Management by sales objectives. In the commercial world it is very common to detect, as soon as you enter a company, either as a customer or an employee, with few exceptions, certain friction that exists between the administration department and the commercial department. In other words, there is a manifest rivalry (of course nothing personal) that is immediately perceived for those who do not belong to said company and that transmits a very bad image.
It is a reality and it occurs much more often than we think and it is largely due to lack of motivation and encouragement and sometimes due to lack of training of these personnel.
We must bear in mind that each one of the actions carried out in our company must be aligned with the global objective; As we said in our "SALES UPDATE" work, we also need to have a product that is adequate to the client's needs, at a correct price and with good communication.
The commercials do not fix those problems, we are not the solution and panacea for everything. If the variables of the marketing mix are not aligned with the market, then we cannot ask commercials for miracles.
How many times do we enter a store and hear comments such as: "is that the sellers do not know that there is no STOCK" or "these sellers think they know everything" or "and still in trouble, they think we have nothing else to do", "Excuse me, the seller is new" etc. before which the client will think and to me what he tells me.
Why does this happen?
Because the commercial department normally has great pressure, not only from management (who always needs sales), or from the market itself, but also from the very inertia of work of the same (commercial) department where the same seller is implicit in its ways and forms the anxiety that many times its client transmits to him and on the other hand, the nervousness for the fulfillment of objectives, for the collection of commissions, which usually is a very important percentage of his income.
So for this seller it is not the same to enter an order today, than to enter it tomorrow. Today's sales are for today and tomorrow's are for the next day.
Where I want to go is to understand that the sales anxiety of a commercial department is not shared by the rest of the administrative staff for the simple reason that the latter, or the administrative staff, do or don't do their job quickly, at the end of the month. will charge the same. If a client passes an order to them at 17:55 and their schedule ends at 18:00, they will surely leave it on their tray, to be done the next day. Because his work is like that and it doesn't take him a day or hours.
As a consequence of this we see it often when we see or hear a commercial talking on the phone to his company. What do you mean, the order has not gone out for this customer? But it is the second time that the claim has been passed !!! How do you notice that it is not you who have to stand up?
Yes, of course it always happened and in all companies to a greater or lesser degree. But in times of "fat cows", with good sales, it was less noticeable.
In this moment of constant changes, of great competitiveness, where the client is a JUDGE more than ever and decides the future of the companies, we must begin to take care of all the details, and this one that concerns us today is just one.
Now what happens if the sales administration department shares commissions with the salespeople for the achievement of the objectives?
That is, what happens if when the salesperson achieves his objectives, his sales manager also receives a small commission?
And by no means am I talking about commissions of the importance of the commercials, I am saying a percentage of the commissions of the commercials, that if the commercial earns X for achieving its objectives, the administration will gain eg 20% of X.
I will tell you:
This administrative - collaborator will carry out his task in a more efficient way, he will be more attentive to the needs of his clients and in some cases he will anticipate them, he will receive his commercial's orders with joy (not as an administrative workload) and in short, it will actively help your salesperson to achieve more sales. It will even catch your attention if you neglect something. From experience, I have practiced this system not only directly in Sales, in Customer Service departments, but for example in the Claims Department, as a way to lower the incidence rate and the radical change seen in the results is really impressive. also in the work environment.
In my previous article I called "SENTENCES TO NEVER FORGET ON SALES" I remember one, written by Andrew Carnegie, which said:
Team spirit is the ability to work together towards a common goal. The ability to route individual achievements toward corporate goals. It is the fuel that enables ordinary people to achieve uncommon goals.
That is why it is important to feed that fuel and that not only the commercial department receives incentives for achieving objectives but that the entire company actively participates in achieving them since we must not forget that the company objective is EVERYONE and not only of the commercial department and especially of the sellers.
So let's bet on ADMINISTRATION BY OBJECTIVES, let's think carefully and be creative when implementing it, but above all, let's be realistic when proposing the objectives to be achieved and very diplomatic when selling it to the different sectors.
In sales the simpler, the better. I ask for more effort, I reward you, period. Fair and equitable for both parties, the company and the employee.
Therefore if I WIN and YOU WIN, IT WORKS DO NOT HAVE ANY DOUBT.
May it be useful to you.
