Managerial work requires a very careful approach to organizing work. Why is this necessary and how is it implemented? – Correct work organization allows you to rationally spend vital energy for the organization and have its reserves in order to enjoy life and take full advantage of the opportunities that come with financial success. What is proper organization of work?– The correct organization of work begins with the correct organization of the workplace and the culture of communication, the culture of negotiations, the ability to focus on the main thing, weed out the unnecessary and many more simple but important rules. And if you organize the work process correctly, you will work with pleasure, have the opportunity to fully relax, have diverse interests, but if you do not have the correct organization of work, then, most likely, due to the exorbitant burden of many unresolved problems, your limit dreams, there will be a desire to get to bed to relax and forget about a hard day at work.

Why so categorical? – To illustrate, let’s look at some examples from life, opinions and misconceptions about managers at all levels and how this relates to the proper organization of work. For example, workers who work physically are mostly confident that this work is very easy and simple - turn on the air conditioner, sit in a chair and answer calls. Some of them, having worked hard and received a higher education, switch to office work with such conviction, and if they do not have a systematic approach to organizing work, they will be deeply disappointed. If previously, working physically in the fresh air, strengthening their muscles and nervous system, they came home and felt only physical fatigue, but after the office “routine,” they felt empty and exhausted. This is evidenced by many who have replaced physical work with mental, office work, stating only a fact and not saying or not knowing what the reason is, and the reason for this is the incorrect organization of work.

What does a typical working day for a manager or top manager look like? – Constant phone calls, mail and messages with many problems, the need to make complex, quick decisions, a queue at the reception - partners with business proposals, subordinates - with problems. And also planning meetings, meetings, calls to the carpet. And if this process is left to chance, then without proper organization of work many problems will not receive proper resolution, and debts will accumulate in matters that will have to be resolved at the expense of personal time. Physical labor in production is regulated by many instructions, rules, laws, and is controlled by labor protection services, commissions, committees of all levels, i.e. Occupational health and safety is organized at the state level.

“And this is correct, and it cannot be otherwise,” as Michal Sergeich liked to say, what is wrong is that such an approach to mental work is practically absent. As a manager, your safety precautions are a systematic organization of work. Let's look at this with specific examples. Organization of work begins with the selection and arrangement of an office or workplace. What is the main criterion? – Creating the most comfortable working conditions, without frills or pretentiousness, because antiques, objects of art that require additional protection and careful handling complicate your life and reduce your concentration at work. Figuratively speaking, a set of exclusive furniture will in no way help you avoid a collapse in business, but you can earn millions sitting at the table produced by a local furniture artel.

Plan the location of your workplace in advance in order to eliminate as much as possible inconveniences that negatively affect your emotional state and reduce the ability to properly organize work. Here is a list of additional factors on which the effectiveness of work organization depends:

If you have the opportunity to independently decide on the layout of the office (at the stage of construction or reconstruction), make a list of the necessary equipment and furniture in advance (even for planned purchases), provide the necessary space for this, decide on the laying of communications, the arrangement and connection of equipment, the location of main and auxiliary premises;

High-quality lighting promotes comfort, and therefore you can approach the organization of work more carefully, but if the workplace is located next to a window, you must avoid direct sunlight, drafts, and if you do not have a window next to the workplace, hang bright curtains or a picture there with good scenery;

Avoid locating your office next to a toilet or near sources of noise.

Doing business involves numerous business connections, contacts, and this direction requires a certain rigidity in organizing work to develop business cooperation. If you allow yourself to be drawn into considering dubious offers, you will lose a lot of time and nerves. And it all starts with a single polite answer. Develop a system and a reasoned response strategy, develop the habit of strictly adhering to it so as not to involve yourself in endless negotiations and meetings, i.e. learn to say a firm “no.”

Another obstacle to proper organization of work can be unproductive use of time. – Arrange a meeting or negotiation “after lunch, in the morning.” As a result, 5-6 hours pass in useless waiting, without benefit, introducing confusion and disorder into the process of organizing work. The recommendation is obvious - you need to negotiate “purely specifically”, indicating the exact time, without seconds :)

Let's take a closer look at one of the important components of proper organization of work, such as the culture of telephone conversations, because its low level results in a loss of working time at the level of 25-30%, and this is the largest indicator of all factors that reduce the efficiency of work organization. The inability to prepare for a telephone conversation, clearly formulate your thoughts, value your time and the time of your interlocutor also negatively affects your image and the reputation of your company. For example, in companies with high requirements for work organization, they will certainly fire an employee who is not able to solve problems or find an acceptable solution in 2-3 minutes of a telephone conversation. It follows that the telephone conversation should be brief.

Here are some rules for organizing work regarding telephone communication in the office:

Pick up the phone after the second or third beep - no one likes to wait;
After picking up the phone, introduce yourself; the person calling you has the right to know who he is talking to; in addition, this introduces an element of trust into the conversation. The words “Hello, I’m listening” are neutral, uninformative;
do not use scraps of paper or sheets of paper for notes - use a special notepad for this;
Make sure that your questions to your interlocutor do not turn into an interrogation: “Who is this, what do you need?”;
do not “football” the problem: “Not my question, this cannot be, you are mistaken.” Help a person figure it out and he will feel like a debtor, and this is already an opportunity for new contacts and a more efficient organization of work.

Never answer a question with the phrase “I don’t know.” It is much more effective from the point of view of proper organization of work: “An interesting, unexpected question, let me clarify.” It's your job to know don't undermine your firm's credibility.

Don’t refuse a client or counterparty by “cutting them off” - they will go to a competitor; it is much more productive to take time to think about options for cooperation - your business will only benefit from this, confirming that there are no trifles in organizing work.

Never say the word “no” at the beginning of an answer - this makes solving the problem very difficult. To refuse something, when expressing disagreement, always try to choose a less conflicting option. For example: “We don’t have the opportunity..., but we are ready...” Your organization of work with this approach will be more productive.

If a client approaches you, avoid the wording: “You should...”, as a rule, he doesn’t owe you anything, so choose less categorical answers: “It would be more acceptable..., It suits you more...” - this will be more correct communication with the client in the context of proper organization of work in the office.

If you are having a personal conversation with one of the visitors, do not give preference to the caller on the phone unless the level of the problem or the essence of the issue significantly exceeds the essence of the conversation - this borders on disrespect. And if the organization of work in your company is at the proper level, then your secretary must have the qualifications to solve this problem independently.

It is correct that if the caller ends the conversation, the person receiving the call is not recommended to demonstrate his impatience, provided that this conversation does not go beyond the bounds of expediency, both in content and in duration. In order not to offend an overly talkative interlocutor and end the conversation delicately, develop and strictly adhere to a strategy for politely exiting an unwanted conversation. There are many options, but a universal recommendation could be this: in the first part of the phrase, you emphasize in every possible way the importance of this topic, the professionalism of the interlocutor, and the second is a great regret that you cannot continue such a meaningful conversation due to urgent matters, circumstances (there are many options ).

The organization of work and its effectiveness largely depend on your ability to correctly stop encroachments on your time. By and large, this is the most destructive type of theft, because... Money stolen from you can somehow be returned, but stolen time can never be returned. Remember this. For example, I experience something similar to physical discomfort when they try to drag me into empty chatter or state the essence of the question, prefacing it with a phrase like this: “When mammoths still walked the Earth..., I physically feel that minutes, seconds, they are simply erased from life, so I ask leading questions, politely, unobtrusively move on to the topic that interests me - as a rule, the interlocutor remembers that he also has similar interests. We agree with understanding and without offense.

Organization of work is impossible without planning it. This also applies to telephone communication. Never pick up the phone without thinking it through in detail, and in especially important, difficult cases, without drawing up a thesis plan for the upcoming conversation.

The statement that a daily work plan is an essential component of effective work organization may seem controversial - there are people for whom this is supposedly completely unsuitable, circumstances and situations often change, etc. Unfortunately, a compromise is impossible on this issue - there must be a plan for organizing work for the day if you want to avoid unproductive waste of time and unnecessary work. A daily work plan is not a rigid structure that does not allow you to adequately respond to changes in external and internal factors. On the contrary, a plan for organizing work for the day is a way that makes it possible to navigate the trends and directions of changing events and circumstances.

The plan for organizing work for the day must be in writing (on paper, notepad, laptop). Be sure to review it regularly throughout the day. This will take a few minutes, but you will have the opportunity to control, manage the work process, correctly determine priorities, not forget anything, and make the necessary adjustments. You must make a work organization plan for the day taking into account the priority of each new task, for which you need to evaluate each task in terms of urgency and importance. Based on personal experience, I can recommend the following gradation of priority tasks:

1.) Important and urgent.
2.) Important, not urgent.
3.) Urgent, not important.

