Strategies for Managing a Sales Team and Improving Performance Report

This report examines the critical aspects of managing a sales team, focusing on motivation, performance evaluation, and staffing strategies. It begins by exploring various motivation theories, including Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory, and Vroom's Expectancy Theory, and their impact on sales team performance. The report then delves into the importance of monitoring sales team performance through Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), the management of performance variances, and the role of two-way communication. It also covers supporting sales team members, the influence of other departments, and the strategic management of staffing levels, including recruitment and selection processes. The report emphasizes the need for aligning staffing levels with organizational budgets and strategies, ensuring the right skills and experience within the sales team to maximize profitability. Overall, the report provides a comprehensive overview of the key elements involved in leading and developing a high-performing sales team.

managing a sales team
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
1.1 Theories of Motivation......................................................................................................2
1.2 Link between Motivation and Performance......................................................................3
Management of Sales Team Performance.......................................................................................4
2.1 Need to Monitor Sales Team Performance............................................................................4
2.2 Tools utilized in Monitoring Performance of Team..............................................................4
2.3 Role of Key Performance Indicators in Monitoring Sales Team Performance.....................4
2.4 Management of Performance Variances................................................................................5
2.5 Importance of Two-way Communication..............................................................................5
2.6 Support performance of Sales Team Members......................................................................5
2.7 How other people and teams in the organization may impact Sales Performance................5
Management of Staffing levels in a Sales Team.............................................................................6
3.1 Review staffing levels in the light of Organization’s budgets and strategy......................6
3.2 Recruitment and Selection Process for Sales People........................................................6
3.3 Development of Job Profile for Sales Person...................................................................6
3.4 Development of person specification for a sales person...................................................7
3.5 Contribution to Selection interviews.................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
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Introduction
Motivation is considered as an effective tool to enhance the performance of the employees.
Managing a sales team effectively based on the ability of the leader to motivate their team
members. Motivation is of different types for different persons. By understanding the motivation
factors of different employees, a team leader can effectively motivate their employees. In this
report, we will study the role of motivation in motivating the sales team members. Motivation
brings positive changes in the work performance of the team members which will ultimately
enhance the sales level.
1.1 Theories of Motivation
Motivation is considered the key factor to efficient selling. There are several theories which
guide us about what motivates people. Theories of motivation are following:
1. Maslow’s Hierarchy Theory
Maslow concludes that for motivating the individuals, their basic needs should be
fulfilled. The following figure explains Maslow Hierarchy of Needs:
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1. Psychological Needs: At the base level, the psychological needs of individuals are food,
shelter, air and warmth, etc. psychological needs should be fulfilled before focusing on
the higher level of needs (Kaur, 2013).
2. Safety Needs: After fulfilling the psychological needs of the individual human being
desires protection, security and health needs.
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3. Social Needs: it includes the needs for an individuals to develop a sense of belonging and
relationship in their team and work for the group.
4. Personal needs: After satisfying the whole needs the individuals prefer achievements
growth which satisfies their self-esteem.
5. Aesthetic needs: These needs of individuals fulfilled through beauty and art.
6. Self-Actualization Needs: It is focusing more towards the individual’s need to grow and
develop their career through personal development.
2. Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory
Herzberg concludes that individuals cannot satisfy only through satisfying their lower
lever or base needs met at work (Malik, 2013). Herzberg's two-factor theory reveals that
motivators create positive satisfaction and that dissatisfaction can arise if some hygiene
factors are not met.
Table1: Herzberg’s two-Factor Theory: Motivators and Hygiene Factors
Motivators (Factors lead positive
satisfaction)
Hygiene Factors (Causes
Dissatisfaction)
 Recognition
 Achievement
 Growth
 Challenging work
 Responsibility
 Development
 Salary and Benefits
 Job security
 Relationship with colleagues and
management
 Working conditions
 Status
 Supervision
 Organization policy
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3. Vroom’s Expectancy Theory
This theory states that an individual chooses how to act or behave on the basis of three
things. Firstly, what individual expect the outcome of that selected behavior; secondly,
whether they will be rewarded and finally, whether they value that reward. Expectancy
theory based on the three variables which are expectancy (E), valence (V),
instrumentality (I), as shown in table 2.
