I am in mid if goal setting for my staff. We have few people working on commission basis for trade business. Can i get the input as to how the target can be set for these people?
From India, Mumbai
From India, Mumbai
Dear Aarti,
Before setting the goals, have you trained the staffs on how to attain their goals?
Setting goals is easy, it does not require any efforts. But how difficult is it to attain those goals that one can understand provided one had done field visits.
Therefore, would you mind to tell me how many field visits you have made? What are the challenges of the trade business? Who are your customers? What is the psychological profile of various customers? Have you indigenously developed sales process? If yes, then have you trained your commission agents on that process? How many times have you given them feedback on their sales call or business call?
Who are your commission agents? What is their qualification? How did you assess their suitability of their work? Did you test their take-off level or IQ level before taking them on board?
There are so many questions. Path towards the goals is laden with hurdles. Mere having will power or positive thinking is not sufficient. We need to build skills amongst staffs on how to avoid or overcome those hurdles. This is far important than setting the goals itself.
Ok...
Dinesh V Divekar
From India, Bangalore
7884Before setting the goals, have you trained the staffs on how to attain their goals?
Setting goals is easy, it does not require any efforts. But how difficult is it to attain those goals that one can understand provided one had done field visits.
Therefore, would you mind to tell me how many field visits you have made? What are the challenges of the trade business? Who are your customers? What is the psychological profile of various customers? Have you indigenously developed sales process? If yes, then have you trained your commission agents on that process? How many times have you given them feedback on their sales call or business call?
Who are your commission agents? What is their qualification? How did you assess their suitability of their work? Did you test their take-off level or IQ level before taking them on board?
There are so many questions. Path towards the goals is laden with hurdles. Mere having will power or positive thinking is not sufficient. We need to build skills amongst staffs on how to avoid or overcome those hurdles. This is far important than setting the goals itself.
Ok...
Dinesh V Divekar
From India, Bangalore
Thanks Mr. Divekar for your reply.
The challenge i am facing over here is since these people are on commission basis - they have there own business process. Of course they have to submit the sales report and visit report at the end of month (practice started since last 6 months) , but they are least bothered about that.
When i am setting a specific sales target for business- can I have a fixed target for individual (comm. agent).will; they have that buy in for target ?(becoz they get on their performance and are satisfied with it). That burning desire to achieve the target is least with them.
There are 4 such agents who are working with the org since last 13 years and have there own way of dealing with clients - till now there was never professional approach for any activity. The goal setting is been done for 1st time here. and everyone is trained for it. But since the agents are not on payroll - they are least interested.
From India, Mumbai
The challenge i am facing over here is since these people are on commission basis - they have there own business process. Of course they have to submit the sales report and visit report at the end of month (practice started since last 6 months) , but they are least bothered about that.
When i am setting a specific sales target for business- can I have a fixed target for individual (comm. agent).will; they have that buy in for target ?(becoz they get on their performance and are satisfied with it). That burning desire to achieve the target is least with them.
There are 4 such agents who are working with the org since last 13 years and have there own way of dealing with clients - till now there was never professional approach for any activity. The goal setting is been done for 1st time here. and everyone is trained for it. But since the agents are not on payroll - they are least interested.
From India, Mumbai
Dear Aarti,
My paragraph-wise replies are given in italics:
The challenge i am facing over here is since these people are on commission basis - they have there own business process. Of course they have to submit the sales report and visit report at the end of month (practice started since last 6 months) , but they are least bothered about that.
You should define the scope of relationship based on the process that you would like to follow. No commission agent has have his/her own business process. It is the company that should devise any process or sub-process. Each commission agent must adhere to the process. Submission of reports and returns at the end of the month is also a part of the larger process.
When i am setting a specific sales target for business- can I have a fixed target for individual (comm. agent).will; they have that buy in for target ?(becoz they get on their performance and are satisfied with it). That burning desire to achieve the target is least with them.
It is difficult to get people with achievement orientation, be them your paid employees or commission agents. Nevertheless, you need to address this challenge at the time of recruitment itself. The logic is simple - do not employ ass to get the work of horse!
There are 4 such agents who are working with the org since last 13 years and have there own way of dealing with clients - till now there was never professional approach for any activity. The goal setting is been done for 1st time here. and everyone is trained for it. But since the agents are not on payroll - they are least interested.
Agents have their own way of dealing with clients because your company did not make formal process on how to deal with the clients. You say that you have trained your staffs. What research was done before training. How many field visits were made, who made those visits, how the observations were recorded? Was the training supplemented with this research data? By the way, what about monitoring of the training? Who goes along with the commission agents and monitors the compliance of the training? If someone monitors then what is the percentage of compliance and non-compliance? You will find that higher the compliance, higher will be the goal attainment.
All the best!
Dinesh V Divekar
From India, Bangalore
My paragraph-wise replies are given in italics:
The challenge i am facing over here is since these people are on commission basis - they have there own business process. Of course they have to submit the sales report and visit report at the end of month (practice started since last 6 months) , but they are least bothered about that.
You should define the scope of relationship based on the process that you would like to follow. No commission agent has have his/her own business process. It is the company that should devise any process or sub-process. Each commission agent must adhere to the process. Submission of reports and returns at the end of the month is also a part of the larger process.
When i am setting a specific sales target for business- can I have a fixed target for individual (comm. agent).will; they have that buy in for target ?(becoz they get on their performance and are satisfied with it). That burning desire to achieve the target is least with them.
It is difficult to get people with achievement orientation, be them your paid employees or commission agents. Nevertheless, you need to address this challenge at the time of recruitment itself. The logic is simple - do not employ ass to get the work of horse!
There are 4 such agents who are working with the org since last 13 years and have there own way of dealing with clients - till now there was never professional approach for any activity. The goal setting is been done for 1st time here. and everyone is trained for it. But since the agents are not on payroll - they are least interested.
Agents have their own way of dealing with clients because your company did not make formal process on how to deal with the clients. You say that you have trained your staffs. What research was done before training. How many field visits were made, who made those visits, how the observations were recorded? Was the training supplemented with this research data? By the way, what about monitoring of the training? Who goes along with the commission agents and monitors the compliance of the training? If someone monitors then what is the percentage of compliance and non-compliance? You will find that higher the compliance, higher will be the goal attainment.
All the best!
Dinesh V Divekar
From India, Bangalore
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