Sales Team Structure, Roles And Rewards - company is located in Queensland - Case Study Example

Name College Course Tutor Date Business Report to the CEO To: From: Subject: Date: This business report will present a sales team, its structure, roles and rewards that the company should consider. The sales team structure will reflect suitable numbers of staff, their geographic location, their responsibilities, and remuneration packages, such as bonuses, different incentives, perks, awards, cost reduction incentives, and profit sharing. The report will also present a distribution model, current salaries in the technology industry including external and internal roles and web based structures. The company is located in Queensland. Every company must establish its own sales team that undertakes the sale of products. My sales team will have representatives who will perform different roles. The team will include; sales support staffs, sales operation staffs, sales development representatives, account executive representatives, and market response representatives. Each of these team members will be assigned specific roles and responsibilities to help catapult the organization to a new level. Organizational Chart Sales Sales Sales Account Marketing Support Staff Operations Development executive reps Response Reps Reps The roles and responsibilities of sales support staff, sales operations, sales development reps, account executive reps, and marketing response include; a) Sales support staffs (35) Sales support staffs will be located in most cities in Australia, such as Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, Northern Territory, and Tasmania. They will: i. Engage in administrative reporting together with assistant sales professionals ii. Make efficient utilization of the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system of support (Zeng, Joseph, and David, 2003, p.20) iii. Identify and aid sales professionals to implement the Selling Process Model iv. Main clients’ contacts- represent Consumer Value and company proposition v. Offer shared consumer feasibility assessment, execution plan, and solution design vi. Establish improvement charter and goals, individual deliverables as well as channel or direct sales objectives. b) Sales Operations (14) Sales operation staff will be located in the company’s headquarters, Queensland i. Management of company events ii. Engage in lead management- associated with marketing the company’s products iii. Will also establish improvement goals and individual deliverables iv. Operational and tactical planning v. Will be involved in training new employees c) Sales Development Representatives (30) Sales development representatives will work from the main offices just like sales operation representatives. Their major roles will include i. Executing qualification calls and giving leads to account executives ii. Making follow-up calls and sending cold emails iii. Building a targeted list of projections d) Account Executive Representatives (18) Accountant executive representatives will be moving from one client to another. They will have offices in different cities in Australia and New Zealand, such as Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, Northern Territory, and Tasmania. The main role of account executive representatives will be closing deals for the company (Philip and Keller, 2006, p.90). They will work all the deals, identify buyers, and assist with their requirements. Some of other major responsibilities will include; i. Re-qualifying the lead (potential client) ii. Assessing what the lead requires iii. Performing web representations and personal demos iv. Addressing concerns in case they appear v. Negotiating deals vi. Closing deals e) Marketing Response Representatives (23) Marketing Response Representatives will perform their duties from Queensland because most of their duties will not require moving from one place to another in search of clients. Their key duties are equivalent to those of sales development representatives, such as getting qualified leads to account executives (Nguyen and Mutum 2012, p.23). Nevertheless, they will have other roles. The company is growing and therefore it requires a vibrant marketing structure. Their major roles will include; i. Implementing qualification calls and handing off to the account executives ii. Sending emails and making follow-up calls iii. Sorting through the inbound leads from the marketing division As the national Sales Director, my office will be located in New South Wales, Australia. My duties will involve overseeing that everything in the company with regards to sales goes as planned. My key duties will include; i. Territory management, such as managing the company’s asset in a certain region and identifying ideal consumers (Armstrong and Murlis 2004, p.90) ii. Responsible for consumer contacts iii. Mapping out different ways of accomplishing set goals iv. Establishing individual deliverables, improving the company’s charter and targets v. Making account assessment presentations vi. Managing resources for sales support Remuneration Packages for Employees These employees will require remuneration and benefits after performing their duties. According to James (2003), companies assume that individuals are mainly inspired or motivated by extrinsic motivation or outside factors but fail to realize that people tend to work healthier or become committed when their respective organizations give them considerable material benefits, such as holidays and huge pay cheques (p.28). Therefore, employees also motivated by internal factors also known as intrinsic motivation. The pride of workers in workmanship or their capacity to assist clients is habitually a motivating facet rather than self-interest or money. Every employee is unique with regards to motivation. Some are motivated by the prospective to receive rewards while others are inspired mostly by their aspiration to evade unpleasant results (Hume 2005, p.6). As the Chief