“In today's business world, there is no use being a creative thinker if you can't sell what you create. Managers will not recognize good ideas unless they are presented to them by a good salesperson.”
David Ogilvy
The process of forming a sales department from scratch is quite labor-intensive, requiring certain skills and knowledge.
You can create a sales department in different ways:
hire good, experienced salespeople, and sales will happen on their own because they have the necessary skills and know how to sell. It will not be difficult for them to independently create all the necessary conditions for themselves;
use the services of turnkey professionals;
do all this work yourself.
Let's look at what steps you need to take to create a sales department yourself.
First, decide what financial resources you have. This includes the organization of the workplace, rental of premises, salary, communication services.. Then determine temporary resources - how long should the sales department be formed. Well, then - human resources: you need to know how many managers the company can afford financially and in terms of selling goods sold.
Create regulations for all sales processes, namely: attracting new clients, preparing commercial proposals, interaction with the purchasing department and accounting department, as well as customer support. Regulations should work 80% of the time. Implement standards and norms of daily work, as well as sales technologies.
Develop a personnel policy. That is, decide who will be relied on when selecting sales managers: young people or professionals with work experience. It is best to have a sales team of at least 5 people.
Functions of the sales department - this does not mean actions or processes, but the results that are required. Namely: increasing the number of large orders, expanding the customer base, building customer trust, 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.
The motivation system is material and intangible. It should help managers strive for new achievements.
Support sales managers - monitor how they use all the necessary information in real sales.
The department structure is divided into sectors to perform different tasks:
managers whose task is meetings, letters and negotiations;
employees who work by phone or email, they also make cold calls;
Typical mistakes when forming a sales department are as follows:
You cannot skimp on staff recruitment, otherwise you will hire incompetent employees who are also poorly trained;
Don't offer low salaries;
90% of managers do not know how to work 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 specialists should not be competitors, but partners;
Don't forget that even the most successful and talented salespeople need rest, but if they overwork, it's worth the reward.
Sales department from scratch: traffic channels
Sales channels are the first thing to think about before creating a department from scratch. There are more than 20 of them. 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 sell your product.
1. Analyze the most successful competitors. You can learn a lot about a potentially successful traffic source by looking at the effective business model of someone 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 your wildest expectations.
3. Analyze companies from substitute industries. In a situation where it is not possible to consider the sales channels of competitors or related industries, you can look at how substitute products are sold.
4. Tailor everything to your target audience. When you already have information about competitors, change everything taking into account the target audience.
5. Check competitors' channels. Immediately ask consultants and experts in your field what you should not do.
6. Continue to study the effectiveness of tools for generating consistent traffic. It can change.
Remember, if you choose the wrong sales channel, you can completely lose your business or grow very slowly.
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Sales department from scratch: organizational structure
When creating a department from scratch, remember that there is no optimal one. It is caused by many factors. Our experience has shown that when creating or reorganizing a department, it is worth paying attention to the following points.
- Availability of department head
There must be a person who controls and directs managers. Independent work of managers is much less effective.
- Controllability zone
We suggest focusing on these numbers. The head of a department cannot have more than 7 managers subordinate to him. Ideal structure: 1st department (1 + 3 managers) + 2nd department (1 ROP + 3 managers).
- Correct identification and distribution of functions between managers
Closing transactions, maintaining the current client 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 divided 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, a competitive environment helps to quickly weed out ineffective employees: if one of your salespeople cannot withstand the competition, most likely he is not on the same path with you.
Create your department from scratch, taking into account the listed factors.
Sales department from scratch: motivation system
A competent system of motivation for the ROP and his subordinates will help you build an effective department from scratch. Correct motivation should be set up in such a way that the employee feels as bad as the owner from unfulfilled indicators.
Must consist of three blocks. Approximately they can be distributed in this proportion.
- Fixed salary (30%) – covers basic needs
- Soft salary (10%) – paid for “diligence” (fulfillment of established indicators)
- Bonus (60%) – encourages you to sell more
Also be guided by the following principles when 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 receive three times more than those who do not.
