2. SDM-Ch.5 2
In an organisation
Difference between marketing and sales departments
Should sales manager be reporting to marketing
manager?
Should sales be an independent function?
Relations with Advertising, HR, Finance, Production,
Accounts, Legal deptts.
Should sales be an independent function?
3. SDM-Ch.5 3
Sales organisation depends on:
Own sales effort or thru agents?
Direct selling or through intermediaries: wholesale,
C&F agent, distributor, retailer?
Telesales or salesmen
Payment terms, Inventories
Targets
Integration with management goals
4. SDM-Ch.5 4
Organising salesforce
Order takers, order creators, or order getters,
missionary?
Geographic or product/brand?
Salesmen compensation, motivation
Authority, co-ordination, conflict avoidance
How much centralisation?
Line organisation, line-and-staff, and functional
organisation
Brand organisation
5. SDM-Ch.5 5
Learning Objectives
To understand the concepts of the sales organisation, and
the basic types of sales organisations
To know specialization within the sales organisation, and
alternative organizational approaches for major accounts
To determine the size of the salesforce by using various
methods
To understand the major stages of salesforce staffing
process, consisting of planning, recruiting, selecting, hiring,
socialisation and assimilation
To realise the importance of the various steps included in
planning, recruiting, and selection stages
6. SDM-Ch.5 6
Concepts of Sales Organisation
A sales organisation assists the sales manager to
carry out needed tasks efficiently and effectively
to achieve results
The basic concepts of the sales organisation are:
• Degree of centralisation
• Degree of specialisation
• Line or staff positions
• Market orientation
• Effective co-ordination
7. SDM-Ch.5 7
Basic Types of Sales Organisations
Sales organisations are generally classified into four
basic types:
• Line Organisation
• Line and staff organisation
• Functional organisation
• Horizontal organisation
We shall discuss main characteristics, advantages,
and disadvantages of each type of sales organisation
8. SDM-Ch.5 8
Line Organisation
Characteristics: All managers have line authority to direct and control
subordinates. Used in small firms / departments
Advantages: Simple organisation, clear authority, quick decisions, low
cost
Disadvantages: No support to line managers from subordinates who have
specialised knowledge / skills. Less time for planning / analysis
Head
Marketing
Sales
Manager
Area Sales
Manager1
Area Sales
Manager3
Area Sales
Manager2
Area Sales
Manager4
salespeople salespeople salespeople salespeople
9. SDM-Ch.5 9
Line and Staff Organisation
Characteristics: Specialist staff managers are available for senior
marketing / sales managers. Staff managers’ role is to assist / advise line
managers. Used in medium and large size organisations
Advantages: Better marketing decisions, superior sales performance
Disadvantages: High cost and coordination, slower decision making,
conflict may arise if staff managers’ role is not clear
Head-Marketing
Marketing Research
Manager
Sales Manager
Promotional
Manager
Customer Service
Manager
Area Sales
Manager-1
Area Sales
Manager-1
Area Sales
Manager-1
Salespeople Salespeople Salespeople
10. SDM-Ch.5 10
Functional Organisation
Characteristics: Each functional specialist has line responsibility over
salespeople. Used by a large firm with many products / market segments,
minimising line authority to functional managers
Advantages: Qualified specialists guide salesforce, simple to administer
Disadvantage: confusion due to more managers giving orders to
salesforce
Head-Marketing
Marketing Research
Manager
Promotional
Manager
Customer Service
Manager
Sales Manager
Area Sales Manager #4
Salespeople
11. SDM-Ch.5 11
Horizontal Organisation
Characteristics: Removes management levels & departmental
boundaries. Except planning team, all others are members of cross-
functional teams. Used by firms having partnering relationships with
customers.
Advantages: Reduction in supervision, unnecessary tasks, & cost;
Improved efficiency and customer responses.
