10-12-2020

Sales territories
and
Sales quotas

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Learning Objectives
• To understand the concept of and reasons for
sales territories
• To learn designing sales territories and assigning
salespeople
• To know territory coverage, including routing,
scheduling, and time management
• To understand objectives and types of sales
quotas
• To learn the methods of setting sales quotas
• To get insight into setting and administration of
sales quotas

Sales Territories
• A sales territory consists of existing and potential
customers, assigned to a salesperson
• Most companies allot salespeople to geographic
territories, consisting of current & prospective customers

Major Reasons / Benefits of Sales Territories

• Increase market / customer coverage
• Control selling expenses and time
• Enable better evaluation of salesforce performance
• Improve customer relationships
• Increase salesforce effectiveness
• Improve sales and profit performance

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Procedure for Designing Sales Territories

• Select a control unit*

• Find location and potential of present and
prospective customers within control units
• Decide basic territories by using
• Build-up method,
Or
• Break-down method

*A control unit is a geographical territorial

base

Procedure in Build-up Method

• Decide customer call frequencies

• Calculate total customer calls in each control unit
• Estimate workload capacity of a salesperson
• Make tentative territories
• Develop final territories
Objective is to equalise the workload of
salespeople

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Procedure in Breakdown Method

• Estimate company sales potential for total market
• Forecast sales potential for each control unit
• Estimate sales volume expected from each
salesperson
• Make tentative territories
• Develop final territories
Objective is to equalise sales potential of
territories

Assigning Salespeople to Territories

Sales Manager should consider two criteria:
(A)Relative ability of salespeople
• Based on key evaluation factors:
(1) Product knowledge, (2) market knowledge, (3)
past sales performance, (4) communication, (5)
selling skills
(B) Salesperson’s Effectiveness in a Territory
• Decided by comparing social, cultural, and physical
characteristics of the salesperson with those of the
territory
• Objective is to match salesperson to the territory

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Assigning Salespeople to Territories

Sr no Factor Weightage

1 Product Knowledge 15

2 Market knowledge 10

3 Past sales performance 40

4 Communication skills 15

5 Selling skills 20

100

Management of Territorial Coverage

• It means: How salesperson should cover the

assigned sales territory
• It includes three tasks for a sales manager:
• Planning efficient routes for salespeople
• Scheduling salespeople’s time
• Using time-management tools

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Routing

• Routing is a travel plan used by a salesperson for

making customer calls in a territory
• Benefits of or Reasons for routing:
• Reduction in travel time and cost
• Improvement in territory coverage
• Importance of routing depends on the application:
• Nature of the product – Important for FMCG
• Type of jobs of salespeople – Important for driver-
cum-salesperson job, but creative selling job
needs a flexible route plan

Procedure for Setting up a Routing Plan

• Identify current and prospective customers on a territory
map
• Classify each customer into high, medium, or low sales
potential
• Decide call frequency for each class of customers
• Build route plan around locations of high potential
customers
• Computerised mathematical models are developed
• Commonly used routing patterns are:
Base C
(B) 1 B
B
C C C C
5 4 3 2

Straight line / Hopscotch Clover Leaf

Circular

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Scheduling

• Scheduling is planning a salesperson’s visit time to

customers. It deals with time allocation issue
• How to allocate salesperson’s time?
• Sales manager communicates to salesperson major
activities and time allocation for each activity
• Salesperson records actual time spent on various
activities for 2 weeks
• Sales manager and salesperson discuss and decide
how to increase time spent on major activities
• Companies specify call norms for current customers,
based on sales and profit potentials, and also for
prospective customers

Time Management - for Salespeople

Sr no Tasks Time spent (%)

1 Administrative tasks 15

2 Service calls 13

3 Face -to face selling 32

4 Waiting / travelling 21

5 Telephone 19

100

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Time Management - for Salespeople

To help outside salespeople* to manage their time
efficiently and productively, the tools available are:
• IT : Laptop and mobiles
• Sales coordinators to provide support, technical
support, and for prospecting, and qualifying, as
they remain within the company
• Salespeople can then spend more time getting
more orders & building relationships with major
customers
*Outside salespeople travel outside the
organisation

