The Complete Guide to Accelerating Sales Force Performance

Book description

Every firm's sales force combines the distinctive personalities of its members with the complex issues of size, pay structure, incentives, performance evaluation, and effective uses of new technology. And while underrepresented in most marketing texts, the success of the sales force is a major component in the overall success of most companies.

The Complete Guide to Accelerating Sales Force Performance develops an effective, innovative framework for evaluating and improving the performance of any sales force. This book identifies and describes the key factors for creating a fast-track, go-to-market strategy. It's loaded with proven ideas for improving such "success drivers" as:

  • culture

  • sales force structure

  • hiring

  • sales manager selection

  • training

  • compensation

  • technology

  • sales territory design

  • goal setting

  • performance management.

  • Packed with valuable insights and real-life examples, this guide is an excellent source of practical ideas for sales and marketing managers in all industries.

    Table of contents

    1. Copyright
    2. Preface
    3. Acknowledgments
    4. The Role of the Sales Force in the Go-to-Market Strategy
      1. Introduction
      2. A Framework for Developing a Go-to-Market Strategy
      3. Question 1: What Is the Best Way to Segment the Market?
      4. Question 2: What Essential Work Is Required for Each Segment?
      5. The Customer's View of the Offering
      6. Ways of Determining Essential Work
      7. Question 3: What Portfolio of Go-to-Market Participants Should Do the Essential Work?
    5. Sales Force Assessment and Strategy
      1. Sales Force Strategy
      2. The Components of a Selling Organization
      3. The Sales Force Productivity Drivers
      4. Measuring Sales Force Productivity
      5. Sales Force Strategy: A Comprehensive Statement
      6. Summary
    6. Sizing the Sales Force for Strategic Advantage
      1. Sales Force Size and Structure—Crucial Decisions
      2. Ten Insights for Better Sales Force Design
      3. Finding the Optimal Sales Force Size— Successful and Unsuccessful Methods
      4. The Impact of Technology on Sales Force Size
      5. Final Sizing Recommendation
    7. Structuring the Sales Force for Strategic Advantage
      1. Introduction
      2. The Three Sales Force Structure Objectives: Adaptability, Efficiency, and Effectiveness
      3. Five Sales Force Structures That Create Results
      4. Developing an Efficient and Effective Sales Force Structure—A Four-Step Process
      5. Conclusion
    8. Designing Sales Territories That Increase Sales
      1. The Story of Brian, Bruce, and Brenda
      2. What Is Territory Alignment?
      3. Three Reasons Why Sales Territory Alignment Is Important
      4. Seven Events That Create a Need to Realign
      5. The Forces against Change
      6. Maintaining an Effective Alignment—A Three-Step Process
      7. Final Territory Alignment Insights
      8. Conclusion
    9. Recruiting the Best Salespeople
      1. Introduction
      2. The Hiring/Training Tradeoff
      3. The Impact of Hiring Decisions
      4. Key Insights That Will Improve Your Hiring
      5. The Hiring Process—Six Steps to Success
      6. How the Internet Is Changing the Way Companies Recruit and Hire
      7. Conclusion
    10. Training the Sales Force
      1. Introduction
      2. The High-Performance Selling Organization Is a Good Training Organization
      3. Four Insights to Improve Sales Training
      4. Updating Training and Development for Success—A Four-Step Process
      5. Conclusion
    11. The Critical Role of the First-Line Sales Manager
      1. Introduction
      2. The Sales Manager's Role
      3. Five Steps to Establishing and Sustaining a Vigorous Sales Management Team
      4. Conclusion
    12. Motivating the Sales Force
      1. Introduction
      2. Individual Motivators: What Are People Like?
      3. Job Characteristics: What Makes the Sales Job Special?
      4. Sales Force Productivity Drivers: What Programs Motivate Salespeople?
      5. Motivation Strategies
      6. Five Key Insights for Better Sales Force Motivation
      7. Conclusion
    13. Compensating for Results
      1. Introduction
      2. A Sales Force Incentive Compensation Framework
      3. Four Key Decisions for Effective Incentive Compensation Plan Design
      4. A Compensation Adviser
      5. Conclusion: An Incentive Plan Design Process
    14. Setting Effective Goals and Objectives
      1. Introduction
      2. What Do Goals Accomplish?
      3. Types of Sales Force Goals
      4. Goals and Objectives Reflect the Selling Environment as Well as the Culture and Values of the Sales Force
      5. Goal-Setting Observations
      6. An Example That Illustrates the Cost of Poor Goal Setting
      7. Determining Successful Territory-Level Goals—A Five-Step Process
      8. Tracking Performance against Goals
      9. Concluding Goal-Setting Insights
    15. Precision Selling
      1. Precision Selling
      2. Customer Segmentation
      3. Account Strategy Development
      4. The Two Last Steps: Implementation and Tracking and Analysis
      5. Conclusion
    16. Using Technology to Assist the Sales Force in Customer Relationship Management
      1. Introduction
      2. The Role of CRM Systems
      3. Why CRM Systems Fail
      4. CRM Objectives and Opportunities
      5. The Components of a CRM System
      6. Nine Steps to Successful CRM Design and Implementation
      7. Six Insights for Successful CRM Systems
      8. Conclusion
    17. Performance Management
      1. Performance Management: The Control Loop of the Sales Force
      2. The Performance Management Process
      3. Performance Measures
      4. Approaches to Performance Management
      5. Seven Insights for Successful Performance Management
      6. Conclusion
    18. Building a Potent Sales Force Culture
      1. Introduction
      2. Norms, Values, and Work Styles—The Elements of a Sales Force Culture
      3. The Formation of a Sales Force Culture
      4. How to Change a Sales Force Culture
      5. How to Maintain a Successful Culture

    Product information

    • Title: The Complete Guide to Accelerating Sales Force Performance
    • Author(s): Andris A. Zoltners, Prabhakant Sinha, Greggor A. Zoltners
    • Release date: April 2001
    • Publisher(s): AMACOM
    • ISBN: 0814406505