Behind the scenes

The crisis generated cost efficiency measures and structural changes, which affected sales teams too. Work has been outsourced at several companies, either completely or in part. According to Ágnes Csiby, the managing director of In-store Team Trade Marketing Kft., a field team is good if it brings the results the company expects from them. For this, good sales managers and good management is needed – from the operative side of the agency and the professional side of the commissioner. Those commissioners who pay attention to planning the project to the last detail and provide sales managers with correct information are more likely to achieve good results. Measurability is also of key importance, in the case of sales, ordering and distribution alike.

Attila Geyer, the managing director of PrestonPartner Kft. is of the opinion that a team is efficient if it is capable of transforming its activities in accordance with changing tasks, and at the same time it also generates higher sales. Fluctuation indicates how successful members of the team are: if at an external sales team it is not higher than an annual 10-15 percent that is a good result. Besides measuring sales changes, he also favours methods that take into consideration other factors such as price, packaging, promotions or ads.

Control is efficient if it is electronic; at the same time, the motivation system also has to reward correct work and good results, instead of administration or loopholes. Anita Batternay, PrestonPartner Kft.’s other managing director thinks there is no ideal field team. The market situation, the lifespan and character of the product and the activities of competitors are all decisive factors. In general, 12-18 representatives can cover the top 2,500 food stores; one supervisor can cope with 5-8 people, usually 1-2 people work in each county and 2-5 in the capital city.

Ágnes Csiby’s experience is that 1 person in each county is the best solution. In Budapest, more sales managers are needed, in proportion of the number of stores. More and more companies return to the system of sales managers also taking orders, as sales managers need to contribute to realising volume targets. It is worth employing external sales managers if a product’s sales do not generate the costs of a sales manager for that region. It has to be emphasised to commissioners that outsourcing solutions do not equal wholesalers: in this case we are talking about fully representing a company and its products.

Therefore it is best if external sales managers are treated as full-time employees. The biggest advantage of outsourcing is that the number of sales managers and the infrastructure that they use are easy to change; while spending 15-35 percent less money much better distribution level can be achieved.