They have goals. Sales staffs without goals are like ships without rudders. The distributor principle and/or sales manager must set the pace and direction for the sales staff. Without goals, whatever is achieved is “good enough”. “Good enough” will not cut it in today’s environment of increasing costs. Goals for the distributorship must be established and most importantly rolled down to the sales staff. Does your distributorship have goals that grow your business?

They are properly supervised. The old saying of “inspect what you expect” certainly holds true in the area of sales staff supervision. If the distributorship does not utilize ride-with and key account call programs it cannot know how its sales staff is performing. A distributor principle and/or sales manager cannot manage the sales staff by just reviewing results. To be effective a sales staff must have in-market supervision. Does your distributorship utilize ride-with’s and key account calls?

They have the confidence of the distributor principle/sales manager. Nothing is more motivating to a sales staff than knowing they have the confidence and backing of the distributor principle and/or sales manager. Just picture how effective a sales staff would be if it was belittled or ignored. Then picture the sales staff that is recognized for its efforts and motivated to improve by its relationship with the distributor principle and/or sales manager. Which one do you have?

They are given feedback regularly. Feedback to the sales staff is the same as radar for an airplane. If the airplane does not use the feedback it gets from its radar, how is it ever going to take advantage of positive situations and avoid negative ones? It is the same with sales staffs; feedback is needed to both take advantage of opportunities and avoid or limit downturns. Give balanced feedback often. Do your sales staff members receive regular written performance reviews?

They are assigned doable sales territories. When sales territories are too large or complex, it is impossible to be effective. The distributor principle and/or sales manager must make sure they have a sales staff that meets the demands of the market. Too large and you are wasting profits, too small and you are missing sales and lowering profits. Not having a right sized sales staff costs profits. Is your sales staff right sized for the market you service?

They are trained continuously. With the continuous introduction of new products and paring of existing ones, the sales staff has to understand these changes and how it will be impacted. New products obviously need to be placed in retail accounts, and the shelf space of the pared ones effectively filled or it will be lost to the competition. Space management is the responsibility of the entire sales staff, not just an individual sitting in front of a computer. The sales staff must also be trained to provide products and services of value to the retailers. The retailers’ successes ensure your success. Does each of your sales meetings allocate time for skills and/or product training?

They are properly compensated. If the sales staff is not compensated with a combination of salary, commission, and quarterly incentives (based on the goals discussed above) they are not remunerated effectively. The sales staff needs a salary to help stabilize the seasonal swings in their income. They require a commission component to drive sales to higher levels. And they need an incentive component to make compensation a management tool; anything less than the above combination lowers the effectiveness of the sales staff. Does your sales compensation program assist with sales growth and the achievement of goals?

They have the latest technology. The cost of technology has dropped dramatically in recent years. Not having the hardware and software that eliminates unnecessary manual tasks reduces the distributorship’s sales growth. The sales staff that can focus on selling its portfolio of products and not manual tasks will always be more effective. Use technology to let the sales staff focus on selling; its where the profits are generated. Has your distributorship eliminated all the manual tasks through automation?

They have positive attitudes. The positive attitudes of the sales staff members emanates from the distributor principle and/or sales manager. A negative attitude from either or both will result in a negative attitude within the sales staff. Negative attitudes do not generate positive sales. How positive is your attitude and that of your sales staff?

They know what is expected of them. The members of effective sales staffs have a detailed knowledge of their duties. They have clearly written position descriptions, procedures, and policy manuals. There is no guesswork or continuously asking for directions or decisions. They come to work each morning knowing what they have to do. Does your distributorship have position descriptions for every position?

So, what really makes one sales staff more effective than another?
It’s not the individuals or their backgrounds. It’s the distributor principle, sales manager, management systems, organization, and the support they provide to the sales staff that makes the difference. All these areas are well within a distributor principle’s control.