Evaluating, Supervising and

Controlling Sales and Sales

Personnel

Renuka Timilsena
 Meaning of Sales Supervision
• Supervision means overseeing the salespeople
at work
• It includes initiating action and checking the
work while it is done
• Through this salespersons are directed and
motivated to work better
• A manager can supervise in two ways:
– Indirect supervisory methods
– Direct supervisory method
 Need of Sales Supervision
• Observing, monitoring and reporting the
actual performance of salesperson
• Counseling and coaching of salesperson
• Comparing the actual with expected
performance to rectify
• Providing information regarding company’s
plans and policies
• Motivating salesperson
 Meaning of Sales Evaluation
• It involves an analysis of the performance of
sales people
• Through sales evaluation, sales person learn
about their strengths and weaknesses
• It also helps in determining which sales person
performed well and which did not
 Need of Sales Evaluation
• Appraise the performance of sales personnel
• Improve performance
• Identify strengths and weaknesses
• Basis for reward and compensation
• Affects key decision areas
• Main good communication
 Meaning of Sales Control
• Controlling is checking and verifying an act to know
whether everything takes place in accordance with
the predetermined plan
• The sales control function assist the manager in
ascertaining:
– Which level of sales have been achieved,
– Why there have been a variance and
– What remedial action can be take to achieve the target
result
• The sales control at any organization includes sales
and cost analysis
 Need of Sales Control
• To spot problems early
• To improve and correct drawbacks
• To ensure coordination
• To implement the sales planning in an
effective manner
• To control unnecessary expenses
• Motivating the sales force through better
controlling
 Process of Sales Control
Establishment of sales performance standards

Measuring actual sales performance

Feedback

Comparing the standards with actual sales performance

Taking corrective actions

 Establishment of Sales Performance
Standards
• Performance standards can be classified as:
– Quantitative performance standards
– Qualitative performance standards

• Quantitative performance standards

– These standards are specific and objective
– Provide description of what management expects
– Usually multiple quantitative performance
standards are assigned
 Continue…
• Specific output quantitative measures include
– Sales volume by product, customer group & territory
– Sales volume as percent of quota or territory
potential
– Sales revenue of profit generated
– Number of orders and average sales amount
– Number and sales to new customer
– Closing rate number of orders divided by number of
calls
 Continue…
• Qualitative Performance Standards
– Minimizes the subjectivity & personal bias of the
evaluation
– Quantitative measures cannot solely produce a
complete evaluation of sales force
– Many qualitative standards must also be considered
that helps in the interpretation of quantitative data
– Qualitative standards can be knowledge of products,
company policies, and competitors, time
management and preparation for sales calls, sales
skill, customer relations, personality and attitude, etc
Measuring the Actual Performance
• For measurement of actual performance,
information can be extracted from:
– Company records
– Reports from salespeople
– Manager’s field visits
– Customers
 Comparing the Standards with Actual Sales
Performance
• This step requires comparison of actual
performance with quantitative and qualitative
performance criteria
• The same standards cannot be cannot be
applied to all sales persons
• Thus, this step requires judgment
 Taking Corrective Actions
• If actual performance and standards match,
then no action may be needed
• If there is no match then three alternatives:
– Lower or increase the standards used in
comparing actual performance to make more
realistic
– Revise the policy, plan or strategies used to attain
standards
– Increase the performance to attain the standards
 Controlling Sales Personnel Through
Supervision
• Supervision refers to actual overseeing and
directing day to day activities of salespeople
• The type of supervision should be adjusted to
the type of person in the selling job
• When the type of person changes, so should
the type of supervision
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• Some important conditions where supervision is
needed are
– Sales personnel turnover rate excessive in a branch,
district, or other unit
– High turnover of accounts
– Increased complaints from customers
– Mail or phone orders increasing for no known reasons
– Low ratio of orders to sales call
– Total number of calls very low or very high, etc
 Continue…Who should supervise?
• Salesperson can be supervised by home office
personnel, branch or district managers, or field
sales supervisors
• Sales supervision may be either through executives
as one of their responsibilities, or through
specialists whose jobs are mainly supervising
• If the sales force is small and experienced, sale
supervision is generally through top sales executive
or an assistant
 Continue…
• When the sales organization is small and
permits the development of close relations
among sales personnel & executive- Home
office supervisor
• Companies having decentralized sales
organizations- Branch or district managers
Qualifications of Sales Supervisors
• Sale supervisors are generally selected among
the sales force
• These people must recognize training needs,
know how to train, be patient with those who
have less skill, and be tactful to point out
better ways of doing things
• Must be skilled in handling people
Tools of Sales Control and Analysis
• Major tools used are
– Sales audit
– Market audit
– Sales force expense analysis
• These tools provide means to a sales
management to find out strengths and
weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the
organization
 Sales Audit
• It is a systematic, critical, comprehensive and
unbiased review and appraisal of the total selling
operation
• The purpose is to maximize the “strength” and
minimize the ill-effects of “weaknesses”
uncovered by sales audit
• There is no standard method of sales audit
• Normally a sales audit examines six main aspects
of sales organization
 Sales Audit Criteria

Objectives Policies

Organizati
Methods
ons
 Market Audit
• It is a systematic, independent and in-depth
periodical review of a company’s marketing
activities and environment
• The purpose is to find out opportunities and
problems, and recommend an action plan to
improve company’s marketing functions
• Characteristics of marketing audit are
comprehensive, systematic, independent,
periodic
Continue…Six Major Components
Marketing
Marketing
Environment
Audit Strategy Audit

Marketing
Marketing
Organization
Audit System Audit
 Sales Force Expense Analysis
• One of the tools of sales control
• Should be considered as an investment because the
purpose is to generate sales
• Sales expenses must be properly supervised, but they
must also be liberal enough to permit sales people to
do their jobs effectively
• Typical reimbursement of sales force expense: travel,
meals, lodging, entertainment of customers, telephone
• Sales expense plan must be fair to salespeople and the
company
Types of Sales Force Expense Plans
• The salesperson pays all expenses
• The company pays all expenses (Unlimited
payment plan)
• The company partially pays expenses (Limited
Payment Plan)
• Combination Plan (Expense-Quota Plan)