Role Map II

The more clearly and concisely you can write down a role description, the higher the probability that the role will successfully accomplish its objectives.  

It is important that as you write down objectives for the position, you ask yourself whether they really represent a strategy rather than a goal or a wish.  Strategy is bout "how" the objectives should clearly indicate the segment being addressed and the repositioning needed.  If your objective for the position is something like "grow profitable sales by 30%," you are leaving your strategy in the hands of your sales force--which means you do not really have a strategy.

In the second column of the role map--next to each strategic objective for the position--you can now determine the role that each person in a given position must fill in supporting the corresponding objective.  For example, it it is clear that migrating transaction-only customers from FSRs to ISRs is a key strategic objective, then the FSR's role in supporting this strategic objective might be to allocate at least 75% of his or her time to large account demand-creation activities.   

The small size of the role map is deliberate.  The more clearly and concisely you can write down a role description, the higher the probability that the role will successfully accomplish its objectives.  

ACTION POINT: If you are asking a single sales rep to do 20 different thing, how can you expect him or her to give any one of them real priority?