Executive Officer, our sales team will be motivated by different things as indicated below. a) Bonuses The sales team will be motivated in their duties when they receive bonuses. Those employees meeting a particular quota and standard or those who complete their projects in time may feel appreciated through bonuses (Gner and Ullrich 2007, p.45). For instance, market response representatives are required to make follow-ups and return emails of potential clients. If a market response representative send more than 2,000 emails, it will be better to give him/her a bonus as a way of appreciating his/her skills in the company. b) Profit Sharing Another remuneration that could boost the sales team morale would be profit sharing. Profit sharing symbolizes sharing business profits with the personnel, either in deferred payment, shared, or cash (Gerhart and Milkovich 2009, p.78). Taking this step will also help to retain employees in the company. Most employees enjoy working in organizations that identify their skills and appreciate them. c) Cost Reduction Incentives Another remuneration incentive that could motivate the sales department would be cost reduction incentives. Some sales representatives may come up with different ways of helping the company to reduce some of its costs. As a result, savings made from such techniques can be utilized in funding the incentive amount. This will also help the sale representatives to identify that the company’s top management recognizes and appreciates their expertise. d) Special Awards The sales team could also benefit from special awards. The company could give employees occasional gifts for teamwork and service. Exceptional workers can also enjoy receiving gifts regularly for their additional efforts. For instance, as an IT company, most sales representatives will be working for a whole year to make sure that clients identify our computers. Therefore, it would be important to remunerate them with Christmas bonuses as a way of appreciation. e) Perks The employees would also benefit from perks. For instance, employees would enjoy family perks, such as sick-child days, scholarship for the sales team children, eldercare assistance, and childcare assistance (James 2003, p.34). Monetary perks would include; tuition reimbursement, personal loans, stock options, housing allowance, staff lotteries, including discounts on company services and products. f) Retirement incentives Instead of paying incentives directly to the sales team, you can add it to the workers’ 401(k) retirement accounts. The IRS (Internal Revenue Service) advises companies sponsoring the 401(k) program to claim the rate of undertaking the program to reduce their state taxes. The sales team will require additional benefits of tax-free money in their retirement accounts, away from what they contribute and the company’s matches. g) Vacation Incentives Unscheduled personnel time-off tends to create issues for most companies. Therefore, the company can reduce personal days and sick leaves and provide additional vacation days for every quarter whereby employees take time to relax. Revenues Annual Sales $25,000,000 Gross Margin 50% excluding Selling Costs but inclusive of Advertising and Promotion Net profit 20% of sales revenue Projected Salaries (monthly) Remuneration (monthly) Total (projected salaries plus remuneration) National Sales Director $8,000 $300 $8,300 Sales Operations $2,500 $250 $2,750 Sales support staffs $3,000 $200 $3,200 Sales Development Representatives $3,000 $150 $3,150 Account Executive Representatives $2,700 $200 $2,900 Marketing Response Representatives $3,500 $100 $3,600 Total 22,700 $1,200 23, 900 The current sales salaries of the sales team in the Australian IT industry will be indicated in the table below; Job Description Average Salary (per annum) National Sales Director AU AU$98494. Sales Operations AU$79558 Sales support staffs AU$ 80,000, Sales Development Representatives AU$58700 Account Executive Representatives AU$59,859 Marketing Response Representatives AU $80000 Recommended Remuneration Packages for Employees There are several remuneration packages that could boost employees’ morale to greater heights. My recommendations with regards to incentives include; offering cost reduction incentives to every employee working in the sales department. If the company funds its incentive program from money saved after employees devised ways of cutting cost, they will be motivated to continue working hard. The second most important remuneration package that would benefit our company is vacation incentives. There are times when employees become sick and fail to report to work. Some even have emergencies prompting them to miss going to work. Therefore, the company could benefit from employees’ vacation days. It would be advisable to give each employee a 2-day vacation time for them to organize themselves and relax. The third recommendable remuneration package that could help the company includes retirement benefits. Most of us wonder what will happen when we grow old and stop working. Employees who work in companies that give adequate retirement benefits live happily. They know that they have a safe haven after retirement. They are also able to take care of their families who in turn bring joy to the individual. These results to improve efficiency and morale in the workplace Distribution Model A distribution channel is very important in marketing as it uses the “4Ps” namely Placement (distribution), price, promotion, and product (Laura 2008, p.14). These elements will help the company to expand its reach and increase its revenue. As a B2C/B2B organization, we can sell our products through single or multiple distribution channels, such as dealer, retail, consultant, distributor/wholesaler, manufacturer’s representatives or sales agents, direct catalogue, direct internet, and direct sales team. We could select three major channels of distribution in our marketing strategy. They include direct to end users, sale through