Sales Team Structure of the Hewlett-Packard Company - Case Study Example

HP Name Institution Professor Course Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 1.Executive summary 3 2.Sales Team Structure 4 2.1Combination of sales structure 4 2.2The HP Sales Team 5 2.5Sales Team Roles and Responsibility 8 2.5.1 The national sales director 8 2.5.2 Regional sales directors 9 2.5.3 District sales managers 10 2.5.4 Account managers 10 3.Salary and Remuneration packages 11 3.1Management Remuneration Package Breakdown 12 3.2Sales Force Remuneration Package Breakdown 12 4.Incentive Schemes 13 Motivation seems to play an essential role in the salespersons job and this entails a number on incentives (Dalkir 2013). Thus, about 5% of the sales budget shall be dedicated to incentives. A number of incentives such as recognition awards, team incentives schemes as well as individual incentive plans. 13 5.Ongoing training 14 6.Overall Budget Breakdown 15 References 16 1. Executive summary The report below offers the effective organization of a sales team and it will entail the sales structure, the salaries and remuneration of the sales team in addition to training and incentives. Based on the report, a total of about $7.3M ought to be spent in ensuring that the sales team achieves the best from their Australian market. Based on the report, the structure of the sales team should be designed based on geographical areas with the aim of creating strong relationships with their customers. The remuneration package that HP should offer to the sales team ought to act as a motivating factor to ensure that they give the best performance. In addition to their remuneration incentives, training will also be offered to the sales team. 2. Sales Team Structure The Hewlett-Packard Company which is commonly referred to as HP is an American Multinational IT company with headquarters in Palo Alto California. The company develops and provides a wide range of hardware components in addition to software and other related services to the consumers, the medium and small sized businesses and other large enterprises and its customers includes the health sectors, education and the government. Therefore, HP needed to build a strong relationship with its customers for it to maximize and generate an annual sale that amounts to $50,000,000. 2.1 Combination of sales structure Based on the fact that a great number of HP customers are located all over the globe and that they have customers in a great number of countries, HP needs to come up with a geographical sales structure. This structure ought to play an essential role in effectively allocating their staff in the different parts of the globe. This would help the company to realize their targeted sales target. By doing so, the team shall be able to focus on the creation of a strong and lasting customer relationship and the best way to do this is by being reliable and trustworthy. They can best achieve this by communication with their customers on a regular basis and responding to the various needs of their different kinds of customers (Munyon, Summers & Gerald 2011). The geographical sales structure shall also play an essential role at HP in that it ensures that there is no duplication of tasks and responsibilities of the sales team, thus the allocated amount of work can be completed on time and in the most effective manner (Spiro, Gregory & Stanton 2008).Based on the fact that HP has a wide range of products such as digital cameras, scanners, printers, servers, computers and calculators, HP needs to make use of a specialist strategy. Therefore, HP should have a great and large team which needs to have a wide knowledge on the various products so as to tackle the needs of the various customers in the most effective manner. In respect to these, HP will need to have managers on all major locations worldwide and the managers will need to have a high specialty in the products of HP. This will enable the managers to identify the problems and needs that are common among the customer and respond to these problems in the most effective manner and fulfill the needs of the customers well and in a timely manner. This is essential since by responding to the customer needs in a timely and most effective manner (Zoltners, Prabhakant & Greggor 2001), HP is better positioned as compared to their competitors operating in the same industry. This means that HP will have the opportunity to increase their sale figures by selling a great number of their products. To enhance the relationship with the already existing customers and those who are aspiring to buy from them in the future, HP should make use of the combination sales structure. HP needs to engage in consistent communication for it to enhance their sales. 