4.) Not urgent, not important.

Effective organization of work is the ability to highlight the main directions and tasks, concentrating maximum efforts on them, instead of scattering them across many ordinary tasks. This recommendation follows from the Pareto rule, which states that 80% of successful results are produced by 20% of the effort.

Now let's look at a systematic approach that will help you cope with large amounts of information, avoid stress and reduce the efficiency of your work. The key to this is proper organization of work with documents. First of all, it is necessary to divide incoming information by level of value, for example: important, urgent, additional. The correct organization of work in this case is to ensure that your efforts are focused on the main directions. Instruct the secretary or assistant to review all documents and not transmit to you those that can be reviewed in the usual manner by your subordinates. Do not give out your business cards unreasonably, in order to reduce the flow of “waste paper”, exclude yourself from the mailing list of internal documents that are not related to your responsibilities, but reduce the efficiency of work organization.

Decision making is a creative process for every manager and in practical terms, its completion means that this is just the beginning of organizing work to implement the decision made. To make a decision, you need to decide on the answers to the following questions: why is this particular decision being made, what goals do I want to achieve, do I have the necessary information to make it and organize the implementation work, what are the costs of money and time, what are the options for the decision to be made?

– There is always a temptation to consider the most attractive option at first glance and your attention is fixed only on it, to the detriment of other possibilities. Take your time, analyze all the options, so that you don’t make adjustments at the stage of organizing work to implement the decision. Even the most brilliant decisions can fail if you do not convey your conviction to the implementers. The basic principles of organizing the work of effective persuasion, attracting supporters, is that you must do this taking into account the point of view of the audience, establishing an atmosphere of trust by presenting an analysis and a clear plan for implementing the solution, especially emphasizing the benefits of future results.

Much has been said and written about meetings that are convened for any reason without bringing any visible effect, and the loss of time is enormous. Much has been said and written, and if there is a loss of time, then there are opportunities to improve the organization of work. Why are some people very willing to attend meetings? – This is supposedly a kind of recognition of their importance, involvement with the “top level”, this is an opportunity to impress management, colleagues, meetings seem to protect you from accumulated problems, phone calls, i.e. meetings are an atmosphere of relative inaccessibility. What do we get from meetings? – Exchange of information, opinions, analysis and promotion of various ideas, the need to motivate employees.

When considering the prospect of convening a meeting, always try to answer the question - what will be the end result? – After all, more effective methods of organizing work to convey information and exchange opinions have long been known, and at meetings, as a rule, everyone listens, and the top people speak. Creative meetings and brainstorming are also not always more effective than individual creativity - this is evidenced by recent research. Meetings on targeted team motivation often fail when the focus is on individual mentoring and training.

Why is clear organization of office work so necessary? – It gives you the opportunity to win 2-3 hours from routine and chaos for creative work, self-development, rest, i.e., figuratively speaking, your day will not have 24 hours, but 26-27 hours.

Do not take this article as ready-made instructions for organizing office work. This is just material that outlines the essence of the problem, its individual directions, and solutions. The variety and scope of your knowledge of this topic is enormous and they depend on your personal experience, level of knowledge in many areas, from management to psychology.

The efficiency of its work directly depends on the correct distribution of functions in the department. If all managers do everything, then the company is likely to lose profits. According to Oy-li specialists, in this situation the business loses up to 30% of revenue every month. Are you ready to sacrifice it further?

Depending on the field of activity of the company, the responsibilities of subordinates can be divided into the following functions in the department:

Headhunters - hunters - subordinates who are engaged in attracting new clients. These are monsters in cold calling and generators of the main flow of clients through targeting, landing pages and Internet marketing;

Closers (close – close). Their work is aimed at closing a large number of transactions and increasing the average check;

Farmers who are ready to resell related products (up sale and cross sale), increase the company’s share in the client and reduce the number of “failed” counterparties.

The division of work for companies working with retail will be effective between hunters and closers. In this case, marketers will be able to stimulate the client to make a repeat purchase.

An equally effective principle is dividing according to the size of the client. Entrust the management of large companies to one manager, and small and medium-sized businesses to another. Otherwise, in the hope of hitting the big jackpot, the employee who does everything may put off finishing small deals until later.

If interaction with dealer networks is important for the company, then this is another person on the team. It is also not worth assigning the responsibility to conduct tenders to everyone - the complexity of the work itself implies that the company has a specially trained specialist for these purposes.

The work of the sales department: setting plans for managers

The issue of setting plans for employees is always sensitive. Including the number of calls and meetings that managers must make daily. Subordinates tend to overestimate these figures, making an average of about 20-30 calls a day, while managers, often having no idea about the real state of affairs, may consider this number quite acceptable. But this is far from true.

Here are some data on the number of calls made by managers of a company with multimillion-dollar revenue per year that you should follow:

• Retail company managers make 250 calls a day;
• 150 calls per day are made by employees of companies engaged in the mass market;
• 100 calls within the capabilities of specialists from companies working with small and medium-sized businesses in the B2B segment;
• 50 calls is a plan for companies working with large businesses in the B2B segment.

Up to 25 meetings are held daily by specialists working in the FMCG sector. It is possible to hold up to 8 meetings a day in retail trade. 1-2 meetings are the norm for the B2B segment.

It is possible to achieve such indicators thanks to the correct distribution of responsibilities within the department, which was discussed above.

Work of the sales department: planning daily activity

The work of the sales department should resemble a clockwork mechanism, functioning smoothly every second of time. You should, of course, refer to the standard industry activity figures above. But this is just a litmus test. Perhaps you can do better. Therefore, calculate your daily indicators for calls and meetings.

This is done by decomposing the planned profit according to the following plan.

1. We determine profit based on the influence of external and internal factors.
2. We calculate revenue by the share of profit in it.
3. We find a natural indicator - the number of transactions - based on the average check.
4. Let's find out the overall indicator.
5. We calculate the number of actions at each stage of the business process for the entire planned period.
6. We divide the number of actions at each stage by the number of working days.
7. We distribute the resulting daily workload among managers.
8. We compare indicators with segment and industry standards.

Work of the sales department: structuring the commercial department

The optimal structure of a commercial department for large companies is as follows: two departments, each with three managers and one director. For representatives of small and medium-sized businesses, the best option is to have three sellers. It is this structuring that makes it possible to artificially create competition between employees, which means stimulating them to work harder.

Sales department work: setting up business processes

A step-by-step decomposition of an employee’s actions with a clear understanding of the deadlines for their implementation for each client is a mandatory stage in setting up the team’s work. The easiest way to do this is with an automated quality control tool like . It contains step-by-step instructions for the manager, starting from the first call, to sending a commercial proposal, processing objections and concluding an agreement.

Each stage, in turn, can have a number of subtasks. For each of them, it is important to set deadlines and monitor their compliance. Here you can configure it for new and current clients, measure its indicators weekly, analyze the bottlenecks and make decisions to expand them. Verna will not only automate up to 80% of all business processes in the company, but also.

Sales department work: motivating staff

The motivation system for each subordinate can be different depending on the personal goals that he pursues. However, there are a few general principles:

1. We motivate you to fulfill the plan. An employee who fulfills the plan receives a salary above the market average. The financial remuneration of a subordinate who does not fulfill the plan, accordingly, does not exceed the market average.

2. We motivate you to do more. Each employee should be able to calculate within 20 seconds what percentage of the plan he has completed to date, and how much more he needs to do in order to count on a bonus and other pleasant bonuses.

3. We motivate with a low salary. The bulk of a manager's income should come from interest and bonuses. For example, fulfilling the plan 100% can be encouraged by an additional bonus of 50% of the salary, and for failure to fulfill the plan, all bonus payments are canceled.

Sales department work: making reports

Take reports daily: without them, you have no information about the real state of affairs in the company and cannot, if necessary, correct the actions of subordinates. Weekly reports do not count - this way you can influence the result no more than 4 times a month.

Track the duration and structure of phone calls for new and current clients. This way you will know how much each manager spends on average on a phone call. Make reports on cold, warm and hot clients, by funnel, as well as by channels for receiving applications: how many clients come to the company and from where.

The work of the sales department: we control the results

The easiest way to monitor the effectiveness of salespeople is at planning meetings using the Deming cycle, or the PDCA cycle, which includes 4 stages of control:

• Plan - plan
• Do - do
• Check - check
• Act - fix it.