a dealer network, or sell through value added resellers (VAR) (Aswathappa 2005, p.67). With direct to end-users, the company will be required to organize a sale team that sells the computers directly to the clients. It will be required to have another line of products for smaller companies. It will sell this product line to clients using marketing campaigns or the company’s website rather than through the sales team. This means that we will have two channels of distribution and two marketplaces. The dealers’ system will require the company to sell computers through traders in a geographical who then sell to clients in their regions. The dealer can service our products too. This means that our clients are the dealers and the company will have to create a robust program to support and educate them with marketing materials and campaigns. Selling through VAR means that we sell computers to an organization that can bundle it with other products and services and then re-advertise them. This organization is known as VAR since its increases the value of our computers. The VAR will also work with customers to establish the appropriate configurations and products. Additionally, it will execute a network that incorporates our product. Nevertheless, the company would benefit from the distribution model presented below Therefore, the preferred business model will be sale through a dealer network. Prior to selling the computers, we will first identify what they want and their way of purchasing the product. This can be done though a simple market study that answers questions such as (Gner and Ullrich 2007, p.34); a) Does the customer require personalized computers? b) Will the customer prefer buying the product online or at a physical retail store? c) How much education will the clients require regarding our computers? Establishing this will help us build a proper distribution model. Since the company will require allocation partners, we will assess their demands as well. After that, we will identify prospective marketing intermediaries. Generally, there exist two approaches of selling our products; direct or indirect selling. As indicated below, we will use distributors and wholesalers who will buy our computers in bulks and then sell them to contractors and retailers in finally sell them to end-users (Gerhart and Milkovich 2009, p.56). The sales team will then narrow on the lucrative channels of distribution. We now have a fine idea of the distribution partners, but we require cost-effective distribution channels. Distribution can be intensive whereby the company has many intermediaries, such that our products are stocked in numerous stores and possess diverse distribution channels (Hume 2005, p.27). Distribution can also be exclusive or selective. In exclusive distribution, the company will have few intermediaries who only sell our products only. In selective distribution, the company will have fewer intermediaries where our products will be sold in a single geographical location. The most preferred distribution will be intensive distribution whereby the computers will be sold to distributors dealing with other computer elements. The sales team will then manage the distribution channels. This will be done by tracking the progress of every channel of distribution against the company’s objectives (Keller and Burton 2009, p.54). Failure to meet these goals will result to meetings with the distribution partners to identify the leak in their model. The meeting will also help identify how to optimize the distribution channel and solve the problem. The business report has given a precise view of the sale team structure and how the members will perform its duties. For the company goals to be achieved, the organization will require 35 sales support staff, 14 sales operations, 30 sales development representatives, 18 account executive representatives, and 23 marketing response representatives. Just like other employees, the company will require motivation strategies for the sale team. These strategies include bonuses, profit sharing, cost reduction incentives, special awards, perks, retirement incentives, and vacation incentives. Some of the recommended remuneration packages for the company include; cost reduction incentives, vacation incentives, and retirement benefits. The report has also identified the best distribution model that facilitates the sale of computers. The sales team will also identify those distributors who are lagging behind and identify their problems. Concentrating on channels of distribution will also help the company to identify cost-effective methods of selling the computers. Yours Sincerely Bibliographies Armstrong, M., and Murlis, H (2004) Reward Management: A Handbook of Remuneration Strategy and Practice, London: Kogan Page. Aswathappa, K (2005) Human Resource and Personnel Management, New York: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Gner, C and Ullrich, S (2007) Compensation and Remuneration, London: GRIN Verlag. Gerhart, B, and Milkovich, G (2009) Employee Compensation: Research and Practice, New York: Cornell University. Hume, D (2005) Reward Management: Employee Performance, Motivation and Pay, New York: Wiley. James, D. (2003) The Path to Campaign, Customer, and Corporate Profitability, New York: McGraw-Hill Professional. Keller, K and Burton, K. (2009) Marketing Management, Pearson Education, Australia: Frenchs Forest Laura, P (2008) Marketing Metrics in Action: Creating a Performance-Driven Marketing Organization, Illinois: Racom Communications. Nguyen, B. and Mutum, D.S. (2012). “A Review of Customer Relationship Management: Successes, Advances, Pitfalls and Futures,” Business Process Management Journal, 18 (3). Pp.400-419. Philip, K and Keller, L (2006). Marketing Management, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. Zeng, Y., Joseph, W., and David, C. (2003) "Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in Business-To-Business (B2B) E-Commerce", Emerald 11, (2), pp.20. Read More