Evaluation and Control

Abstract

At one level, the evaluation of salespeople is easy — they either make target or they don’t. The problem with the link between sales effort and sales response is that it is neither simple nor direct. Most companies conduct some form of evaluation but few do this in a formal way which evaluates the causes as well as outcomes. Part of the problem with evaluation is that to do it properly is time- consuming, costly and difficult. Evaluation is part of the control element in management. Control implies setting standards, comparing results achieved with these standards and taking any corrective action. It follows that merely collecting the information, no matter how appropriate, is neither evaluation nor control. Evaluation without corrective, appropriate action is not control. The management task and responsibility is control. The danger is that many managers exercise control without appropriate information, with weakly constructed plans and haphazard evaluation. In this chapter, the attention focuses on evaluation since the control element incorporates most of the considerations in this book, including recruitment, training, deployment and motivation. Sales managers must be careful not to link evaluation solely to the salesperson or the sales team. Evaluation is also required of management policies and systems and of the specific tasks that salespeople are expected to perform. The aim in this chapter is:

• to identify the most appropriate measures which can be used to evaluate salespeople and control salesforce operations

• to consider how evaluation can best be conducted and by whom

• to compare the different approaches to the evaluation of sales performance

• to itemise the components of sales analysis and cost control

• to review the key determinants of salesforce performance.