“What I answer for, I get for.” A manager should not receive a significant increase for working with clients 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 payment, he can immediately collect a special bonus without waiting for the day he receives his salary.
"Big Rapids" The motivation system assumes a large difference in remuneration between those who have fulfilled, those who have not fulfilled and those who have not fulfilled the plan.
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Sales department from scratch: implementationCRMsystems
The creation of a department will not be complete if the lion's share of business processes is not automated. The implementation of a CRM system will help you with this.
Here are some tips for setting it up:
- There should be no transactions with overdue tasks,
- There should be no transactions without tasks,
- Work is carried out on counterparties, and not on specific transactions,
- There are methodological materials on 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 should do at least three things.
- Develop technical specifications 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. Moreover, this must be done daily immediately when starting work from scratch. There is data on the numbers - there will be ideas on how to change them for the better.
When creating a department from scratch, you will not be able to immediately cover all 36 indicators. Therefore, when setting up a reporting system, follow these 4 points.
Set up at least 7 funnel reports:
- for new clients;
- for current clients;
- by products;
- through channels;
- by target audience;
- by managers;
- by region.
Set up several reports on the current daily activity indicators of managers:
- daily report “Payment plan for the week”
- daily report “Act of payments for today”
- daily report “Payment plan for tomorrow”
- summary report "Board" for the current date
Create and announce a meeting plan. Meetings mean:
- Planning meeting at the beginning of the day;
- 2-3 five-minute sessions during the day - preferably at 11:00, 14:00, 16:00.
This rhythm of short but frequent meetings on the case makes it possible for the ROP to promptly correct the actions of employees.
Conduct an ABCXYZ analysis that will divide your current customer base into 9 categories based on two parameters: the volume of purchases of each counterparty (ABC group) and the frequency of its purchases (XYZ group).
ABC Group:
- A – buys in large volumes
- B – buys in medium volumes
- C – buys in small volumes
XYZ Group:
- X – buys regularly
- Y – buys irregularly
- Z – bought once
And then you need to control migration from category to category. Those. you need to know how many customers you have in categories A, B, C, and how they move between them. And also how they move between X, Y, Z. Migration can be tracked by counterparties and by each manager.
6. Consider a professional development program based on the skill model and job profiles, preparing adaptation training, a product tutorial and tests.
We've looked at the key areas where your efforts should be focused when building a sales team from the ground up. Using these tips will allow you to get the desired profit.
There is no ideal department structure and its structure depends on the specifics of your business. Your niche, scale of business, regional representation, distribution of functions between sellers. All this affects the construction of the work system for your employees.
One head of the sales department (ROD) should have no more than 6-7 salespeople subordinate to him. This is the most optimal number of subordinates whom he can efficiently help, guide, and train. If you have more, look for a second ROP.
Building a sales department: division of functions
When building a department, it is necessary to highlight the basic principles that will help to properly organize the work of your employees. Responsibilities can be divided:
- By manager functions (hunter, closer, fermer)
- By sales channel
- By target audience
- By product
- By territorial basis
Also, the construction of a department can be linked to two types of organizational structure.
1. Cell structure (division by client base). The construction occurs based on the entire implementation cycle within one cell of managers (hunter, closer, fermer).
2. Linear structure (division by functions). The structure is based on the key link - the manager, and then all employees are divided by function.
Building a sales department: universal soldiers or specialists
One of the most important emphasis in building a department is the functional responsibilities of the salesperson.
Two types of building a management work system:
- Universal Soldiers
- Managers for every stage
Universal Soldiers
This approach is often found in small companies that are just starting out. When one person handles the entire sales cycle, from finding a client to further supporting him in repeat transactions. Additionally, this employee may also be involved in logistics, purchasing, etc.
