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Formation of the sales department from scratch. How to organize the work of the sales department in the company

Any business that does not have a sales department is at great risk of becoming bankrupt, because without a well-functioning sales department, there is nothing to do in a 21st century business. Competition, quality of service, quality of goods is growing every day and those who sell more successfully win markets, while others also successfully leave them.

Over the past 2 years, we have seen a very sad picture - hundreds of thousands of companies in Russia are closed, because they are experiencing financial difficulties. If we look at their internal organization, then in most companies we will see that neither marketing nor sales department was debugged, because the leaders were sure that word of mouth was the best sales channel and it would allow them to pull the company into a crisis. But the reality is completely different: the sundress no longer works as efficiently as it did 10-15 years ago, because the number of companies and competition have grown hundreds of times and the client chooses those companies that stand out from the rest. Without a competent marketing and sales department, this can no longer be achieved. By the way, in the picture above you can see the basic basic things that are necessary for a successful marketing strategy.

Top 11 Mistakes in Building a Sales Team

You do not search and hire new sales managers. The sales department is the most dynamic department with the most frequently changing staff. In this regard, if you do not constantly search for and expand the sales department, then sooner or later you will be left without a sales department, which will lead to the loss of the company. Tip: If 3 employees are profitable, then start scaling and recruit 3 more new employees. This will keep the sales department in good shape, because the current managers will feel the competition and will work even more efficiently.
You do not have scripts for the sales department. You believe that managers themselves will develop their own effective scripts, which they will apply in practice. You do not reveal the features of the scripts of the most effective managers. In the end, this will lead to the fact that the most effective ones will sell more and will feel that your business depends on them, in connection with which they will dictate terms to you. Also, the lack of proven scripts will not allow you to effectively expand the sales department, because there will be no training system for new managers. If effective managers leave you, then you will not be able to quickly train recruits. Sales scripts are a squeeze of the best techniques that allow you to work effectively with your customers.
There is no sales plan. Each manager must clearly understand how much he should sell. The sales plan must be feasible, because otherwise the managers will lose their incentive.
No plan for the day. If you don't set a plan for the day, then most managers will make the minimum number of new contacts, which will lead to their ineffectiveness. In most business segments, the minimum manager calls plan per day is 40. If your managers make fewer new contacts, then sales efficiency will be minimal. It is worth noting that this does not depend on the skills of the manager, because even a beginner, making a given number of calls, will be able to fulfill the plan in a month. If the manager does not make a plan for the day, then he will not receive a salary.
The seller has extra responsibilities other than sales. If you distract the sales manager for other tasks, then he will do everything except sales. In no case do not combine the purchasing department and the sales department.
The sales manager accompanies the client after the conclusion of the contract with him. This is one of the most common mistakes that managers make when, instead of sales, the manager continues to accompany clients and receives a percentage of each transaction for this. This should not be in the right sales department. You should separate the sales department and the support department. The sales department manager receives interest only on the first transaction, the remaining contracts with the current client must be concluded by the support department managers. Otherwise, the sales manager will work with 10-20 of his existing clients and will not bring new ones. The task of the sales department is to work with new customers.
Payment of salaries and bonuses even if the sales plan is not met. Very often, managers believe that if the manager is paid the entire salary with bonuses, even if the manager has not coped with the plan, then next month he will work more efficiently. No. This will not happen. The manager will work the same or even worse, because he will understand that he will still be paid a good salary and bonuses.
Big salary and low commission. Never tie a manager's salary to a high salary, as otherwise you will demotivate him. Motivation is exactly what allows a manager to be stimulated. If a manager receives a large salary and small percentages, then he has no incentive to sell more. You can make the first two months more salary (subject to the fulfillment of daily plans) and a lower percentage of the transaction, and on the 3rd month transfer to the standard salary +% of transactions, because in 3 months the manager will be able to gain the necessary experience and close the required amount deals.
Opaque system of accrual of bonuses and interest. It often happens that a company has developed a calculator that allows the manager to calculate his salary on his own. This calculator is often opaque and illogical. I remember a case when a manager came to us and said that the more I had to work at my previous job, the lower the salary was. Also, the salary was reduced if the working day fell on the last day of the month, in connection with which none of the salespeople wanted to go out on that day. The management also could not explain the logic of payroll.
Lack of training and mentoring in the sales department. If you have not developed a system of training and mentoring, then new sales staff will be ineffective. Often executives assume that managers are self-taught and will sell effectively.
Do not fire inefficient managers for a long time. Very often, company or sales executives expect miracles from newcomers or existing "burnt out" managers who do not follow the plan and, often, do not even pay for themselves. This is a very big mistake, because if a manager does not pay for itself within 2 months, then he should be fired without hesitation, because as a result, such managers disorganize more productive employees and cause losses to the company. Also, if a manager after employment does not show the necessary indicators even for the 3rd month after being hired, then this is also a reason to think about his qualifications.