Time Management – for Sales

Managers
• Computerised support systems
• CRM
• ERP
• Make plans – daily and weekly
• Minimise unnecessary interruptions
• Prioritize activities – use ABC analysis
• Learn to delegate

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Sales Quotas
• What are Sales Quotas?
• Sales quotas are sales goals or targets set by a company for
its marketing / sales units for a time period
• Marketing / sales units are regions, branches, territories,
salespeople, and intermediaries
• Generally, company sales budget is broken down to sales
quotas for various marketing units
• Objectives of Sales Quotas
• To use quotas as performance standards or performance
goals
• To control performance
• To motivate people by linking quotas to compensation plans
• To identify strengths and weaknesses of the company

Types of Quotas
• Organisations set many types of sales quotas: (1)
sales volume, (2) financial, (3) activity, (4)
combination
• Sales volume quotas
• For effective control, sales volume quota should
be set for the smallest marketing units, such as
salesperson, districts / branches, product items /
brands
• Sales volume quotas can be stated in (a) rupees /
dollars, (b) units, or (c) points
• Rupees / dollars sales volume quotas are
appropriate when salespeople are required to sell
many products

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Sales Volume Quotas (Continued)

• Unit sales volume quotas are suitable when

• Salespeople are selling a few products
• Prices of the product fluctuate rapidly
• Price of each product / service is high
• Point sales volume quotas are appropriate when
the company wants salespeople to sell products
that contribute more to profits

Financial Quotas
• Financial quotas control (a) gross margin or net profits, and (b)
expenses of marketing units
• Gross-margin / Net-profit quotas
• Calculate gross margin by subtracting ‘cost of goods sold’
(i.e. cost of manufacturing) from sales volume. Sales
managers are not responsible for cost of manufacturing
• Net profit quotas are generally accepted by sales mangers
as it is calculated by subtracting direct selling expenses from
the gross margin
• Expense quotas
• In many companies, expense quotas are stated as a
percentage of sales
• Expense quotas to be administered with flexibility, to make
salespeople cost conscious, allowing reasonable expenses

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Activity Quotas
• These are set when salespeople perform
both selling and non-selling activities
• Objective is to direct salespeople to carry
out important activities
• For effective implementation, activity
quotas are combined with sales volume
and financial quotas
• E.G. Calling on high potential customers,
payment collection from defaulting
customers

Combination Quotas
• Used when companies want to control salesforce performance
on key selling and non-selling activities
• Focus on a few types of quotas, to avoid confusing
salespeople. An example:

Type of Quota Quota Actual Percent Weight Percent

Quota (Importance) Quota x
Weight
Sales Volume (Rs) 5,00,000 4,50,000 90 3 270
Receivables (days) 45 50 89 2 178
New Customers 04 05 125 1 125
(Nos)
Total 6 573

• Total point score=573/6=95.5 for a salesperson

• Typically use ‘points’ as a common measure to resolve the
problem of different measures used by various types of quotas

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Methods for Setting Sales Quotas

• Several methods are used for establishing sales
quotas
• In practice, companies use more than one of the
following methods to increase their confidence in
sales quotas
• Total market estimates
• Territory potential
• Past sales experience
• Executive judgement
• Salespeople’s estimates
• Compensation plan
We shall briefly discuss each of the above methods

Total Market Estimates Method

• The Process followed by established

companies is as under:
1) Estimate next year’s total market demand, or
industry sales forecast, using sales forecasting
methods
2) Decide the company’s estimated market share
for next year
3) Company’s next year sales forecast= (1) x (2)
4) Find each territory’s percentage share out of the
total company sales in the previous year
5) Territory sales quota = (3) x (4)

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Territory Potential Method

• The procedure followed by new companies is as under:

1) Estimate next year’s industry sales forecast or market
potential, using sales forecasting methods
2) Estimate multiple factor index (MFI) for each territory,
based on factors that influence sales of the product.
These factors are given weights corresponding to the
degree of sales opportunity.
3) Industry sales forecast in a territory (or territory market
potential=(1)x(2)
4) Territory sales quota = (3) x estimated market share of
the company in the territory

