VARIABLES INFLUENCING SALES MANAGER’S PERFORMANCE

Coping with the changing complexity of the every day sales situation.

Change is an important factor in every business day the ability to master and deal with change has become an important factor in sales management. The sales manager is faced with the dilemma of how to sell maximum product volume at maximum profit and yet control the cost of distribution, while building the company image and product reputation. Sales managers must achieve their objectives through individuals, through effective control mechanisms, and through organizational leadership. Certainly they are faced with comprehensive, stimulating, and challenging circumstances. The newly appointed sales manager soon recognizes that he must change by developing new skills, because the jobs of selling and managing are not of the same competence as a salesperson is no guarantee of management success.

There are essentially four variables that will influence a sales manager’s performance. First, there are personal skills which have been developed before the individual is promoted to sales manager attains through the normal education and socialization processes. These skills originated in early life and have been developed and reinforced throughout the life of the individual. What is often thought of as one’s general attitude towards, life, such as enthusiasm, initiative, loyalty, integrity, and perseverance, are included under the category of personal skills. It is within the range of personal skills that the sales manager brings to his job the knowledge of the business as a whole, personal integrity, the ability to lead and inspire, basic intelligence, a sense of purpose and direction, selling ability, sympathetic understanding, enthusiasm, tact, and faith. A sales person observing the sales manager in action develops insight into the personality of the sales manager. This insight greatly influence the salesman’s willingness to obey and follow the direction of the sales manager, and because of this, third, there ae task skills which include behavior that deals specifically with the sales and technical competence of the sales manager. To be fully effective, the manager must have a high degree of expertise in those tasks that the salesperson must perform. It follows that the closer a manager must have a high degree of expertise in those tasks that the salesperson must perform. It follows that the closer manager must interact with salespersons, the higher their degree of expertise must be.

In addition, they cannot operate solely as leaders of a sales group but must function as a linking pin between the sales group and the next higher structure. Some of these task skills include: maintenance of quality standards required of salesmen; selection and training of the sales force; implementation of company plans and policies; maintenance of a feedback system on accomplishment and plans for improvement; supervision through direction, motivation and control; administration of the office and sales force; and related general duties agreed upon.

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Clearly stated objectives, to measure the quality of the task skills, must be coordinated not only with the development objectives of the sales manager, but also with the overall developmental objectives of the organization. Controls must be established so that the sales manager can periodically review his own development process and accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the responsibility of upper management to identify task skills and behavior which are critical to the success of the sales manager’s performance. One these task skills and the standards of performance are understood and agreed upon the sales manager can function in a very desirable climate.

Fourth, there are organizational skills, which include knowledge and abilities, that allow the sales manager to function efficiently within the organization. The Organizational system operates within a given boundary which separates it from its environment. Therefore the organization, corporate and subsidiary, must collect information about its market, its competitors, etc. and analyze this information. Based on the quality of this information, decisions are made about eh quality, quantity, price, strategy, tactics, etc. and are passed on t the sales manager. In order to succeed, the manager must understand the meaning, place, and utility of each decision as thy apply to the manager and to the total environment.

Upper management must recognize that the best salespersons do no necessarily make the best sales managers. Selling and managing require different skills and abilities. There seems to be limited significance, or correlation, between the level f education and sales success/ m the case of the manager, he must attempt to update his forma education to strengthen his needs, drives and characteristics which contribute to the overall success of the organization sales effort. This education should be directed towards understanding the quantitative methods used in business today; discovering the social and behavioral sciences necessary to work with people and to better understand subordinate behavior; understanding the other functions of the business like finance and production.

No sales management effort can be successful without taking into account all fur factors or variables. An understanding of the philosophies and concepts practiced within the organization leads to harmonious relationships and confidence in achieving organizational objectives.

THE TRANSITION TO PROFESSIONAL MANAGEMENT


Introduction

The field sales managers job is to provide guidance and direction to his team so they can work effectively to gather towards a common objective. To do this he engages in a special kind of physical and mental work.

