The Complete Guide to Accelerating Sales Force Performance

Maintaining an Effective Alignment—A Three-Step Process

It is important for sales forces to maintain a good alignment, despite the many forces discouraging alignment change. There are three steps to a good alignment:

1. Defining appropriate alignment criteria

2. Auditing alignments annually

3. Using a combination of centralized planning and local expertise when faced with a major realignment

The following is a detailed description of each step.

Alignment Criteria

What do the customer, the salesperson, and the company want from the alignment? Figure 5-7 provides some answers to this question.

Alignment Goal

There are five main alignment goals: balance the workload, balance sales potential, minimize disruption, develop compact territories, and equalize marginal ...