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Sales Direction & management - contract & interim
- An interim sales director brings high quality sales standards at a fraction of the cost
- Bring valuable experience to the sales and marketing function
- Create processes and professional standards for future activity
Interim sales direction means the outsourcing of the sales management and/or sales director functions.
To start with, in many small organisations the VP of sales, is also the lead sales person, "chief cook and bottle washer"! Over time the different roles between management and front line sales may become more apparent as well as the split between strategic and tactical operational work.
Outsourcing of the sales director function should be considered if you have sales experience but not enough time to properly set up, operate and review the sales process, or if you have no significant sales experience on the board or the risk and cost of a full time sales director is deemed too expensive – typical salaries for sales directors range from £60k-£100k base plus the same in other benefits and bonuses.
Outsourcing sales can bring the experience of an international standard sales director at a fraction of the cost. There are many aspects to sales direction but the basics include:
- An accurate weekly forecast and review process
- Weekly management to coach and direct the sales effort
- Strategic sessions to help with the overall growth and planning of the business including review or determination of value propositions
- Creation of sales manual
- Sales resource/recruitment – candidate selection etc
- Input at the appropriate time of the best practice methods or operating a sales force including determining the resourcing, sales model (how we sell) , sales cycle (the process of selling) and process including departmental interfaces (especially important in a professional services operation), forecasting and review process etc
The sales director may be working with internal or external lead generation and with marketing and will of course also be working with your sales team whether this is full time or contract.
In many cases the sales director will also be running, or have significant input into the marketing function, as this is totally related to the sales effort and lead generation. If the sales director does not control this then he will need to be able to influence it, though the company management meetings.
Whilst the rate of a daily sales director may seem comparatively high, relatively little of his time is needed. In a typical start up environment, after some initial setup days only 1/2 day per week of a sales director may be required. Obviously if there is a sales team of 5 or more then this is a full time job on its own.
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