Even in today’s fully wired Internet age, complete with customer databases and technology-driven direct marketing channels, sales forces are alive and well. This is because they perform a critical task in an organization, a task that no other channel can perform as well or even adequately i.e.selling complex products and solutions to large key accounts with a high degree of sales process. Not everyone make those kinds of sales, but for companies that do, a sales force is an indispensable part of the channel mix.
Although sales forces are just as important as they’ve always been, there is no doubt that their role is shifting—that they are undergoing fundamental change. In a multichannel selling environment, sales reps are generally the most expensive type of selling resources, while other channels can almost always make sales at lower costs. This is why many companies are starting to limit the participation of their sales forces to the kind of transactions that really do require high-end consultative selling expertise of the sales reps, while sending other transactions to low-cost channels. This approach gives a sales force leverage: It frees up the time and energy of the sales reps to focus on the largest and most important market opportunities, which in turn lowers the costs and increases the productivity of the sales force.
It is important to not that a new breed or sales force is also emerging i.e. technical sales force. They don't interact face-to-face with a customer, rather they facilitate internet sales, engage customers by starting conversations on company's website, blogs, and social networking sites, and create brand awareness. This re-incarnation of traditional sales force is much more potent which blurs the boundaries of sales, marketing, branding, and PR. In this chapter, however, I'll concentrate on how to re-organize traditional sale force into leveraged sales force for maximum productivity. So let's see how to build one.