This is much miss-understanding about Field Sales Manager and Field Sales Management; what are they, what they do, how they do it. We define field sales manager as a person who specializes in the work of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling a group of trained people and does so through the systemic use of specialized knowledge skills and attitudes. A field sales manager supervises others. He achieves economic results through other people. In addition to getting results through other people a field sales manager also has to do some non management or operating work. Operating work that logically could be performed for the field sales manager by others of his team. It includes routine and repetitive task e.g. planning daily itineraries for the M.R., crunching sales statistics for a monthly report.

In moving from non management to a management position a predictable behaviour and series of changes is often seen. In this phase the new or natural manger is trying to learn, to become a knowledgeable professional. We will call this man the natural manager.

The Transition from M.R. to the Natural Manager
When first promoted from M.R. to a Field Sales manager the man will tend to do those things that come naturally to him. He will use his natural aptitude and personality characteristics as he attempts to manage his team.

Focuses on himself
The natural manager tends to put his personal interest above those of the group as a whole. He concentrates on himself. Typically, he sees other members of the group as working for him. He focuses on his own financial and psychological needs. He answers questions on the criteria of “What is good for me” not “What is good for my team?”

Operational Emphasis
The natural manager tends to spend most of his time and effort doing work that is much the same as that done by the people he supervises. (The Sales supervisor tend to spend much of his time and effort in selling). The natural manager operates in this fashion because he prefers to do so. His preference is natural one - to be involved in his area of previous experience. Here he is familiar, expert and assured. In this early stage of his new job the natural manager gets his greatest satisfaction from achieving results that are immediate and visible, for which he can receive personal credit. He secures little satisfaction from managing others so that they achieve results.
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Concentrated decision making
The natural manager tends to make most of the decisions for his group. He makes not only the decisions he alone can make abut also those his team can quite adequately make on their own. Independence in his team is not an attribute the natural manager likes.

Intuitive actions
The natural manager tends to act first and think later. When problem arises, his tendency is to assess it on the surface and plunge into the corrective course of action he can think of. The problem of intuitive action is that although sometimes it is effective, it is also short lived and does not anticipate long term consequences.

One way communication
The natural manager is concerned primarily with making others understand him. His form of communication consists of telling others what he wants them to do and also how to do it. He does little listening and even loss understanding of team and individual needs.

One way communication
The natural manager is concerned primarily with making others understand him. His from of communication consists of telling others what he wants them to do and also how to do it. He does little listening and even loss understanding of team and individual needs.

Control by inspection
An effective manager must ensure that the work is properly done and the right results are achieved. This calls for control and for the natural manager this means inspection. He wants to see and approve everything himself. He evaluates what is done in terms of his own standards. This type of control tends to be destructive - it minimizes the opportunity for initiative.

Summary
The success of natural manager tends to be limited to his own personal strength and capacity. He does not know how to multiply his efforts through effective use of people. Operating within a frame work of short term actions and results he has not learned how to master the future, he reacts always in the present. Frequently f he does not change the company out grows him.

THE TRANSITION FROM NATURAL MANAGER TO PROFESSIONAL MANAGER


Just as the child matures and the changes in behavior can be described, the changes in the manager as he moves from operating specialist to natural manager to semi-professional manager to professional manager can be described. We have described above the actions of the natural manager. We have described above the actions of the natural manager. We will look at the behavior of the manager in transition from natural to professional manager.

One problem of natural Field Sales Manager is that he is unable t let go of the reins. He is an expert in selling but not an expert in management. He does not know how to manage outside of his personality characteristics. He has not learned to work through other people, and multiply his efficiency. A stage is often reached that if the natural manager does not change, people become dissatisfied. Some symptoms are listed below.

- Dissatisfaction of people.
- Reduced creativity.

The Professional Manager
The professional manager specializes in the work necessary to achieve the desired results through and with other people. In many ways these new skills may conflict with the personality skills. But once mastered and applied they can multiply results many fold. Let us look at some of the behaviour as the natural manger moves to become professional manager.

