5

The Control
Function

As field sales manager you are in control of your job when:

1.As a result of sound appraisal (formal and informal) and progress toward agreed-upon objectives, you know how to improve performance.

2.You apply this knowledge to improved planning.

One of the more important duties of management is to be in control of the operation assigned to it. As a manager, you assign a part of your responsibility to other people; yet you are held accountable by your supervisors for the entire operation. You cannot excuse failure by blaming those under you. It is expected that you will be in control at all times and will see to it that the entire job gets done properly.

In the cycle of management, which is discussed in Chapter 1, control is an important part of steps three and four. Having set objectives and planned to do something, you, the manager, through your salespeople, proceed to carry out the plans in step two. You must then be vigilant to control the job by constantly asking yourself: “How is this operation going? What needs to be done now to keep it running smoothly and to strengthen any weak spots?” When you know the answers to these questions daily or at least weekly, and when you react to these answers with positive action, you are in control of your job.

Controls are effective only when they transmit important information quickly. A control must instantly shut off a machine or turn in an alarm in a time of danger. Controls fail when they are overly complex, voluminous, and detailed. They may be compared to traffic lights. It would be utterly ridiculous to place copies of a city’s traffic code at each corner. A simple red, yellow, and green light system provides adequate and effective control. Many executives have actually adopted this idea and use the same colors to indicate situations under their jurisdiction. When a sales rep is performing well, the light is green. When the controls show a yellow light, the manager seeks more detailed statistical and other information to get to the bottom of the problem. And when a red light flashes, he knows a crisis exists. Traffic is stopped and immediate action is required. So here I am going to talk about simple controls that quickly flash to the manager a picture of progress, or the lack of it, in each area of his overall responsibilities.

What must the manager control? To some people the word control denotes control of others. I suggest here that you think of the term as a system that enables you to be in control of those tasks your superiors expect you to perform, and those tasks that you must perform for and with your salespeople so that both you and they can achieve your respective objectives. The following list informs you as to what you must control and what you must do to attain such control:

1.Your job description. You will want a control that tells you how you are doing with respect to each task listed.

2.The agreed-upon objectives you and your boss have drawn up, which are more specific than the job description. You will want to know how you are doing with respect to these goals, and the control system should tell you this.

3.The agreed-upon objectives that each of your sales reps has drawn up with you. Controls must tell you what you have to do to help each of your salespeople toward their objectives.

4.Statistical material from headquarters. These data enable you to be in control of your job by telling you whether any new problems have arisen that must be dealt with promptly.

As manager you are in control of your job when you are doing something effective about each responsibility assigned to you whether it is being performed by you personally or by some other person to whom you have delegated it. You are in control when you see and react to “red lights” promptly and effectively. One of the greatest benefits to be derived from the effective use of controls is that you have more time to devote to important things. Most of us feel inundated by the mass of work we have to do. What shall we do first? Some things are obviously more important than others. Controls can tell us, or at least help us to decide, which matters urgently require attention and which can wait. But a good control system can go beyond this and actually help in the allotment of time for every necessary task. A good system almost talks, saying: “You agreed to perform task A, and now you must find the time to get that job done.” Then it helps in finding the appropriate time. In short, a good control system won’t let the manager forget anything. Of course, for controls to be of any value, you must find the time to examine and study them. If you are a manager with ten reps under you, you must set aside at least an hour or two each week for this purpose if you are to be really in control of your management job.

The Field Sales Organization and
Electronic Equipment

To help make your control system as modern and as efficient as possible, you will no doubt want to investigate whatever electronic equipment fills the bill. The use and extent of the use of electronic equipment varies greatly with different organizations. In some cases the entire program or system for using such equipment in sales and marketing originates at headquarters. Where there is no central program, the field sales manager may buy some equipment to help in doing the job better. In some cases it is the individual salesperson who may decide to purchase a portable computer or cellular phone, or the field sales manager may request and receive authority to purchase and pay for such equipment.

I am simply pointing out that the electronic age is upon us and there is increasing evidence that the use of such equipment by field sales managers and their salespersonnel is advantageous.

Well, then, let’s see just when, where, and how the various kinds of electronic equipment may be used. Bear in mind that your main job as field sales manager is still in the field developing salespeople (getting them to be at least as good as you are and, hopefully, promotable). And the main job of the salespeople is still in the field developing accounts (getting accounts to prefer to do business with them and their company).

