Sales Management

Multichannel Management

Most firms now distribute products and services across a spectrum of channels; from traditional, physical retail outlets, through offline distribution partners like wholesalers, pharmacies and travel agents, to online-shops, mail order houses, sales portals and marketing affiliates.

Consumers increasingly switch between channels during the buying decision process. This process often begins with online research, but with the actual purchase taking place at a physical outlet, even when the purchase could be made online. This everyday phenomenon of "Research Online, Purchase Offline" (ROPO) offers attractive opportunities in multichannel management. Businesses have to realise opportunities through innovative concepts at the same time as realigning their sales organisation.

SEMPORA has advised clients on all aspects of developing future-oriented multi-channel concepts.

Sales force effectiveness

Customer segmentation

Allocating the right level of sales resource to customers is the first building block of a successful sales management function. The foundation for this is customer segmentation, oriented towards customer value and potential; a process intended to avoid missing growth opportunities as a result of misdirected capacity.

Customer care concept

Customer care concepts are used to plan and fix the ways and frequency a client should be contacted by key account management, regional sales representatives and call centres. In many companies customer care concepts are often not aligned to sales cycles or are even non-existing.

Sales management / tactics

The third building block for an optimising sales impact is efficient sales management (team). Excessive sales priorities, lack of focus and too much individual freedom are often symptoms of unexploited sales potential. Professional sales management systematically transposes strategic business objectives into sales actions, based on clearly defined sales cycles.

Customer retention

Relationships between producers and retailers are often characterised by conflicting interests of the players, by intensive negotiations and even confrontation. Manufacturers that come from a relative position of strength in their own markets, have the option to establish programmes to increase major retailer retention. This special relationship with the largest retail groups opens up new strategic options for both sides as well as challenges for other producers.
Joint marketing activities based on reciprocal agreements provide both parties with additional market potential - the market itself does not change but marketing becomes more sophisticated, with a higher return on investment.
SEMPORA consultants have helped many industrial producers and service businesses to successfully develop and implement customer retention programmes. 

Sales Organisation

Producers have to deal with the increasing concentration of retail groups, changes to retail market structure, and the complexity of managing on- and off-line sales channels. A sales organisation audit aims to define the optimum size of the sales management team, the sales team structure, as well as effective processes and departmental interfaces. The development of online channels also means that for the future different qualifications and experience and new training may be required of sales personnel.

SEMPORA has extensive experience of  reorganising sales functions, covering all relevant sales management activities.