How to evaluate a sales manager

The more popular sales management modes of enterprises are: commission system, contract system and buyout system. The so-called commission system means that the enterprise will issue a corresponding commission bonus system to the salesperson according to the amount of products sold; the contract system means that the enterprise transfers the sales rights of a certain product or a certain area to its own salesperson and salesperson. Sales managers, under normal circumstances, these people no longer enjoy the fixed wages of the company, but the company still provides sales support; the buyout system means that the company sells its products to these sales managers at the lowest ex-factory price, and they arrange the sales themselves system. The common characteristics of the three sales models are: first, sales have changed from corporate behavior to personal behavior; second, they are all based on payment and sales as the only and final incentive direction for sales managers.

Problems existing in the evaluation indicators of sales managers

While the financial indicators mainly based on payment collection and sales have a strong short-term incentive effect on sales managers, their defects are also obvious: first, sales Work lacks a sustainable foundation. Whether the sales work can be sustainable, the key is whether the basic work is solid. The basic work of sales mainly includes: terminal construction, marketing network planning, maintenance and development, channel management, price management, personnel training, product promotion, customer relationship management, etc. Lack of effort on the groundwork, although sales work will produce certain results at a specific time and in a specific area, it will not last. The commission system, contract system, and buyout system encourage sales managers to pursue short-term financial indicators based on payment and sales. profit. Therefore, in order to pursue short-term financial indicators, sales managers often use various means or even practices that harm the interests of the enterprise: such as selling goods between regions, using the company's brand to sell by themselves, and conspiring with dealers to embezzle the company's payment for goods, etc.

Secondly, the risk of the enterprise is huge. When the market is relatively easy to do and there are considerable profits, the relationship between the sales manager and the company is relatively harmonious. And once the market is unfavorable or the sales manager has a conflict with the enterprise, the sales manager in this case does not try his best to maintain the market, but withdraws from the operation of the company's products in the area he is responsible for. Due to the lack of control mechanisms for all aspects of the sales manager's work under the above three models, the withdrawal of the sales staff means the loss of customer resources in the region. It is very difficult for enterprises to resume business in this area in the short term, which will bring huge losses to enterprises.

Constructing seven types of evaluation indicators for sales managers

1. Payment collection and sales indicators Only collection and sales are the only indicators for sales managers to evaluate. Although there are defects, it does not mean that we can give up this indicator. On the contrary, as result indicators, they still occupy an important position, but in the overall indicator system of sales manager assessment, the proportion should be gradually reduced from the current 100%. For enterprises in the growth stage, the percentage of financial indicators represented by payment collection and sales can be higher, and we can design it to be between 70-80%; for enterprises in the mature stage, we can use the percentage Design lower, like 50-60%. Because the core work of an enterprise in the mature stage lies in the maintenance of the existing network and the development of the new network, the proportion of financial indicators can be lower.

2. The brand value of a company's brand value is reflected in the market speed of new products. Therefore, the promotion strength and speed of new products are directly related to the improvement of the company's brand value. Therefore, in addition to payment collection and sales, the assessment of momentum-building products represented by new products and seasonal products is an important indicator for the assessment of sales managers. Compared with the indicators of payment collection and sales, we can determine the proportion of product evaluation for enterprises in the growth stage to be 20-30%, and the proportion of evaluation for enterprises in the mature stage is determined to be 40-50%. The assessment of momentum-building products can be further subdivided into three indicators:

First, the assessment of market effects. The proportion of this indicator can be determined as 75% of the overall assessment of the momentum products. For example, if the proportion of momentum products accounts for 40% of the total, this indicator will account for 30% of the overall. The calculation method of this indicator is: the ratio of the actual outbound volume of the momentum-building products in this month to the planned outbound volume in this month. This ratio is the delivery completion rate.

Second, the availability of selling points, demos, and promotions. This indicator is reflected in the compliance rate of the promotion team. Its proportion can be determined as 25% of the overall assessment of the campaign products. In order to improve the competitiveness of the store, some companies transfer personnel from non-sales departments (such as production, finance, human resources, etc.) to form a promotion team. The responsibility of the promotion team is to provide periodic assistance (usually during the off-season of products) to the local sales managers in terms of retail sales, store construction, product knowledge of direct sellers, and problems left by dealers in various regions. Monitor the sales manager. Because in the initial stage, the members of the promotion team are relatively lacking in the above-mentioned knowledge, so it becomes one of the tasks of the sales manager to train them into qualified sales personnel as quickly as possible. The compliance rate is the ratio of the number of people who reach the standard to the number of people in the promotion team.

The monthly salary and annual salary of the sales manager are directly determined by the payment collection, sales indicators, market effect assessment indicators, and the availability rate indicators of selling points, presentations, and promotion plans. This also means that the salary of the sales manager fluctuates with the fluctuation of the three indicators. The completion rate of the following indicators is not directly linked to the salary, and appropriate incentives are given according to the completion of individual tasks. The amount of incentives is virtual, and a corresponding cap system can be implemented for the incentives of each indicator.

