuation - $2,700 Disability - $1,000 Healthcare - $4,000 Pension - $6,000 Leave - $5,000 Total pay - $ 77,700 The commission is based on the sales made, it goes down or up depending on the amount of sales made by the sales persons. This is made to motivate the sales people to make more sales. They are entitled to fixed basic salary; this will help them especially when they do not made sales up to the target level (Ahearne, Mathieu & Rapp, 2005). 3.0 Conclusion Essentially, this sales structure is sound and healthy with dynamic sales personnel equipped with the necessary resources to achieve sales objectives and goals as stated in the beginning. 4.0 References Ahearne, M., Mathieu, J., & Rapp, A, 2005, to empower or not to empower your sales force? An empirical examination of the influence of leadership empowerment behavior on customer satisfaction and performance: Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(5), 945. Ingram, T. N., LaForge, R. W., Avila, R. A., Schwepker Jr, C. H., & Williams, M. R., 2012, Sales management: Analysis and decision making, ME Sharpe. Jobber, D., & Lancaster, G, 2006, selling and sales management: Pearson education. Mantere, S, 2008, Role expectations and middle manager strategic agency: Journal of Management Studies, 45(2), 294-316. Raman, P, Wittmann, C, M., & Rauseo, N, A, 2006, Leveraging CRM for sales: the role of organizational capabilities in successful CRM implementation; Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 26(1), 39-53. Schillewaert, N., Ahearne, M. J., Frambach, R. T., & Moenaert, R. K, 2005, the adoption of information technology in the sales force: Industrial Marketing Management, 34(4), 323-336. Shields, J, 2005, Revenue management: a strategy for increasing sales revenue in small businesses; Journal of Small Business Strategy, 16(2), 43. Zoltners, A. A., Sinha, P., & Lorimer, S. E, 2008, Sales force effectiveness: A framework for researchers and practitioners; Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 28(2), 115-131. Read More