Past Sales Experience Method

• The process consists of taking past one year’s
sales (or an average of previous 3 to 5 year’s
sales), adding an arbitrary percentage (or a
percentage by which the market is expected to
grow), and thus setting each territory sales quota
• The assumption that future sales are related to
past sales may not be always correct
• This method should not be the only method
used
• Past sales should be one of the factors used for
deciding sales quotas

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Executive Judgement Method

• Senior executives use their judgement when the
product, territories, and the company are new or
very little market information is available
• Executives predict company sales budgets and
also territory sales quotas
• This method should generally be used along with
other methods
Salespeople’s Estimate Method
• Some firms ask their salespeople to set their own
quotas
• Many salespersons either set very high or too low
sales quotas

Salespeople’s Estimate Method (Continued)

• For setting proper quotas, many sales managers use 2 or
3 of above methods, discuss with salespersons to get
their inputs, and decide sales quotas
Compensation Plan Method
• Some organizations set quotas to fit with their sales
compensation plan
• E.G. A company wants to pay a monthly salary of Rs
5000, and a commission of 3% on monthly sales above
Rs 1,00,000. The quota of Rs 1,00,000 is set in such a
way that salesperson would find it very difficult to cross
total compensation of Rs 8000 per month (5000+3000)

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Insight into Setting & Administration of Sales

Quotas
• Set realistic quotas
• Understand problems in setting quotas
• Ensure salespeople understand quotas
• By allowing salespeople to participate in the process
• By continuous feedback to salespeople on their
performance compared to quotas
• Have flexibility in administering quotas
• Change quotas in cases of major changes in market
demand or company strategies
• Use monthly or quarterly quotas for incentives and
annual quotas for performance evaluation
• Select a few quotas that have relationships with
marketing environment and sales situations

International Sales
and
Distribution

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Choosing the market

• Size of the market
• Language and culture of the market
• Competition in the market
• Proximity of the market
• Political and financial stability of the country

Risks involved in doing international business

• Political risks
• Commercial and financial risks
• Legal risks
• Social risks

• Export Credit Guarantee Corporation helps exporters in

covering risks

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Profile of the International salesperson

• A pleasant and amiable personality
• Ability to adapt to foreign cultures
• Beyond product and pricing – The ability to understand
instruments of payment and foreign exchange risks
• Ability to speak in one or more foreign languages

Pricing terms used in International trade

• Ex-Works : Price of the product at the manufacturing
factory gates
• Free on Board (FOB) : The price of the product –
packed, containerised and loaded on the ship (including
all port charged and loading charges)
• C&F : Cost and freight – FOB price + cost of the freight
to the destination (but not including charges at the
discharge port and import duties as applicable)
• CIF : Cost , insurance and freight : C&F price +
Insurance charges to the final port (including marine
insurance)

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Sales Promotion

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What is a Sales Promotion?

Sales promotion consists of a diverse collection

of incentive tools, mostly short-term, designed to

stimulate quicker or greater purchase of particular

products or services by consumers or the trade.

- Philip Kotler
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Benefits of Sales Promotion

To Manufacturers
• Gives higher short-term sales
• Can introduce price differences of products /
services.
• Induces trials by prospects
• Helps to build a database
• Is easy to design and implement
• Is less expensive – even for small
manufacturers.
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(continued)

Benefits of Sales Promotion

To consumers
• Helps brand switchers pay lower prices
• Useful for price – sensitive customers.
To Traders
• Allows many retailers / dealers do forward
buying
• Makes new brands / products less risky
• Increases customer traffic

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Drawbacks of Sales Promotion

To manufacturers
• Reduces brand value, if used often.
• Dilutes quality image, if used continuously.
To consumers
• Confuses consumers, if all brands offer sales
promotion deals.
To traders
• Makes traders price-sensitive
• Permits manufacturers put pressure on resellers
for higher stocks.
• Increases competition from other intermediaries.
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Types of Sales Promotions

