Customer organization

In our last post we have discussed on sales force management and product organization. Today we are going to talk on customer organization which is most important part of any small business. To orient the field sales organization to the market a firm may make use of a customer basis. The type of industry corresponding to SIC category and the channel of distribution are two widely used classes of customer. For example, if it is for blinds industry where they are selling different products like vertical blinds, roman shades online, than for them channel of distribution is different. While for Instant term life insurance rates company who are providing life insurance quotes online, channel of distribution is different. What a firm seeks to achieve in limiting a salesman’s efforts to selected group of customers is specialization in servicing their particular needs. Market factors conducive to the use of a customer base include:
(1) geographical concentration to facilitate the equating of customer sets with geographical assignments;

(2) substantial sales and profits to justify the assignment of sales personnel; and

(3) distinctiveness in needs to permit differentiation between customer segments.

Organizing of the basis of customers rather than products offers the practical advantage of less territorial overlap with specialization. There is still the added costs of some territorial overlap plus the possibility the salesman may be called upon to sell a diverse range of products.

Sales Force Management

A geographical split by minimizing duplication of travel patterns is usually the most economical basis. Other advantages include enhanced adaptability to local market conditions, greater control, and quicker sales reactions. Working against a geographical basis alone works against this type of specialization. I was talking with the owner of online blinds store who are selling vertical blinds and roman shades blinds. He says that with sales force management it is really easy for them to manage geographically large areas with one location office. To retain the advantages of the geographical basis without incurring its limitations, it is often used in combination with either the product or consumer basis.

Product organization
Two conditions are conducive to the use of a product basis in organizing field sales. One is that the firm markets a diverse range of products or product lines. By limiting the product types he is accountable for, a salesman can become more of a product specialist. This may be especially important from a competitive standpoint when products are technically complex in nature. For instant life insurance rates company who are providing life insurance quotes online, they says that they need term life insurance agents who are expert in their field. More experience they have more business they are going to give. The second is the determination that product knowledge is the primary marketing input for the salesman.