Sales department plan

The presence of a plan in the sales department significantly increases sales, and also allows you to control the effectiveness of managers. What is the reason for this, because each manager is personally interested in his efficiency, because he receives a percentage of sales? Unfortunately, if the manager does not understand how much he needs to sell, he will sell less. Only a few managers exceed the "plan".

How to set a real sales plan?

Based on business needs (business plan). You must draw up a detailed business plan that reflects all costs, which will allow you to clearly understand how many goods or services you need to sell in order to start earning. Unfortunately, very often managers do not know the company's costs and estimate only the gross profit, thinking that this is enough. But gross profit is "dirty" money that has nothing to do with the company's profits.
As you get your sales team up and running and profitable, you'll be able to evaluate the best salespeople and set a more realistic plan. You should not set a plan based on the performance of the best managers, because there are always stars and outsiders in every company. The plan is recommended to be approximately 50%-70% of the best sales figures.

What difficulties did you encounter in the formation of the sales department? How do you form a plan? Write in the comments.

Any rapidly developing company, sooner or later, faces the fact that one or two managers are not enough to ensure a high level of sales. Then managers think about the organization of the sales department. About how to create a unit, the stages of its construction from scratch and what functions it will perform, read our article.

How to organize a sales department from scratch

Create a sales department from scratch – the task is quite difficult, requiring time, financial costs, certain knowledge and organizational skills.

Of course, it is possible to “puzzle” the relevant specialists with the construction of a sales department. – marketers or heads of sales departments with many years of experience who know exactly what “rules” the work of this unit in the company is based on.

But is it possible to "create" a sales department from scratch to the head on his own? Experts answer this question with their unequivocal “Yes!” But the construction of the sales department will be correct, and the work of the unit will subsequently – effective, only on condition that, when solving this problem, the manager will adhere to the right strategy, go through all the stages of creating an effective sales department, correctly calculate the resources spent.

At the planning stage of creating a sales department from scratch, the manager must perform a number of basic tasks:

Formulate the goals of creating a future sales department;
Think over the structure of the sales department, work out the issue of hiring employees;
Determine the amount of financial resources that the company has at its disposal for the creation of a sales department;
Regulate all processes in the activities of the sales department;
Determine the timing of the creation of a new unit;
Automate the work of the sales department with the help of special services and programs.

But the most important thing in this regard – it's goal setting. That is, the manager should know what his ideal “sales department” should be?

Here is a sample list of requirements that are "presented" to a well-functioning sales force:

All sales managers work equally effectively;
The sales plan (for a week, a month, a year) is always fulfilled;
The work of each of the employees for any period of the sales department can be easily assessed, that is, to find out how many calls were made, how much the client base was replenished, and the report for each day of work “falls” on the table of the head of the sales department;
The level of interaction of other employees and departments with the sales department remains at a consistently high level, the success of sales as a whole depends on the work "in the complex";
The correct working structure of the sales department. We are talking about the correct distribution of sales stages between sales managers and interaction with customers, as well as the structure within the department itself, in which tasks and functionality are clearly delineated;
Sales of goods or services in the department are stable and uninterrupted.