Tools / types of sales promotions used

by manufacturers

• Consumer promotion

• Trade promotion

• Business promotion

• Salesforce promotion

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Major Consumer Promotion Tools

• Samples / Sampling
• Coupons
• Premiums / Gifts
• Contests & Sweepstakes (or Prizes)
• Refunds & Rebates
• Price-offs
• Frequency / Loyalty Programs
• Event marketing & Event sponsorship
• Point-of purchase (POP) displays
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1

Samples / Sampling
• Used for stimulating trials for new products and for
increasing sales
• Normally provided free
• Disadvantage – Very expensive method
• Different ways of sample distribution
• In – store
• Direct sampling
• Response sampling
• Media sampling
• Selective sampling
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2

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Coupon
• It’s price reduction offer to consumers
• Redeemed on subsequent purchase
• Methods of coupon distribution:
(1) Print media, (2) Direct mail, (3) On/in package,
(4) Free standing inserts
• Types of coupons:
• Instant redemption
• Bounce-back
• Scanner-delivered
• Cross-ruff
• Response offer
• Disadvantages: Possibilities of mistakes,
imitations, frauds
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Premiums / Gifts / Bargain offers

• Premiums / gifts should match target audience

• No price reduction
• Pet-jar free with Bru coffee
• Free skipping rope signed by Sachin Tendulkar with
Boost.
• Advantages: Improve brand image, add value to
a product.
• Drawbacks: High cost, short lifespan.

SDM-Ch.17 44

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Contests
In contests, participants
• Buy the product
• Send proof of purchase (barcode / wrapper)
• Perform some activity
Winning based on appropriate answers

Success factors for contests / sweepstakes:

• Attractive prizes, paid immediately
• Use of the internet
• Integration with advertising, POP, other elements
Problems: High costs,

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Refunds & Rebates

• Price reductions given by a manufacturer against
proof of purchase

• Refunds are on soft goods, smaller value

• Rebates are on hard goods / software services,

large value

• Consumers have difficulties in redemption process

• Retailers unhappy with administration work

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Price-offs
• Manufacturers give price-offs to consumers,
ranging 10-50 percent

• Effective if given to products with high

contributions

• Advantages: immediate and direct benefits of

price reduction to consumers.

• Increases sales, but reduces profits

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Bonus Pack
• Offers extra quantity of a product, at the regular
price

Advantages:
• Rewards customer loyalty
• Provides more value to consumers

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Frequency / Loyalty / Continuity Programs

Objectives

• Develop loyalty among existing customers

• Develop databases for cross-selling

• Preempt / match competitor’s program

Suitable for products / services with little difference

between brands

Commonly used in travel, hospitality, & retailing

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Event Marketing & Event Sponsorship

In event marketing, a company supports an event.
• Events can be sporting, musical concert, filmstar
award.(e.g. Femina Miss India Contest)
• Event marketing agencies plan, execute, and
evaluate events.
In event sponsorship, a firm pays money to
sponsor a group participating in an event.
• A company gives financial support and gets
opportunity for free publicity (e.g. Sahara group
sponsor Indian Cricket team)
In practice, both terms are used interchangeably.
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Point-of-Purchase (POP) Displays

• POP displays take place in retail stores at the point
of purchase or sales.
• It includes posters, banners, danglers, etc.
• POP displays influence buying decisions, as 70%
decisions on brands are made in retail stores.
• Firms develop customised, reusable, easy to stock
displays.
• POP displays should be integrated with advertising
and promotional messages.
• Effectiveness of POP displays should be
measured.
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Trade Promotions
• Are directed at resellers
• Part of a manufacturer’s “push strategy”
• Manufactures spend more on trade promotions
than consumer promotions. Why?
Objectives
• Persuade resellers to carry and push the
company’s products / brands.
• Display POP materials
• Build inventory levels of resellers
• Stock and display new products.
Challenges: (1) Forward buying, (2) Diverting

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Types of Trade Promotions

• Trade allowances

• Trade contests

• Training programmes

• Trade shows

• Cooperative advertising

These are also called ‘trade promotional tools’.

