Building an Australian Sales Team - Case Study Example

Building the sales team of Smart Insights Company Role: Sales Director Executive summary This report is aiming at providing the necessary recommendations for Smart Insights allocated sales budget of around $50,000,000 towards financial services that will be offered in the Australian market. Smart Insights is a financial consultancy from that will be offering financial consultancy services to the Australians. The report will outline the structure of the sales team, roles and responsibilities, the incentives schemes, remuneration packages, and the incentives that will be geared towards making the employees committed to achieving the objectives of the smart insights. Other firms in the market are offering the same services hence ensuring that the sales team is motivated can be crucial in the process of making them committed to ensuring company success in the market. The company will employ the use of a geographically based structure that will assist in ensuring that there are efficiency and flexibility in the process of ensuring the sales team can deliver to the expectations. In the process of achieving efficiency, the sales team will be divided into regions to make the management of the sales activities easy where each region will be allocated a regional sales manager. However, the dividing of the regions will be targeting the areas with a high population that assists in increasing the number of customers. The distribution of the sales team does consider the population of the regions to ensure that there is fair workload among the employees in the sales team. Smart insights will also make use of sales agents that will mainly target the small markets in Australia. This will assist in ensuring that the company services are popular in the market. The remuneration is done according to the responsibilities of each sales personnel where the managerial salaries are higher than the staff salaries. The management team Magdalene joy She is the national sales director where she has enough experience in the sales activities for more than ten years. Her major role is ensuring that the company is in a position to offer services that are competitive in the market. Jennings Harrison He is a graduate of Hervey business school with four years of experience in offering financial services in Australia making him very competent on issues of financial services. He is the regional sales manager where he has the responsibility of working towards ensuring that the company sales volume are increased. Louis Nile He is the regional sales manager where he is tasked with the role of ensuring that clients expectations are met in the most efficient and effective manner. Ross Michael He is the outsourcing manager where he is responsible for ensuring that the resources of the company are used in an efficient way. Organizational structure The smart insights organizational structure is simple with few officials of the management to assist in managing the costs of operating the company. This has been one of the strategies that have been geared towards ensuring that the pricing strategy is competitive by reducing the operational costs hence able to offer pocket-friendly prices. The organizational structure does ensure that there is effective communication to ease the decision-making process and strategy formulation (Baldauf, Cravens and Piercy, 2001). The company agents are paid through commissions where they do not largely affect the operational costs through salaries as they are paid according to the sales they achieve. Figure 1: Organizational structure Sales team distribution The regions targeted by the company are different regarding the population of the areas. As a result, the allocation of the employees is done according to the number of customers in the regions. The fair allocation of the staff depending on the number of customers ensure efficiency and effective services delivery. In the regions that are highly populated, more staff are distributed to ensure that the high demand of the regions is adequately met. The strategy of deploying a large number of the sales personnel in the areas that are highly populated has assisted the company in the process of achieving an increase in the sales volume (Beatty, et al. 2006). Besides, this has assisted the company in the process of ensuring that there is a fair distribution of workload. The regions with a low number of customers are allocated few sales personnel to ensure that there is efficiency in the utilization of the human resources. Figure 2: Sales team distribution Region Sales representatives Online marketers Total team Total sales Tasmania 2 1 3 10 new south wales 2 1 3 14 queensland 2 1 3 11 victoria 3 2 5 13 western australia 2 3 5 15 south australia 1 2 3 10 northern australia 1 2 3 12 Sales team terrirtories Roles and responsibilities The roles and the responsibilities of the sales team are designed in a way that can ensure that they are in line with the objectives of smart insights. Besides, the roles and the responsibilities of the sales team have been allocated considering their capabilities and ability to deliver as per the company expectations (Dubinsky, et al. 2005). In the process of ensuring that the company can achieve the set objectives, the qualification and the experience of the sales team is considered in the process of allocating responsibilities. Sales Director The role of the sales director is to manage a sales team of smart insights aiming at tracing the progress of the sales team. It is the responsibility of the sales director to ensure that the sales team is committed to ensuring that the company goals are achieved. Responsibility 1. To develop strategies that can ensure achievement of the sales target of $50,000,000 and gross margin of 25%. 2. To ensure coordination of the sales efforts of the sales team in the regions targeted 3. Ensure remuneration and incentives that can guarantee that the employees are motivated to work towards achieving the company goals. 4. Guarantee the sales team a good working environment that can improve their productivity through providing the necessary support to the sales team. Regional sales managers They are responsible for ensuring that the sales in the regions are improved, and the necessary strategies are taken to enhance the performance of the company in the regions. Their responsibilities 1. It is the responsibility of the sales managers to ensure that they align the sales activities with the objectives of the company. 2. To ensure that the targeted regions are expanded by delivering services that are needed in the market hence winning the loyalty of the customers. 3. Coming up with the necessary policies that can assist in solving various changes facing the marketing of the company products 4. Forming part of the strategy formulation and implementation aiming at ensuring that the company is competitive in the market. District sales managers They are responsible for the sale performance in the district level of the company where they are focused on the sales of the district. Their responsibilities 1. District managers are responsible for motivating the sales team at the district level aiming at making them productive. 