Please let me know how to monitor sales managers. Mostly they are visiting sales calls during working hours. As a HR how we can monitor and send the report to the management. Kindly suggest me. Immediate reply required.
From India, Madras
From India, Madras
Dear Cynthia,
Being HR, why would you like to "monitor" sales professionals? Is it not a job of HOD of the sales department?
Secondly, if you wish to monitor then why would you like to do physical monitoring? Salespersons can be monitored through the attainment of targets also. As long as they achieve their target, is this not fine with you?
How many salespersons do you have? Is their uniformity in the way they handle their sales call? If at all if you wish to monitor the activities of the salespersons, then you could monitor the level of uniformity while handling the sales call. Have you done that?
Sales call fail when they make a a mistake while handling the sales call. Has your company made list of the mistakes committed by the salespersons during the sales call? If at all if you wish to monitor anything then you need to appoint somebody on how the sales calls were handled. This field monitoring is important.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
Being HR, why would you like to "monitor" sales professionals? Is it not a job of HOD of the sales department?
Secondly, if you wish to monitor then why would you like to do physical monitoring? Salespersons can be monitored through the attainment of targets also. As long as they achieve their target, is this not fine with you?
How many salespersons do you have? Is their uniformity in the way they handle their sales call? If at all if you wish to monitor the activities of the salespersons, then you could monitor the level of uniformity while handling the sales call. Have you done that?
Sales call fail when they make a a mistake while handling the sales call. Has your company made list of the mistakes committed by the salespersons during the sales call? If at all if you wish to monitor anything then you need to appoint somebody on how the sales calls were handled. This field monitoring is important.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
Hi Sir,
Thank you for the reply i agree that. There are 4 Sales manager, In my company sales managers sending the list of sales calls to the branch manager, but our management is doubting whether they are visiting the client place or not and the call is productive or unproductive. So my management insists me to cross check the same.
From India, Madras
Thank you for the reply i agree that. There are 4 Sales manager, In my company sales managers sending the list of sales calls to the branch manager, but our management is doubting whether they are visiting the client place or not and the call is productive or unproductive. So my management insists me to cross check the same.
From India, Madras
Dear Cynthia,
There are four sales managers and in their DSR, they send the list of the sales call handled. But then rather than doubting the figures that 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 target how to reduce the frequency of the sales call.
b) They need to measure turnaround cycle for each PO. To measure this, they need to measure 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 Branch Manager accountable to improve the sales closure ratio and also reduce the sales turnaround time.
To improve these ratios, Branch Manager must accompany the sales managers for the sales calls. He must give proper feedback on how the sales call could have been improved. He must maintain proper records of each feedback. Top management professionals from your company and not HR can monitor the feedback given by BM to his juniors. This is the monitoring of the higher order.
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 lasts for an year or even more.
As stated in the previous post, you need to have well-researched sales process. To know more about it, you may click here to refer my reply to one of the earlier posts.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
There are four sales managers and in their DSR, they send the list of the sales call handled. But then rather than doubting the figures that 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 target how to reduce the frequency of the sales call.
b) They need to measure turnaround cycle for each PO. To measure this, they need to measure 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 Branch Manager accountable to improve the sales closure ratio and also reduce the sales turnaround time.
To improve these ratios, Branch Manager must accompany the sales managers for the sales calls. He must give proper feedback on how the sales call could have been improved. He must maintain proper records of each feedback. Top management professionals from your company and not HR can monitor the feedback given by BM to his juniors. This is the monitoring of the higher order.
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 lasts for an year or even more.
As stated in the previous post, you need to have well-researched sales process. To know more about it, you may click here to refer my reply to one of the earlier posts.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
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 in professionally. Because of this the sales managers are taking lots of advantages and they are doing their personal work instead of going to client visit. To avoid this issue management insist me to monitor and validate the sales calls.
From India, Madras
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 in professionally. Because of this the sales managers are taking lots of advantages and they are doing their personal work instead of going to client visit. To avoid this issue management insist me to monitor and validate the sales calls.
From India, Madras
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 BM. It is neither HR's job nor it is advisable to do so.
Anyway, in my previous post, I have told you to introduce measurement of few ratios for the sales department. As you start doing it, it will help you in monitoring the performance of BM rather than physical monitoring.
By the way, if yours is 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
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 BM. It is neither HR's job nor it is advisable to do so.
Anyway, in my previous post, I have told you to introduce measurement of few ratios for the sales department. As you start doing it, it will help you in monitoring the performance of BM rather than physical monitoring.
By the way, if yours is 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
Dear Cynthia,
Yes, it is important to follow the instructions given by the top management. But then you may give reference of the exchange of our posts in this forum and explain that senior HR professionals have advised against your intervention. Since Branch Manager (BM) does not report to you, any kind of work monitoring could create conflict in future.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
Yes, it is important to follow the instructions given by the top management. But then you may give reference of the exchange of our posts in this forum and explain that senior HR professionals have advised against your intervention. Since Branch Manager (BM) does not report to you, any kind of work monitoring could create conflict in future.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
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