Keys to optimizing the Sales Force

Sales activity is fundamental, vital, and very complex for any company. A recent study undertaken among 178 company directors worldwide reveals that 55% of sales networks in large companies are incapable of satisfactorily analyzing sales opportunities. It is time for companies to accept that, in an environment of fierce competition and tight budgets, Sales Force Optimization is a critical mission.

Some of the keys to obtaining the maximum performance from the Sales Network at the best price:

• Create an intelligent “targeting”: determining target customers is always at the origin of an intelligent sales planning. According to this aspect, it will be possible to design the investments to be carried out: how many salespeople to dedicate, what channels to use, what actions to undertake, in what period of time, and how frequently, etc. 
• Proper Sales Force Sizing: Sizing does not mean reducing channels and salespeople to a minimum. Sizing means optimally adjusting the sales resources to the potential market. The calculation of the size of the sales force is a critical task, because the network of salespeople can absorb up to 30% of a large company’s sales budget. 
• Resource allotment: when we know which customers are the most interesting (targeting) and we have a well-sized sales force (sizing), the next step is to assign each customer the appropriate sales and Marketing investments (resource allotment). Determining the number of times we will contact the customer, deciding what channels will be used, or what frequency of visits to establish and by what channel, are part of “resource allotment” actions. 
• Sales Force Distribution The most common method is geographical: assigning resources according to a specific sales area – whether they be postal codes, “bricks”, Nielsen zones, or others-, but the challenge is to optimize the relationship between geographical area and number of salespeople, always keeping in mind that the best salesperson is not always the one who sells most, but rather the one who gets the most out of the area’s potential, according to its possibilities.
• Channel assignment and management: In-person visits, telephone calls, Internet, SMS… Each customer segment must be assigned one or more channels – multi-channelism is a booming phenomenon to be taken advantage of-, according to its value.
• Opportunity Factory: an optimization of the Sales Force must necessarily translate into the creation of an “opportunity factory” that constantly alerts us to the times when there are new sales, new contracts, loyalization actions and retention of customers at risk of abandonment.
• Coordination of Sales and Marketing: the rivalry between the areas of Marketing and Sales directly harms the results account. It is time that both departments coordinate themselves for their mutual benefit.

Force and Sales are two words as attractive as they are complementary, which, when combined, can be a company’s best sales tool. Learn more about how to optimize them by reading the following articles...