In Steve Deist’s experience, most field sales reps’ territories are far larger than they should be. He recommends distributors calculate how much time a rep spends on demand-creation and fulfillment activities. This will result in a better understanding of how many accounts a rep can handle, Deist says in the recent MDM Webcast, Re-investing Resources for Growth in 2014.
“We almost inevitably find that a field sales rep’s territory should not be 100 accounts. It should not be 40 accounts. It should be something like 20 or 25 accounts, of which maybe 10 are prospects which you’re not currently doing any business with but that have huge potential,” Deist says.
Sales is the most expensive – and potentially most powerful – tool a distributor has. Deist says distributors need to be much more selective in how they deploy it. Read more about how you can funnel sales reps into more strategic, specialized roles in the article The Case for a Radical Sales Overhaul.
Access the MDM Webcast, Re-investing Resources for Growth in 2014, on-demand or order the DVD for easy sharing here.