Research & Design Team:
•Customer Research
•Product / Service Design
Planning Team:
•Strategic Planning
•Accounts, Finance
•HR, Administration
•Chief Operation Officer
Operations Team:
•Production / Operations
•Quality Assurance
•Systems Engineering
Customer Support Team:
•Information
•Service
•Training
Customer Satisfaction
Team:
•Sales & Marketing
•Pricing, Promotion
•Channels, Logistics
12. SDM-Ch.5 12
Specialisation within Sales Organisation
Needed to increase effectiveness of salesforce
Done by expanding basic sales organisation
Basis of specialisation
• Geography
• Type of product
• Market
• Combination of above
Criteria for selection – (1) nature of product, (2)
salesforce abilities, (3) demands of selling job, (4)
customer and market facts
13. SDM-Ch.5 13
Geographic Specialisation
Characteristics: salespeople, assigned geographic areas, are responsible for all
selling activities to all customers within assigned areas. Branch sales
managers adjust marketing plan to local needs
Advantages: Better market coverage and customer service, more control over
salesforce, quick response to local conditions & competition
Disadvantages: Limited specialisation of marketing tasks. Hence, it is
combined with product / market sales organisation
Head-Marketing
Marketing Research
Manager
General Sales
Manager Promotion
Manager
Customer Service
Manager
Branch Sales
Manager-1
Branch Sales
Manager-2
Branch Sales
Manager-3
Branch Sales
Manager-4
Salespeople Salespeople Salespeople Salespeople
14. SDM-Ch.5 14
Product Specialisation
Used when the company has many products and / or brands
Two types of product specialisation
(x). Sales organisation with product specialised salesforce
(y). Sales organisation with product managers as staff specialists
Head-Marketing
Marketing Research
Manager
General
Sales Manager
Sales Training
Manager
Promotion
Manager
Area Sales Managers –
Product Group ‘A’
Area Sales Managers –
Product Group ‘B’
Salespeople –
Product Gr. ‘A’
Salespeople –
Product Gr. ‘B’
Fig. ‘x’ Sales Organisation with product specialised salesforce
15. SDM-Ch.5 15
Fig. ‘y’ Sales Organisation with Product Managers as Staff Specialists
In fig. ‘x’: Characteristics: Salespeople in each product group sell only the products in
that group
Advantage: Each product gets specialised attention from the salesforce
Disadvantage: Sometimes, more salespeople contact the same customer, resulting in
customer dissatisfaction and higher cost
In fig. ‘y’: Characteristics: Each product manager plans and implements marketing
plan, for a product group
Advantage: Corrects the problem of duplication calls on a customer by salespeople
Disadvantage: Lack of product specialisation by salespeople
Head-Marketing
Marketing Research
Manager
Promotion
Manager
Product Manager
Product Gr. ‘B’
Product Manager
Product Gr. ‘A’
General
Sales Manager
Area Sales
Managers
Salespeople
Product Specialisation (Continued)
16. SDM-Ch.5 16
Market Specialisation
Characteristics: Desirable when customers are classified by type, user industry,
or channel. Salespeople carry out all activities for all products only for specific
customer groups
Advantages: Meets needs of specific customer groups, implements customer-
centred philosophy of the company
Disadvantages: Geographic duplication, high cost
General Sales
Manager
Sales Manager-
International-
Markets
Sales Manager-
Commercial
Sales Manager-
Consumer Markets
Sales Manager-
Government
Area Sales Mgrs
International
Sales Executives
Area Sales Manager-
Commercial
Salespeople
Area Sales Manager-
Government
Salespeople
Area Sales Mgrs-
Consumer Markets
Salespeople
17. SDM-Ch.5 17
Combination Sales Organisation
Characteristics: Many firms use some combination of specialisation
organisations, called hybrid or combination sales organisation, with a
view to minimise disadvantages and maximise advantages of
specialisation organisations
Figure above shows combination of geographic and market
specialisations
Director – Sales
& Marketing
General Manager
Sales - North
General Manager
Sales - East
General Manager
Sales - South
General Manager
Sales - West
Regional Sales
Mgr. – Govt.
Regional Sales
Mgr. - Dealers
Regional Sales
Mgr. - Commercial
Salespeople Salespeople Salespeople
18. SDM-Ch.5 18
Alternatives for Major Accounts
Major accounts / customers are called by various
names like key accounts, corporate accounts, house
accounts
They make up a large share of a firm’s sales volume
and profits
Firms use the following alternative approaches to deal
effectively with them
• Create a position of major / national account
manager
• Use existing territory sales managers
• Create a separate division
• Create a separate salesforce
19. SDM-Ch.5 19
Size of the Salesforce
How many salespeople needed (or salesforce size)
to achieve a firm’s sales and profit objectives is a
key decision
Methods available to decide optimum salesforce
size are as follows:
• Workload
• Sales potential (or breakdown)
• Incremental
We shall discuss these methods briefly:
20. SDM-Ch.5 20
Workload Method
Assumption: All salespeople have equal workload
Steps involved to
salesforce size are:
1) Classify customers as per their sales potential
2) Decide time per sales call and call frequencies for each
class of customers
3) Calculate total market workload = (1) x (2) in hours
4) Decide total work time available per salesperson
5) Divide total work time available by different activities per
salesperson in hours
6) Calculate total number of salespeople needed
)5(
)3(
nsalespersoperavailabletimesellingtotal
workloadmarkettotal
=
21. SDM-Ch.5 21
Workload Method (Continued)
Advantages: simple method, conceptually sound, used for all
types of selling situations
Disadvantages: Neglects sales productivity & salesforce turnover
Sales Potential / Breakdown Method
The formula used is: , where
N=Number of salespeople needed, or salesforce size
S=Annual sales forecast for the company in value (Rs. Million)
P=Estimated productivity of the average salesperson in sales (Rs.