This is just an approximate list of the main tasks that the leader sets himself, which can be supplemented. In general, in many areas of business, the sales department is a division consisting of several sales managers, led by one person.

With the program for automating the work of the Biznes.Ru store, you can easily set plans for your subordinates and track the percentage of their implementation. The motivation system will become transparent and the seller will be able to understand how much and for what he earned.

Stages of building an effective sales team

Having set priorities, having determined the main goals for which the sales department is being created, the head of the company or the responsible person can proceed to the phased implementation of this idea.

Elaboration of the structure of the future sales department

As a rule, the sales department is built on a three-level system – this "model" of the functioning of the unit is the most optimal. These levels are based on the levels of interaction with customers:

First level – the level at which the search for potential customers is carried out. This can be the collection of information about city firms based on common databases, or the “generation” of customers from the site after they have registered or ordered a “call back”;
The second level within the three-level system of organization of the sales department – this is the main level at which the "processing" of potential customers is carried out, all the data of which comes to managers from the first level. Make cold or warm calls to potential buyers;
The third level of the three-level system of the "average" sales department – These are employees who work with regular customers. All data about buyers is transferred to managers immediately after the first sale.

Experts admit that the structured work of the sales department at these three levels is optimal, the costs of building such a system are minimal, and the speed of organizing work will be maximum.

Determination of the amount of financial investments

Of course, the creation of a new unit from scratch will require additional costs: both one-time and monthly. One-time costs include the organization of employees' workplaces, including personal computers, the Internet, and telephony.

Monthly costs include renting a room in which the sales department will work, wages for each of the employees of the department, subscription fees for the Internet, PBX.

According to the most rough estimates, the creation of a sales department per employee will cost the company from 400 to 500 thousand rubles. Payback of these costs – the question is debatable and it depends on how effectively each newly hired sales manager will work.

How to build a sales team from scratch? Video

Regulation of all work processes of the sales department

A really important task within the framework of creating a sales department is the regulation of all work processes, that is, the establishment of rules according to which the work of the entire unit will be carried out. This is necessary so that the sales process is not chaotic, where each sales manager works with clients as he pleases, records are not kept, and the areas of responsibility of each employee are not delineated.

All rules for the work of the sales department should be described in the main regulations. These include:

Rules for working with new clients;
Rules for working with regular customers;
Rules for maintaining the client base of the company;
Clarification of the boundaries of responsibility of each employee of the company, as well as the rules for the joint work of managers and leaders;
Rules for working in CRM programs, creating reports, maintaining statistics, etc.

All these documents should not be “theoretical”, they should be the most useful and practical rules (constantly supplemented), a lively and detailed description of the work of each employee at all stages. But, at the same time, all regulations for the work of the sales department should be as clear and concise as possible.

An individual approach to employees will help you find a service to automate the work of the Biznes.Ru store. Enter a personal daily routine for each employee, check the to-do list of your subordinates and, if necessary, adjust it.

Search for sales managers

This task is really not easy, since it is difficult to find real professionals to work in the sales department today. Try to look for sales managers with at least minimal work experience, and after the employees are hired, train them, conduct trainings, exams, try to make the employees practice more.

Another main task in organizing the work of the sales department from scratch – This is the appointment of the head of the department. They, of course, must also be either an employee of the company, or a specialist hired from outside with extensive experience in a similar position.

At the initial stages of creating and forming a sales department, the manager can work with key clients, his tasks will also include the formation of regulations, the creation of sales scripts, automation of the sales department, the formation of a client base, etc.

Automation of the sales department

The next important step in building an effective sales force – it is the automation of business processes and, first of all, we are talking about CRM systems – customer relationship management systems.

