In many businesses and professional service organizations today, sales team members are asked to wear two hats--the sales promotion hat and the customer or client service hat. In some organizations this dual responsibility for the sales staff can not be avoided, but in those organizations where this sales and service function is not set in stone, you would be wise to off-load the service responsibilities from your sales professionals to members of a service team.

Sales managers dont need built in structural excuses for poor sales performance. However, by asking your sales team members to service accounts, you give poor performers a perfect way to excuse their lack of sales by simply telling you they were working on problems for their clients or customers and had less time to make sales or prospecting calls. For the 80 percent of sales professionals that sell 20 percent of the goods and services in the United States and Canada, the two hats role is an ideal situation. If they have a choice in the matter, they will always gravitate to servicing accounts and taking orders over generating new business from their selling activities.

Its difficult at best to reprimand a staff member for poor sales performance, but almost impossible to do it when the reason for a lack of sales is that the representative was saving a large account. If wearing two hats is not critical to your organizations success, why set up an impossible management situation.