Table 2: Expectancy Theory: Expectancy (E); Instrumentality (I) and Valence (V).
1.2 Link between Motivation and Performance
A sales manager can have both a negative and positive influence on the motivation of staff
as they have a high impact on the working conditions. All members of staffs feel
demotivation if motivators are not considered, for example, if achievements and rewards are
not awarded to employees they are not utilizing their full potential to perform their work.
In the same manner, sales managers also have a huge influence on the hygiene factors
involving, stressful environment, creating a strong culture, concentrating on negative things
someone does.
It can be said that motivation and job satisfaction have a significant influence on the work
performance of employees (Gourley, 2012). The performance of the employees are
increased if the designed job is suitable, has some results, and responsibility is known. So, it
is concluded that all salespersons require clear targets from the management set for them and
these targets should be linked with high incentives programs which ultimately enhance their
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motivation and work performance. Apart from incentives, recognition and achievement
should be rewarded to employees to motivate them.
Management of Sales Team Performance
It is necessary for the management to manage the performance of sales team effectively to
achieve their future goals. The performance of sales team should measure continuously so that
poor performance of employees can be recognized and improved through proper training
programs.
2.1 Need to Monitor Sales Team Performance
Monitoring sales team performance is essential for the management. Setting achievable targets
for sales team members lead to improved performance and setting targets that are very critical
can reduce the performance of employees. Sales team performance should evaluate to maintain
the profitability of activities on track. This helps the organizations to ensure that new customers
are effectively attracted and also that sales potential from existing customers is maximized.
Furthermore, it can be said that monitoring performance of the team is necessary for continual
improvement in the sales process and strategy.
2.2 Tools utilized in Monitoring Performance of Team
Different tools can be used by the management of organizations to monitor the work
performance of team members, like Key Performance Indicators, 360o feedback, performance
appraisals and benchmarking. KPI is supplemented with a target, which shows how the team is
performing. KPI should include following:
 Specific: Concentrate on a specific sales goal.
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 Measurable: Able to measure whether the predetermined sales target is met.
 Attainable: The predetermined goal is not too difficult or not too easy, it should be
possible with effort.
 Relevant: The predetermined goals should be significant for the sales team.
 Time Bound: There should be predetermined time for obtaining the sales target.
2.3 Role of Key Performance Indicators in Monitoring Sales Team Performance
It is the responsibility of the management to set key performance indicators to provide some
metrics to the sales team to work against (Chambers, 2013). KPIs can have qualitative and
quantitative targets. It is necessary for the management to balance the KPIs across scorecards
quadrants include: customer, financial, innovation and internal business, learning. The balanced
scorecard is concentrated on effective delivering the mission or vision of the organization by
converting it into a quantifiable set of measures and objectives. The balanced scorecard ensures
that the team members or organization concentrate not only the aspects that drive recent
performance but also on the aspects that will evaluate future performance. However, financial
measure was considered the main focus of an organization's performance measurement and these
remain relevant criteria for evaluating success.
2.4 Management of Performance Variances
Evaluating the sales team performance means not only performance should be tracked but also
any difference between the actual and target performance should be evaluated and managed. If
the management wants to understand the team performance, it is essential to manage
performance variance. Performance variance is following:
 Adverse: Poorer than expected or lower target.
 Favorable: Superior to anticipated or over-target.
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Both types of variance should be evaluated by the management to understand the reason of poor
or good performance. After identifying the issues behind the lower performance, action can be
taken to enhance or improve performance.
2.5 Importance of Two-way Communication
Two-way communication plays an important role in promoting respect and mutual understanding
between the team and their leader. Two-way communication is considered a vital enable for
motivating the team members and creating a healthy relationship. It allows team members to
agree on performance measures, which ensures that they understand what is desired of them and
reach agreements on the targets (Liu, 2012). Agreeing targets ensure that they are realistic and
attainable by including the sales team members own knowledge of their target segment. Two-
way communication also plays an important role in reviewing the performance through which it
explains the variances between actual and target performance.
