2. MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
The practices and routines followed by sales management can have a great impact on the performance of the salesperson. For example, if you change your compensation plan to emphasize acquiring new accounts, and your sales manager never measures the number of new accounts acquired, never measures the various steps in
that process, never asks the sales person about it, nor holds him accountable in any way, your change in sales force compensation will be ineffective.
Sales managers need to measure the progress on every performance indicator encouraged by the compensation plan. They need to have regular meetings with each sales person in which the topic of conversation is dictated by the sales manager, and focuses on specific progress on each performance indicator, and specific
plans to achieve greater numbers. This process, by the way, is one of the key processes we teach in our Kahle Way ® Sales Management System.
3. STRUCTURE
In much of my other writing, I discuss the concept of “sales structure”. Briefly, the structure is the set of written and unspoken policies, procedures, and expectations that surround the job of the salesperson. I like to characterize it as everything left in the sales department after you remove all the
people. It is larger and more specific than “culture” because it is often codified and institutionalized.
Some examples of elements of the structure include:
- Sales compensation plan
- Job descriptions
- Territory definitions
- CRM, or lack thereof
- Call reports, planning itineraries, or lack thereof
- Pricing guidelines
- Sales process definitions
This is just a small sampling of the list that makes up the “rules” – the way things are done in your company.
The key rule here is that the structure must support the behaviors that you are reinforcing in the compensation plan. For example, if you emphasize the acquisition of new accounts, but several of your sales people have mature territories with few prospects left, the structure stands in the way of the compensation
plan.
Most components of sales structure are vestiges of days gone by. They were created, typically, in response to a crisis some time ago, and became codified. Most companies aren’t even aware of many elements of their structure, because they have been so embedded into the routines of the company that they don’t
even notice them anymore.
It’s not unusual to find elements of the sale structure that present obstacles to the attainment of the compensation behaviors. Not only are they not supportive, but they also stand in the way.
When you change your sales force compensation plan, look at every single behavior that you want to encourage, and ask yourself, “Is there anything in the way we do sales in this company that presents an obstacle to the sales person performing on this issue?” Be open-minded. You may even ask for some outside
input. Remember, many of the elements of your structure are so deeply embedded into your routines that no one even notices them.
When you identify structural elements that are obstacles to sales success, work to eliminate them.
