Please let me know how to monitor sales managers. Mostly, they are visiting sales calls during working hours. As an HR professional, how can we monitor and send reports to the management? Kindly suggest. Immediate reply required.
From India, Madras
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4From India, Madras
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Dear Cynthia,
As an HR professional, why would you want to "monitor" sales professionals? Isn't this the responsibility of the Head of the sales department? If you do wish to monitor them, why opt for physical monitoring? Salespersons can be monitored based on their target achievements. Shouldn't it suffice as long as they meet their targets?
How many salespersons are in your team? Do they demonstrate uniformity in their sales call approach? If monitoring their activities is necessary, you could focus on the consistency in handling sales calls. Have you assessed this aspect?
Sales calls fail when mistakes are made during interactions. Has your company compiled a list of errors made by salespersons during calls? If monitoring is required, consider assigning someone to review how the sales calls are managed. Field monitoring is crucial in this aspect.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
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As an HR professional, why would you want to "monitor" sales professionals? Isn't this the responsibility of the Head of the sales department? If you do wish to monitor them, why opt for physical monitoring? Salespersons can be monitored based on their target achievements. Shouldn't it suffice as long as they meet their targets?
How many salespersons are in your team? Do they demonstrate uniformity in their sales call approach? If monitoring their activities is necessary, you could focus on the consistency in handling sales calls. Have you assessed this aspect?
Sales calls fail when mistakes are made during interactions. Has your company compiled a list of errors made by salespersons during calls? If monitoring is required, consider assigning someone to review how the sales calls are managed. Field monitoring is crucial in this aspect.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
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Hi Sir,
Thank you for the reply. I agree that there are four Sales Managers in my company. Sales managers are sending the list of sales calls to the branch manager. However, our management doubts whether they are visiting the client's place and if the calls are productive or unproductive. Therefore, my management insists that I cross-check the same.
From India, Madras
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Thank you for the reply. I agree that there are four Sales Managers in my company. Sales managers are sending the list of sales calls to the branch manager. However, our management doubts whether they are visiting the client's place and if the calls are productive or unproductive. Therefore, my management insists that I cross-check the same.
From India, Madras
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Dear Cynthia,
There are four sales managers, and in their DSR, they send the list of the sales calls handled. Rather than doubting the figures they provide, first measure the following:
a) What is the sales-to-sales closure ratio, i.e., for every PO, how many sales visits are required? Once this measure is established, they need to be given a target on how to reduce the frequency of the sales calls.
b) They need to measure the turnaround cycle for each PO. To measure this, they need to calculate the time duration between the first sales call to the date of quotation and then from the date of quotation to the date of receipt of PO.
You need to make the Branch Manager accountable to improve the sales closure ratio and also reduce the sales turnaround time. To enhance these ratios, the Branch Manager must accompany the sales managers on the sales calls. He must provide proper feedback on how the sales calls could have been improved and maintain accurate records of each feedback. Top management professionals from your company, and not HR, can monitor the feedback given by the Branch Manager to his juniors. This is a higher-order monitoring.
By the way, what is the nature of the industry? What is the sales turnaround time in your industry? In certain industries, the turnaround time can last for a year or even more.
As stated in the previous post, you need to have a well-researched sales process. To learn more about it, you may click here to refer to my reply to one of the earlier posts.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
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There are four sales managers, and in their DSR, they send the list of the sales calls handled. Rather than doubting the figures they provide, first measure the following:
a) What is the sales-to-sales closure ratio, i.e., for every PO, how many sales visits are required? Once this measure is established, they need to be given a target on how to reduce the frequency of the sales calls.
b) They need to measure the turnaround cycle for each PO. To measure this, they need to calculate the time duration between the first sales call to the date of quotation and then from the date of quotation to the date of receipt of PO.
You need to make the Branch Manager accountable to improve the sales closure ratio and also reduce the sales turnaround time. To enhance these ratios, the Branch Manager must accompany the sales managers on the sales calls. He must provide proper feedback on how the sales calls could have been improved and maintain accurate records of each feedback. Top management professionals from your company, and not HR, can monitor the feedback given by the Branch Manager to his juniors. This is a higher-order monitoring.
By the way, what is the nature of the industry? What is the sales turnaround time in your industry? In certain industries, the turnaround time can last for a year or even more.
As stated in the previous post, you need to have a well-researched sales process. To learn more about it, you may click here to refer to my reply to one of the earlier posts.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
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Hi Sir,
It is a tours and travel industry. Since it is a newly startup company, we are follow monthly sales turnover target. BM is not following the regular follow-ups with the sales managers, and he is accepting just like that sales managers calls report and not handling them professionally. Because of this, the sales managers are taking advantage, and they are doing their personal work instead of going to client visits. To avoid this issue, management insists that I monitor and validate the sales calls.
From India, Madras
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It is a tours and travel industry. Since it is a newly startup company, we are follow monthly sales turnover target. BM is not following the regular follow-ups with the sales managers, and he is accepting just like that sales managers calls report and not handling them professionally. Because of this, the sales managers are taking advantage, and they are doing their personal work instead of going to client visits. To avoid this issue, management insists that I monitor and validate the sales calls.
From India, Madras
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Dear Cynthia,
Now you have come to the crux of the matter. If the Branch Manager (BM) is failing in his leadership, then he should be straightened (or counselled in sweet words). Your management cannot tell HR to do policing on the BM. It is neither HR's job nor advisable to do so.
Anyway, in my previous post, I have told you to introduce the measurement of a few ratios for the sales department. As you start doing it, it will help you in monitoring the performance of the BM rather than physical monitoring.
By the way, if yours is a tours and travel company, what kind of products do you have? Are they B2B or B2C? If former, then feel free to approach me.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
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Now you have come to the crux of the matter. If the Branch Manager (BM) is failing in his leadership, then he should be straightened (or counselled in sweet words). Your management cannot tell HR to do policing on the BM. It is neither HR's job nor advisable to do so.
Anyway, in my previous post, I have told you to introduce the measurement of a few ratios for the sales department. As you start doing it, it will help you in monitoring the performance of the BM rather than physical monitoring.
By the way, if yours is a tours and travel company, what kind of products do you have? Are they B2B or B2C? If former, then feel free to approach me.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
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Hi sir, Thank you very much for your immediate reply. I agreed that it is not advisable for an HR to do. But as a staff I should follow the assigned work from the management.
From India, Madras
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From India, Madras
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Dear Cynthia,
Yes, it is important to follow the instructions given by the top management. However, you may reference the exchange of our posts in this forum and explain that senior HR professionals have advised against your intervention. Since the Branch Manager (BM) does not report to you, any kind of work monitoring could create conflict in the future.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
Acknowledge(0)Amend(0)
Yes, it is important to follow the instructions given by the top management. However, you may reference the exchange of our posts in this forum and explain that senior HR professionals have advised against your intervention. Since the Branch Manager (BM) does not report to you, any kind of work monitoring could create conflict in the future.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
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