The main pros and cons of this approach when building a department.
pros
- You don't need to maintain multiple sellers. You have an independent staff unit that covers the entire sales cycle and performs additional functions.
Minuses
- The structure is based on personalities. If such an employee leaves, he may take away a client who is completely tied to him.
- Overloading a salesperson at one stage of a deal, such as negotiations, can cause downtime in another sales cycle. For example, when working with a cold customer base.
- The less the seller is involved in his immediate responsibilities, the less he can sell.
Managers of each stage
When building a department, it is much more effective to select employees for three areas. This approach works well in both small and large companies.
- Finding and attracting buyers (hunter)
- (closer)
- Maintaining relationships with the current client base (farmer)
The main pros and cons of this approach when building a department:
pros
- Each sales stage is completed many times faster and with better quality
- Sellers are easily and quickly interchanged
- The risk of losing a client along with an employee is minimal (relationships are built only at one stage of the transaction)
Minuses
- There may be a slight staff turnover due to the constant search for the best personnel
Building a sales department: types of managers
When building a sales department focused on the functional responsibilities of salespeople, it is necessary to distinguish 3 main types.
It will also depend on its type and functions.
1. Hunter
Hunter are employees whose main task is to find and attract qualified leads to the company.
The main hunters of the company:
- call center operators
- traffic managers
- SEO specialists
- sales representatives
They are busy mainly with cold traffic, and low-converting traffic. Even employees without experience who can be hired to work remotely are suitable for these tasks. Of course, you will have to conduct training within the company and make sure that these employees know how to sell using scripts.
Hunters' wages are not the highest, as they are busy with routine work. It is usually easy to replace. But for this category of sellers, it is necessary to establish a soft part of the salary, which depends on their efficiency coefficient. Plus incentives with bonuses.
When building a system for motivating hunters, evaluate both the quantity and quality of calls. This is expressed in the number of appointments made, where the closer will already act.
2. Closer
After identifying potential buyer interest, his contact information is transferred to the closer.
Closer - a salesperson who makes the main sales in the company. They are the ones who turn potential clients into real ones, increase the average check and the amount of revenue.
Closers interact with “warm” leads. The most qualified specialists work in this position, since the first transaction is the most difficult.
In this case, the bonus must be limited to a certain number or percentage. Closers should not be accustomed to incomes that are several times higher than the market average.
3. Farmer
Farmer (farmer) is a category of employees who serve current customers. Their main task is to increase the loyalty of the customer base, stimulate repeat sales, and increase the customer life cycle through up-sale (they sell more of the same product) and cross-sale (they sell another product).
If you are selling a one-time service, keep in mind that you do not need farmers when building a department.
The wages of farmers who accompany the buyer after the first purchase should consist mainly of salary. Because this work involves working with already loyal customers who have purchased your products. The construction of a bonus system for motivating farmers should be based on the results of the customer service period and the duration of the relationship.
This approach to building a department makes each employee interchangeable. It is much easier to find a specialist for a specific segment of work. In addition, your customers interact with the company as a whole, and not with a specific seller, so the possibility of him leaving for a new place along with his client base is significantly reduced.
We looked at the basic principles of building a sales department. Review its structure in your business and redistribute the roles of managers. Remember that both the number of leads that will need to be processed and the revenue received depend on the correct structure of the department.
If a company is aimed at constant growth and development, then it simply needs an active sales department. Today we’ll talk about where to start and how to properly organize its work, and also analyze the common mistakes that managers make in its formation.
Organization of the sales department
Creating an active sales department requires a lot of labor, since selecting an intelligent team is not an easy task. By default, “surrogates” consist of several groups of employees:
- True professionals who prefer to work “big” without wasting themselves on...
- Experienced managers who are completely uninterested in training newcomers.
- Newcomers who make vain efforts for, but due to lack of experience are disappointed, which leads to personnel turnover.
Sooner or later, the company owner thinks about improving the process, and here the three-level system comes to the rescue.