Within the framework of these programs, all business processes of the company are supported, including the collection, storage and analysis of all information about the company's customers, databases, etc. But the most important function that CRM programs perform – This is a system for monitoring the work of sales managers.

All reports in such systems are generated automatically based on the data entered in the course of work by each of the employees. With the help of a CRM program, the head of the sales department can track the work of each employee of the department online, know at what stage negotiations with clients are or at what stage – sales.

In addition, the manager receives an analysis of sales and profits, can evaluate the performance of each manager, the implementation of the plan, etc.

Each company can independently choose a suitable CRM program or a program for automating business processes, especially since today there are a great many of them. – different cost and with different functionality.

Users have long appreciated the convenience, functionality and simplicity of the online service for automating work.

This service has a built-in CRM system that allows you to manage customer relationships, conduct productive work with leads, control mutual settlements, and also increase the efficiency of sales managers.

The online service "Business.Ru" stores the entire history of interaction with customers in a special database, employees and the head of the company receive an automatic notification about a change in the status of an order; there are features such as "Tasks", "Appeals", "Knowledge Base", a multi-tasking calendar, built-in IP telephony, as well as the ability to send SMS and e-mail through your own mail client.

All this convenient functionality will be able to "possess" the sales department of any modern company in the shortest possible time. Anyone can try the Business.ru online service at work and evaluate all its capabilities right now on a free tariff that will be available to the user for two weeks.

Sales department from scratch: channels for traffic

Sales channels are the first thing to think about before building a department from scratch. There are more than 20 of them. At the same time, it is important to understand that there are no universal channels: it all depends on the business area in which you work.

Use a few tips to help you find your way to implement the product.

1. Analyze the most successful competitors. You can learn a lot about a potentially successful traffic source by looking at a well-functioning business model in your industry.

2. Analyze companies from related industries. A simple transfer of a channel and even part of the entire business model can exceed the wildest expectations.

3. Analyze companies from substitute industries. In a situation where it is not possible to consider the sales channels of competitors or from related industries, you can see how substitute products are sold.

4. Adjust everything for the target audience. When you already own the information of competitors, change everything taking into account the target audience.

5. Check competitor channels. Immediately ask consultants and experts in your field what you should not do.

6. Continue to study the effectiveness of tools for generating constant traffic. She can change.

Remember, if you choose the wrong sales channel, you can completely lose your business or develop very slowly.

Sales department from scratch: organizational structure

When creating a department from scratch, remember that there is no optimal one. It is due to many factors. Our experience has shown that when creating or reorganizing a department, it is worth paying attention to the following points.

Presence of a department head

There must be a person controlling and directing the managers. Independent work of managers is much less effective.

control zone

Let's take a look at these numbers. The head of the department cannot have more than 7 managers in his subordination. Ideal structure: 1st department (1 + 3 managers) + 2nd department (1 ROP + 3 managers).

Proper identification and distribution of functions among managers

Closing deals, support for the current customer base.

Channels

You must have at least one manager for each channel. This is due to the fact that the business process through each of them is completely different.

The target audience

Different groups of your audience require a different approach and different techniques.

Product

Products can also be shared between managers if they differ in audiences and channels.

Territory

If you work in different regions, it can be useful to divide the territories between managers.

Competition

In a competitive environment, any manager will show better results compared to when he works alone. In addition, the competitive environment helps to quickly weed out inefficient employees: if one of your salespeople cannot compete, most likely he is not on the way with you.

Create your department from scratch, taking into account the listed factors.

Sales department from scratch: motivation system

A competent system of motivation of the ROP and its subordinates will help to build an effective department from scratch. Proper motivation should be set up in such a way that the employee is equally “bad”, as well as the owner from unfulfilled indicators.

Should consist of three blocks. Approximately they can be distributed in such a proportion.

Fixed salary (30%) - covers basic needs
Soft salary (10%) - paid for "diligence" (fulfillment of established indicators)
Bonus (60%) – stimulates to sell more

Also be guided by the following principles, building a motivation system from scratch.