Million)
T=Estimated percentage of annual salesforce turnover
Advantages: Simple and straight forward
Disadvantages: Conceptually weak; lead time needed for a new
salesperson to reach average productivity
)1( T
P
S
N +=
22. SDM-Ch.5 22
Incremental Method
It is based on marginal analysis theory of economics
Basic concept: Net profits will increase when
additional salespeople are added, if the incremental
sales revenues exceed the incremental costs
Merit: Conceptually accurate, as it quantifies
relationships between salesforce size, sales, costs,
profits
Demerit: Can not be used if historical data on sales
and costs are not available
23. SDM-Ch.5 23
Salesforce Staffing
It is one of the most challenging and important
responsibilities / activities of sales management
Salesforce Staffing Process includes following stages:
• Planning
• Recruiting
• Selecting
• Hiring
• Socialisation
We shall briefly discuss each of the above stages
24. SDM-Ch.5 24
Planning Stage
It consists of three steps:
• Establish responsibility for staffing process
• Decide number of salespeople needed
• Outline the type of salespeople needed
Establish responsibility for staffing process
• Company management decides responsibilities for
various stages / activities of staffing process
• Generally in a medium / large size company, middle
and senior levels H.R. and sales managers are
responsible
• Proper coordination needed between sales, marketing,
and HR executives
25. SDM-Ch.5 25
Planning Stage (Continued)
Decide the number of salespeople needed
Steps followed by each territory sales manager to plan
requirement of sales people:
1) Decide optimum salesforce size (using methods discussed
earlier)
2) Add number of promotions, retirements, transfers out,
terminations, resignations expected from existing
salespeople
3) Subtract expected transfers into the territory and existing
salesforce
4) Make a total of new salespersons needed
Territory sales managers submit their requirements to
national / general sales manager, who calculates the total
number of new salespersons to be hired
26. SDM-Ch.5 26
Outline Type of Salespeople Needed
The steps involved in the process are:
• Conducting a job analysis
• Preparing a job description
• Developing job qualifications / specifications
Conducting a Job Analysis
• It is done by a person from sales / H. R. department, or
a consultant. It consists of two tasks:
(1) Analyse environment in which the salesperson
would work – E.G. nature of customers, competitors,
products.
(2) Determine duties and responsibilities of the
salesperson. Obtain information from sales managers,
customers, etc.
27. SDM-Ch.5 27
Preparing a Job Description
It is a written document developed from the job
analysis
The detailed job description is a useful tool for
recruiting, selecting, training, compensating, and
evaluating salespeople
Some of the points it generally covers are:
• Job title, reporting relationship, types of products /
services sold, types of customers, duties and
responsibilities, location and geographic area to be
covered
28. SDM-Ch.5 28
Developing Job Qualifications / Specifications
These are generally based on job description
Job specifications / qualifications include education, sales
experience, skills, and personality traits
Many studies done, but no generally accepted job
qualifications for selecting salespeople, due to many types
of sales jobs
Some methods used for developing job specifications are
as under:
• Study job description. Useful for a new company
• Analyse personal histories of salespersons
• Ask customers
29. SDM-Ch.5 29
Recruiting Salesforce
Recruiting include activities to get individuals who will
apply for the job
The general purpose of recruitment is to get enough
qualified candidates, to enable company select the right
persons
H.R. and sales managers must update information on
government employment regulations
Recruiting stage / process includes following activities:
• Finding the sources of sales recruits
• Evaluating and selecting recruiting sources
• Contacting candidates through the selected source
30. SDM-Ch.5 30
Finding the Sources of Sales Recruits
For identifying prospective candidates, firms use internal
and external sources. They include:
Internal Sources External Sources
• Employee referral
programmes
• Current employees
• Promotions and transfers
• Advertisements in
newspapers and journals /
magazines
• The Internet (job sites)
• Educational institutions
• Employment agencies
• Job fairs
• Other companies
31. SDM-Ch.5 31
Evaluating and selecting Recruiting Sources
Recruiting sources are evaluated based on the database
built over number of years
Evaluating factors are:
• Performance rating of salespeople, after 2 years working
• Percentage of salespeople retained, after 2 years
working
• Total cost of recruiting
