The integration of direct marketing and field sales to form a new B2B sales coverage model

Today's sales organization operates in a much different environment than that of the past. Sales and marketing must work together for the organization to operate at peak efficiency. It is only with such integration that sales can focus on the customers and channels most likely to provide the revenue necessary to reach their goals. The 21st century sales coverage model is built upon a multistepped process which integrates the tools and techniques of direct marketing with measurements, quantifiable business benefits, and capabilities that help salespeople remain fixed to an optimal set of goals. The process includes (a) benchmarking the existing sales and marketing process, (b) establishing gaps between the benchmarks and company goals, (c) developing required capabilities to close the gaps, (d) engineering the new sales coverage model, and (e) executing, measuring, and adjusting the model. While seeming to be deceptively simple, this framework realigns the sales organization to make best use of the company's full resources and capabilities.