Promotes Group Interest
The professional manager’s orientation is to the task, the group and the individual. He knows the greatest results come from each team member accomplishing his personal objectives. The manager gets result through motivating his people to do it for them selves, rather than doing it for them. He puts the interest of the t3eeam before his own. He exercises the leader-ship which is the most effective and will produce the required results.

Management Emphasis
The professional manger is a specialist. To get the best results he specializes in the work of planning, leading, organizing and controlling.

Decentralized Authority / Delegation
The professional manager knows the decisions only he can make and those that are better made by others. He establishes a sound system of delegating.

Logical Futuristic Action
The professional manager thinks through what he wants to accomplish and plans to take rational steps to accomplish objectives. He proceeds with plans and a purpose, making the best use of resources. He is in other words proactive rather than reactive.

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Communication through understanding
The professional manager devotes time and effort to understanding the needs and desires of his people and making sure these are to the best of his ability within the company framework.

Control by Exception / MBO
The professional manager sets objectives and limits, so his people know what is expected f them and can decide for themselves whether or not they are achieving the desired result. He can then concern himself with the areas which uniquely require his attention. Thus he can exert maximum and effective control with minimum effort. Members of the team achieve the greatest job satisfaction from their work, but the boss is freed fr more creative and productive aspects of his own job.

When a Field Sales manager is working as a professional he can achieve the most useful economic results for the company and its people.

THE JOB OF FIELD SALES MANAGER

The Field Sales Manager is responsible for getting things done through other people towards economic objectives.

- getting tings done - Implies being task oriented
- through other people - Implies he can’t do all the job himself.
- towards economic - Implies that the manger must be aware of financial objectives impact of his decisions and actions.

Financial Responsibilities
The Field Sales Manager is not just responsible for the net sales line of the P&L but also for the profitability of customer channels, e.g. A Government customer buying once a year at low prices with expensive servicing and lengthy payment terms may generate less channel profitability than a self-dispensing doctor buying at list price, with low servicing and prompt payment.

The Field Sales Manager is responsible for his own expense budget.

The Field Sales Manager is not totally responsible for sales, cost of goods sold (cogs), expenses and profit as he does no have absolute control over all elements which make up these lines of the P&L. However, he must be aware of the financial implication of this actions. His prime focus will be sales revenue guided by product profitability, and channel profitability i.e. mix of products and mix of customers.

Profit checklist
Unit volume x selling price = Sales revenue
Sles revenue – cogs – field expenses = Profit

Improve profit
- improve sales volume at current prices, cogs and expenses.
- hold sales volume at increased prices,but at existing cogs and expenses.
- hold sales volume, prices and cogs, but reduce expenses.
- hold sales volume but change product mix to sell more of higher profit products.
- hold sales volume but change customer mix to sell more volume to higher profit customers.

Improve sales on capital employed
- increase sales volume using existing capital employed, i.e. inventories, assets, receivables.
- hold sales volume but reduce existing capital employed i.e. inventories, assets, receivables.


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Basic Functions of the Field Sales Manager
In order to do his job effectively, he Field Sales manager must perform the following tasks;

- Plan the objectives, strategies and tactics for his department, himself and his team.
- develop and organization structure to achieve he objectives.
- Recruit and select people who can do the jobs laid down in the organization
structure.
- train and motivate the people to work to he best of their abilities.
- evaluate and control his people to ensure the objectives are achieved.

Special problems facing a Field Sales Manager
In performing the above functions the Field Sales manager faces problems.
Unlike any other job in the Company, the Field Sales Manager is faced with the problem of geography. His people are widely spread. The Field Sales Manager can’t supervise closely. The leads to problems of communication, leadership and control.

The M.R. feels isolate because; the M.R. (unlike any other person in the company) spends his time with physicians (and not other company employees). This causes attrition of M.R. knowledge and skills as the physician’s view point is not that of the Company.

The M.R. is often of psychological make up which can’t cope with an isolate and demanding life.

Because of these special problems, the key requirement of M.R. is leadership and training. The training must be strong enough and continues to breed effective work methods despite the lack of supervision. Leadership must be strong to keep M.R. working at a high level.