Oct. 26, 2009 (The Hindu Business Line) --
Anjali Prayag
Bangalore, Oct. 26 India Inc is relaxing pressure on sales teams as 2008 has brought goalposts closer in several organisations.
Marking down sales targets and resetting individual goals is not an uncommon phenomenon, says Mr Scott Sands, Principal, NA Sales Force Effectiveness and Practice Leader, Hewitt Associates (NYSE:HEW) , who terms the move as “relooking at thresholds in sales.”
“The downturn has forced companies to change the way they are measuring sales effectiveness and targets,” he says. In other words, companies are looking more at maintaining their market share rather than aiming at an increase in sales figures.
Mr Nitin Sethi, Business Leader-Consulting (South India and Sri Lanka), Hewitt Associates, says that targets set last year are not relevant today. Stating that the sales force in the IT outsourcing sector is adopting a cautious approach, Ms Yeshasvini Ramaswamy, Head (HR Services and Training), E2E Business Solutions, rationalises that going aggressive could spin off additional expenses in IT. “Bagging contracts here could mean the company has to kick in additional investments to ensure on-time delivery, which may be difficult in these economic conditions.”
For an express company such as TNT India, there are certain client segments that have been strongly affected by the slowdown where sales targets have been revised. “Dip in exports in leather and apparel sectors had to be taken into account while setting sales targets. But pharma and life sciences are doing well. Therefore, we calibrate our targets to market reality every quarter,” says Mr Arul Rajkumar, HR Director, TNT India.
Impossible targets would demotivate the sales team, agrees Mr Prakash Gurbaxani, Founder and CEO, QVC Realty. The real estate industry has reset sales targets by 30-40 per cent say industry sources.
Reworking targets is a natural fallout of the slowdown, points out Mr Raju Louzado, General Manager, Fortune Select JP Cosmos (a Welcomgroup hotel), adding that there is no compromise on the fact that companies want to maintain their share in the whole pie.
(With inputs from Anjana Chandramouly)
