Group5

Chapter 11: Setting Goals and managing the Sales Force’s

Performance:
A sales goal is a performance standard by which salespeople, sales representatives, and sales
managers are being measured. The primary purpose of these goals is to synchronize the direction in
which they are working. Sales job requires an enormous amount of time and effort- especially when
compared to other tasks like manufacturing, Technical, etc.

Sales goals help to: motivate the salesforce, focus on the selling efforts of the sales force, assess the
financial return of the firm’s investment in its products and services, compare the results achieved
by salespeople in different sales territories and regions.

Also, there are different kind of goals and quotas to be fulfilled based on measures of performance
that occur over time. Goals are often described as input-based or activity-based, relate to observable
selling efforts of the salesperson. The number of new clients approached and converted by the
representative also comes under the input goal. Also, output goals are there, called outcome goals
as only efforts don’t produce the results. These are the selling goals any rep. is supposed to be
fulfilled.

Pipeline analysis is an important type of measurement that shows how well a salesperson is
maintaining a stream of customers at different stages in the sales process.

Expense quotas are used to keep the costs associated with a representative’s sales in line with what
the firm thinks the representative should spend in order to be successful. The costs involved in
putting on demonstration, entertaining customers, customer sampling or trial of products, lodging
and other travel costs among the many expense sales representative occur.

Its very important to choose the right metrics to track and choosing the right time period to track.

Goals should be set with the expectation that salespeople will be able to achieve them. There are
other important factors that also should be considered.

 Flawed sales projections based on limited marketing research

 Changes in a firm’s marketing mix variables that result in inferior product or services
 An increase in the cost of supplies that are passed on to buyers in the form of higher product
prices
 Promotional campaigns that don’t produce the results projected
 Delays or other problems with the distribution of a firm’s product
 New competitors and competing products that enter the marketplace
 Environmental factors that affect customer demand, such as slumps in the economy
 Change in laws and regulations that prevent or restrict the use of products and services or
make them more expensive
 Changes in the way firms do business

The Process of Setting Good Goals

Goal setting works because it impacts people’s performance in four ways

1. Goals direct people’s attention and efforts toward goal relevant behaviours and away from
other less relevant behaviours.
2. Goal have an energizing function. Higher goals produce more effort than goals that are set at
lower levels
3. Goals affect persistence
4. Goals affect people’s problem-solving skills.

Based on goal-setting principles, these guidelines should be followed

1. Set goals that are easy for sales representatives to understand, difficult to achieve and
have exact deadlines for completion
2. Important tasks such as providing a high level of customer service
3. Having too many goals can create stress
4. Try to get sales representatives to commit to their goals
5. Clearly indicate how the sales performance will be measured and rewarded.
6. Make sure people know you have confidence in their ability to achieve the goals
7. Failing to achieve a goal should not be viewed as a failure
Chapter 13: Turning Customer Knowledge into Sales Knowledge:
Information about the customer for every person in the organization and not only the sales
representatives head plays a very important role. And how they can transfer this information
through various technologies. The critical goal for any organization is to develop customer
knowledge competence effectively at the organizational level. We need to collect and integrate data
from multiple locations across various firms. The data collected must be useful in one way or other

The first step is to collect data; after receiving it, it is imperative to put it in some usable format.
Then the data must be provided to decision-makers. The data must be collected from various
sources and compiled them into one called data mart. And it must contain the data required the
most, i.e., most important data. Finally, the data must be used to develop some strategy including
sales forecasting, demand pricing strategies, product opportunities.

People play a significant role, as collecting data and analysing it accurately is very important for any
organization's growth. Every department be it manufacturing, product development, finance and
accounting, marketing, HR, sales management, etc., depending on the data provided to them and
work accordingly.

Forecasting of how much a company can sell is a very daunting task. It’s not only about an estimate
of customer’s demand for any product, but how much of them the firm can produce, and sell at
certain prices. There are various factors affecting the firm’s desire, like technology, elasticity, etc.
The factors affecting market potentials are Laws and Regulations, Social Factors, Demographic
Trends, etc. There are various methods for forecasting:

Time Series Techniques

 Market Tests
 Judgement Techniques
 Executive Opinion
 Expert Opinion
 Customer and Channel Surveys
 Sales Force Composite

Limitations of Forecasting:
 High chances of being wrong
 Can affect company a lot if predicted wrongly
 Data quality