GB533 Unit 3 Workload Sizing Model Example

Fifteen Representatives, Not Twelve: A Unit 3 Workload Sizing Model for a Carolinas Dental Distributor

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

GB533: Salesforce Management

Unit 3 Workload Sizing Model

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The distributor, its accounts and every figure are composite and illustrative; the methods and sources cited are real.

The Method

The workload approach sizes a sales force from the bottom up: count the work the customers require, then divide by the work one person can do. Talley (1961) set out this method for designing sales territories, and it remains a standard because each assumption can be seen and challenged. Zoltners et al. (2004) caution that it sizes the force for current coverage goals rather than for the most profitable level of effort, so the result should be checked against the revenue the calls are expected to produce.

Table 1: Account Classes

Palmetto Dental Supply's accounts are classed by annual purchases:

A practices, above $60,000 a year: 190.

B practices, $20,000 to $60,000: 520.

C practices, below $20,000: 810.

Offices owned by dental service organizations: 240. Their contracts are negotiated at headquarters by key account managers, but the offices still need service visits for orders, problems and equipment.

Target prospects: 300 practices that buy mainly from competitors but fit Palmetto's profile.

Table 2: Call Frequencies and Workload

A practices: 24 calls a year, about twice a month, totaling 4,560 calls.

B practices: 12 calls a year, monthly, 6,240 calls.

C practices: 4 calls a year, quarterly, with routine orders handled by inside sales, 3,240 calls.

Organization-owned offices: 6 service calls a year, 1,440 calls.

Prospects: 3 calls a year, 900 calls.

Total: 16,380 calls a year.

The frequencies come from last year's call records for the highest-performing territories, adjusted down for C practices, which order online.

Table 3: Capacity of One Representative

Working days a year: about 240.

Less training, meetings and administration: about 10 days.

Selling days: about 230.

Calls a selling day: about 4.75, given average travel between practices in the region's mix of cities and rural counties.

Calls a year per representative: about 1,092.

Representatives required: 16,380 divided by 1,092, or about 15.0.

The twelve current representatives can make about 13,100 calls a year, so about 3,300 calls a year are going unmade, mostly to B practices and prospects.

Where the Missing Calls Fall

Last year's records show that the twelve representatives met A practice frequencies almost fully, because those accounts complain when calls slip. The shortfall fell on B practices, many visited every six weeks instead of monthly, and on prospects, which received almost no planned calls. Both groups are where growth must come from, which is why the shortage matters more than its share of the workload suggests.

Sensitivity

The answer depends on assumptions, so each was varied.

Calls a day at 4.25 instead of 4.75: about 16.8 representatives.

Calls a day at 5.25: about 13.6.

A practice frequency cut to 18 a year: about 14.0.

No planned calls on prospects: about 14.2.

In a chart of these cases, the result stays between about 14 and 17 representatives across plausible assumptions. Only a combination of fewer A calls, no prospecting and higher daily call rates would bring it close to twelve, and each of those would reduce growth or service.

Checking Against Revenue

Three additional representatives cost about $354,000 a year at target pay. If the restored B-practice calls and new prospecting raised consumables sales by 3 percent of the region's roughly $38 million, at a gross margin near 30 percent, the added contribution would be about $342,000, roughly covering the cost in year one and exceeding it once prospects begin to convert. Johnston and Marshall (2016) recommend testing workload-based sizes against the incremental revenue they enable, and fifteen passes that test narrowly at first and more clearly over time.

What the Model Does Not Include

The model counts only territory representatives' calls. It does not include the time of the three equipment and imaging specialists, who join territory representatives on qualified opportunities, or the two key account managers, who work with dental organizations at headquarters. Those roles are sized separately: the specialists by the number of qualified equipment opportunities, about 450 a year at roughly 150 a specialist, and the key account managers by the nine organizations' need for regular contract reviews. Including specialist joint calls in the territory workload would overstate the need, because the territory representative's time on a joint call is already counted in the account's call frequency.

Recommendation

Size the territory force at fifteen. Hire two representatives in the first year and one in the second, so that territory boundaries can be redrawn once, as the territory design in Unit 4 proposes, and so that new hires are trained before peak equipment season.

Limits

Call frequencies are set by judgment informed by past records, not by testing how sales respond to more or fewer calls. Travel assumptions vary by territory; a rural territory may support only four calls a day, an urban one six. The territory design must balance workload, not only potential.

References

Johnston, M. W., & Marshall, G. W. (2016). Sales force management: Leadership, innovation, technology (12th ed.). Routledge.

Talley, W. J. (1961). How to design sales territories. Journal of Marketing, 25(3), 7-13. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224296102500302

Zoltners, A. A., Sinha, P., & Lorimer, S. E. (2004). Sales force design for strategic advantage. Palgrave Macmillan.