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Trade Allowances
• Offered to wholesalers / retailers as incentives
to buy & promote a manufacturer’s products.
Types of trade allowances:
• Off-invoice / buying allowance / free goods
• Slotting allowance
• Promotional / merchandising allowance
• Drop-ship allowance
• Exit fees
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Off-Invoice / Buying Allowance / Free goods

• Offered as allowance to resellers to buy a
manufacturer’s products.
• Allowance or incentive given by methods like:
• A discount on ordered cases, or
• A percentage deduction from the invoice, or
• Free goods on purchase of specific cases
• Advantages: Effective & easy to implement.

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Slotting / Stocking Allowance / Fees

• Also called ‘Introductory allowance’ / ‘street
money’.
• Paid by a manufacturer to retailers for handling
new products
• Manufacturers feel these allowances / fees as
unfair and high.
• But retailers justify these allowances– How?

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Promotional / Merchandising Allowance

• Given by a manufacturer to retailers / dealers for
advertising, displaying, promoting products.
• Given as a discount on list price, or deduction of an
amount per case.
Drop-ship Allowance
• Paid by a manufacturer to a retailer for bypassing a
wholesaler / distributor for order placement.
• Should be handled with care – why?
Exit Fees
• Offered by a manufacturer to retailers for
accommodating a new size of an existing product by
removing a product item from shelves / inventory
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Trade Contests
• Manufacturer – sponsored contests, directed at
retailers / retailers’ salespeople.
• Monetary rewards given to retailers’ salespeople,
known as spiff money or push money.
• Works well for exclusive dealers - Why?
Training Programmes
• Manufacturers conduct training programs for
retailers’ / dealers’ sales people
• Due to more knowledge, salespeople sell the
manufacturer’s products more than other brands.

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Trade Shows / Exhibitions

• Industry associations (e.g. IEEMA) organise.
• Participating suppliers buy space, set up booths,
arrange displays / demonstrations of products.
Benefits of trade shows / exhibitions:
• Identifying prospective customers
• Generating sales leads
• Introducing new products
• Meeting customers & booking orders.
• Gathering competitive information.
• For selection of right trade shows, ask customers
which trade-shows they visit.

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Cooperative Advertising
Here cost of advertising is shared by two or more
organisations.
Three types of cooperative advertising:
• Horizontal corporative advertising
• Vertical cooperative advertising
• Ingredient – sponsored cooperative
advertising
Only vertical cooperative advertising is categorised
as trade oriented promotion.
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Business Promotion
Objectives of sales promotion in B2B marketing:
• Gather sales / business leads
• Reward business customers
• Contact prospects
• Build relationships with key customers
• Introduce new products
Major business promotions tools
• Trade shows / Exhibitions
• Promotional novelties / gifts
• Seminars
• Demonstration
• Catalogues

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Promotional Novelties / Specialty

Advertising

• These are gift items (e.g. calendars, pens),

bearing advertisement message / brand name.
• Given free to customers and other stakeholders.
• Advantages : Low cost, strengthen relationship
Seminars
• Technical seminars for customers.
• Objective: Create a favourable image.

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Demonstration
• In demonstration, a product / service is shown in
actual use.
• Effective in convincing prospects.

Catalogues
• Printed / online catalogues are promotional
support.
• Types of catalogues : general or specific .
• Important to update customer mailing list /
database.
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Sales Force Promotions

• Sales promotions directed at salespeople.
Main objectives
• Improve sales force performance
• Increase sales & reduce selling cost
• Develop prospects
• Build sales force moral and enthusiasm.
Major tools of sales force promotions
• Sales contests & incentive schemes
• Sales meetings & training programms.
• Sales manuals
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Sales Contests
• Meant for the company salespeople.
• They win prizes, if targets achieved.
• Typically held for short period.

Incentive Schemes
• Part of sales force compensation package.
• Linked to sales force performance.
• Objective: Encourage salespeople for more
efforts, to achieve / exceed targets.

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Sales Meetings
• Important for communication, education, and
motivation.
• Held at the location of district, branch, or region.
Training Programmes
• Objective: Improve sales force performance.
• Given to both new and experienced salespeople.