2. They are responsible for identifying the areas that need improvement to enhance their expertise to compete well in the market and ensure training of the team. 3. Ensure that the sales strategies are properly implemented 4. Develop promotional programs aimed at improving the awareness’ of the company services in the market. Sales representatives They do represent the company in the market where they play a crucial role in the process of marketing the company services. Responsibilities 1. The sales representatives are responsible for looking for potential customers where they are expected to market the financial of the company. 2. Ensure healthy communications to ensure that the benefits of the company products are popular in the market. 3. They do keep pace with the industry trend and identify the changes taking place in the taste and preferences of the customers. 4. Ensure constant reports concerning the performance of the company in the market and suggest possible changes. Online sales managers Responsibilities 1. Motivating the sales team 2. Coming up with sales strategies 3. Solving the potential sales challenges Other sales team Independent sales agents They are used in the regions with a small number of customers where they are expected to increase the awareness of the company services in the market (Jones, et al. 2005). They are paid regarding commission which is 25% of the sales costs hence they are cost efficient as they are paid depending on their performance in the market. Telemarketers The telemarketers are responsible for marketing services of the company online where they are expected to have excellent communication skills (Stanton, Buskirk and Spiro, 2011). They will be on the payroll of the company where they will be paid around $20,000 as the basic salary and commission of 2% on the sales they make. Remuneration The managerial employees Sales Director The sales director will be paid a salary of around $150,000 and bonus amounting to around $10,000 when the company targets are achieved by at least 80%. Regional sales managers They will be paid around $100,000 and a bonus of $20,000 when they achieve the set targets of the company. District sales managers The district managers will be paid approximately $80,000 and a bonus of $15,000 for the years they achieve the set sales target. Online sales managers The online sales managers will be earning $50,000 and a bonus of $12,000 after achieving the set sales targets making the work towards achieving the set targets. Sales representatives The sales representative will be paid $45,000 and a bonus of $6,000 for only those meeting the sales target of the company. Telemarketers Telemarketers of the company will be paid $30,000 as the salary and 4% as commission for the sales they make. Independent sales agents They will be paid based on a commission that will be 26% of the sales they make. Remuneration and salary packages Position Number Salary Bonus Commission (%) Commission ($) Superannuation Totals Sales director 1 $150,000 $10,000 $7,000 $167,000 Regional sales managers 3 $100,000 $20,000 $6,500 $366,500 Disstrict sales managers 5 $80,000 $15,000 $3,000 $490,000 Online sales managers 2 $50,000 $12,000 $2,500 $258,000 Sales representatives 4 $45,000 $6,000 $2,400 $213,600 Telemarketers 3 $30,000 4% $8,000 $2,200 $120,600 Independent sales agents 3 26% $17,000 $2,000 $57,000 Total 21 1,672,700 Expected commisions and sales Position Selling price Sales Quanlity Commission Commission ($) Total Sales Representatives 150 20,000 3% 90,000 3000,000 Telemarketers 200 10,000 3% 60,000 2000,000 Independent sales agents 200 10,000 4% 80,000 2000,000 Total 40,000 230,000 7,000,000 Other costs Expenses related to the employees Expenses Number Period Cost for each period Total Accomodation 20 10 $200 $40,000 Recreation 20 10 $100 $20,000 Total $60,000 Organizataional expenses Conference expenses Costs Number of heads The cost per head Total Accomodation 20 $500 $10,000 Food 20 $300 $6,000 Travel expenses 20 $400 $8,000 Total $24,000 The conference expenses are related to the meeting that will be held by the management team of smart insights company to come up with the necessary strategies that can assist the company to achieve its set objectives. The incentive program The sale steam will be provided with some other incentives apart from the commission and the bonuses provided. Smart Insights Company will ensure that there are motivational rewards for the sales team (Weitz and Bradford, 2009). The incentives are geared towards ensuring that the sales team is committed to improving the sales of the company (Ingram, et al. 2012). The rewards will include $18,000 and a trip to Holland that will be given to the best two sales members. Prize expenses Expense The cost Number of heads Total Incentive in cash $18,000 2 $36,000 Trip expenses $15,000 2 $30,000 Total $66,000 Managerial incentives The managerial team will also be given som incentives for their excellence in providing the necessary leadership in the organization. Only the two best managerial employees will be given the rewards that will include $30, 000 in cash and a trip to Israel. Budget expediture Expenses Costs The remunerations 1,672,700 Employee expenses $60,000 Confrence expenses $24,000 Prize expenses $66,000 Total expenses $1,822,700 Surplus $7,300 I managed to ensure efficiency in the management of the company resources where the sales of the company increased. Besides, I managed to make sure that the team members are motivated to deliver to the company expectations. Appendices References Baldauf, A., Cravens, D.W. and Piercy, N.F., 2001. Examining business strategy, sales management, and salesperson antecedents of sales organization effectiveness. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 21(2), pp.109-122. Beatty, S.E., Mayer, M., Coleman, J.E., Reynolds, K.E. and Lee, J., 2006. Customer-sales associate retail relationships. Journal of retailing, 72(3), pp.223-247. Dubinsky, A.J., Yammarino, F.J., Jolson, M.A. and Spangler, W.D., 2005. Transformational leadership: An initial investigation in sales management.Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 15(2), pp.17-31. Jones, E., Brown, S.P., Zoltners, A.A. and Weitz, B.A., 2005. The changing environment of selling and sales management. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 25(2), pp.105-111. Stanton, W.J., Buskirk, R.H. and Spiro, R.L., 2011. Management of the sales force (pp. 307-308). Homewood, IL: Irwin. Ingram, T.N., LaForge, R.W., Avila, R.A., Schwepker Jr, C.H. and Williams, M.R., 2012. Sales management: Analysis and decision making. ME Sharpe. Weitz, B.A. and Bradford, K.D., 2009. Personal selling and sales management: A relationship marketing perspective. Journal of the academy of marketing science, 27(2), pp.241-254. Read More