Human Factors in Sales Roles

Is wearing a red cape a requirement?

Once you have completed role assignments for your sales team step back and think about the positions you have defined to support your strategy.  At the end of the day, these will be filled by living, breathing human beings.  It is management's job to provide a system under which people can be successful.  Consider the following human elements:

• Can a human being do everything you are asking in the role/? Is wearing a red cape a requirement?
• Does the structure provide sufficient autonomy?  Sales reps in particular are highly driven by a desire to control their own destiny.  Putting too many shackles on their role may be highly de-motivating.
• Are the jobs fun and meaningful?  It may be logical to have a quotations specialist position but will it be so monotonous that no one will have any interest in it?
• Does the organization provide enticing career paths, with a clear progression of status and options for different personalities?
• Do we end up with one person in every position?  Our experience is that you should try hard not to have "one" of anything.   Sales reps thrive on internal competition, and management needs to have a relative yardstick for each position.
• Do the positions offer sufficient clarity and focus?
• Does the new organization represent a realistic level of change management?  Is the transition between current and desired state manageable? Will the changes crease so much fear, uncertainty, and doubt that you run a real risk of losing high performers?
• Are the spans of management control realistic?  If you end up with a different boss for each person in a branch who is located hundreds of miles away, you may want to reconsider.

ACTION POINT: There are no simple answers to these questions, but you need to ask them as a reality check before finalizing your organizational structure.