CHANGE FUNCTIONAL RESPONSIBILITY AS YOUR NEEDS CHANGE

The next issue of interest, particularly with small and growing companies, is the question of adding sales and marketing people for the first time. How and when do we delegate these responsibilities away from the company head and bring in a new person? Should it be a sales function or a marketing function? The growth development in small companies usually goes with their own responsibilities. In this initial stage company heads usually handle sales and marketing functions themselves along with other responsibilities. Although they may not feel they are large enough to treat sales and marketing as special functions, they are nevertheless producing literature, selling the products or service, planning product development and so on.

PICK THE HIERARCHY THAT SUITS YOUR NEEDS

An area of intense interest to companies is the hierarchy of the sales and marketing command. Should the sales side report to the marketing of vice versa? Or should they both report to the company or division head? In companies where personalities, skills or views clash between sales and marketing the most workable solution would be splitting. This can actually be healthy because strong ideas with different perspectives will go straight to the top for filtering. The first issue, of whether sales should report to marketing or marketing to sales, is determined by company preference.

MAKE SURE ALL FUNCTIONS ARE CARRIED OUT BY THE BEST QUALIFIED PEOPLE

Regardless of how a company decides to allocate its sales and marketing functions, certain key responsibilities should be considered. Usually the responsibility for the functions should be allocated in a proper way. Within each function, the variety of tasks handled will vary according to each company’s needs. The important thing in achieving high results is to be sure that good, solid, airtight tracking systems are in place and that someone is held responsible for each function. Tracking systems will ensure that no enquiries are lost and that all sales practices are carried out on time.

ADOPT A FLEXIBLE APPROACH

The companies with the best results take a flexible approach to the sales and marketing functions. As with work allocations on any project, organizational changes must be made to match the company’s people resources. IBM for example undertakes organizational changes as a matter of course. In some divisions it’s rare for 3 to 6 months to pass without a major reshuffle in work-load allocation. This happens normally as staff capability and company needs change. The same is true of sales and marketing. It may seem logical to put a certain function under the heading of sales or the heading of marketing. But if the staffs available are not equipped to handle one function and can handle another function better, then a reshuffle is necessary. If you want to move fast and improve returns, you have to look for the best people to handle the functions and be prepared to flexible. You may run into resistance from people when a change is being contemplated, but that’s one of the important roles of managers-the ability to handle objections and sell ideas in such a way that the employees see benefits to themselves and the company.

DON’T USE YESTERDAY AS TOMORROW’S GUIDELINE

Many managers assume they know what their business really is because they inherited a successful product line with apparent growth and an improving market share. It is often the case that products with an improving or commanding lead in competitiveness are the very ones which have already become obsolete. The embryonic new mode of transport, the airplane, was created long before it was realized that the railroads were a declining business.

WHAT BUSINESS ARE WE REALLY IN?

Believe it or not, business, and even governments, often see their role differently than their customers see it. We have all seen government five year plans which have been scrapped at the end of the first or second year. We have seen business with annual budgets set in January which rapidly change into operating budget number one by March and operating budget two by June due to sales and expenditure not meeting their plans. This level of uncertainty or irrelevant planning can be caused by the inadequate definition of the nature of the business in which we are really trading.

LEARN THE TRUTH ABOUT RECOGNITION

Recognition and job satisfaction are at the top of the scale of importance! But, we ask ourselves, how do we recognize sales force needs? Aren’t sales forces different from other employees? The answer is yes. Salespeople are different. The difference is that they need even more recognition! Why? The answer is quite basic and logical. Take a minute to think about recognition. The opposite of recognition is rejection. Every day salespeople are facing rejection. In fact, the proportion of rejection they face is higher than in any other job. If they’re doing their job right, they face rejection day in and day out. They face it when trying to close a sale, when trying to make an appointment, and at every stage of objection throughout the sales process. Rejection is a draining process. It drains us of our enthusiasm, our confidence, our zest in life. Just as a battery which is drained needs recharging before it operates again, so do people. Recognition is the charge we need to overcome rejection.

TACKLE EVEN SMALL TASKS RELENTLESSLY

If a person can be trained to tackle the certain task relentlessly, they will learn to handle bigger management problems the same way. ‘From little acorns, big oaks grow’. One have to understand the expected end result if they are to develop leadership. By holding people responsible for small complete tasks, we are nurturing leadership for the future. We’re nurturing commitment to high standards which achieve results. It’s the same in management. If we take on a new job, like fostering leadership, we face uncertainties. We open up new horizons. We grow. Our leadership ability grows. We’re soon faced with more situations which come to us because we’re able to stand for something. People rely on our leadership ability. It’s then that we get results second to none.

TEACH THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRYING AND DOING

Surely if we have everyone reaching the end result and not just working on the task, our companies will benefit. How can people be taught to bridge that gap? First we have to make people aware of the leadership gap-the difference between ‘just trying’ and ‘accomplishing’. A friend of mine uses a very powerful technique to demonstrate this difference. She starts by throwing a pencil on the floor. Then she says, ‘Try to pick up that pencil’. As people bend over and almost touch it, she says, ‘Wait, I said try to pick it up, not pick it up’. Do you see the meaning of try? We either do it or we don’t. ‘Trying’ and ‘accomplishing’ are two different things. If your employee thinks their job is to actually get all the information, not just try to get it, they will probe until they get the answers they need. That’s the value of a leader-one who can be counted on to ‘accomplish’-not just try.

LEARN FORM SOME, SELL TO OTHERS

Many sales, and hours, have been lost by other sales people who don’t understand the personalities of the buying duo. Opposite personalities compliment each other. The same is true in corporations. If we presume that one person is the decision maker without looking deeper, we may be waiting one time. We often need to do what Norman did-get our information from one, and sell to the other. Personalities compliment each other and we need to direct our efforts properly to each. We need to learn from some and sell to others. We need to have the support of everyone.