How to create a sales network?

Can you create a sales network easily? No, not easily. In fact, the creation of a sales network is a structured and articulated process, which cannot be reduced to the simple publication of job offers within specialized sites.

In this article we will try to treat, in a non-exhaustive but only indicative way (it would take a whole book to exhaust the subject), what steps are necessary to take to create a sales network.

Here they are:

1) competition analysis and remuneration study;

2) definition of sales strategies and methods;

3) implementation of research and selection campaigns;

4) sales network management.

Competition analysis and remuneration study

In order to create an effective sales network in a number of cases it may be necessary to carry out a remuneration study, the purpose of which is to determine precisely what type of job offer and remuneration is capable of motivating a salesperson to seriously consider a business cooperation proposal. Why is this sometimes necessary? The reason is quite simple: the availability on the market of salespeople is lower than the demand, in fact it is enough to observe the countless job offers on the web for sales roles, which very often even remain unnoticed.

The search and selection of new salespeople may be difficult or may produce poor results if you are unable to offer an economically attractive job offer for a salesperson, which is why it may be necessary to conduct a salary study and determine the economic investment that needs to be financed in order to create a sales network. The most qualified salespeople are looking for companies that are able to make suitable economic offers and this may include one or more of the following forms of remuneration: allocation of a customer portfolio; commission fee; expense reimbursement; rewards and incentives, etc.

The following questions should be asked before considering investing resources to create a sales network: “How are salespeople in this sector generally paid by the best players in the market? Or: “What kind of job offer could be interesting for a salesperson?” And also: “What kind of company is considered a coveted job by salespeople in this sector? Why?”

Definition of sales strategies and methods

Companies that use effective and functional sales strategies and systems are facilitated in the task of building a sales network. You cannot ask a salesperson to make months of cold calls or dozens and dozens of visits to acquire a few customers for a risky commission fee. Unfortunately, this also happens.

Coding sales strategies and systems means:

1) define in a precise and accurate way a market target potentially interested in the products / services offered;

2) developing systems to create contacts and relationships with the defined target (telemarketing, lead generation, fairs and events, etc.);

3) develop systems to sell effectively (sales techniques);

4) make sure that the above points determine satisfactory economic results for the sales network.

Companies with unclear ideas about points 1) to 4) are hardly able to motivate good salespeople to accept concrete job offers, in fact, during a selection interview a salesperson wants to understand the nature of the business in simple, practical and concrete terms. Therefore, from the very first contact with a salesperson, it should be possible to provide clear information on the above points, such as the average indicative commission volume that a salesperson receives. This article published in our blog can further clarify ideas about the expectations of a salesperson who is offered a job offer.

Implementation of recruiting campaigns

Various communication tools and channels can be used to create a sales network; the best known are: 1) publication of job offers in specialized sites, 2) use of databases of salespeople. For the search and selection of salespeople, we prefer to use specific databases, because they allow direct access to business profiles operating in specific market sectors.

Sales network management

The management of a sales network is just as important as the search and selection of commercial profiles: in fact, a badly managed sales network can completely compromise the efforts made in searching and selecting valid sales agents and sellers. Managing a sales network means being able to train, organize and motivate a group of salespeople and these are aspects that are difficult to improvise.

We hope that this article has been to your liking and for further clarification you can always write to us: in**@ea********.it .