"Transparency". Employees must be clear on any day of the month how much they have already earned.

"Three times more". Those who make a plan get three times more than those who don't.

“What I answer for, I get for it.” A manager should not receive a significant increase for working with clients that he has long attracted.

"Darwin's principle". Those who fulfill the plan receive above the labor market, and those who do not fulfill the plan receive below the labor market.

"Fast money". When completing a weekly, he can immediately pick up a special bonus, without waiting for the day he receives his salary.

"Big Thresholds". The motivation system assumes a large difference in remuneration between those who have fulfilled, underfulfilled and failed to fulfill the plan.

Do you want to build an effective sales team from scratch and make a profit in 3 months?

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Sales department from scratch: implementationCRMsystems

The creation of a department will not be complete if you do not automate the lion's share of business processes. This will help you implement a CRM system.

Here are some tips for setting it up:

There should be no transactions with overdue tasks,
There should be no deals without tasks,
Work is carried out on counterparties, and not on specific transactions,
There are methodological materials for working with CRM,
There is CRM integration with the website (landing page),
All transactions are conducted in CRM,
There is integration with telephony (IP, cell phones),
All reports are generated automatically, not manually,
configured.

To properly implement/configure CRM, you need to do at least three things.

Develop terms of reference for CRM for your specific tasks (reports, functionality, access rights),
Develop manuals for working in CRM from scratch,
Motivate staff for order in CRM - pay bonuses for the quality of entering information into CRM.

Sales department from scratch: reporting system

Without control, that is, reports, there is no result. There are 36 department performance indicators that are important to monitor. And you need to do this every day immediately when you start working from scratch. There is data on numbers - there will be ideas on how to change them for the better.

Creating a department from scratch, you will not be able to cover all 36 indicators at once. Therefore, when setting up a reporting system, follow these 4 points.

1. Set up at least 7 funnel reports:

for new clients;
by current clients;
by products;
by channels;
by target audience;
by managers;
by regions.

2. Set up several reports on the current daily indicators of the activity of managers:

daily report "Payment plan for the week"
daily report "Fact of payments for today"
daily report "Payment plan for tomorrow"
summary report "Board" for the current date

3. Draw up and announce the meeting schedule. Meetings mean:

Planerka at the beginning of the day;
2-3 five-minute sessions during the day - preferably at 11:00, 14:00, 16:00.

Such a rhythm of short but frequent meetings on the case makes it possible for the ROP to promptly correct the actions of employees.

4. Conduct an ABCXYZ analysis that will divide your current customer base into 9 categories according to two parameters: the volume of purchases of each counterparty (group ABC) and the frequency of its purchases (group XYZ).

ABC group:

A - buys in bulk
B - buys in medium volumes
C - buys in small volumes

Group XYZ:

X - buys regularly
Y - buys irregularly
Z - bought once

And then you need to control the migration from category to category. Those. you need to know how many buyers you have in category A, B, C, and how they move between them. And also how they move between X, Y, Z. Migration can be tracked in the context of counterparties and in the context of each manager.

Sales department from scratch: recruitment and training

Even if you are building a sales team from scratch, you need to think about how you will recruit and train people in the future. Both are systems within a system. And in order for them to work correctly, you need to make some “settings” in advance.

1. Describe and fix the business process in a separate regulation.

2. Based on this regulation, understand what skills employees need to close a deal and form a skill model.

3. Describe the job profiles.

4. Take into account labor standards within the industry.

5. Set up a recruitment funnel based on its stages.

6. Design a professional development program based on the skill model and job profiles by preparing onboarding training, a product manual, and tests.

Sales department from scratch: summing up

So, when building a sales department from scratch, start by building a reference business model where all indicators will be calculated to achieve the planned profit level. It is very important to decompose them into daily numbers, the achievement of which every manager will be puzzled.