The peculiarity of this approach to planning meetings is that they are carried out quickly and to the point. It costs 30 minutes to organize them every day. At each meeting, the participant reports on the results of the previous day and sets a plan for the current day, analyzing errors. Announcing upcoming tasks loudly encourages employees to complete them. Recording the interim results of each manager on the dashboard motivates them to increase personal indicators.

Three times a day - at 11.00, at 14.00 and at 16.00 - it is also recommended to conduct short five-minute exercises. They will allow you to adjust the manager’s actions, if necessary.

The work of the sales department: a summary of what has been said

So, work in the sales department should go smoothly, like clockwork. To do this, it is necessary to build the right structure - adherence to the principle of controllability, creation of competitive conditions. It is important to distribute the functions of managers, to identify hunters, closers, and farmers.

The crucial moment is setting plans for managers! Moreover, it is necessary to set plans not only for, but also for key performance indicators.

The implementation of plans is facilitated by a motivation system, the creation of which includes the following principles:

1. An employee who fulfills the plan receives a salary higher than the market average. The one who did not comply is below the average market salary of a manager.

2. Each employee must calculate in 20 seconds what percentage of the plan he has completed, and how much more needs to be done to receive bonuses.

3. The bulk of the manager’s income should come from interest and bonuses. A fixed salary is no more than 30% of the total remuneration.

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In a highly competitive environment in dynamically developing markets, a company must set clear goals and determine ways to achieve them. The tasks of the sales department are based on satisfying customer needs and successfully competing in the market. Planning the activities of a sales department requires taking into account many factors, primarily the characteristics of the sales market, the number and geographical location of potential consumers, market share of competitors, marketing strategy for product promotion and many others.

Organizing the activities of the sales department is an important component of planning the activities of the entire organization as a whole. Despite the fact that in large companies sometimes it is not so much about creating a sales department, but about its reorganization, however, in both the first and second cases, the company’s management must do the following:

• formulate the goals of the sales department;
• develop an optimal organizational structure;
• determine the specifics of working with clients;
• establish criteria for evaluating the activities of the sales department.

This chapter is devoted to issues of organizing sales in a company, although we will also touch upon issues of outsourcing, i.e. attracting external contractors.

Goals and objectives of the sales department

The organizational structure of any company is a way of managing the activities of a group of people united by a common goal, which is aimed at obtaining the final result. The purpose of creating an organizational structure is to distribute responsibilities and coordinate the activities of group members so that they act as one team when performing assigned tasks. When it comes to creating a sales structure, the tasks of the corresponding department are formulated based on the company’s marketing goals.

When creating a sales organizational structure, keep the following in mind:

• division of labor and specialization of employees must be beneficial for the company;
• The sales organization must ensure stability and continuity of the company's sales;
• The sales organization must ensure coordination of different types of sales activities performed by individual employees or divisions of the company.

Two centuries ago, Adam Smith emphasized that the specialization of workers is directly related to labor productivity. Segregation of duties and specialization leads to increased productivity as each employee focuses on a clear set of job responsibilities. However, this statement is not always true in relation to personal sales, when a sales representative has a very wide range of functions - this may be due to the peculiarities of marketing the goods produced by the company or the need to sell a full product range or serve all the company’s clients in a certain region. True, in some companies sales are quite complex, and labor specialization can lead to a significant increase in the efficiency of the department as a whole. In these circumstances, management's task is to create an organizational structure with an optimal distribution of sales activities that will bring maximum benefit to the company.

It is customary to distinguish two main sales organization schemes, which will be discussed in detail below.

The horizontal structure reflects the division of the company's target activities into separate tasks and functions and their integration into separate divisions. As will be shown below, this structure is based on four basic principles, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.

The vertical structure reflects the hierarchy of the organization. The more levels of management between top management and ordinary employees, the more complex the organization's structure. As a company grows, the number of hierarchical levels in it increases, and accordingly more effort is required to coordinate their activities.

Despite the fact that many companies base their sales organization on the principles of division of labor and specialization of sales personnel, they often ignore the fact that it is not people who need to be organized, but activities. In other words, the types of activities - or functional responsibilities of the sales staff - should correspond to certain positions, and not to the personal qualities of certain employees. After developing the optimal organizational structure for a given company, it should be implemented in practice, i.e. recruiting personnel from among our own trained employees or inviting outside specialists. Over time, lower-level workers, having gained experience and qualifications, will be able to move up the career ladder, ensuring stability and continuity of the structure.

The division and specialization of employee labor necessitate the coordination and integration of their efforts aimed at achieving the goals of the organization. The more organizational tasks different specialists have to solve, the more difficult it is to coordinate their work. If sales are carried out by external agents or intermediaries, the difficulties increase, since the manager cannot directly manage their work and cannot always control their actions.

Coordination and integration of the activities of employees of the organization’s own sales department should be based on the following principles:

• focus on the needs and interests of the company’s clients;
• interaction with other departments of the company (production, design bureau, logistics, financial department, etc.);
• coordination of tasks between specialized groups performing various functions within the same sales department.

Horizontal structure of the sales organization

The organizational structure of sales should be a flexible tool for achieving the company's goals. But the structure can be modified when current tasks, strategies or external factors change, so it is impossible to offer an ideal option for distributing the functions of each employee or group of employees in the sales department. However, the first question that needs to be answered is formulated as follows: should the company create its own sales system or does it make sense to turn to the services of third-party sales structures?

Outsourcing

It is not always profitable for a company to create its own sales structure; sometimes it is advisable to turn to the services of independent companies specializing in sales of relevant products. The transfer by an organization of part of business processes or functions to some other company specializing in the relevant field is called outsourcing. Outsourcing allows a company to reduce the costs and labor of its operations and concentrate on its core activities without being distracted by secondary ones. This is especially true for companies that operate in regions with a relatively small number of clients or low sales potential, i.e. where maintaining your own sales department is financially unprofitable. Companies often resort to a combined method: creating their own small sales department and attracting independent agents.

The decision whether to create your own sales department or outsource sales is made taking into account many factors, but the following four are among the most significant:

• economic feasibility;
• the need for control and coordination;
• transaction costs;
• strategic flexibility.

Economic feasibility

When choosing between creating your own sales system and outsourcing this function, it is useful to analyze and compare the costs associated with both options. The comparison results are shown in Fig. 1.

Rice. 1. Costs of maintaining your own sales department and outsourcing

The graph shows that up to a certain point, maintaining full-time sales personnel is more expensive than hiring contractors. This is due to low overhead costs for third-party agents, no need for payroll and other costs. But outsourcing costs rise as sales volume increases because agents typically earn large commissions on deals. Consequently, there is a point (V b in the figure), after which it is more profitable for the company to form its own sales structure. This explains why outsourcing is used, as a rule, either by large companies in small territories, or by small firms whose sales volumes are so small that creating their own sales department is economically unjustified. Relatively low costs for the services of independent sales agents increase the attractiveness of outsourcing when a company expands into new regions or when introducing new products to the market. At the same time, the company’s expenses in case of an unsuccessful outcome are minimal, since the outsourcer (contractor) will not receive remuneration until it sells the goods.

On the other hand, you should take into account how much sales volume the company’s own sales department can provide and how much can be provided by an outsourced company. Management often believes that creating a full-time sales department is more effective because:

• sales personnel are engaged in selling only the company’s products;
• employees may receive special training to work with specific customer groups or product categories;
• It’s easier to motivate your own employees;
• customers prefer to deal with the manufacturer of the product rather than with an intermediary.

However, it should be considered that external sales agents with extensive experience and high qualifications, specializing in a particular area, can bring more value than an in-house sales system - especially when the company is expanding into a new geographic region, introducing a new product to the market, or is a start-up company with There is no own sales structure.

Control and coordination

The ability to control and coordinate sales in accordance with the current goals and objectives of the company is another argument in favor of creating your own sales department. The fact is that external agents, pursuing their own short-term goals, may refuse to participate in the strategic activities of the customer company, the return on which is possible only in the long term - for example, in searching and attracting new customers, in working with small clients with significant growth potential, in after-sales service, in promoting new products to the market. In addition, outsourcers may resist strict control on the part of the customer company, which employees of the company’s own sales department will not allow themselves to do.

The customer company can refuse outsourcing at any time, but it is not always possible to objectively analyze and formulate the reasons for dissatisfaction with the relationship with the contractor. These reasons can be both objective (for example, the outsourcer neglecting its responsibilities) and subjective (unfavorable market conditions). It should be taken into account that if customers become accustomed to an external agent, if they are replaced by an in-house sales representative, the relationship between the supplier and the customer may suffer. It is easier to control and coordinate the actions of your own sales staff; for this purpose, there are different ways in the arsenal of managers - selection and training of new employees, establishment of internal business regulations and policies, application of evaluation and remuneration methods, etc. up to the dismissal of employees who showed unsatisfactory results at the end of a certain period.

