How to Effectively Supervise Your Sales Team

So far, you have seen in this section a number of key elements involved in the job of managing retail salespeople. These include objective-setting, performance review, training, and motivation. Supervision can be regarded as the day-to-day application of these same functions. Performance review by personal observation rather than an analysis of figures, training through immediate corrective suggestions, and motivation through on-the-spot praise and reinforcement for a  job well done.

Continuing Awareness

Through your day-to-day supervisory activities, you are keeping salespeople constantly aware of your performance expectations. If you notice a customer being ignored by a salesperson and you fail to comment on it, this may be regarded as approval. On the other hand, you might see an employee sell a sport coat, shirt, tie, and sweater to a customer who originally came in for a pair of slacks. If you fail to praise the salesperson for this job well done, the employee will soon decide the extra effort was worthless.

Observation

Just as you walk through your store each day, you will be making continual observations of your employees' performance. You will notice the rapport they establish with customers; their efforts in keeping displays attractive even after customers have disrupted them; the dispatch with which they prepare invoices and credit approvals; and their general attitude toward customers and fellow employees.

Naturally, there will be many occasions when you will be critical of an employee's performance, and the sooner it is brought to the employee's attention, the better. However, you must always avoid criticizing an employee's performance in front of a customer or in front of other employees.

Talk to Employee Alone

At the first opportunity, talk to the employee alone and remind him or her of how you expect the job to  be done. Criticizing an employee in front of a customer will lower the customer's opinion of your employees and, consequently, your store. Critical comments should also be made outside the range of other employees. Since your criticisms will be accompanied by constructive suggestions for performance improvement, you want to be sure of holding the employee's attention and maintaining a proper attitude so that the employee will be receptive to your advice. Embarrassing the employee in front of others will create a negative attitude that will interfere with understanding and acceptance of your suggestions.

Public Praise

On the other hand, when you praise an employee for a job well done, you want other employees to hear it. This will not only fill the employee's need for recognition, it will remind other employees of your definition of satisfactory performance so that they, too, will try to do their jobs accordingly.

Giving Information

Frequently, you will have to give employees special instruc­tions to carry out certain assignments. Perhaps instructions to rearrange a display, to handle a special situation with a customer, or to assist you in an administrative task. Your instructions should follow guidelines similar to those that you use in establishing performance objectives.

Reasonable, Understandable, Complete

Instructions must be reasonable, understandable, and complete. Mrs. Jones may be dissatisfied with a toaster she bought last week and wish to return it. If you instruct a sales­person to "take care of Mrs. Jones," this tells the employee little or nothing. Should the employee issue a cash refund, give Mrs. Jones another toaster, or return the toaster to the manufacturer for warranty repairs? All these details must be spelled out so that the employee will know exactly what you expect to be done.

How to Compensate Your Salespeople

As a small retailer, you have a relatively limited budget for employees' compensation. Therefore, you must take special pains to make every dollar count. You must try to establish a compensation plan that will reward outstanding performance so that all employees will have an incentive to exert the extra effort required for success. Your compensation plan must be designed to attract competent employees, reward satisfactory performance, and retain qualified personnel.

Easily Understood

The compensation plan must also be easily understood and easily administered. Complex incentives are often self-defeating. The employee who cannot understand the potential reward for superior effort is unlikely to be motivated by it. A compensation plan with unnecessary complexities can be divisive or difficult to administer.

For example, plans that give bonuses based upon performance compared with objectives will often result in unnecessary quarreling over the objectives rather than a joint effort in developing suggestions for performance improvement.

Evaluating a Compensation Plan

In evaluating your compensation plan, you must consider the entire package, not simply the weekly salary or hourly wage. Evaluation must also consider other factors such as health insurance plans, life insurance plans, vacation policies, holidays, sick leave, savings plans, pensions, profit-sharing, employee discounts, and opportunities for bonuses or other special incentives.

Performance Rewards

Rewards for outstanding performance can be built into your compensation plan in a number of ways. They can include straight commissions on all sales or commissions based upon profit. Instead of commissions, performance incentives can be built into the plan through occasional bonuses for outstanding performance, salary increases for top producers, or special rewards.

Seniority Benefits

In designing a compensation plan to hold employees, it is often useful to develop it so that there are direct rewards for longevity with satisfactory performance. These rewards could include longer vacation periods for senior employees or progressive increases in the employee's participation in a retirement or profit-sharing program.

Types of Compensation Plans

Most sales compensation plans are based upon salaries, incentives, or a combination of the two. Compensation plans based upon straight salary offer the employee the advantage of security, which can be desirable in attracting new people. A salary is also a predictable expense month to month so that budgeting is simplified. However, salaries continue even in low sales periods when your business can least afford them. Also, they lack the short-term economic incentive that is often necessary to encourage top performance. The prospect of a salary increase a year from now is seldom enough to make an employee work harder today.

Compensation plans based largely upon incentives, such as commissions, offer the advantage of encouraging extra effort on every sale every day. Since these plans usually vary compensation with sales volume, this expense is highest when you can best afford it and lowest when you can least afford it.