It is also important to identify effective sales channels, and here you can spy on what competitors are doing.

Be sure to pay attention to the principles of an effective organizational structure, where the responsibilities of managers are divided, where the principles of competition, manageability, etc. are observed. Successful work in the sales department is also tied to an effective motivation system, where the main income depends on what result the manager achieves, and How long does he stay at work?

It is important to set up a reporting system, meetings, implement CRM in order to fully control the work of the sales department.

We've covered the key areas where you should focus your efforts when building a sales force from scratch. Using the above tips will allow you to create the desired profit.

“In today's business world, there's no point in being a creative thinker if you can't sell what you create. Managers don't recognize good ideas unless they are presented to them by a good salesperson.”

David Ogilvy

Process formation of the sales department from scratch - quite laborious, requiring certain skills and knowledge.

There are many ways to create a sales team:

hire

good, experienced sellers and sales will take care of themselves because they have the skills and know how to sell. It will not be difficult for them to independently create all the necessary conditions for themselves;

take advantage services of professionals"Full construction";

do all this work on one's own.

Consider what steps you need to take to create a sales department on your own.

To begin with, decide whatfinancial resources You have. This includes the organization of the workplace, rental of premises, salary, communication services .. Then determine the time resources - for how long the sales department should be formed. And then - human resources: you need to know how many managers the company can afford financially and in terms of sales of goods sold.

Create regulations all sales processes, namely: attracting new customers, preparing commercial offers, interacting with the purchasing and accounting departments, as well as customer support. Regulations should work in 80% of cases. Implement standards and norms of daily work, as well as sales technologies.

Develop a personnel policy. That is, to decide who will be relied on when selecting sales managers: young people or professionals with work experience. The number of sales department is best not less than 5 people.

Functions of the sales department - here it is not meant actions or processes, but the results that are required. Namely: increasing the number of large orders, expanding the client base, building customer confidence, creating the company's image, professional and personal development of department employees.

Decide on control. It is simply necessary for everyone, even the most successful managers. But reports should be generated automatically.

Motivation system — tangible and intangible. It should encourage managers to strive for new achievements.

Manager support by sales — see how they use all the necessary information in real sales.

The structure of the department is divided into sectors to perform different tasks:

Typical mistakes in the formation of the sales department are as follows:

Can't Save on recruitment, otherwise you will recruit incompetent employees who are also poorly trained;

Don't offer low salary;

90% of managers don't know how to deal with objections, the main thing for them is to impose a product on the buyer and get the maximum salary, so they are not able to adequately represent your company;

Sales Department Specialists should not be competitors, but partners;

Don't forget that even the most successful and talented salespeople need rest, but if they recycle, then it's worth the reward.

P.S. For any business, if there is no sales, there is no future. That is why it is necessary to build a very clear sales system in the company. In order not to make mistakes and increase your profit, take part in Test drive of the integrated development program for entrepreneurs of small and medium-sized businesses Business Coaching. The result is guaranteed.

Is it worth spending your valuable time on sales, but at the same time sacrificing the promotion of the brand and company? Or is it better to organize sales department, which will help to establish effective sales without consequences for other areas of the company?

1. Understanding the current situation

How to understand that now is the time to create a sales department? When the director of the company comes to the conclusion that he can no longer control all sales on his own. Even small businesses, when the market is broad and of interest, need a sales force from the start of the business. The managerial function at the initial stage is more difficult to delegate compared to the sales themselves. Therefore, the owners usually involve a team of sales managers, which they can manage themselves, acting as a “field commander”.

2. Development of standards for the sales department (download the list of standards for the work of the sales department at the end of the article)

An important step in organizing the work of the sales department is the development of standards. The whole work of the company depends on the correct formation of standards. Practice confirms that each employee of the sales department needs appropriate training in the basic rules of work. Thanks to the standards of the sales department, employees can avoid confusion and confusion.

