| The greatest asset for a direct sales company is their field membership – the consumers, sales people, and networkers. Products can be replicated. Commission plans can be replaced. Uniquely segregated, the most important investment your company can make is to help each individual to be successful in their respective role. In identifying your sales force, sometimes the compensation plan can deceive management. The temptation is to identify people by rank and utilize rank and earnings as the indicators of performance. In many cases the activities of individuals, not their rank and earnings, are more valuable in identifying and leveraging key individuals and meeting their needs and maximizing their value to the organization. With this in mind, it is important to first focus on understanding the makeup of your field force by identifying the different activities that make up each segment and the specific and distinct role they each play in the success of your organization. Closely tied to this understanding is the importance of structuring your business, in terms of compensation plan, and sales and marketing strategy, in order to maximize the value of each person in each of those segments. Each segment of your field force is motivated differently. Understanding their role will allow you to provide the support they need to succeed. |