Three levels of sales department
The first level, called “LG” (Lead Generation), involves workers who make exclusively cold calls. Their goal is to generate a base of potential buyers: to screen out clearly uninterested people and identify those who show or may show interest. This also includes marketers who analyze what exactly influenced the attraction of customers and which type is best to use.
A notable feature of the first level is that highly qualified workers are not required. It is enough for them to master the basic skills of working with. It follows from this that their pay will be low.
The main sales department is located at the second level, which is called “LC” (Lead Conversion). Buyers who have passed through the first stage are transferred to the “hands” of more experienced specialists. Here, the task of managers is to complete the transaction efficiently.
The third level of the system is AM (Account Management). Professionals who showed excellent performance at the “LC” stage move here. The main goal of the department is to work with regular customers: repeat sales, working out the nuances.
The big advantage of a three-level system for creating a sales department is the minimal creation costs.
Working with levels and their formation
As a rule, the company already has personnel with sufficient sales experience. This allows you to immediately form a third level, which will include these workers. Let’s immediately make a reservation that it makes no sense to seat people in different offices; a “paper” registration will be enough.
Recruitment of new employees begins with the organization of the first “department”. Formation of "LG" in three steps:
- Creation of a call center (recruitment of operators at a minimum salary with bonuses for compliance with the call plan).
- and call scripts that department employees will work with.
- Implementation of reporting on calls made, maintaining daily statistics on employee activity.
Next, proceed to creating the second level. After some time, when LG shows itself in all its glory, select individual employees who show interest in development and show good results, and transfer them to LC. With their help, you can create a productive sales department.
The formation of a department is completed by selecting it. The latter, as in previous cases, is selected from among existing third-level “AM” employees. He will be responsible for the work of the team subordinate to him and reporting.
Errors when creating a sales department
When thinking about how to organize a department, be extremely careful to avoid mistakes that are often made by novice managers. Using the experience of others' failures, you can build an ideal system.
Lack of awareness among staff about the quality and characteristics of the product
The majority of companies provide a new employee with a standard package of information on the cost of goods and template call scripts. Ignoring informing an employee about the product he is selling has a negative impact on the company's profits. He is simply unable to explain to customers how the products being presented differ from mass offers. As a rule, if there are no advantageous differences, a person refuses to purchase.
Employees are not aware of competition in the industry
You cannot rely on the employee to independently study the current market situation. Even if this happens, it is not a fact that he will draw the right conclusions, and this is fraught with low productivity of his work and a decline in the company’s image. For such purposes, seminars are organized where each employee receives reliable information from professionals.
Neglecting training in sales techniques
Selling effectively is a real art that few people are born with. Him, long and hard. Unprepared people can, as they say, “sell” a product. After such cooperation, the buyer will be left with negative impressions, which neutralizes all efforts, and it is unlikely that he will be seen among the “regulars”. If you want stable sales growth, don’t skimp on employee training.
High-quality sales require an established system
There are those who are sure that sales volume depends only on the employees of the mentioned department. Therefore, when unprofitable figures appear in the report, managers try to replace them. However, to solve the problem qualitatively, it is worth “looking” deeper. Even if the sales team consists of recognized world gurus, and the delivery and quality control system is lame, dismissing the former will not solve anything.
If the sales team consists of recognized world gurus, and the delivery and quality control system is lame, dismissing the former will not solve anything.
Hiring only top-notch sales executives
It would seem that there is a mistake here, but everything is extremely simple. Firstly, it is unlikely that anyone will let go of real professionals who are valued absolutely everywhere. And if this happens, it will be immediately intercepted by another company, which has been waiting for the moment for a long time. Secondly, such employees who “value” themselves, with the same ease as they came, can leave their place in the near future. They won’t bring much profit, but they will ask for a salary befitting their status.
Following the above-mentioned system and high-quality error prevention at the formation stage will allow you to create an active sales department in just 1-3 months. At the same time, using all resources economically.