What should include the standards of the sales department of the company:

acquaintance of the manager with the company;
product and customer information;
information about how work with clients should be built;
how your company will reward the manager for doing the job and punish for mistakes.

3. Search and attraction of employees

After defining the standards of sales departments, you should smoothly move on to the search for employees. The first thing to do is to create a portrait of the seller, which, from your point of view, is ideal for the company. It should be determined whether you plan to bet on young workers full of excitement, or on professionals who have significant experience in your industry and perfectly understand the market: they do not need to be trained, just provide the tools to work. Usually managers and business owners prefer the second option. After all, you will not need additional expenditure of time and effort for training.

Pay attention to what kind of sales, "long" or "short", the candidate is able to make. Let's consider two examples.

Example 1. Company N hired a manager who previously worked for a large corporation in the sales systems market. The company had a rather long sales cycle, but the duties of managers were reduced only to consulting clients, maintaining contacts with them, and supporting transactions. This specialist, who was accepted into the company "N", faced serious discomfort - there were difficulties with "short" sales, when you need to achieve results in literally 1-2 conversations with a client. As a result, he was transferred to another position, not related to sales.

Example 2. In the company "Z" a talented salesman worked on the trading floor. He was able to easily make a first impression, find a common language with the buyer, convince him to buy a certain product, etc. Then he moved to a B2B company operating in the wholesale market. The manager was lost in this segment: he did not have the patience to bring sales to the end. After all, he was used to acting quickly, but here a long process with serious preparatory work was ahead. He was forced to leave this company.

To create a successful sales department, we recommend that you do not take into account the age and gender of candidates. Age and gender do not affect the ability to sell successfully. Of course, there are exceptions (for example, young people are better at selling youth clothes), but basically the successful skills of a salesperson depend on the temperament, but not on age.

The portrait of the candidate should be compiled taking into account a number of parameters:

segment of the company (b2b or b2c);
what sells;
average deal size;
duration of the sales cycle;
the functions of sellers, including the obligation to support concluded transactions, the presence of business trips, etc.;
what results the company should provide after a certain time.

16 atypical interview questions with a candidate

The General Director magazine has prepared the most non-standard questions for a candidate for a position in your company, with the help of which you can identify the strengths and weaknesses of his character. In the same way, the best employees are selected at Google, IKEA and Microsoft.

1. Specify the availability of loans. As a rule, the financial difficulties of employees over time lead to worries for the manager. After all, the employee will be focused not on work, but on his life circumstances. Therefore, ask the applicant about his financial situation, whether he has loans, rents an apartment or owns, is married (married) or not. The fewer problems in a person's life, the easier it will be for him to concentrate on working moments.

2. "Sell me a pen." At the interview, first of all, you need to evaluate the ability to sell - it is important that the manager is decisive enough, reckless, to a certain extent arrogant, ready to play. If you hear an offer to sell a pen: “Oh, you know, I can’t handle a pen, I’m used to selling expensive equipment,” this is a bad sign.

3. Train sales managers. It is important for good salespeople to be able to present your company's products in a profitable way and to interact well with buyers.

4. Probationary corps. The two-week program for the entry of employees into the sales department works well: they work in the trainee corps. However, this principle differs from an internship, when an employee immediately starts working. The employee will not only get acquainted with the product, but also master sales techniques and perform various tasks. It is better to say this at the interview.

5. Exchange of experience between sellers. In order for your managers to improve their skills, you can record their achievements on video, photo, audio, in text format with a description of best practices. It is important that you stick to what you have learned - there is often a strong desire to learn from the experience of other organizations. But in practice, it is much more effective to learn from your own examples, because they fit the requirements and characteristics of your business.

Job Interview: 7 Reliable Recruitment Methods

4. Control and management of the sales department

How to implement sales performance standards

Dose new norms. Do not try to specify everything at once in as much detail as possible. Experience confirms that standards still need to be improved after a certain time. When implementing standards, the root causes of failure should be analyzed.
Use visual aids. Crib sheets should be included in the folder describing the standards in the company.
Designate responsible for standards control. If a department manager is responsible for sales processes, another employee should control deviations.
Determine the frequency of control.