2.6 Support performance of Sales Team Members
The performance of Sales team members can be supported by various ways. The efficient way of
supporting sales team performance is incentives. Support may contain ensuring employees have
appropriate development and learning, providing a coach/mentor, talent management. Support
can also be achieved through on-the-job-training. It includes job rotation within the team and
demonstrating sales techniques. Coaching and Mentoring are considered an effective support
method for development of sales team members. Mentoring involves allocating a senior member
of staff to act as a mentor to the sales team member. The mentor gives advice to the team
members on how to improve their performance and also enhances their knowledge to secure their
career.
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2.7 How other people and teams in the organization may impact Sales Performance
The members of sales team mainly focus on bringing in customer orders and profit for the
organization. Sales people are considered the organization's conduit, effectively dealing with the
customers in terms of the quality of product and service. They efficiently conducted the
operations and logistics part of the organization which helps them in delivering the right product
at a right time in tight quality to the right customers (Delahaye, 2015). When Perfect Order is not
efficiently achieved it influence repeat sales and its performance. The department of Sales does
not behave in isolation. They also have to coordinate with the other departments to ensure that
customers gained are creditworthy and profitable.
Management of Staffing levels in a Sales Team
The main motive of this section is to recruit sales people that fulfill the needs of the team and
job. Recruiting a suitable person is necessary for the organization. The quality of the candidates
should be as per the requirement of job which ensures better performance in future. In this, we
provide the overview of the selection process, development of job profiles and person
specifications.
3.1 Review staffing levels in the light of Organization’s budgets and strategy
The strategic direction of the organization ensures how the budget is allocated to the
organization. It is necessary for the management to allocate resources as per the requirement of
strategic priorities of the organization and performance of those resources should be monitored
continuously. Staffing levels in the sales team must be merged to the budget allocated to each
territory (Cannon, 2014). So, it is necessary for the management to hire peoples with right skills
and experience to maximize the profitability of the organization. There are two main reasons
why staffing levels may change, up or down. These are as a result of a vacancy coming available
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due to someone leaving the business, or because the business has changed its requirements
necessitating the creation of a new role.
3.2 Recruitment and Selection Process for Sales People
The recruitment and selection mainly involve five stages which are following:
 Role Definition: The role of the sales position is analyzed to create a person
specification and job description. The job specification includes identify the task
of the job, required output and team skills. The person specification involves the
knowledge and skill level which an individual must have for performing the task
efficiently.
 Attracting Applications: Job Applicants can be external or internal or through
employee referral.
 Managing the application process: Potential job applications are received in two
formats: application form or the curriculum vitae. It can be received in paper and
electronic form.
 Managing the Selection process: It involves the process of short-listing, that is a
list of potential candidates suitable for the role of the job. After this, these
candidates are invited through telephone for further selection process, which may
contain a face-to-face interview, psychometric testing, and assessment center.
 Making the appointment: After selecting the potential candidates for performing
the task, appointment letter is awarded to the candidate to join the organization.
3.3 Development of Job Profile for Sales Person
A job profile explains the responsibilities and duties of the sales position, it contains:
 Title of the job
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 Name of the Department
 Reports to (to whom the person directly reports)
 Important areas of responsibility
 Overall responsibility
 Employment terms
 Required qualifications
For developing the effective job profile, it is the responsibility of sales leader to
conduct a deep analysis of all roles and responsibilities for the sales position are
(Duffield, 2014). It is necessary for the sales team leader to develop a plan on the
basis of current and future requirements.
3.4 Development of person specification for a sales person
The person specifications include the desirable and necessary skills needed for a
particular job profile. The person specification is considered as a combination of
competencies, experience, and qualifications. For developing a good person specification,
the skills should be divided into desirable and essential. The person specification
contains:
 Communication skills
 Team Skills
 Experience
 Qualification
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3.5 Contribution to Selection interviews
Selection interviews provide candidates the opportunity to ask questions about the team
and organization, and the role of the job. On the basis of the questions, they can decide
whether they would like to take the job or not (Gourley, J2012). The sales team leader
explain the following things in selection interview:
 Role of the candidates and their responsibilities in detail
 Measuring the ability of candidates to perform job
 Give feedback.
Conclusion
After studying all this, we can conclude that motivation plays an important role. In the absence
of motivation, the employees are not able to utilize their full potential. For selecting the suitable
sales person, it is the responsibility of the team leader to develop effective strategies for choosing
high potential employees for performing their job. Motivation theory helps the management of
the organization to determine the suitable motivation plans for achieving high performance.
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