How to organize sales? Is it possible to build a sales department on your own? First of all, you need to understand that you can create a sales department in different ways:
- 1. Hire good sales people and sales will come on their own, because people know how to sell, and they themselves will create the conditions for sales development.
- 2. Turn to professionals to build a full-fledged turnkey sales department.
We have built more than a dozen sales departments, we know all the pitfalls, and we can launch the department into full-fledged combat operation in 2-3 months. But it would be a lie to say that it is impossible to do this on your own. - 3. Start building a sales department yourself. There are people who can handle it themselves. It is for those who decided to build a sales department on their own that this text was written. If difficulties arise or you want to do everything the first time and efficiently, our offer stands.
The main thing is to know that there are two main approaches to such a process as organizing the work of a sales department. Here you can find out what their differences, disadvantages and advantages are. Now we will focus on the actions that need to be taken to create a full-fledged sales department.
Algorithm for building a sales department:
Step #1: Identify Resources
First we must determine the resources we have. First of all, this is FINANCE. For example, the costs of organizing a sales department in Moscow “from scratch” will be:
One-time costs:
- Organization of a manager’s workplace (RUB 15,000 - 40,000)
- CRM system per employee (3,000 - 30,000 rubles)
- Virtual PBX and telephone equipment, with the ability to record and record conversations per employee (2,000 - 5,000)
It is necessary to have a supply of resources for at least 3 months. This is the period during which the manager achieves payback. Therefore, you need to have a reserve to feed him without taking into account his income.
Monthly costs:
- Rent based on 5 m2 per employee (RUB 4,500 - 45,000)
- Salary (35,000 - 60,000 rub.)
- Telephone (1500 - 6000 rub.)
So, organizing the work of a sales department with one manager, according to rough estimates, in Moscow costs 143,000 - 380,000 rubles. These are only the direct costs associated with the manager’s work, and for a new business the costs are much higher. You can, of course, expect that managers will sell a lot of things in the first month, but based on experience, I would not do this. Let it be a pleasant surprise if they sell out of everything they can. Therefore, when planning your financial resources, you need to clearly understand the cost of organizing the work of one manager.
TIME RESOURCES. Building a sales department from scratch takes at least 4 working hours a day in the first or second month of work. At least 2 hours a day in the third month. If the owner/commercial director plans to build a sales department, then they must clearly allocate this time to debugging the system. If this time is difficult to allocate, then you need to hire a person who will be involved in building and organizing this mechanism - the head of the sales department.
HUMAN RESOURCES. It is necessary to understand how many managers the company can afford from a financial point of view. And how many managers can the company itself handle when fulfilling sales plans? So that it doesn’t turn out that managers are selling, but the company cannot produce goods or provide services.
Step No. 2. Regulate sales processes
Usually this step is omitted. No, sales processes, of course, are formed in any case, but chaotically. One manager sells in one way, another in another, one communicates with the purchasing department directly, another through the first, the third generally believes that he knows about the capabilities of the purchasing department better than the purchasing itself. The areas of responsibility are not clear; it is impossible to summarize this zoo into single statistics. It is because of this that the idea appears that it is impossible to systematize the sales department. After some time, the processes themselves settle down, less successful managers spy on working schemes from more successful ones, and, in the end, a more or less unified algorithm is developed. But for this to happen, significant time must pass, and the processes will remain only more or less unified.
Therefore, in order to manage a unified system, and not disparate individuals, it is necessary to first think through the basic regulations of the sales department.
Basic regulations required for most sales departments:
- Regulations for attracting new clients;
- regulations for the preparation of commercial proposals;
- regulations for interaction with the procurement department, technical unit, accounting and logistics;
- customer support regulations.
Regulations are not a document written just once and strictly fixed; they are a living description of real work. It must constantly change, because it is impossible to write it correctly once and for all. Until people start to act on it, it is generally difficult to imagine the effectiveness of its work, so it can only be a guideline. The regulations should not be more than 1 A4 page, ideally it should be a simple flowchart on half an A4 page. If the regulations go to the second page, then they won’t work.