However, there are several disadvantages to commissions in retailing. They may prompt salespeople to use unnecessarily high-pressure tactics that could damage your store's repu­tation. They can lead to disputes among employees over credit for sales. They can fail to attract competent employees who may feel that their need for the security of a salary outweighs the earnings potential of a commission plan.

In general, the most satisfactory approach is a combination plan that gives the employee a guaranteed income plus some economic incentive for top performance through commissions, overrides, or bonuses.

This article offers managing your Company tips and Handle business advice. But you aren't ready to begin your own company until
you have given some thought to managing it. A business is a continuous activity that does not run itself. As the supervisor you'll
need to set goals, determine how to achieve those goals and also make all the necessary decisions. You'll have to purchase or
create your product, price it, advertise it and sell it.

You will need to keep documents, and determine costs. You will have to Control stock, make the right buying decisions and keep
costs down. You'll need to employ, train and motivate employees today or as you grow.

Setting Business Management Goals. Good small business management Is the secret to success and good management starts with
establishing goals. Set goals for yourself for the achievement of the many activities required in starting and managing your
business successfully. Be specific. Write down the goals in measurable terms of functionality. Break big goals down to sub-goals,
showing what you expect to achieve in the next two to three months, the subsequent six months, another year, and the subsequent
five years. Beside each goal and sub-goal set a specific date showing when it's to be achieved.

Plan the action you need to take to achieve the goals. While the effort Required to reach each sub-goal ought to be good enough to
challenge one, it should not be so great or foolish as to discourage you. Don't plan to achieve too many goals all too. Establish
priorities.

Plan in advance how to quantify results so you can know exactly the way Well you are doing. This is what is meant by"measurable"
targets. If you can not keep score as you go along you are very likely to lose motivation. Re-work your plan of action to permit
for obstacles which may stand on your way. Attempt to foresee obstacles and plan strategies to avert or minimize them.

Buying. Skillful buying is an important essential of profitably Managing a business enterprise. This is true whether you are a
wholesaler or retailer of merchandise, a producer or a service company operator. Some retailers say it is the most significant
single factor. Merchandise that's carefully bought is easy to sell.

Determining what to buy means finding out the type, type, quality, Brand, size, color, style -whatever applies to your particular
inventory - which will sell the very best. This requires close attention to salespeople, trade journals, catalogs, and notably the
likes and dislikes of your regular clients. Analyze your sales documents. Even the manufacturer should view the problem through
the eyes of customers before determining what materials, parts, and materials to buy.

Know your regular customers, and make a good evaluation of the People you expect will become your clients. Just what socioeconomic
category are they? Are they homeowners or renters? Are you currently looking for cost, style or quality? What is the predominant
age category?

The age of your customers can be a prime consideration in Establishing a purchasing pattern. Young people purchase more frequently
than many older people. They need greater, have fewer duties, and spend more on themselves. They are more aware of style trends
whether in wearing apparel, automobiles or electronic equipment. In case you choose to appeal to the young trade only because they
seem dominate in your town, your purchasing pattern will be wholly different than if the conservative middle-aged customers appear
to be in most.

Study trade journals, newspaper advertisements, catalogs, window Displays of businesses like yours. Request advice of salespeople
offering you merchandise, but buy sparingly from several suppliers instead of one, testing the water, so to speak, until you
understand what your best lines would be.

Finding suitable merchandise sources is not simple. You may buy Directly from manufacturers or producers, from wholesalers,
distributors or jobbers. Select the providers who sell what you need and can deliver it when you want it. (Distributors and
jobbers are utilized by the majority of business people for quick fill-ins involving factory shipments.)

You may distribute purchases one of many providers to gain more Favorable prices and promotional stuff. Or you may focus your
purchases one of a small number of suppliers to reevaluate your credit problems. This will also allow you to become known as the
vendor of a certain brand or line of product, and to keep a fixed benchmark in your goods, if you're buying stuff for
manufacturing purposes.

When to buy is important if your company will have seasonal Variations in sales volume. More inventory will be required ahead of
the seasonal upturn in sales quantity. As earnings decrease, less product is needed. This means purchases of goods for resale and
materials for processing must vary accordingly.

At the outset, how much to buy is speculative. The best policy is To be frugal till you've had sufficient expertise to judge your
needs. On the flip side, you cannot sell product if you don't have it.

To help solve buying issues, you should Start to maintain stock Control records at once. This can help you maintain the stock in
balance - neither too large nor too little - with a suitable proportion and decent assortment of products, sizes, colours, styles
and qualities.

Fundamentally there are two Kinds of stock control - control in Bucks and command in physical units. Dollar controls show the sum
of money invested in every product category. Unit controllers indicate the amount of individual items when and from whom purchased
by category. A fantastic stock control system can help you determine what, from whom, when, and how much to purchase.

Pricing. Much of your success in manage a business will depend on How you price your services. If your Rates are too low, You
Won't cover Expenses; too high and you'll lose sales volume. In both cases, you won't Make a profit.

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