Sales Management - How to Define Your Company's Sales Job - Part 2
Alan Rigg

Here are seven additional factors to consider as you define the
parameters that produce success in YOUR company's sales job. If
you are a salesperson, you can also benefit from considering
these questions, as they can help you identify target prospects
and further refine your sales approach.

9. ADMINISTRATION: Which sales job functions require attention
to detail? Examples include making accurate forecasts, providing
timely updates to the corporate CRM system, analyzing customer
records to determine sales strategies, and ensuring regulatory
compliance.

Some companies have support personnel that perform administrative
tasks on their salespeople's behalf. Other companies expect their
salespeople to deal with a certain amount of administration. If a
tolerance for process, detail and administration is necessary for
success in your company's sales job, some amount of Tolerance for
Administration is desirable in your salespeople.

10. COMMUNICATION: How important are verbal and written
communication skills to sales success in your company? Are your
salespeople required to make presentations? Are they required to
compose letters or proposals?

Sales roles that rely heavily on high quality verbal and written
communications require salespeople that have healthy doses of the
attributes Communication Skills and Reasoning Ability.

11. PRE-SALES SUPPORT: What support resources are available to
help your salespeople manage specific steps of the sales cycle?
How effective must your salespeople be when managing these
resources?

The availability of support resources has a significant impact on
the attributes required for sales success. If your salespeople
have access to quality internal (employed by your company) or
external (employed by suppliers or partners) technical resources,
they don't need to invest a lot of time learning technical
details. This frees them to focus more time and energy on
prospecting and opportunity qualification. By the same token, if
your company employs technical writers who can assist salespeople
with large proposals and bid responses, there may be less need
for your salespeople to have strong Communication Skills.

12. POST-SALES SUPPORT: Are your salespeople expected to provide
technical or operational support to customers, or do other
personnel provide this support?

If your salespeople are required to deliver post-sales support,
it would be desirable for them to have a lower Sales Drive, be
less Competitive, and have a higher Service Drive.

13. TRAINING: What kinds of training does your company provide to
salespeople? How much training does your company provide?

Companies that provide a lot of training may have the luxury of
being able to hire inexperienced sales candidates and "train them
up from scratch". This is extremely valuable in markets where
highly qualified sales candidates are scarce and/or prohibitively
expensive. However, if your  company is going to employ this
approach, you should seek candidates with strong Learning Rates.

14. SALES MANAGER'S STYLE:  What are your sales managers' styles?
Do they lean in the direction of being Field Generals (who prefer
selling to coaching) or Administrators (who excel at mentoring
and administrative duties)?

The desired levels of the attributes Sales Drive, Service Drive,
Assertiveness, Competitiveness, Independence and Tolerance for
Administration will differ based upon each sales manager's style.

15. CAREER PATH: What is the career path for the sales position?
From small ticket item sales to big ticket item sales? From sales
to management?

If your sales team is a source of candidates for other positions
in your company, you may want to consider whether your
salespeople and sales candidates have the attributes required
to be successful in those other positions. Why? Because the
attributes required to succeed in those other positions may not
be the same as the attributes required for sales success!

Consider this example: Most small ticket item sales cycles are
shorter than big ticket item sales cycles. Per Question #7, the
desired amount of Sales Drive differs based upon the frequency
of opportunities for presentation and persuasion. A successful
salesperson in small ticket item sales is likely to have a strong
Sales Drive. Will they become frustrated by the reduction in
opportunities to present and persuade that could result from a
"promotion" to big ticket item sales?

Similarly, the attributes required to be an effective manager
are often quite different from the attributes required to be an
effective salesperson. Success in management can require more
attention to detail and the willingness to delegate and mentor.
These requirements impact the target ranges for the attributes
of Sales Drive, Service Drive, Assertiveness, Competitiveness,
Independence and Tolerance for Administration.

If you keep the fifteen questions discussed in this two-part
article in mind, you will be able to more accurately define the
parameters that will lead to success in YOUR company's sales
job(s).



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Sales performance expert Alan Rigg is the author of How to Beat
the 80/20 Rule in Selling: Why Most Salespeople Don't Perform
and What to Do About It. His company, 80/20 Sales Performance,
helps business owners, executives, and managers DOUBLE sales by
implementing The Right Formula™ for building top-performing
sales teams. For more information and more FREE sales and sales
management tips, visit http://www.8020salesperformance.com.