Transaction costs

According to the theory of transaction costs, the costs of cooperation with outsourcers exceed the costs of maintaining an in-house sales department when sales require significant investments. The reason is simple: agents often pursue their own interests to the detriment of the interests of the manufacturer, for example, they formally approach issues of after-sales customer service and ignore the needs of small customers, because such transactions do not bring tangible profits. The customer company cannot control such agents and influence their actions, especially if the choice of such services on the market is limited. In such circumstances, transaction costs are high. However, if both the manufacturer and the outsourcer are committed to long-term and mutually beneficial cooperation, strong business relationships are established between them.

Strategic flexibility

Strategic flexibility is an important criterion that must be taken into account when choosing between creating your own distribution system and turning to an outsourcer. An unstable, rapidly changing market or competitive environment, the regular introduction of new technologies and long product life cycles dictate conditions in which it is more profitable for companies to work with external agents. This allows them to maintain flexibility in their distribution channels and compete successfully in the market. The main reason is that it is more difficult to quickly reorganize your own vertically integrated sales system than to find a qualified sales agent, especially if you do not need to invest additional funds or sign long-term contracts to sell the products. In other words, working with outsourcers makes sense when maintaining your own sales department is even more troublesome than dealing with poorly managed independent agents.

Classification and criteria for selecting intermediaries

If a company decides to outsource its sales, it will have to turn to intermediaries, who can be divided into four general categories:

• sales representatives of the manufacturing company;
• sales agents;
• distributors;
• dealers.

Sales representatives sell the manufacturer's products on the basis of a long-term contract. They are neither the legal nor the physical owners of the goods sold; their task is solely to sell the products. Representatives do not have the right to change the sales policy of the manufacturing company, on the basis of which the pricing strategy, sales conditions, etc. are formed. As payment for their services, they receive only commissions from concluded transactions. As a rule, representatives operate in a strictly limited territory and specialize in several interrelated, but not competing product lines from different manufacturers. This approach provides representatives with a number of benefits.

• You can establish long-term relationships with several potential clients in your territory.
• You can thoroughly study the entire range of products sold.
• It is possible to significantly reduce costs by distributing distribution costs across products from several manufacturers.
• You can establish a flexible remuneration scheme, since the amount of commission directly depends on the volume of products sold.

Sales agents also sell products and receive commissions without being the legal or physical owners of the products they sell. They differ from representatives in that they usually sell the entire range of customer products. Consequently, the agent not only represents the company's products in a specific territory, but also performs the functions of its entire sales staff. As a rule, the sales agent receives certain powers and can adjust prices and terms of sale. In addition, he has the opportunity to influence the sales and sales promotion programs of “his” customer.

A distributor is usually a legal entity or individual who purchases wholesale quantities of goods and sells them on regional markets. Unlike a representative and agent, a distributor purchases products at his own expense and resells them to other buyers. But a distributor is not just a wholesaler who is not bound by any obligations to the manufacturing company. The distributor enters into an agreement with the customer company, in which the customer sets a minimum sales volume for a certain period of time; if actual sales are lower, the company may terminate the agreement with the distributor. Sometimes the customer grants his distributor the exclusive right to sell, voluntarily leaving the market and pledging not only not to enter into competition with him, but also to provide all possible assistance in promotion and advertising; provides the right to use its trademark, provides assistance in organizing personnel training and after-sales service. The responsibilities of a distributor may also include collecting information and analyzing the market, advertising, searching for dealers and working with them, organizing and stimulating sales channels, logistics, adapting goods to customer requirements, providing technical and warranty service.

A dealer is most often a small company or entrepreneur who purchases goods at wholesale prices from manufacturers or distributors and sells them to end consumers. They operate on the basis of contracts with manufacturing companies and, as a rule, participate in their advertising campaigns.

Distributors and dealers are engaged in the resale of goods, with dealers being closer to the end consumer and distributors being closer to the manufacturer. Dealers and distributors receive compensation in the form of the difference between the purchase price and the resale price. The interest of the customer and the outsourcer here is mutual. Manufacturing companies are expanding their sales network and entering new markets, and intermediaries, purchasing goods at prices below market prices, earn a solid profit from their sale.

Organization of sales within the company

If a company believes that the cost of maintaining a sales force will pay off, it creates its own sales department. Moreover, its organizational structure is built on one or more basic principles:

• geographical;
• by product categories;
• by types of clients;
• by sales functions.

Organization of sales by geographical principle

This is the simplest and most common method of organizing the work of a company's sales staff. Its essence lies in the fact that
Each sales representative is assigned a separate region or territory. The responsibilities of a sales representative include selling the entire range of products manufactured by the company to all categories of potential customers in a given territory.

Advantages of this approach:

• cost minimization;
• reduction of levels in the decision-making hierarchy;
• direct interaction with clients.

The vast territory is divided into regions, and each region is assigned a sales representative. This saves time and travel expenses. In addition, the number of managers at different levels coordinating the work of sales personnel is reduced, which reduces overhead costs and simplifies management. Another advantage of this approach concerns the company's relationship with customers: since each client communicates with only one sales representative, all organizational and other issues are addressed to him.

The main disadvantage of the geographical principle of organizing sales is that the advantages of division of labor and specialization remain exploited. Thus, the sales representative must sell the entire product line of his company to all categories of potential customers, i.e. be a jack of all trades. Employees are given more freedom of action in carrying out their duties, but sometimes they take the path of least resistance and focus on the most simple or profitable areas - for example, working only with a certain group of products or only with large clients, which usually runs counter to the strategic goals of the company and its customer policy. To avoid such situations, the company's management strives to strictly control the activities of regional sales departments or uses carefully thought-out incentive schemes.

Despite the inherent disadvantages of this method, due to its simplicity and cost-effectiveness, it is widely used in small companies that produce a limited range or simple products. Larger companies usually use this approach in combination with others. For example, a sales department has two divisions that sell multiple product lines, each organized geographically.

Organization of sales by product categories

Companies that produce a wide range of goods build their sales system on the classification of goods into groups. The features of this approach are:

• specialization of the sales department;
• close interaction between sales and production;
• effective sales management.

One of the main advantages of this approach is that each salesperson becomes a specialist in the company's products, having a good understanding of the technical characteristics of a particular group of products, how to use them and the most effective methods of sales. Organizing production by product category (when each type of product is produced by a separate enterprise) promotes closer cooperation between production and sales departments. This interaction is especially beneficial for personalization or for attracting and retaining customers who need strict adherence to production and delivery schedules. Finally, this approach allows you to respond in a timely manner to changes in strategy and simplifies the coordination of the activities of the sales department. If it is necessary to increase the sales volume of a particular group of products, management can concentrate most of the sales staff on this area.

The main disadvantage of this organizational principle is the risk of duplication: sales representatives of different product categories work in the same territory and contact the same customers, which causes dissatisfaction among the latter. In addition, compared to organizing sales on a geographical basis, this approach is more expensive. Since it is necessary to clearly coordinate the activities of different departments, it is necessary to increase the number of management staff, and the costs of its maintenance increase accordingly.

Organization of sales by types of clients

The organization of sales by customer type is widespread, when a company creates several sales divisions to serve different groups of customers - large and small, corporate and individual clients, etc. The advantages of this method include:

• close relationships with clients;
• non-standard promotion methods;
• flexible policy regarding sales personnel.

The focus of sales personnel on meeting the needs of “their” group of clients allows them to better understand the specifics of their activities and assess their expectations. This way of organizing sales serves as a natural extension of modern marketing and market segmentation. By training sales personnel in a variety of selling techniques, a company can more successfully implement its marketing and promotion programs. In addition, knowledge of the needs of their customers can prompt sellers with interesting and unexpected ideas for creating fundamentally new products or services, marketing approaches that will allow the company to differentiate itself from its competitors and provide an undoubted advantage in the market. In addition, organizing sales by customer groups allows you to correctly set sales goals in different markets and accordingly change the number of specialized sales personnel of the company.

The disadvantages of such a sales organization are the same as those built by product categories. The company's salespeople work with different clients in the same territory, which leads to increased sales and administrative costs. Moreover, large companies operating in different markets are unhappy when they have to contact different representatives of the same company for different issues.

In general, the advantages of a customer-centric sales organization are considered to outweigh the disadvantages, which is why it is quite widespread. It is especially relevant for two types of organizations: those that produce different types of products aimed at different markets, and those that use different methods of selling to different types of clients (for example, in the public and private sectors). Additionally, specializing by customer type is effective when a company enters a new market.