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Effect of Sales Promotion on Sales

• Marketers spend 60-75 percent of IMC budget on

sales promotion.

• Consumers make 70 percent of purchase decisions

in retail stores

• Sales promotions offer attractive incentives to

consumers, resellers, and salespeople.

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Coordination of Sales Promotion with

Advertising & Personal Selling
• Coordination is needed to increase effectiveness.
• Consistency achieved by communicating same
message from different media.
• Combining ads. with samples / coupons for a new
product gives good results.
• Coordination improves when sales / marketing
people work with ad. agency.
• Sales promotion & personal selling support each
other.
• Targets achieved when IMC components have good
coordination.

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Evaluation of Sales Promotion

• Sales promotion evaluation done at three stages:

• Pre-testing
• Concurrent testing
• Post-testing
• Evaluation done by comparing the objective with
actual sales figures (a) before, (d) during, (c) one
month after sales promotion.
• Sales promotion is successful, if the objective is
achieved.

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Key Learnings (Continued)

• Major consumer promotion tools: samples,
coupons, premiums, contests, sweepstakes,
refunds, rebates, price-offs, frequency programs,
event marketing, event sponsorship, POP displays.
• Trade promotions are a part of manufacturer’s
push strategy and directed at resellers.
• Types / tools of trade promotions : Trade
allowances, trade contests, training programmes,
trade shows, co-operative advertising.

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Key Learnings (Continued)

• Main objectives in business promotion:
gather sales leads, reward customers, contact
prospects, build relationships, introduce new
products.
• Major business tools: trade shows, promotional
novelties / gifts, seminars, demonstrations,
catalogues.
• Main objectives of Salesforce promotions:
Improve performance, increase sales, reduce selling
cost, develop prospects, build salesforce moral &
enthusiasm.

SDM-Ch.17 71

Key Learnings (Continued)

• Major sales force promotion tools: sales
contests, incentive schemes, sales meetings,
training programs, sales manuals.
• Marketers spend 60-75% of IMC budget on
sales promotion.
• Coordination of sales promotion with other
functions increases marketing effectiveness.
• Evaluation of sales promotion is done to find if
objectives are achieved.

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Key Learnings
• A sales territory consists of existing and prospective
customers, assigned to a salesperson
• While assigning salespeople to territories, sales
manager should consider relative ability of salespeople
and salesperson’s effectiveness in the territory
• Management of territorial coverage includes routing,
scheduling, and time-management tools.
• Routing is a travel plan used by a salesperson for
making customer calls in a territory
• Scheduling is planning a salesperson’s visit time to
customers, based on sales and profit potentials of
customers

Key Learnings (Continued)

• Time management tools available to outside salespeople
are high-tech equipment and inside salespeople
• Time management for sales managers include high-tech
equipment, computerised support system, and right
practices.
• Sales quotas are sales goals or targets set by a
company for its marketing units like regions, territories,
salespeople
• Firms set many types of quotas like sales volume,
financial, activity, and combination of above
• Companies use more than one of the several methods
used for setting sales quotas. These are: total market
estimates, territory potential, past sales experience,
executive judgment, salespeople’s estimates, and
compensation plan
• Companies should select a few quotas, which should be
realistic and should be administered with flexibility

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Key Learnings
• Sales promotion consists of short-term tools
used for quicker /greater purchases of products /
services by consumers and resellers.
• Sales promotion has certain benefits and
drawbacks for manufacturers, traders,
consumers.
• Types of sales promotions used by
manufacturers are: consumer, trade, business, and
salesforce.

SDM-Ch.17 75

Sales Force Automation

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Learning Objectives
• Understand the meaning and need for sales force
automation

• Importance of sales force automation

• Know the various types of sales force automation tools

• Explain mobile sales force automation

• Understand electronic data interchange

• Explain the functionality of sales force automation

• Discuss field force automation tools

Introduction
• There is a rapid change in scope and scale of business
asking for networking among players in marketing
organizations.

• Mass marketing and broad marketing are no longer in

practice.