Yet there is growing pressure on the field sales manager to spend more time on desk work: correspondence, telephone calls, territory analysis, planning field trips, getting out reports, going over all kinds of figures, lots of paperwork—all necessary to perform the job. At the same time, salespeople, in addition to spending full time out in the field, are expected to fill out route sheets, daily reports, weekly reports, precall planning sheets, and postcall analysis sheets. Just when does the sales rep do this formidable part of the job?

There is nothing new about all this. It has always taken a great deal of valuable time to produce necessary information and to put it into usable form. But to assist this effort electronic equipment is now available and the results have been tremendous. Figure 5-1 gives an idea of the many uses to which electronic equipment can be put.

As field sales manager, you can perform a valuable service by determining the optimum use of such equipment in your area of responsibility and by communicating this information to your supervisors.

In this chapter, I deal with the kind of information that has always been necessary if the field sales manager and the sales reps are to operate efficiently. But now, instead of having this information stored on cards, in files, or in loose-leaf notebooks, you can have access to it simply by “pressing a button.” In short, use of the PC and the cellular phone together with the portable fax machine allow the field sales manager to spend more time on the main job, and the salespeople to spend more time on their priorities.

Organizing the Control Function

In order to achieve the benefits outlined and to enjoy the grand feeling that comes with being in control of the job, it is important that you set up certain signaling devices. These will vary with the special needs of each manager as well as with the nature of the business and the functions that the manager’s people are expected to perform. A different kind of control is needed for the sales rep who details grocery stores than for the sales rep who sells machine tools. I am outlining here one of the many ways in which control may be achieved. Although it has worked well in practice, undoubtedly other methods would work as well or perhaps better. In any case, you should proceed as follows:

1.Make a list of every task for which you are responsible. Include all items in your job description plus any other specific responsibilities delegated to you by your supervisors.

2.Divide this list into those tasks you must perform personally (make a folder for each one), and those tasks to be delegated to sales reps or to people in your branch office (make a folder for each such person and file in it the specific tasks delegated to that person).

3.The original list should now contain only those tasks you must do yourself plus the names of persons accountable to you for delegated tasks.

4.Throughout the year periodically review the contents of each person’s folder with him or her. With a sales rep, this will usually be during a field contact, or, in the case of a secretary, in your branch office.

5.Put into the personal folders such items as you will want to discuss with these people when you are with them. This will include matters having to do with their achievements or failures with respect to any delegated responsibilities. In many instances you will make quick notes on a scratch pad and drop these in the folder. Matters may occur in correspondence with headquarters, with customers and prospects, or even with one of your sales reps. Bear in mind that you are at your maximum effectiveness when you are with the salespeople in the field. Therefore, important matters usually will not be handled by mail or phone except in an extreme emergency.

6.Divide and group the remaining tasks, those you have decided to perform yourself, as follows:

a.On one sheet list all tasks to be performed monthly or more frequently and place an X under the day (or days) of the month when that particular task is to be performed. At the same time enter the task under the same date in your diary (see Figure 5-2).

b.On a second sheet list all tasks you are to perform less often than monthly (see Figure 5-3) and place an X under the month when each task is to be performed. This sheet need only be prepared once a year. Enter each of these tasks under the appropriate month in your diary.

c.Once a month prepare a new sheet listing every task you will perform during the ensuing month, including field contacts with sales reps and contacts with others. Include a posting of all items from Figure 5-3 where there are X’s under the current month. Thus you will have a complete list of tasks to be performed during the current month, and you will have assigned a time for performing each.

Figure 5–1. Electronic sales tools and some of their uses.

7.Each day review tasks scheduled for the following day so that folders will never be forgotten. Take out the folder covering each task to help you prepare for it.

8.Make sure your diary governs all use of your time for performing this control function so that you don’t assign the same time to more than one task.

9.Arrange as much uninterrupted time for your office duties as possible. There should be a time for phone calls, a time for conferences, and a time to do this important control job without interruption.

10.Make certain that you are doing something about every task for which you have accepted personal responsibility and that you are reviewing your sales reps’ performance of delegated tasks.

