How To Organize Sales Activity Within the Company

Establishing the Sales Organization

• The purpose of the sales department is to facilitate selling of the company’s products to the customers and build long term relationships with the customers. Depending upon the nature of the product, the type of customers, the market realities and the company’s scale of operations, the organization of its sales team may vary.
• The organization of the sales team will also depend upon our business whether it is B2C (Business to Consumer) or B2B (Business to Business).
• In today’s highly dynamic times of changing market realities, the sales organization must be evaluated from time to time to ensure that we are able to respond to the customer needs and we can continue to grow selling profitably.
• The objective of the sales organization must be to ensure proper attention to all the customer segments and sales channels with the optimum utilization of the company resources to generate and grow sales of the products or services of the company.
• The organization can be based upon
• • The product lines
  • Customer type
  • Geographic area
  • Key accounts

Organizing the Sales Team Based on Product Lines

• If we have more than one product lines, then we may divide the sales team based on the products or services being sold.
• Suppose we are a big hypermarket ourselves and we sell different types of products. Our sales team may be divided as per the product lines in various divisions (e.g. Garments, Furniture, Electronics, Food Products etc.)
• If we are a B2B company, such a product-based division can be useful only if the customers of each product lines are different.
• If the same customer is being targeted for our different products by different sales teams, it may lead to confusion and wastage of resources. So, it must be ensured that as far as possible, no two different sales teams from our company are approaching the same customer.
• E.g. we make high value garments for men and women both. Our customers are the retail showrooms which sell either men’s or women’s garments.
• Here, as long as our retailers are different, there is no problem if sales teams are different. But, suppose we start selling to big stores who stock garments for both men and women, then such customers must be handled appropriately.

Organizing the Sales Team Based on Customer Types

• Even if the products are same, our products may be bought by different types of customers. E.g. we are a ceramic products manufacturing company. Our products are sold to the retail showrooms, builders and large institutions.
• All types of customers have different needs in terms of quantity, quality, service and terms, conditions.
• The sales approach to each type of customer will be different. Here, it will be advisable to divide the sales team based on the customer types.
• If we sell both in B2C and B2B modes, then also, we may divide the sales teams based on customer types. E.g. Tour operators selling holiday packages to individuals and also to travel agents can have two different sales teams for both the targets.

Organizing the Sales Team Based on Geographic Areas Covered

• Depending upon the spread of our target customer base, we can divide our sales team to cater to the customers in various geographies. E.g. The sales team can be organized to attend to customers on the basis of the following:
• • Continents / Regions / Subcontinents / Countries
  • National
  • States / Provinces
  • Districts
  • Towns
  • Suburbs

Organizing the Sales Team around Sales Channels

• In today’s Internet and mobile era, a company’s products or services can be sold through multiple channels.
• g. Products which were being sold through traditional distributor-dealer network are now also being sold through organised retail or modern retail formats like malls, hypermarkets, supermarkets etc. Also there is a new sales channel through e-commerce web sites and Internet marketplaces.
• Similarly, financial products like insurance, fixed deposits, shares etc. are now also being sold through Internet which were earlier sold only through agents and brokers.
• The challenges and requirements of each of these sales channels are different and hence they require matching approaches by an appropriate sales organization.

Organizing the Sales Team around Key Accounts

• There may be some customers who are much larger than our other regular ones. Sometimes, these large accounts make up the major part of our sales and hence, these accounts need special attention, extended support and service. These are called the key accounts.
• Generally, such key accounts are separated from the other ones and are assigned to special sales teams.
• Government, institutions, big corporates, large organized retail chains are the examples of key accounts for some manufacturing firms.

Guidelines to Set up a Sales Organization in the Company

Answers to the following questions would help in setting up any sales organization:

• Who will head the entire sales team and its major parts down the line?
• What will be the organization structure of the team? How many levels will be there? What will be the designations of various people in the team at various levels?
• Who will report to whom and how?
• How frequently the reporting will happen?
• What will be the responsibilities of the sales team members at each level?
• What will be the compensation for each member? (E.g. If we have a combination of fixed and variable compensations, then who will get what of the variable part?)
• What will the qualification, skills, experience required for each level of the sales organization?
• How will the sales targets and incentives (if any) be divided among the sales team members?

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