Third, evaluation of selling points, presentations, and promotions. Salespeople are the first contact with the market, and they are best aware of the latest developments in the market and the needs of consumers. At present, most manufacturers have a marketing department, and the personnel of the marketing department are engaged in the design of product selling points, demonstrations and promotion plans. Although the personnel of the marketing department will also conduct market research before designing the plan, they are much inferior to the sales staff in terms of the scope of the research and the quality of the research. Therefore, the assessment of the above aspects of the sales manager is a powerful measure to improve the quality of planning. The evaluation method of this indicator is as follows: the sales manager submits a localized product selling point, a demonstration plan, and a promotional activity plan every month and is adopted by the headquarters, and each less one will be given a negative incentive of 100 yuan, that is, it will be deducted from the sales manager's income. 100 yuan.

3. Order Accuracy Rate This indicator mainly evaluates the inventory control ability of the sales manager. Build-to-order is only a prerequisite for reaching a "zero stock" condition. In the case of make-to-order production, the inventory in the headquarters can reach zero, but if the inventory in the sub-center does not reach zero, the inventory is only a transfer between the headquarters and the sub-center. In order to control the inventory of the sub-center, in addition to the knowledge training on orders and business management for the sales manager, the core method is to evaluate the orders placed by the sales manager, so as to force the sales manager to communicate with the dealer before placing an order. For adequate communication, it is necessary to carefully study the local market characteristics and key products and other issues. This indicator can be subdivided into two sub-indicators:

First, the sales rate. It is equal to the ratio of outbound quantity to arrival quantity. The arrival quantity depends on the order quantity reported by the sales manager. For every 1% lower than 100% sales rate, a negative incentive of 10 yuan will be given; if it is greater than 100%, a reward of 100 yuan will be given, and if it is greater than 120%, a positive incentive of 200 yuan will be given. The amount of incentive is only virtual, and the actual amount is determined by the enterprise according to its own situation.

Second, the order adjustment rate. It is equal to the ratio of the confirmed adjustment amount to the cumulative confirmed order amount. The cumulative confirmed order volume is equal to the order at the beginning of the month + the confirmed additional amount + the confirmed additional reduction amount. When the adjustment rate is within 20%, the incentive is equal to 0; when the adjustment rate is greater than 20%, a negative incentive of 10 yuan can be implemented for every 1% exceeding. This indicator mainly requires sales managers to improve the accuracy of one-time order reporting as much as possible.

4. Management of direct sellers and assessment of direct sellers is the last link to realize the transfer of products from merchants to consumers. The direct seller's mastery of product knowledge, marketing etiquette, etc. directly determines the size of the "thrust" in the product sales process. The assessment of direct sellers can be based on the completion of the direct sales (retail volume) of the direct sellers, because this indicator directly reflects the comprehensive situation of the direct sellers. If the completion rate of the direct sales plan for direct sellers is greater than or equal to 80%, it will be considered as meeting the standard; for each direct seller who fails to meet the standard, corresponding negative incentives will be given to the sales manager according to the ratio of the monthly base salary standard to the number of direct sellers.

5. Network compliance assessment This indicator mainly assesses sales managers from the aspects of the development of new outlets and the maintenance of old outlets. Without the support of the network, no matter how well the advertisements are done, the product quality is high, and the service excellent, business opportunities will be lost due to poor access. The parameters required to calculate the network compliance are: the actual number of points that reached the standard last month A, the plan B for the newly added points that reached the standard this month, the number of points that reached the standard in the previous month and the decrease in this month C, the actual number of new points that reached the standard in this month D, This month, the actual number E of new punctual points was added outside the plan. The conversion rate of reaching the standard point is: (A-1.5C+D+0.5E)/(A+B). For every 1% lower than 75% of the conversion rate of the standard point, a negative incentive of 10 yuan will be given.

6. Market share assessment This assessment can be assessed from the actual comparison with the same period last year and the previous month, and the data comes from professional statistical agencies. Each time the share is 1% lower than the same period last year, a negative incentive of 100 yuan will be given; a rank lower than the same period last year will receive a negative incentive of 100 yuan, and a rank lower than the previous month will receive a negative incentive of 200 yuan. If the ranking is not lower than that of the same period last year and the actual situation of the previous month, each time the market share exceeds the market share of the same period last year by 1%, the reward will be 20 yuan.

7. Regional Balanced Assessment Gantt is the first advocate of a scientific management school that links the compensation of managers to the completion of subordinates' work. Subordinates do well, and managers can get extra bonuses. Drawing on this idea, we can take the completion of the tasks of the salesmen under the sales manager as an indicator of the sales manager's assessment, so that the sales manager can focus on those who need his help most. Specific assessment method: For each area that fails to meet the standard (the standard for meeting the standard can be set as 75% of the sales task), a negative incentive will be given according to the standard of 200 yuan. If the sales manager has jurisdiction over 5 areas, and 3 of them fail to meet the standard, we can jointly reject the salary of the sales manager according to a certain percentage. If each area meets the standard, positive incentives can be given according to the standard of 200 yuan each, so that sales managers can increase their efforts in regional balance.

Through the assessment of the above indicators, the sales manager not only pays attention to the sales results, but also pays more attention to the sales process, thus laying a solid foundation for the sustainable development of the sales work.

This article is a contribution from the author. The author is currently teaching at the School of Business Administration of Shandong Technology and Business University.