Sales & Marketing Management - September/October 2008 - (Page 15)

SMART MANAGEMENT BY DAVID J. CICHELLI Specialize your sales force Snaring bigger numbers is all in the details act number one: Geographic territories represent the most common form of sales coverage. Fact number two: For most organizations, the general territory representative is often responsible for a wide swath of customer relationships. These sales professionals have all accounts within a locale, selling both to new and existing customers. But smart sales leaders know that geographically assigned representatives cannot always effectively cover all sales opportunities. Sales specialization becomes necessary. A few more facts for your perusal: s Sales specialization improves performance. Sales personnel perform best when they have focused objectives. s Sales specialization is expensive. Therefore, it must produce results that exceed its investment. s Sales specialization is difficult to manage. It requires greater management oversight, as sales force compartmentalization can derail strategic alignment. s Changing sales coverage is challenging. Tinkering with job content and account assignments is no small feat, requiring substantial planning and investment. F on customers at their location. Telephone sales personnel and e-sellers contact their customers remotely. Points of influence. National account managers work with HQ buyers to secure vendor approval permissions. Local sales personnel then sell to local outlets as an approved vendor. In this case, both the HQ customer and the local buyer require assigned sales contact. Sales progression. Complex, long-cycle selling often requires a team. This can include assigned specialists, including an account manager, technical pre-sales, customer service, installation personnel and contracts. DAVID CICHELLI IS THE SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF THE ALEXANDER GROUP IN SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. HE CAN BE REACHED AT EDIT@ SALESANDMARKETING.COM. With that in mind, what follows are the most common forms of sales specialization: Size. Stratified sales organizations divide the cus- tomer base by current and potential size. Sales management removes named accounts from the geographic territories and assigns these accounts to a major/strategic account seller. Purchasing status. “Hunters” go after new accounts; “farmers” serve existing customers. Industry. Vertical market sales representatives sell to accounts within an industry by optimizing industryspecific application knowledge. Channel type. Direct sellers sell to end users, while indirect sellers work with channel partners. Sometimes sales management will specialize channel personnel, using “sales-in” specialists who work with the partners and “sales-out” sellers who call on end users. Funding source. Tax-supported entities have unique buying practices and are often served by a government sales team. Product. These reps sell one type of product to all customers. Deep knowledge of said product is their hallmark. Access method. “Premise” sales representatives call www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com Overlay. Working with the field sales force, overlay specialists focus on select products and/or markets. Buyer segments. Moving past account assignments, some sales organizations create buyer-segmented territories that assign buyers within accounts. Such models use multiple sellers to sell to unique customer product/ application buyers within the account. Because of advances in customer tracking, sales management can employ even more finely cut sales specialization. For example, sales management can monitor customers’ buying patterns and single them out for special sales attention for declining customers or customers with additional cross-selling opportunities. The take-home message: Intelligently implemented sales specialization can only boost your numbers. Fully model the costs, and utilize effective leadership to manage customer assignments. IF YOU HAVE SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO BECOME A MORE EFFECTIVE SALES OR MARKETING MANAGER, LOG ONTO www.smmsoundoff.com YOUR IDEAS AND EXPERIENCES. SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2008 TO SHARE SALES &MARKETING MANAGEMENT 15 http://www.smmsoundoff.com http://www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com

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Sales &�Marketing Management - September/October 2008 Contents Editor's Letter Brian Tracy University Smart Sales Sales Strategy Smart Marketing Marketing Strategy Smart Management Management Strategy The Low-Cost Sales Leader Why Sales Process Gets the Shaft Training Q&A Technology Making the Case for Travel (Part II) Travel/Meetings On the Road The Way I See It

Sales & Marketing Management - September/October 2008

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