• Selecting most effective source of recruiting at least
cost
• For a new company, selection depends on cost
Contacting candidates through the selected source is done
by H. R. department
32. SDM-Ch.5 32
Selecting Salesforce
Selection process consists of seven major selection steps /
tools
Companies differ in using selection tools, depending on
expenditure budget and time available
Major selection tools / steps are:
• Screening resumes
• Application blank
• Initial interview
• Intensive interview
• Testing
• Reference check
• Physical examination
33. SDM-Ch.5 33
Screening Resumes
It is done when the company receives many resumes
This step / tool not required, if somebody else like
employment agency does initial screening
Initial screening of resumes are done by comparing with
job specifications
Application Blank
Widely used, it is a methodical way of collecting relevant
information from the applicant
Advantages of using application blank (also called “formal
application form”) are:
(1) Easy comparison of many applicants
(2) Useful for asking question during interview sessions
34. SDM-Ch.5 34
Interviews
Widely used selection tool
A good predictor of the candidate’s performance
Initial interviews are used for screening candidates
Intensive interviews are conducted to get indepth view of
candidates
Interview structure / type of interviews:
• Structured / patterned / guided interviews
• Unstructured / non-directed / informal interviews
• Semi-structured interviews
• Behaviour and performance based interviews
• Stress interviews
Purpose is to decide a candidate’s fitness for a job
35. SDM-Ch.5 35
Testing
Many firms use tests as a selection tool – EG P&G, IBM
Purpose of testing: To find whether applicants have traits /
characteristics that lead to success in sales job
Type of selection tests:
• Aptitude tests measure ability for selling and learning
• Intelligence tests find out mental intelligence or intelligence
quotient (IQ)
• Interest tests find out level of interest in a sales career
• Knowledge tests measure knowledge of products, markets,
etc
• Personality tests find out attitude or traits like empathy, self-
confidence
Tests must have reliability and validity
Tests should be one of the selection tools and not the only tool
36. SDM-Ch.5 36
Reference Checks
They are important due to possibilities of resume frauds and
false personal information
They are done by letters / e-mails, telephones, or personal visits
Instead of candidate’s references, previous employers /
customers to be included for reference checks
Physical Examination
Objective is to find a physical problem that may prevent job
performance of an applicant
Most companies want their prospective employees to undergo
physical examination
Increasing number of firms ask applicant to complete the health
information form without seeing a medical doctor
37. SDM-Ch.5 37
Hiring Stage
After completing selection process, a list of candidates to be
hired is made
In hiring stage, two activities are performed:
(1) The company making the job offer
(2) Persuading the applicant to accept it
Socialisation Stage
It is the process through which new salespeople learn values,
norms, attitudes, and behaviour of people working in the firm
Socialisation process starts before the new salesperson accepts
the job offer and continues until the person is assimilated into
the company culture
Assimilation is the second stage of socialisation process
Companies have this process, in order to retain new salespeople
38. SDM-Ch.5 38
Key Learnings
A sales organisation assists a sales manager to carry out
needed tasks efficiently and effectively
Basic types of sales organisations are : (1) line, (2) line and
staff, (3) functional, (4) horizontal
Specialisation within sales organisation, which are needed
to increase effectiveness of salespeople, are: (a)
geographic, (b) product, (c) market, (d) combination
Companies use alternate approaches to deal effectively
with major accounts
Methods available for deciding optimum salesforce size
are: workload, sales potential, and incremental
39. SDM-Ch.5 39
Key Learnings (Continued)
Salesforce staffing process includes five stages: planning,
recruiting, selecting, hiring, socialisation
Planning stage includes (1) establishing responsibilities, (2)
deciding number of salespeople needed, (3) profiling the type of
salespeople needed
Recruitment stage consists of (a) finding sources of sales recruit,
(b) evaluating and selecting recruitment sources, (c) contacting
candidates
Selection process consists of seven steps / tools: (1) screening
resumes, (2) application blank, (3) initial interview, (4) intensive
interview, (5) testing, (6) reference check, (7) physical
examination
Hiring stage includes (a) making the job offer, (b) persuading
applicant to accept it
Socialisation stage is required to retain new salespeople