Chapter 4

Sales
Force
Organization
Listen to the customer and act on
what they tell you.
Pat Nathan,
Vice President
Dell Computer Corp

McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Agenda
 Principles of Organization Design
 Types of Sales Organization
 Departmentalization (specialization) within
the sales function
 Trends in the sales field

4-2
 Principles of Organization Design
 Organizational structure should reflect a marketing
orientation
 Organization should be built around activities, not
around people
 Responsibility and authority should be related
properly
 Span of executive control should be reasonable
 Organization should be stable but not flexible
 Activities should be balanced and coordinated

4-3
 (Figure 4-2)

Line-and-Staff Sales Organization

Chief Marketing Executive

Advertising Marketing General Sales Sales

Manager Research Sales Promotion Analysis
Manager Manager Manager Manager

Salespeople
Line authority
Staff advisory authority

4-4
 (Figure 4-3)

Functional Sales Organization

Chief Marketing Executive

Advertising Marketing General Credit Sales

Manager Research Sales Manager Promotion
Manager Manager Manager

Salespeople

Line authority
Staff advisory authority
4-5
(Figure 4-4)

The Horizontal Corporation

Manufacturing
Product Design and Team
Development Team Systems Engineering
Customer Research Production
Customer Analysis Quality Control
Design Engineering

Strategic
Planning Team
VP Strategic Planning
VP Finance & Information
Chief Operating Officer
Human Resources
Administration

Customer Customer
Support Team Fulfillment Team
Information Pricing and Promotion
Training Sales
Service Distribution
Research

4-6
 (Figure 4-5)

Geographical Sales Organization

Chief Marketing Executive

Advertising Marketing General Sales Sales

Manager Research Sales Promotion Analyst
Manager Manager Manager

Western Regional Eastern Regional

Sales Manager Sales Manager

4 District 4 District
Sales Managers Sales Managers

Salespeople each Salespeople each

with own territory with own territory
4-7
 (Figure 4-6)

Sales Organization with Product-

Specialized Sales Force
Chief Marketing Executive

Advertising Marketing General Sales Customer

Manager Research Sales Promotion Relations
Manager Manager Manager Manager

Sales Manager Sales Manager Sales Manager

Product A Product B Product C

Salespeople Salespeople Salespeople

Product A Product B Product C

4-8
 (Figure 4-7)

Sales Organization with Product

Managers as Staff Specialists
Chief Marketing Executive

Advertising Marketing General

Manager Research Manager Manager Manager
Sales
Manager Manager Product A Product B Product C

Assistant
Sales
Manager

Salespeople

4-9
 (Figure 4-8)

Sales Organization Specialized by

Type of Customer
Chief Marketing Executive

Advertising Marketing General Sales Customer

Manager Research Sales Promotion Relations
Manager Manager Manager Manager

Sales Manager Sales Manager Sales Manager

Transportation Steel Industry Petroleum Industry
Industry

Salespeople Salespeople Salespeople

4-10
(Figure 4-9)

Organizational Options for the 2000s

Strategic account
management

Independent Organizational
E-commerce and
reps Options for the telemarketing
2000s

Team selling

4-11
 The Relationship Between A
Sales Team and a Buying Center
Organizational Sales- Exchange Purchasing Organizational
selling center person Process Agent buying center

Marketing Information
Purchasing
Sales Problem Solving
Manufacturing
Manufacturing Negotiation
Friendship, Trust R&D
R&D
Engineering Product/Services Engineering
Payment
Physical Marketing
Distribution Reciprocity

4-12
 (Figure 4-10)

Captive versus Independent Sales Rep

$ Cost
Independent rep

Captive rep

$ Sales

4-13
 Uses of Telemarketing
 Identify prospective customers
 Screening, qualifying leads
 Sales solicitation: small customers,
re-orders
 Order processing
 Product service support
 Account management
 Customer relations
 Competitive reporting
 Expense reporting

4-14