There is one simple way to check the functionality of the regulations. Give it to three or four participants in the process to read, and then remove it, and give these participants the opportunity to speak it out. If everyone has an understanding of teamwork and the boundaries of responsibility, then these are working regulations; if misunderstandings arise, they need to be supplemented. The regulations should not contain large ramifications and hundreds of exceptions, it should work in 80% of cases, for the rest it should be possible for members of the sales department to negotiate.
Step No. 3. Determine personnel policy
First of all, you need to create a portrait of a sales manager. There are many ways to do this, but, first of all, you need to solve the most important question: will the bet be placed on young guys with bright eyes, or on professionals who have worked in the industry and know the market, who just need to be given the tools and do not need to be trained. Most owners and managers, when building a department, are inclined to the second option. Which is understandable, because this does not require training employees, spending effort on developing a strategy, and constantly wiping up snot at the first stage. In addition, not everyone can train employees, and a third-party invited trainer is not always results-oriented. He comes and conducts a cool, fun, driving training, and then leaves. And the manager is left to independently carry out the main work - organizing and translating knowledge about sales theory into skill. The exception, of course, is us. We select employees who must show results, train them and provide further support until managers demonstrate stable effective sales skills. The second option can also be dangerous in that any sales manager has a certain expiration date, and if you take an experienced professional, you may well run into a burnt-out, and also highly paid, employee.
Now let's move on to the size of the sales department. There is an approach that says that a sales department of less than 6 people is not a sales department. The approach is clear. We take 6 people, perhaps 1-2 of them will show real results and pay for the rest. I believe that you can start a sales department with 3 people. And this is just the beginning; then there may be only two left. One should be in reserve, so to speak, reinsurance against the human factor. It is better to have at least two employees in your work, so that there is a guideline, competition and there is no dependence on one person. Although with a limited budget it can be one person, the risks are simply higher. As for creating a sales department with 10 or more employees at once, I think this is completely ineffective. I'll explain why. If there is no department, then there is still no understanding of where to go, where the clients are, how to convince them. This understanding will slowly emerge. Of course, 10 employees will be able to cover more roads, but all this time the budget will be spent on their maintenance and organization of work. Therefore, I am a supporter of creating a sales department of 3-5 people, and then, after getting all the initial bumps, replicating successful work practices.
Step #4: Identify Management Tools
The basis for the successful work of the sales department is the control system. Control is necessary even for the most successful managers, but it should not be intrusive and self-justifying. I am categorically against any reports filled out in order to show my work to the manager. Any reports should be generated automatically and contain only the information that the manager will still enter for his own convenience. CRM systems handle this function wonderfully. The manager works with the client and does not generate reports for management. And management can create any report online in any aspect.
The motivation system is the heart of the management and organization of the sales department. It should motivate managers to achieve achievements, but in no case should you think that by hanging a big carrot, you have done enough for the manager to strive for it. It is then that the system by which the sales department is built is successful, when the manager needs to create conditions under which he will be able to reach it, performing the actions for which he is trained.
Field support for managers is what determines the level of sales skills of managers. Not how many trainings they have completed, not how many books they have read, not how many objection handling methods they know, and not even the product knowledge test they successfully passed. This is exactly how managers know how to use all this information in real sales. Therefore, if a decision is made to invite the coolest sales trainer, but the head of the department does not know how to organize field support, the training will in no way affect the level of sales.
Step No. 5. Go through everything yourself
In principle, this step may be the first in order to understand whether the product is alive at all and whether managers will be able to sell it. But here everything will depend on the sales success of one person, and this can kill a potentially successful sales team. But it is important to put yourself in the shoes of a manager and understand for yourself how loaded he is with non-core functions, how well he is provided with tools, how perfect the system is, etc.
Once the sales department is created, start educating your staff. Teach them not to depend on the season and sell a product/service
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