Organization of sales by sales functions

If the seller has to perform various tasks that require special experience, knowledge and qualifications, it is advisable to build the sales structure based on the functional responsibilities of employees, i.e. on the specialization of sales personnel. Example: One group of sales representatives specializes in finding and developing new customers, while another group specializes in follow-up.

The disadvantage of this scheme is that it often causes customer dissatisfaction. Typically, companies involve the most competent, experienced and energetic employees in searching and developing customers, after which new customers are transferred to other employees whose attitude and level of service may not be liked by customers. It happens that rivalry begins between two functional groups, making it difficult to control and coordinate the work of the department as a whole.

In the industrial goods market, many companies successfully implement another form of functional specialization. We are talking about the so-called “sales developers” who are involved in the development of new products and the initial stages of sales. “Developer salespeople” conduct market research, assist their company’s research and development departments, and sell innovative products. These specialists are employees of the company's research or design bureau rather than the sales department. They are attracted to the development of new products with high potential demand because they are not only intimately familiar with the operations and needs of their customers, but also with the technical and production capabilities of the organization.

Telemarketing

Recently, one form of specialization in sales functions has gained wide popularity, which involves the parallel activities of two groups of sales personnel. The first group works with existing communication channels - telephone, Internet, mobile communications, e-mail (to put it simply, “they are on their phones”). Their activities are called telemarketing. The second group of employees are outside sales representatives who work in the field. The two groups face different challenges. While it is clear that a variety of communication channels cannot replace actual sales, telemarketing plays a significant role in the following activities.

• Search and classification of potential clients; information about them is then transferred to field sales staff for further work. To simplify the search for new potential clients, all advertising materials of the company, its products and packaging indicate the toll-free telephone number of the call center. By calling there, the client can receive detailed information about the goods or services offered by the company.
• Quick response to customer problems (one form of service is a “hotline” that customers can call if difficulties arise).
• Organizing repeat purchases by company clients when a personal visit by a sales representative is not economically feasible - for example, small companies that bring in too little profit and/or distantly located companies.
• Quickly and timely informing customers about important news and changes in the sales program (for example, the availability of new or long-awaited products), special sales promotion programs, or changes in operating conditions.

Telemarketing has become widespread because, firstly, it is convenient for both parties, and secondly, it increases the efficiency of sellers. From the customer's perspective, centralization of purchasing activities and an oversupply of products and potential suppliers increases the cost of purchasing agent time. Therefore, in order to save money, calling by phone is preferable, especially when it comes to solving routine issues, for example, placing repeat orders, informing about special sales programs, offering discounts, etc. A telephone call takes much less time than a personal visit.

From a sales company's perspective, combining in-house and outside sales activities with a well-designed mix of other activities, such as targeted advertising, direct mail, consumer hotlines, and a proactive website, increases the overall sales force's effectiveness. The combination of telemarketing with other promotional measures can significantly reduce the costs of routine sales operations and concentrate the efforts of more expensive outsourced salespeople on activities that provide maximum returns in the long term (for example, finding new and servicing large existing customers).

Due to its effectiveness, telemarketing is especially useful when the corporate policy of interaction with clients provides for the distribution of the labor of sales personnel among different categories of clients depending on the size and purchasing potential of the latter. Thus, previously, some companies did not approve of the work of their salespeople with small clients, since the purchasing potential of the latter not only did not bring significant profits, but did not even cover the costs of a commercial visit. Today's development of communication channels makes it possible for sales personnel to work with such clients directly from the office at much lower costs, which allows the company to reach the segment of small buyers.

At the same time, it must be taken into account that the creation of two or more specialized groups in the sales structure (for example, in the case of using in-house personnel and third-party agents) poses additional tasks for management. Different functions require different policies and different action plans for each group. In order to make the most of telemarketing opportunities, it is necessary to develop standard scenarios for employees communicating with clients by phone and online. Field sales representatives can enjoy greater flexibility and tailor their presentations to the needs of specific clients. In other words, the combined approach requires the preliminary preparation of appropriate training and remuneration programs for different groups of employees.

Organizing sales to key clients

Regardless of the overall sales force structure, many companies develop their own organizational approaches to meeting customer needs. This is done to achieve a level of service that would attract and retain the largest and most important customers, in other words, key customers. A sales representative responsible for servicing key accounts should be not just a salesperson, but a manager. This means that he must be able to find ways to adapt products to the needs of specific customers, have a good understanding of the strategies and goals associated with the company's key customers, and draw up and implement business plans for working with key customers. The technical complexity of modern products, industry concentration and trends towards centralized purchasing mean that commercial success in both industrial and consumer markets is ensured by a relatively small number of major customers. Moreover, in an ever-expanding global market, key customers often become global and demand greater coordination from their suppliers. In this environment, companies tend to establish and maintain strong relationships with only a few suppliers.

When a company is developing a program to attract and retain key customers, the question of who will serve these customers is very important. Most companies do not provide for special regulations, and the same salespeople who serve other clients work with large clients; No additional administrative or sales costs are planned. This is not the most effective approach, because servicing key clients requires experienced and highly qualified personnel, because such clients often require special attention and prompt resolution of emerging issues.

Realizing this, many companies are developing special sales policies for key customers. Sales personnel have two main tasks: securing sales and establishing strong and lasting relationships with such customers. The loyalty of key customers provides the seller with a significant share of orders, increases profitability and reduces labor costs. At the sales department level, a special policy regarding key clients is that each of the employees serving them must pay maximum attention to them. Often this approach involves:

• assigning key clients to the company's sales managers;
• creation of a special division within the sales department;
• formation of a special group of sales employees who are engaged in servicing only the most important customers.

Serving Key Accounts by Sales Managers

It is common practice to assign responsibility for servicing key accounts to sales or marketing managers. It is especially often used in small companies that do not have the resources to create a separate division or a special group of sales personnel. This approach is also used in cases where the company has few large customers. The advantage of this approach, in addition to low costs, is that key customers are served by individuals occupying a sufficiently high position in the organizational hierarchy that allows them to make decisions (or at least influence their adoption) on the allocation of production capacity and inventory, as well as pricing policy. All this allows us to be flexible in our approaches to key clients and provide a high level of service.

One of the disadvantages of this approach is that managers serving key accounts may misunderstand the company's marketing goals. This is manifested, for example, in the fact that they allocate additional resources to “their” clients from the company’s general fund at the expense of smaller, but nevertheless quite profitable customers. In other words, some managers strive to get the most out of their large customers without caring at all about how this will affect the company's overall sales, operations, and profits. Another problem is that customer service provided by sales managers takes away the time needed to perform managerial functions. This may have a negative impact on the control and coordination of the company's sales and marketing activities as a whole.

Separate division for working with key clients

If a company has one or more customers that account for such a share of total sales that fluctuations in their purchases could seriously affect the production plan, inventory and resource allocation of the company, then it is advisable to form a separate sales division that will deal with servicing only these clients. Some shoe manufacturers, for example, create separate divisions to produce models sold under the brand name of a wholesaler or retailer. This structure allows for close interaction between production, logistics, marketing and sales.

The main disadvantage, as in organizing sales by product category and customer type, is duplication of sales and additional costs caused by focusing the production process and marketing policy on one or several large buyers. In addition, such an organization is associated with a certain risk, since the success or failure of this structure largely depends on the policies and activities of clients.

Key Account Team

It is not necessary to create an entire department to serve large clients; you can do it easier by forming a special group of sales employees that will deal with working only with key clients. This approach has a number of advantages. Firstly, this group will include the most experienced and qualified employees, which guarantees a high level of service to customers that are important to the company. Secondly, by focusing on working with a few customers, employees will be able to thoroughly study their needs and satisfy them as much as possible, which will ultimately lead to increased customer loyalty. In addition, such a sales organization creates additional incentives for company personnel: since the most competent and experienced employees are selected to work with key customers, transfer to such a group is tantamount to promotion and can be used to motivate and reward the best employees.

Disadvantages also include duplication of activities within one sales department, which leads to increased overhead and administrative costs.

Team sales

In modern conditions, increased demands are placed on sales employees. They are expected not only to have a deep knowledge of the specifics of the activities and needs of clients, but also to be able to ensure stable and beneficial interaction with them for the company, i.e. high level of service. Working as a team gives the company a number of advantages, in particular, it allows you to serve customers without delays and ensures continuity of the process - for example, if one of the team members is not available, any other employee can easily replace him.

