Question

Strategies for supervising salespeople, including motivation and performance evaluation techniques?

Answer 1

The majority of sales representatives require encouragement and special incentives to work at their best level. This can include sales force compensation and supplementary motivators such as periodic sales meetings. When evaluating salespeople, managers should set sales quotas and develop norms for salespeople. Managers should review how the salespeople use their sales time and how they manage trade shows as well as assess their performance of other control techniques such as sales reports. Finally, management should conduct a formal performance evaluation.

 

Selling today is a profession that involves mastering and applying a set of principles, including:

• Prospecting and Qualifying: Sales representatives need skill in screening out poor leads

• Preapproach: The salesperson needs to learn as much as possible about the prospect company (what it needs, who is involved in the purchase decision) and its buyers (their personal characteristics and buying styles)

          •  Another task is to decide on the best approach, which might                           be a personal visit, a phone call, or a letter

 

• Approach: This involves the salesperson’s appearance, the opening lines, and the follow-up remarks

• Presentation and Demonstration: The salesperson now tells the product “story” to the buyer, following the AIDA formula of gaining attention, holding interest, arousing desire, and obtaining action

• Negotiation: Salespersons need to win the order without making deep concessions that will hurt profitability

• Overcoming Objections: Customers almost always pose objections during the presentation or when asked for the order

• Closing: Salespersons need to know how to recognize closing signals from the buyer, including physical actions, statements or comments, and questions

• Follow-Up/Maintenance: This last step is necessary if the salesperson wants to ensure customer satisfaction and repeat business