2.2The HP Sales Team The establishment of B2B sales is at times challenging for companies and mostly those with limited number of staff and budgets. Therefore, an excellent B2B sales team seems to be essential and ensures the success of companies that provides viable products and this is beneficial to growth in an industry and also in uncovering new prospects for companies (Temporal 2005). Based on these, the sales staff at HP, need to be experienced in coming up with appointments that are more likely to lead to greater B2B sales that should be designed to ensure that they gain the interest of companies. This results in the closing of deals in a very successful manner. In this regard, Hp needs to ensure that it builds and nurtures stronger relationships with their customers. This plays an essential role in ensuring that the products sold by HP are available when needed by their customers. This allows the customers to trust HP and many customers to rely on them to offer them with the wide range of products that meets the needs of the customers who includes but are not limited to government facilities, education sectors and healthcare facilities (Temporal 2005). The table below shows the hierarchy that HP needs to adopt when marketing their products to their customers in Australia. 2.3Sales Structure Hierarchy The account managers need to be allocated with explicit customers within a certain area, the district managers will be in charge of the account managers and they will be based in various locations with each of the states in Australia. By doing so, smooth running of the operational practices in the different locations is realized. This is essential in that, it leads to a strong and a collaborative team work since both managers work well with each other. Based on the geographical sales structure proposed above, the employees shall have an effective understanding of the various trends in each market and thus each effort need to be aimed at dealing and tackling the trends and thus the strategies ought to be tailored so as to suit each market (Zoltners, Prabhakant & Greggor 2001). In addition to the above mentioned managers, the other group will entail a group of regional sales managers who will be based in a number of states in Australia. They shall collaborate their efforts with the other managers and thus, the regional managers should offer operational objectives to the managers below them and assist them in maximizing their sales and this is essential in increasing the profits made by HP in the Australian market as a whole and is projected to lead to an increase in sales revenue by about 10% (Speier& Viswanath 2002). 2.5Sales Team Roles and Responsibility The sales team at HP ought to include the following individuals and they include; The national sales director Regional sales directors District sales managers Senior account managers Account managers 2.5.1 The national sales director Through effective budgeting and planning, the national sales director shall ensure that HP meets the sales target. When setting the sales target, they need to be achievable and realistic (Eisenhardt 2002). Delegating duties to the other sales team members and this should be made based on the member’s specializations and interests. Thus, the manager needs to understand which of the sales team member is well suited for a certain task for this ensures that the managers utilizes the best from each of the sales team member. Come up with strategies as well as techniques aimed at leading to the achievement of the sales targets. Through this, the manager decides on the future actions of the sales team members. May the potential customers in the most effective way and this assists in generation leads for HP. 2.5.2 Regional sales directors Regional sales managers (RSM) are seen as the most essential layers of the management team in any organization and in most instances they are essential parts of the middle management team and thus it is important that the RSM should have clear outlined role that they are expected to play. Therefore the RSM at HP shall be expected to (Eisenhardt 2002). Organize the team working under then to ensure their eventual success Collaborate with the national sales directors in creating the sale goals of their store and communicated the discussed aspects to those working under them and ensuring that the goals are met in a timely manner. Listen attentively to the district sales managers and from their determine their needs Serve as the major point of contact for vendors and the distributors in their respective region and Inform the senior management team of any issues that may be inhibiting the achievement of the sales team goals and results. 2.5.3 District sales managers The district sales managers seem to be closer to the customers than the regional sales managers. In respect to these, they have a number of roles and responsibilities that they need to fulfill for them to undertake their duties in the most effective manner and these roles and responsibilities include: Build and always put measures in place to nurture relationships with the customers in the respective regions Ensures that the operational practices are met and this ought to be adhered to be ensuring that the sales goals are met within the allocated budget (Eisenhardt 2002). Report to the regional managers on any arising or change in customer needs and any emerging trends in the market and their competitors. Always lead and supervise the account managers. 2.5.4 Account managers Since these groups of managers are the least and they interact the most with the customers through consultation they have a number of responsibilities and this includes Offering knowledge on the wide range of products that are provided by HP Strive to achieve the sales targets and the best way to achieve these is through the maintenance of strong business relationship and this can be best achieved by holding constant communication with their customers Offering any kind of assistance to the customers to make product and service delivery effective. Consulting with the customers regularly to ascertain their various needs and thus communicate using their hierarchical order to the top management team (Eisenhardt 2002). 