However, to organize team selling, it is necessary to take into account the needs of clients, so the team leader
manager and employees of the company's functional departments (research, design, production and finance) - often expanded to include one or more representatives of the client company. Today, many organizations create sales centers, which include representatives of functional departments (marketing, service, sales, design, etc.). The purpose of the sales center is to work closely with sales personnel to improve efficiency. Sales centers ensure the collaboration of multidisciplinary specialists to improve the quality of customer service.

Team selling is suitable for working with large clients who bring high profits to the company. Most often, teams of specialists are used to attract new clients, but sometimes they are involved in working with existing clients (albeit, this involves lower-level personnel). To best meet customer needs, the team also includes representatives from production and forwarders.

Multi-level sale

Multi-level selling is a type of team selling. It involves a team of representatives from different management levels who can communicate on equal terms with managers of the same rank in the purchasing company. For better coordination of actions with the client, such a group can operate on an ongoing basis, but more often it is created temporarily and used to find the optimal solution in a specific situation; at the same time, employees are responsible for interaction with the key client at their functional level, but are not part of a separate specialized team and act independently.

This approach meets the requirements of organizational etiquette, because each member of the sales team is in contact with an employee of the buying company of equal status and authority. It is very important that senior managers are involved in establishing relationships with prospective clients, since they do not need special approval to make concessions in the negotiation process and adjust other conditions that may convince a potential buyer to become a regular client.

Marketing Alliances

In some industries, including high-tech ones such as computers and telecommunications, buyers often purchase a product that consists of several components, which are also supplied by different manufacturers. However, manufacturers also use independent intermediaries to combine their products with those of other suppliers and create products that meet the needs of the end user. This type of activity is practiced in the information technology industry when software is added to off-the-shelf hardware. Suppliers often form marketing alliances, developing joint marketing and sales programs for complex systems or innovative products directly to the end consumer.

Even competitors create marketing alliances in order to attract missing resources. For example, if a company is introducing a completely new product to the market without having the infrastructure to market it, it can enter into a partnership agreement with a company that does have such an infrastructure. Such an alliance will be led by a group of representatives from both companies. Sometimes such cooperation leads to a subsequent merger of member companies of the alliance.

An alliance allows both parties to gain additional benefits through access to the partner's resources and capabilities, such as markets, better technology, financial or human resources. Promising new companies are seeking to create alliances with larger and more well-known companies, wanting access to their marketing and sales channels and reputational support. In traditional industries, alliances are formed to expand sales territory, reduce costs, reduce production costs, etc. However, the decision to create an alliance must be carefully weighed and calculated.

Alliances in logistics

Another interesting innovation in recent years, observed in various industries, is the formation of alliances in logistics, as a result of which electronic ordering systems are formed. Such a system allows large regular customers to place and process orders directly into the supplier's computer system.

Logistics alliances for automatic replenishment of inventories are created by well-known supply companies and large supermarket chains that sell a huge range of consumer goods. Information from cash register scanners goes directly to the supplier’s information system and is processed by a special computer program, which then automatically generates orders and schedules deliveries directly to retail stores. This approach virtually eliminates errors when placing an order, simplifies document flow between organizations, optimizes product inventory in the warehouses of the buyer and seller, reduces service costs and ultimately increases profits.

Such systems are used by manufacturers not only of standard consumer goods, but also of goods for the industrial market. The creation of logistics alliances is especially relevant for companies involved in personalization and customization. Receiving orders directly into the supplier’s electronic system allows him to timely draw up and change production schedules, speed up the production process and minimize finished product inventories in warehouses.

For the buyer, an electronic ordering system has a number of advantages: convenience, flexibility and time savings when placing an order. For the seller, the use of electronic systems in working with key clients helps to “tie” them to a given supplier and increase the share of purchases.

The widespread use of such systems raises questions about the future role of sales personnel in customer service. The experience of companies using electronic ordering systems shows that freeing sellers from routine operations of receiving, processing and tracking orders allows them to concentrate on sales, searching and establishing relationships with new potential customers.

Vertical structure of the sales organization

As mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, any sales requires a clear organization, both horizontally and vertically. The vertical structure defines the powers and job responsibilities of employees at management levels, which ensures effective integration and coordination of sales. The most common are two types of vertical structure.

• Linear organization means that orders are passed along a chain from the leader to the subordinates. Moreover, each employee reports to only one manager, located at the nearest higher level of the hierarchical ladder, and performs only those functions that are provided for this level.
• Line-functional organization is more common in medium and large organizations. It differs in that some sales management activities, such as personnel selection and training or distributor relations, are assigned to specific sales specialists from the company's headquarters.

When developing the vertical structure of a sales organization, two important points must be taken into account:

• number of management levels;
• number of employees subordinate to each manager, i.e. controllability standard.

The interrelation of these factors is obvious. The higher the standard of control for a given number of sales personnel, the fewer levels of management (and, accordingly, managers) the organization needs. It is believed that the fewer levels between top management and ordinary employees, the closer their interaction and the easier it is to control the work of subordinates. In addition, a flat structure has lower administrative costs because there are fewer managers. However, there is another opinion: “flat” management schemes create additional burden on top management, and savings are just an illusion, since the small number and low quality of managers’ work reduce the efficiency of the organization as a whole.

Considering the above, it is difficult to propose a uniquely optimal management structure and controllability standards for all companies, however, some recommendations can be made.

• It is possible to increase the number of management levels with a decrease in the standard of control under the following conditions:
  • The sales department faces truly difficult challenges;
  • there is a connection between the profit received by the company and the labor productivity of each of the sales employees;
  • The sales staff is highly qualified and remunerated.
• In other words, the more complex the functions of the sales department, the higher the need for sales personnel to receive attention from the organization's management.
• Control standards should be reduced at higher levels of sales management, since top managers have to perform management functions, analyze activities and make decisions. In addition, top managers are usually directly subordinate to qualified and experienced specialists who independently cope with quite complex tasks.

Another general rule that applies to all sales management organizational structures: the more important the decision being made, the higher the management level at which it must be made.

In addition to the question of the number of employees subordinate to the sales manager, it is necessary to determine the terms of reference of each manager in relation to subordinates and appoint an employee (employees) responsible for hiring, firing and evaluating the performance of ordinary sales employees. In some companies, lower-level managers are given the right to hire (under their own subordination) new employees. As a rule, this is done by companies that have many low-paid ordinary employees who perform simple tasks in selling products. In organizations where sales employees are professional and skilled salespeople who perform complex tasks and have a significant impact on the firm's performance, senior level managers are usually responsible for hiring and firing. This is especially true for organizations in which the position of an ordinary sales representative is considered as a springboard for career growth and obtaining the position of sales or marketing manager.

Job responsibilities of a sales manager

In addition to performing their immediate duties related to coordinating the activities of subordinates and implementing
company policies, many sales managers - especially at the field or regional level - continue to be actively involved in sales management. If a manager received a promotion after recognition of his merits in the rank of an ordinary salesperson, it is not profitable for the company to lose the high qualifications and experience of such an employee. Therefore, good salespeople, when promoted to sales manager, are often allowed to serve the largest and most significant accounts and are even encouraged to do so.

This practice benefits managers because they receive commissions on sales and maintain direct contact with the market by actively participating in actual sales. The disadvantage of this approach is that managers sometimes spend too much time on sales to the detriment of fulfilling their direct responsibilities - managing subordinates. In large companies, where control and coordination of the activities of numerous sales personnel require the close attention of management, the participation of managers in sales is limited.

Sales related functions

Many companies operate in markets where competitiveness directly depends on the level of customer service. For example, companies selling electronic components, in order to increase competitiveness, must provide their customers with services for the development and design of related products, clothing and footwear manufacturers must ensure fast fulfillment and delivery of orders, the sale of industrial equipment must be accompanied by services for its installation, assembly and maintenance . But these services must be integrated into the company's marketing and sales. The loyalty of satisfied customers provides a company with a strong position in the market, which is usually one of its strategic goals.

But here the question arises: the head of which department should control functions directly related to sales? The answer depends on the specific features, product features, and customer requests. Timely processing and delivery of orders are not very noticeable, but very important functions of sales. In some companies, order processing is viewed as part of the sales process and accordingly controlled by sales management, while in others it is considered an inventory management or data processing function and is the responsibility of production managers.

In practice, if fast processing and delivery of orders is critical for the company, it makes more sense to entrust them to sales managers. In some companies, repair and maintenance services are under the responsibility of the sales department, while in others they are subordinate to the production department. The first option is more convenient when, when selling a product, the possibility of its improvement or modification is offered to better meet the client’s needs. Sales departments do this if they are tasked with attracting and retaining potential customers.