• Role of information technology in sales and marketing is on

a rise.

• There is a need to update information at real time by the

field sales force.

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Sales Force Automation

Definition
It is a business management tool that records every
sales opportunity that comes into the business from the first
phone call to the closure of the business which should provide
the organization with a single comprehensive solution that
automates and streamlines all sales cycle in any business.

Sales Force Automation

Guiding principles of customer focus approach

• Build customer experience

• Develop customer insight

• Build customer relationship management programmes

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Benefits of Customer Relationship

Management (CRM) and Sales Force
Automation (SFA)
• Cost of customer acquisition comes down

• Profitability is enhanced

• Direct relationship is built with field force

• Greater accountability of field force

• Real time management of marketing information system

• Helps in developing customer focused marketing programs

• Develops greater interaction and personalization with

customers

Objectives of CRM and SFA

Applications
• To increase revenue

• To enhance per customer profitability

• To increase in ROMI (return on marketing investments)

• To enhance winning sales approach

• To increase sales executive productivity

• To increase information flow for prudent decision making

• To promote sales executive retention and reduce field force

turnover

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Linking Sales Process with Sales

Activity
Opportunity generation Sales collateral preparation and dispatch and data
capture

Lead allocation Sales collateral preparation and dispatch and data

capture

Prospect contacted Sales manager moderation if the contact is not

done in desired period

Prospect qualified Prospect schedule to follow and if the lead is firm,

meeting scheduled

Product solution identified Finalize product solution and price

Order placed Generate contract and management approval

Types of Sales Force Automation

Lead Management
In this system, sales manager can find out who the
prospect is and how many of them can be converted into
leads.
It answers the following questions:
• How long is the average sales cycle?
• How does the company sales cycle compare with
customers?
• How does the order book from one place look like?
• What percentage of leads is converted to sales?
• What is the lead time for a lead to be converted to an
order?
• How many sales call leads to an order makes in a
typical market?

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Types of Sales Force Automation

Contact Management
It helps in organizing and managing customer data
across the enterprise and within a company’s client and
prospect organization.
It answers the following questions
• Which set of customers was part of the recent
promotional program?
• Who are the customers who have received the
collaterals?
• What is the client’s address and telephone
numbers? Who are the responsible personnel for
the sales?
• In which office is the client’s finance department?
• Who is the purchasing agent for the client firm?
• When is the next call? When it should be?

Types of Sales Force Automation

Sales Territory Management
It helps in identifying sales territories, linking people with
territories and quotas allocated to them. It helps in identifying
who is working where and what targets are given to them.
It answers questions like
• Who is working where?
• What is the average size of the territory?
• What profile the territory has?
• What quota is allocated to each territory?
• What norms are used for allocating quota?
• How does the sales pipeline look?
• Who are linked to tele-sales executives from the field
force
• How sales people can be linked with industry experts?

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Types of Sales Force Automation

Knowledge Management
It helps in converting tacit knowledge available with sales
people into explicit knowledge inside the organization and
make it available for other users.
The list of information that can be made available include
• Sales Presentation slides
• Company profile and phone list
• Contract documents
• Corporate policy handbook
• Business Proposal templates
• Sales expense report forms
• Regulatory standards and recent compliance reports
• Past sales and revenue Reports
• New articles and press releases

Types of Sales Force Automation

Product Specific Configuration Support
– Sales Module

– Services Management Module

– Advanced Configuration Module

– Order Capture Module

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Types of Sales Force Automation

Mobile Sales Force Automation Module
This is a sales force automation module made
available on mobile phones. This helps in disseminating
information at ease and real time to the field force. It involves
a process of making all information available to field force
from a remotely located web server running a mobile
application based software application and functioning same
way like a palm top or laptop.

Conclusion
➢ The success and perfect implementation of sales force
automation depends on how systematically sales
organization has taken their sales process.

➢ This helps in developing an efficient and well lubricated

system where real time decisions are used for making sales
decisions.

➢ SFA takes sales management process one step ahead due

to implementation of information technology in sales and
marketing.

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Thank you

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