Building the Sales Effort Whether One Person or a Team Bob Brown DS4: Building the Sales Effort – Whether One Sales Person, or a Team! Thursday May 7, 8:30 - 9:45

1. Bob Brown
President, Sales Systems Development, Inc.
Beverage Industry
Sales Organization Development Consulting
Building the Sales Effort
Whether One Person or a Team

2. Building the Sales Effort
1. When to Add a Sales Person and How
2. Structuring the Sales Function
3. Managing the Sales Person or Team
Focus areas…

3. 1. Poor hiring
2. Not providing structure
3. Lack of direction
4. Weak expense control
5. Too much coverage area
6. Inadequate training

4. When to Hire – Considerations…
First, Build People into the Business Plan
 On-site to On and Off-premise Sales
 Self–distribution to Wholesaler Network
 Volume Levels Limits Reached
 Expansion – New Markets, States
Cash Flow

5. Who to
Hire?

6. Who to
Hire?

7. Have a
Process

8. Keys to Good Hires – start with
#1

9. Job Description
Five Major Job Functions
1. Planning
2. Selling
3. Merchandising
4. Customer Service
5. Communication-Administration

10. Keys to Good Hires
1. Job Description
2. Sales Rep Job Spec’s…
 Knowledge & Skills
 Experience
 Personal Traits

11. Selection
Process

12. Keys to Good Hires
1. Job Description
2. Specifications – K&S, Experience,
Personal Traits
3. Use Range of Recruiting Resources
4. Multiple Interview Process
5. Background Checks

13. Building the Sales Effort
1. When to Add a Sales Person and How
2.Structuring the Sales Function
Considerations…
Focus areas…

14. Structuring the Sales Effort
Considerations…
1. Geography
2. Distributors & Accounts
3. Sales Tools
4. Sales Support

15. Geography
 Take Full Advantage of “LOCAL”
 First – “narrow & deep”
 Flow Outward from Strength
 “Brands are Built On-premise”
 ID & Target Events for Visibility

16. Distributors and Accounts
1. Prioritize Distributors
 Target logical channels
 Identify “Value Added” distributor sales people

17. Distributors and Accounts
1. Prioritize Distributors
2. Classify Off-premise by Volume Potential
 Off-premise ‘A,B,C’ or ‘HT, MT, LT, LTM
 Classify On-premise by Volume and/or Image
3. Establish Coverage & Frequency Guidelines
4. “Quality” Coverage vs. “Quantity”

18. Support – 4 Key Areas
1. Information
2. Pricing
3. Sales Tools
4. Production and Shipping

19. Support – 4 Key Areas
1. Information
 Sales person performance
 Team performance
 Account performance

20. Support
2. Price Structures – consider…
 Know “competitive set”
 Quantity Discount (QD) levels
 Margin requirement
 Wholesale
 Retail
 Everyday
 Feature
 Back out to target retail

21. Support
1. Information
2. Price Structures
3. Sales Tools
 Incentives
 Sell sheets
 P.O.S.

22. Support
1. Information – sales person, team and account performance
2. Price Structures
3. Sales Tools
4. Customer Service – order processing, etc.
5. Production and Shipping

23. Building the Sales Effort
1. When to Add a Sales Person and How
2. Structuring the Sales Function
3. Managing the Sales Person or Team
Focus areas…

24. Managing the Sales Person or Team
1. Distributor Management Processes
2. Account Management Guidelines
3. People Management Processes

25. 1. Distributor Management Processes
 Collaborative Annual Business Plan
 Be Prepared, Relevant, Realistic Annual Plan
 Sales/Marketing Plan, not a Production Plan
 Have a defined format & process

26. Annual Plans — the Process
4. Opportunities
3. Investment/Changes
2. Trends
1. Base Volume by Brand
Know
Where the
Business is
Coming
From

27. 1. Distributor Management Processes
 Collaborative Annual Business Plan
 Monthly or Quarterly Distributor Business Reviews
 Agenda sent in advance
 Results vs. Plan goals YTD
 Progress on programs in progress
 Market Conditions
 Plan future programs/focus periods
 “Housekeeping” – inventories, AR’s, P.O.S., Events, etc.

28. 1. Distributor Management Processes
 Collaborative Annual Business Plan
 Monthly or Quarterly Distributor Business Reviews
 Target # of Distributor Programs/Focus Periods
 Periodic Market/Account Surveys
 Sales Meeting Participation Frequency
 Distributor Sales Rep and Manager Work-with’s
 Event Participation

29. 2. Account Management Processes
 Account Profiles
 Identify “Core” Accounts – maintain list
 # of New and Target Accounts Identified
 Distribution
 Display Standards
 Shelf/Cooler Merchandising Guidelines

30. 3. People Management Processes
 Weekly Phone Call, or Meeting, with Set Agenda
 Sales Results for Week – # calls, volume, distribution,
displays, etc.
 Key Successes
 Distributor or Account Issues
 Goals for upcoming week
 “Housekeeping” – pricing, shipping, P.O.S., etc.

31. 3. People Management Processes
 Monthly Meeting – team & one-on-one
 New Hire “On-boarding”
 Periodically working with each sales person
 Providing coaching and performance feedback
 On-going training and development
 Performance evaluation
 Weekly Phone Call, or Meeting, with Set Agenda

32. Building the Sales Effort – One Person or a Team
1. When to Add a Sales Person and How
2. Structuring the Sales Function
3. Managing a Sales Person or Team
Summary

33. Bob Brown