If the additional functions considered are not among the direct responsibilities of the sales department, team selling allows them to be effectively coordinated. This is especially true for serving large clients, because in this case the costs associated with using this approach are completely justified. Therefore, although the manager responsible for working with certain clients does not formally have the right to control the representatives of other divisions of the company that are part of the team, he must organize the work so that all members of the sales team work with maximum efficiency.

New technologies and their impact on the activities of the sales department

Any organizational structure, including vertical, undergoes changes over time, causing the emergence of new communication technologies and methods of information processing. New technologies make it possible to increase the productivity of employees in many departments, not excluding sales. CRM systems are widely used - customer relationship management systems that manage the entire process of attracting and retaining a client, allow you to improve business processes and analyze performance results. CRM allows companies to maintain a strong position in a highly competitive market, maintain constant contact with their customers and create a special customer-oriented culture.

The role of head office specialists and outsourcing

In many large companies, some sales department employees also perform functions not directly related to sales. For example, a head office manager performs administrative tasks that require specialized knowledge that the average sales manager simply does not have the time to acquire. He is responsible for several specific tasks, can provide assistance in collecting and analyzing information necessary for line managers to make decisions, but is not vested with the authority of line sales managers. Typical functions performed in the sales department by head office specialists include hiring, training, and sales analysis.

The advantages that specialization and division of labor provide make it possible to use the qualifications, knowledge and experience of head office managers with greater efficiency, reduce the number of the company's sales staff and increase the efficiency of the organizational structure of sales management, while simultaneously reducing costs. Moreover, the personnel reserves of the head office can be used as a basis for training top-level sales managers.

At the same time, it should be noted that the presence of head office specialist positions in the sales structure is justified only if the company’s activities require their effective use. However, increasingly, even the largest companies doubt the advisability of such personnel policies. More and more companies are turning to outsourcing. Activities that are not within the organization's core competencies (i.e., do not require special assets to perform operations) can be effectively performed by external (third-party) specialists on a contract basis.

Organization of the sales department

Specifics of creating working personnel and their responsibilities

At the initial stage of market activity, most often, sales are organized by the owner of the company. Which is understandable: first of all, it is he who cares about the promotion and growth of his business, and therefore begins to search for clients himself.

When the owner of an enterprise initially fails to create a database with information about clients, then we can assume that subsequent activities are practically impossible. If there are consumers, and their volume increases, the number of cases also increases. Consequently, a large number of problems arise that require immediate solutions.

How to resolve all issues? One boss will not be able to solve all the problems, so he will need to hire managers, not only to perform primary tasks, but also to find new customers. At this stage, management is faced with the intention of creating an effective sales department.

What is a sales department?

For the prosperity and rapid development of every business, it is necessary to have a professional team. What is she like? Typically, this term refers to a team of employees who take on the functions of finding and attracting new customers, processing objections and retaining the client for a long time. An integrated approach and joint activities will ensure guaranteed results.

The first necessary goal of every boss is to organize a sales department

A common problem for most inexperienced entrepreneurs is to take on all or almost all sales responsibilities themselves. As a result, it turns out that old clients continue to work for some time on the agreed terms, and the business makes a profit. But the manager does not have enough strength to stabilize existing customers and find new buyers. Commitment to a particular company gradually decreases and as a result the client leaves.

It is at this inopportune moment that competitors appear and easily lure away customers. Most often, competitors are regional representatives of companies that are developing rapidly.

Conduct an audit

Typically, the working staff of such companies always includes an active and purposeful employee who has extensive experience in sales. Perhaps he was previously a manager and his salary mainly depended on the fact of attracted customers and the amount of their contract. Such specialists in their field quickly navigate and work according to a repeatedly processed scheme, and also use working tools that actually generate income for the company.

To understand in more detail, let’s imagine that the situation looks something like this: there is a certain enterprise A that does not devote enough time to actively attracting clients and personal negotiations. This is precisely an excellent target for a competitor, that is, there are interested customers, but there is no way to bring them to sale. Usually at this moment a competent competitor appears on the horizon, who offers customers:

• Favorable conditions compared to other companies;
• Additional discounts or bonuses for further cooperation.

This is where a significant portion of clients leave. The sales manager of a competing enterprise will obviously fulfill the plan, or perhaps exceed it (in terms of the number of new customers) and receive a bonus to his salary.

What happened to company A? The first and most significant thing is that it failed and made no profit. And secondly, the lack of profit was due to the departure of half of the clients. In a further situation like this, the management will have to close the enterprise due to large losses.

What's next: collapse or further business activity

Is there any point in continuing to work in the current situation? The answer is categorical: no. Of course, you can assess the situation on the market and analyze the activities of your rivals, but it is impossible to return the client base when professionals work. The owner of the company, who is also the head of the sales department, is trying to find a way out of the crisis. He simply cannot search for a new customer base due to lack of time and effort. The business owner is working, but the problems are increasing, and he still does not give up. As soon as he gives up, the business will collapse.

The result is the following: the presence of professional sales workers in the company not only reduces the risk of enterprise failure, but also increases profits at the expense of new customers. It should be noted that organizing a sales department, monitoring work, and stimulating employees with bonuses for fulfilling the plan are definitely means that can properly organize the structure of the company. The director of the company must take appropriate measures in a timely manner if he expects the long-term operation of his business.

Rules for organizing the work of the sales department

In order for the boss to organize and establish effective work of the sales department, a lot of effort and knowledge will be required. It is impossible to understand its specifics in a short time, since the process is truly complex.

Many managers believe that if you hire a couple of people to the position of sales manager, your income will immediately increase. If an employee cannot cope with his task, he should be fired and a new employee hired. This is a completely wrong approach to the matter. Not only will the owner have to constantly invest in the development of new employees, but the company will also have no profit.

When recruiting personnel, in order to identify experience and skills in the field of sales, the manager is recommended to hold competitions between applicants.

Statistics show that the optimal number of employees is five, not counting the head of the department. Experienced workers always keep in mind that not every potential client agrees to specific conditions, most often this is 1 in 25. Thus, to get a regular customer you will need to make 25 calls. To successfully implement the plan, the manager must:

• Study the available material;
• Apply and improve your technique;
• Know the methods and methods of sales.

Conduct an express audit of the sales department yourself using 23 criteria and identify points of sales growth!

Conduct an audit

Yes, naturally weak employees will leave, but this will not affect the company’s profits at the expense of existing employees. That’s why it’s so important to recruit five, or possibly more, sales managers at the initial stage.

Sales department structure

The correct form of work will not keep you waiting long for results and in the near future the business owner will achieve a stable income. Below is a standard sales division diagram. Of course, this table is not a structure that every company should have. But using a standard sample, a business owner will be able to change or improve it for his business. For example, enter the position of administrator.

Who is an administrator and why is he needed?

An administrator is a person who feels comfortable in constant routine activities. We can say that to some extent he will need to be in the role of secretary. The responsibilities of such a specialist include:

• Saving manager's working time;
• Checking documentation, searching for lost data;
• Drawing up contracts and reports;
• Preparation of a commercial proposal for the buyer;
• Adding to the electronic customer database.

Typically, when a business owner decides to appoint an administrator, the company, in his person, acquires a qualified employee in his field. Consequently, the costs of an administrator will quickly pay off, and business development will go up.

Conclusion

Additionally, I would like to note that the future of the company depends only on the owner of the business. He is obliged to take into account all possible problems that arise in the process. The main goal of the owner is to make a profit. Financial stability can be achieved with the help of a properly selected and organized team of employees, paying special attention to the staff of sales managers.

© Konstantin Baksht, General Director of Baksht Consulting Group.

The best way to quickly master and implement the technology of building a sales department is to attend K. Baksht’s training on sales management “Sales System”.

The managers of many large companies today understand from their own experience that neither brand awareness, nor high-quality advertising, nor holding profitable promotions for customers or constantly increasing the price of goods can solve the problem of sales efficiency once and for all. Such methods lead to short-term surges in consumer demand, which requires much more material investment.

If a company is engaged in the sale of a specific type of product, then its work can be made truly profitable and profitable by creating a sales department capable of selling absolutely everything, always. At the same time, he must conduct his activities under any factors that do not even depend on the company: changes in exchange rates, seasonality of demand, in case of a change in the economic situation, and so on. You may say this is unrealistic. However, if the construction of the sales department and its further management were carried out competently, everything becomes possible.

Subtleties of organizing the process

In order for the sales department to start working as quickly as possible, it is necessary to hire employees. At the same time, the focus should fall not on ordinary salespeople, but on real managers who have high professionalism in this field and are also able to work for the company.