Controlling the Individual Sales Rep

Figures 5-4 and 5-5 suggest one simple method of controlling the progress of each sales rep. Of course, these forms will vary with the business or the particular sales functions. I include them as models to stimulate thinking with regard to the kind of controls best suited for each manager’s purpose. Figure 5-4 tells the manager how many field contacts were planned with the salesperson and how many were actually made, the interval between these contacts, and whether another field contact is indicated at this time. It also lists the agreed-upon objectives for the development of that sales rep during the current year and shows how and when the manager has dealt with each such objective while on field contacts with the sales rep. It may contain refresher notes for the manager on the sales rep’s progress, or lack of it, with respect to each objective. Figure 5-5 is a statistical record that will enable the manager to quickly appraise the sales rep’s progress. These figures may be supplied by data processing equipment at headquarters or in other ways devised for specific situations.

Figure 5–2. Sample monthly control sheet kept by a manager.

Figure 5–3. Sample yearly control sheet for manager’s use.

Figure 5–4. Sample field contact record.

Thus the control system is simple, yet effective, and easily understood by the busy field sales manager who hasn’t the time to pore over voluminous and complex figures. Two sheets of paper similar to Figures 5-4 and 5-5 can be placed in each sales rep’s folder. If they are kept up-to-date by the manager or his secretary and studied prior to each field contact with the sales rep, the manager will always be in control of that salesperson’s work. Controls of this kind are usually reviewed by field sales managers weekly to catch any “yellow light” that points up the need for more careful study of that sales rep’s work. A well-devised control system should not require more than one to two hours attention a week. It must keep the manager well informed about every phase of the job without riveting him to his desk and curtailing his activity as a field sales manager.

The Field Sales Manager’s Office

The physical facilities provided for the sales manager’s office work—his control and communications center—vary widely. In some cases he may operate out of his home, where he has set aside space for a desk and files, while in other instances he is provided with a district office. The district office may be very simple or the manager may be given a secretary or secretary-stenographer. In a more sophisticated arrangement, the manager may have a sales correspondent in addition to a secretary and even two or three assistants. In some branch offices the field sales manager has a staff for handling local warehousing of company products and for routine or special services to customers. Such an office may house technical specialists who work with the sales manager and his staff. Consequently, my comments are necessarily general and must be adapted to the individual manager’s situation.

Figure 5–5. Sample data sheet kept by a field sales manager on a rep.

Because the average field sales manager has had little or no experience in running an office, he often finds this part of the job frustrating. His supervisors may have given him little or no instruction in office management, and he gets bogged down in a mass of office work, which impedes performance of his true function as a field sales manager. Let’s begin by considering the real purpose of a field manager’s office. Why is it at all necessary to have an office out in the field, considering the highly sophisticated machinery of the modern headquarters office? Certainly, the field office is not needed as a “parking place” for the field sales manager. We have already seen that the manager’s job is performed mainly in the field with the sales force. In fact, when the office keeps him from performing this primary job, it loses its value as a working tool. Further, if the office keeps the manager nailed down to a desk much of the time, it would be more economical and efficient to keep field managers at headquarters rather than scatter them in small branch offices throughout the country. There is a valid objective in setting up a branch office out in the field and away from headquarters. An army officer on the battlefield with his men has only a walkie-talkie for his “office.” He must be in constant communication both with his superiors and with his soldiers. This probably illustrates the primary function of the branch office; it is a communications center and a control center. It need be very little more. Unfortunately, this is sometimes forgotten by the field sales manager’s supervisors who burden him with voluminous paperwork, which makes of him a field office manager rather than a field sales and sales rep manager.

Normally, however, the field sales manager’s work can be so organized that most of his time is spent out in the field, using the office for support as a communications and control center. A portable dictating machine for use on field trips will help him tremendously. In fact, no investment made by top management will turn out more profitable. The material dictated by the manager can be transcribed at the branch office or sent to headquarters for transcription and distribution in accordance with instructions. Such equipment enables the manager to take immediate action with respect to matters discussed with a sales rep in the field or with a customer or prospect. Not only will the reporting be more accurate, having been done on the spot rather than from notes made on the backs of envelopes or on scraps of paper, but the manager need only consider the matter once and then dictate the findings. Otherwise, you must not only decide what action is to be taken while in the field, but you must also repeat the entire operation when you return to your office and base your dictation on memory and hurried notes.