How to identify weaknesses in the work of the sales department

In case of dissatisfaction with the work of the sales department, the existing causes of the problem should be identified. Managers take different approaches in identifying weaknesses in the work of their salespeople. I will focus on the two most common and effective methods in practice - direct test and certification.

direct test

The basis of this method is the "mystery shopper" procedure. A specially trained person approaches the company under the guise of a buyer. Based on the results of such a check, he talks about the shortcomings found. The verification process itself, with a large number of company employees, can be quite lengthy - then employees can guess, and this will lead to ineffective verification. Therefore, this technique will bring an effective result when checking only one or three employees of the company.

Certification

Attestation has proven to be an effective solution for organizations with a large sales force. Sales assistants and secretaries of the sales department will have to pass the appropriate exam, which will assess the ability to interact with customers. For certification of 5-15 employees of the sales department, one to three days may be enough. These certifications will determine the theoretical and practical level of employees.

Why are managers bad?

They inefficiently allocate their working time. For an effective sales department, such indicators are assumed.

The sales manager's working time should be organized in such a way that he can hold 8-12 meetings with buyers (if he goes to them), while arranging the next meetings by phone, preparing the necessary data and materials for communicating with the client. While the typical average is three meetings per day, it is up to management to identify and eliminate wasted time.

Principal distribution of clients between managers. It is necessary to analyze the distribution of customers among the sellers of your company. When classifying clients, the following rules should be followed:

direction of activity;

geographical position.

One tool for different clients. Collaborated with the organization for the sale of hand tools. This company was focused on working with car services and industrial enterprises. Wrenches in the activities of car services were only consumables, but they were highly valued in the work of manufacturing enterprises. The sellers were divided into two categories - those working with enterprises and car services. The company managed not only to identify the specific needs and priorities of different categories of customers, but also to form an individual pricing policy.

Lack of evaluation criteria. A prerequisite for the effective management of the sales department are clear criteria for evaluating the activities of this department. Including control of the number of sold positions, monthly financial turnover, number of customers, etc.

Secondary benefits for sellers. Poor performance by salespeople may be due to a reluctance to sell. Sometimes it is unprofitable for sellers to work qualitatively. Since the employer, when the seller fulfills the plan for this month, can increase it by the next. This is just one possible example of sellers' secondary gain.

Sellers are not always interested in solutions that benefit their company. One company faced some pretty serious sales problems. The management failed to correct the situation - there were no clear conditions for the shipment of products and commercial offers. The sellers stated that this was due to the specifics of the market, it was impossible to correct the situation. But in reality, the whole situation was invented by two employees who lobbied for the interests of their customers.

Errors in the formulation of the final goal. The manager should have a clear goal - positive and measurable. When working with a fuzzy goal (“sell”, “search”, etc.), you often cannot count on a special sales result. It is enough to make changes in the wording (“Sell”, “Find”) to noticeably change the situation. Do not criticize employees for failures if they have to work with a non-final goal. There is also your flaw.

Sales Motivation: Everything You Need to Know if You Are a Sales Director

How to make managers work 100%

Work organization. The work of your team must be organized in such a way that employees devote 90% of their time to working with the client. All accompanying work (including letters, invoices, documents) can be carried out by less qualified personnel.

Competence of employees. Some have a real talent to sell, others require training. To achieve the ideal effect, periodic training and training are required.

Motivation. Even with excellent knowledge and work skills, an employee will not be able to achieve the expected result without proper motivation.

Results control. Performance monitoring is one of the most important parameters for evaluating the performance of your employees. Controlled activities in many areas. The main criterion is whether the achieved results correspond to the plans, how the working time is planned. Everything else is usually additional parameters.

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