So, building a sales department is unthinkable without hiring suitable employees, and what real “sales people” should be should also be discussed. After all, it’s interesting what is the reason for this phenomenon: people with the same education and work experience differ in the degree of success in sales. What is their solution?

The human brain is formed and grows by 90% during the first four years, and then it develops through constant interaction with the outside world, recording all new experiences and impressions throughout life. This is how our brain works, and this factor determines whether we will be successful in a certain activity or doomed to failure. As a result of a study with more than a thousand outstanding sellers of our time, scientists became clear what distinctive features and qualities they possess.

Seven facts about “true sellers”

1. Exceptional memory for faces. Some people tend to easily recognize those whom they saw only once in their lives many years ago. This social skill is very important, and even more so for salespeople, since they constantly interact with a huge number of different clients. Research has shown that this ability is innate and cannot be developed or developed.
2. Does rejection really hurt? So, you are a sales specialist, and you have just learned that a major deal with a potential client, for which you had high hopes, has completely fallen through. Of course, you will be disappointed emotionally and mentally, but you will also experience physical pain, as evidenced by the results of studies conducted by Columbia University. When analyzing the state of the brain and the reaction of an emotionally rejected person, scientists came to the conclusion that mental and physical pain have much in common, proving that the loss of a client leads to the formation of real “wounds”.
3. Passion for drawing in the margins. A sales employee who tends to doodle or doodle during calls, meetings, or meetings is 29% more likely to remember information that comes to them. These sudden impulses are called doodling. In general, this means any sketch performed spontaneously, automatically. And research in the field of cognitive psychology has shown that this is a fairly effective method of remembering data.
4. Are you always this cute? Not long ago, studies were conducted, as a result of which it became clear that human qualities such as kindness, courtesy and generosity are directly related to the activity of the hypothalamus and the production of oxytocin and vasopressin, which are responsible for feelings of affection and tenderness. A good sales worker has a natural need to help people, and this is the result of chemical reactions in his brain.
5. Is it necessary to read? The majority of salespeople do not like to read, this is due to the fact that their brain works only in the direction of speaking, and it is not intended for reading. Speech is an automatic process that is the most natural part of brain activity, and reading requires three different areas of the cerebral cortex to work together. Sales coaching materials should be created with this point in mind.
6. Shyness is not a death sentence. The most interesting finding was that the stereotype of pushy, egotistical salespeople being the best is not true, as 91% of the best salespeople are characterized by a humble and humble disposition. Research has shown that brash sales professionals, full of arrogance and bluster, win far fewer clients than they drive them away.
7. “I’m not nosy, just curious.” All effective salespeople have such a trait as an insatiable desire for knowledge, or an inquisitive mind. Curiosity is a thirst for information and new knowledge. Research has shown that 82% of successful salespeople are highly curious compared to most people. This quality of mind helps them discuss even the most complex and inconvenient topics with clients in order to close all questions regarding the transaction, and this is what contributes to its faster conclusion.

Now you understand that building a sales department can be realized with the involvement of just such people. When hiring employees, it is necessary to identify these features of thinking and personality traits, then you can count on the effective operation of the new structure in the company.

Features of a Prospective Seller

There is a joke that a high-class manager even in a cemetery sees “plus signs” instead of crosses. True sellers are able to enjoy their work, receive pleasure from new clients won, from concluded deals. Their work is a drug of its kind for them. A true sales manager is not just a polite, well-mannered and hardworking person. This is a specialist who lives and feeds on sales. Only such a manager can become a real salvation for the company.

Personnel selection

So, organizing a sales department requires paying attention to exactly how managers will work: will the activity be based on the individual work of each salesperson or will it be team interaction. Sales department management, as practice shows, will be carried out most effectively if the salesperson is equally professional and capable of working collectively and solo. It turns out that a person applying for a position in the sales department must be able to set a goal for personal results, and at the same time be flexible enough to interact with other people. What matters here is not only understanding and awareness of sales techniques, so the seller must have positive communication skills at a professional level.

So, when organizing a sales department from scratch, you must understand that a more or less savvy person is able to study several guides to help pass an interview. During the interview, pay attention to exactly how the person speaks, whether he knows how to listen, and what questions he wants to hear answered. It is much easier to study theory than to acquire such human qualities as a sense of humor, kindness, and tolerance.

Mathematical approach

Before you start selecting employees for the position of sales manager, you must create a high-quality profile of this position. The profile indicates what requirements you have for the applicant and what responsibilities will be assigned to him. When choosing an employee, the characteristic “I liked” cannot be considered adequate. The entire list of requirements for the position should be formulated as clearly as possible. You cannot hire a person who, based on his behavior pattern, is not suitable for the position, because you will not be able to change him. The type of your sales manager should match the type of business you are in.

Sales department coordinator and its activities

If properly managed, this structure can make a significant contribution to the success of the entire company. At the same time, it doesn’t matter at all whether you are selling exactly what you are selling: diapers or mobile phones. The process itself in any trading area works according to the same principles. There are only three stages of sales, these are the main ones:

• searching for new potential buyers;
• direct sale of the product;
• completion of the transaction with the signing of all necessary documentation.

The functions of the sales department flow from all of this, and breaking the process down into its components is quite simple. However, in some companies, sales managers are involved in additional activities, in particular. invoices, bookkeeping, calling new clients, etc. For high-quality management of the sales department, it is necessary to divide responsibilities between specialists, and also make them work as a single, well-established mechanism. 100% of a sales manager’s working time should be devoted to sales processes, that is, working with clients for whom he is responsible, as well as directly selling products. This task must be solved most effectively so that the profit of your company increases. The remaining functions of the sales department can be transferred to employees who are not directly involved in the sale of products, that is, to specialized specialists.

Management: distribution of tasks and control of the process of their implementation

Sales managers are the key links in all companies involved in sales. They are the ones who interact with customers and generate income. And for this reason, you must additionally hire assistants for the work of the management department. The structure of the sales department requires their presence. Companies with specialists in this profile will cost very little, since the average payment for each of them is approximately $500. These costs are fully compensated by the number of successful transactions that the manager will make.

Typically, assistants are people who are easy to train. When you hire them, you form a convenient personnel reserve for the company. Among them there are always candidates who are capable of occupying the position of sales manager. They already work in the company, are familiar with the specifics of its activities, and there will be no need to spend additional funds on their training. Since the tasks of the sales department involve the need to sell, with the help of assistants you can relieve managers and free up as much of their time as possible to perform their main duties.

Effective motivation

If the sales department has a problem of lack of employee motivation, then this is the most terrible problem for a company seeking to make money. There are many factors of demotivation that will need to be dealt with, otherwise they will negatively affect the company’s activities as a whole. These factors can be listed:

• the employee has no financial motivation;
• the employee does not fully understand his or her primary responsibilities;
• a person was hired who is not a professional in this field;
• the sales department coordinator does not cope with his responsibilities fully;
• illiterate distribution of responsibilities, which necessarily leads to a decrease in labor productivity.

It is important to understand that the main motivation for a sales manager is the money that he will receive if new deals are concluded that are beneficial for the company. The remaining incentives will receive only a secondary role, but no more. This is due to the fact that a sales specialist measures his own qualifications in money. He understands that the larger the deal he concludes, the more contracts he signs with the company’s clients, the higher the income he will receive as a result of all this.

Competition is a mandatory phenomenon among managers within the same sales department. Managing it well is about making this competition motivating, encouraging, transparent and fair. The structure of the sales department should be based on a very specific motivation scheme:

• everything should be simple and clear for the manager so that he can easily navigate it;
• everything should be automated, then it will be perfectly transparent;
• The manager must be able to independently calculate each of his moves.

The work pattern of most company managers is based on offering managers a salary based on a percentage of sales for concluded transactions. There is an option for the employee to have a base rate, to which all interest is added. Usually the rate is set with the aim of attracting truly reliable specialists so that the functions of the sales department are fully performed.

Intangible ways

You can also motivate employees in non-material ways. It is important to understand that the material component of the motivation program should not be excluded here. Among such methods are the following:

• setting new professional tasks for employees that can arouse their interest and desire to go towards the goal in order to achieve it;
• competent leadership that allows each sales department employee to feel important and indispensable for the entire company;
• providing independence within certain limits;
• creating the most comfortable conditions for the employee’s direct activities;
• automation of sales and sellers management.

The development of the sales department should be carried out under the obligatory condition of its automation. Now the market offers a fairly wide range of special software, which makes it possible to increase the efficiency of sales management and managers.

Conclusions

The wholesale sales department works on a similar principle, the only difference is in what volumes are traded. At the same time, one important point remains - the sales manager must have the appropriate qualifications.