Dictating equipment also saves much time in the office. As the manager goes through the mail or concludes a telephone conversation or conference, he can immediately dictate the essence of what was said or done. The job of “writing up” or “recalling” what occurred is not hanging over his head. He is free from this pressure because the record was made at the time of the action. Other pieces of equipment that enable the field sales manager to be more effective are the portable or laptop computer, the fax machine available in portable form, and the cellular phone. Such tools permit the job to be done out in the field while the manager is performing as a communicator and as a keeper of ongoing records needed for good management of the job.

It is not often that a field sales manager is assigned an administrative assistant or a full-time secretary. Nevertheless there is no question but that some help is necessary: help in providing accurate information when needed; in handling cassettes (discs, tapes) quickly and efficiently; in keeping control folders and files up-to-date and ready for immediate use when required; in taking phone calls when the field sales manager is in the field; in making some appointments; and in referring matters to the field sales manager in the field or following through with headquarters so that the office is truly a control and communications center. Such a person may have a number of other responsibilities and even perform similar duties for other executives in the same office.

If avoidable, the manager should never handle a piece of paper twice. When going through the mail, he should have his dictating machine at hand. With the first reading of each piece of mail, he should take whatever action is required and then file it.

In reviewing statistics, he should go over the figures carefully, then dictate memos, suggested action, directives, notes to himself, and the like so that, once having reviewed the figures, he need not go over them again. Letters requiring a reply should be answered at the time of reading, if at all possible. Often it is not necessary to write a complete reply to a letter; it will suffice simply to pencil on the bottom of the letter some brief remark such as, “O.K., Tom”; “Will handle when in Moline on May 10th”; or “Will do, Tom.” The original letter can then be returned to the sender with the notation. This is especially valuable when no record of the correspondence is necessary, and it also avoids cluttering up the files. Dates can be entered in the manager’s diary, and any action to be taken can be noted in the folder of the sales rep involved. When the manager reviews this folder in preparation for a field contact with the sales rep, the memo will appear as a reminder to him to take care of the matter.

Many field sales managers are dismayed on their return from the field by the mountain of mail, reports, and statistics awaiting them. The suggestions made here are calculated to ease this situation by providing some guidance to the manager in establishing efficient office routines. When the manager is about to dictate, he should have his secretary bring him all the material he will need for his dictation. All too often the manager has to get up and look for more information or have his secretary dig it up. It is far more expeditious to get all the material together first so that the dictation can proceed without a hitch. The manager should regularly allot an uninterrupted period to communications. Similarly, he should set aside a definite period to exercise control. He may decide that every Friday morning will be devoted to the study of each sales rep’s performance to determine whether any action should be taken. He should permit no interruptions during this period. Thus in a relaxed manner and with proper concentration, the manager can review both his own performance and that of his salespeople, determine the next course of action, and set it in motion.

A brief anecdote will illustrate why managers should understand the functioning of their offices and the importance of efficiency. It concerns an excellent sales rep who, on being promoted to the job of field sales manager, walked into his new branch office and realized that he knew absolutely nothing about its operation. He soon discovered that his secretary, whom he had inherited, was top-notch. So he called her in and said: “Mary, I’m a salesman and you’re an office secretary. I’m going to spend my time out in the field getting business. You run this office and let me alone.” At the same time the president, trying to cut expenses, was studying the branch office setup of his company. He called in each field manager to find out what he could learn about branch office operations. Needless to say, our friend made a very poor showing because he knew little or nothing about the office under his jurisdiction.

The moral of the story is that managers must be familiar with branch office procedures. They should seek to improve office operations, keep costs down, and increase the effectiveness of office personnel so that they can spend more time in the field and accomplish more when they are in the office. Managers may delegate office responsibilities, but they cannot abandon them.

Where their superiors have given them responsibilities beyond those involved in developing manpower, field sales managers may require a somewhat more complex office organization. But for managers who are simply line sales executives developing sales representatives, the office can be quite simple: a correspondence file; a file of statistical material for each sales rep and for the district or region as a whole; copies of invoices; a file folder for each task assigned to the manager, one for each sales rep, and one for his immediate supervisor; the controls used to manage the job; a manual of operations; and various necessary supplies. The rule to be followed is to keep the branch office simple, easy to use, uncluttered, and efficient.