This chapter discusses sales force structure. A sales force must be well organized if it is to meet customer needs efficiently and effectively and to sell the firm's products and services. Sales force structure decisions influence how customers see the firm. They also affect the selling skills and knowledge level required of salespeople, which in turn affect compensation, recruitment, training, and the role of the sales manager. The structure affects each salesperson and sales manager. Job descriptions, reporting relationships and teaming decisions are all contingent upon the sales force structure.

The chapter is designed to help you:

Sales Force Structuring     Best Practices Advisory Study the complexity and diversity of your customers, products, and selling activities to determine how specialized your salespeople need to be. Optimize the balance between effectiveness gains (higher results) and efficiency improvements (lower costs) when structuring your sales force. Integrate sales force effort with alternative ways to reach markets such as the Internet, telemarketing, and part-time or contract sales forces.

• Evaluate the trade-off between efficiency and effectiveness, which is at the heart of the sales force structure decision
• Understand the four fundamental sales force structures companies use and learn which structure or combination of structures is most appropriate in a given situation
• Use a four-step process to develop an adaptive, efficient, and effective sales force structure