In many budgets I have seen, span of control is a line in a spreadsheet.
So many reps, divided by so many managers. Then everyone is surprised when coaching quietly stops happening.
The manager is not lazy. The week simply ran out.
I now work it out the other way round. Start from the coaching each rep needs, then see how many reps one manager can really carry.
Four things decide it in my experience:
- Field days per rep. How often each rep gets a full coaching day, not a quick visit.
- Territory spread. A manager whose reps are far apart spends much of the week driving.
- Experience mix. New joiners need far more field time than seasoned reps.
- The manager's other work. Key accounts, hiring, tenders, reviews. It all comes out of the same week.
Put those together and the right span is usually narrower than the budget assumed. Sometimes it is wider, with a mature team in a tight territory.
The best source for this is not the finance model. It is your first-line managers. Ask them where their week actually goes, and listen.
“If a manager cannot coach every rep, the span is too wide, whatever the budget says.”
Lesson 3 of 17 in Step 5: Building the organisation, with the full guide and a checklist for this week.