Alexander Group Media Room

Sales organizations have felt COVID-19’s seismic impact more than some other functional areas of the organization. Nevertheless, manufacturers are confident that a return to normalcy is inevitable, and possibly soon in some end-markets. Alexander Group conducted four surveys over the past few weeks to gauge trends and prevalent practices as leaders across industries deal with COVID-19. Findings fall into two categories: immediate actions and longer-term tactics.

In some cases, the collapse in revenue during the COVID-19 crisis was breathtaking. However, the reopening of the economy is going to provide great selling opportunities for those with the right products, the right pricing and the right salesforce. Sales compensation needs to help accelerate these emerging revenue prospects.

The coronavirus pandemic has brought sales declines to commercial enterprises. Likewise, the COVID-19 crisis is affecting sellers’ incentive pay. In some cases, the loss of sales has been substantial. Since sellers’ pay is linked to sales performance, sales compensation payouts are facing similar declines. What are sales leaders attempting to do? Save the salesforce.

The Alexander Group’s COVID-19 Impact on Sellers’ Pay 3-Day Update Survey reveals sales leaders are looking at a variety of pay replacement methods, including guarantees, quota changes and payout formula modifications to protect sellers’ pay due to the COVID-19 crisis. The survey featured 219 companies that provided their perspectives on how to treat the loss of sellers’ incentive pay. (Survey responses were collected during the week of April 13 and published on April 20.) It was a follow-up survey to our survey published on March 30.

The Alexander Group, Inc. recently opened its new Manufacturing & Distribution Industry Trends Research, providing in-depth benchmarks on commercial roles, growth drivers, investment profiles and sales compensation. The research will incorporate market insights (global trends and competitive disruption) for key sub-verticals, and will also gauge the longer-term impact of the COVID-19 crisis on revenue models.

The Alexander Group, Inc. announces the findings from its latest 2020 Sales Leadership Flash Survey. With significant economic and workforce impacts for sales management practices and operations, 158 respondents shared how they are responding to the current market conditions and what actions they plan to take next.

Is your sales force an asset that will help the company rebound when the COVID-19 crisis abates? Sales leaders seek to protect sellers’ pay during the COVID-19 crisis, as 82% are planning some type of sellers’ pay adjustments. Sales leaders have yet to identify the amounts and techniques. The primary reason for providing pay protection is retention of the workforce by supplementing sellers’ cash flow.

Can versatility negatively impact productivity? Are generalist sales roles more effective than specialized roles? Andrew Horvath of the Alexander Group examines identified three inputs that should be considered when crafting field sales roles.