3. Salary and Remuneration packages Remuneration is of great importance to organization that wants to retain their employees and achieve the best results (Colletti & Lawrence 1997). The employee’s needs to be remunerated well to keep them motivated at all times and ensure that they tackle their allocated tasks with a lot of dedication and high level of commitment. The remuneration packages offered to all members of the sales team depends on the role they play. The package includes the salaries, any benefits the employees are entitled to and expenses. Of the total budgeted amount, about 80% of the amount shall be channeled towards the remuneration of all employees working under the sales team; the remaining amount shall be used to offer incentives, training and any other form of improvement to the employees. This will assist them in undertaking their duties well (Dalkir 2013). Salaries The salaries offered to the sales employees shall include the basic salary, commission and bonuses. The salaries, commissions and bonuses ought to be higher than those offered by others in the same industry such as IBM. This shall be aimed at attracting people with the highest ability and skills. The employees shall also enjoy other benefits such as the superannuation and the following expenses ought to be catered by HP to ease their work and this includes their travel expenses and communication. 3.1Management Remuneration Package Breakdown Management Team National Sales director Regional sales managers District sales managers Total Earnings: Basic Salaries 200,000 170,000 100,000 Commission Bonus 10,000 10,500 11,000 Total on Target Earnings 210,000 180,000 111,000 501,000 Benefits: Superannuation 13,000 12,500 10,000 Total Benefits 13,000 12,500 10,000 34,500 Expenses Communication Phone 1,000 900 900 Computer 1,000 800 800 Total 2,000 1, 700 1,700 Travel Car allowance 10,000 8,000 8,000 Accommodation 6,000 5,000 5,000 Domestic Travel 6,000 5,000 5,000 Total 22,000 18,000 18,000 58,000 Total Expenses 24,000 19,700 19,700 63,400 Costs: Cost per every employee 247,000 212, 200 140,700 599, 900 Number of employees 1 4 9 14 Total 247,000 848,800 1, 266,300 2, 362,100 3.2Sales Force Remuneration Package Breakdown Sales force team Senior account manager Generalist manager Junior account manager Total Earnings: Basic Salaries 70,000 65,000 60,000 Commission 30,000 25,000 20,000 Bonus 16,000 15,500 14,000 Total on Target Earnings 116,000 105,500 94,000 315,500 Benefits: Superannuation 7,000 6,500 6,000 Total Benefits 7,000 6,500 6,000 19,5000 Expenses Communication Phone 1,000 900 900 Computer 1,000 800 800 Total 2,000 1, 700 1,700 Travel Car allowance 8,000 6,000 5,000 Accommodation 5,000 4,000 4,000 Domestic Travel 5,000 4,000 4,000 Total 18,000 14,000 13,000 45,000 Total Expenses 20,000 15,700 14,700 50,400 Costs: Cost per every employee 143,000 127,700 114,700 Number of employees 5 9 19 33 Total 715,000 1,149,300 2,179,300 4, 043,600 4. Incentive Schemes Motivation seems to play an essential role in the salespersons job and this entails a number on incentives (Dalkir 2013). Thus, about 5% of the sales budget shall be dedicated to incentives. A number of incentives such as recognition awards, team incentives schemes as well as individual incentive plans. 5. Ongoing training In addition to the invectives the sales people ought to be engaged in ongoing training (Colletti & Lawrence 1997). This ensures that the employees have up to date information on the company products and that they are aware of any changes that may e occurring in the sales field. 6. Overall Budget Breakdown The table below shows the overall budget of HP Costs Remuneration packages Management team 2, 362,100 Sales Force Team 4, 043,600 Remuneration Total 6,405,700 Expenses: Incentives 500,000 Training 400,000 Expense Total 900,000 Cost Total 7, 305, 700 References Colletti, J & Lawrence, B 1997, ‘Change Management Initiatives: Moving Sales Organizations from Obsolescence to High Performance,’ Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, vol.17, no. 2, pp. 1–30 Dalkir, K 2013, Knowledge management in theory and practice, Routledge, United Kingdom. Eisenhardt, K 2002),’Has Strategy Changed?’, Sloan Management Review, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 88–91. Munyon, T., Summers, J & Gerald, R 2011, ‘Team staffing modes in organizations: Strategic considerations on individual and cluster hiring approaches’, Human Resource Management Review, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 228-242. Speier, C & Viswanath, V 2002, ‘The Hidden Minefields in the Adoption of Sales Force Automation Technologies,’ Journal of Marketing, vol. 66, no. 3, pp. 98–111 Spiro, R., Gregory, A & Stanton, W 2008, Management of a Sales Force, McGraw-Hill Irwin, Boston. Temporal, P 2005, B2B Branding–A Guide to Successful Business-to-Business Brands, International Enterprise Singapore, Singapore. Zoltners, A., Prabhakant, S & Greggor, A 2001, The Complete Guide to Accelerating Sales Force Performance, Amacom, Chicago. Read More