Sales management notes

UNIT-1

Introduction to Sales Management :

MEANING: Sales Management- is the attainment of sales force goals in an effective and efficient manner through planning, staffing, training, leading, and controlling organizational resources (Futrell1998) Managing a sales force involves recruiting, hiring, training, supervising, compensating salespeople, motivating them to become problem solvers, and providing the proper planning and backup support so they can perform their jobs properly.

Definition: Systematic process involving:

(1) formulation of sales strategy through development of account managementpolicies, sales force compensation policies, sales revenue forecasts, and sales plan,

(2) implementation of sales strategy through selecting, training, motivating, and supporting the sales force, setting sales revenue targets, and

(3) sales force management through development and implementation of sales performance, monitoring, and evaluation methods, and analysis of associated behavioral patterns and costs.

Sales is one of the most crucial functions of an organization. It is the principal, and often, the only revenue generating function in the organization. Sales has formed an important part of business throughout history and will continue to do so. A constant evolution has been witnessed in the sales function from the early Stone Age, through the Iron ages and the Middle Ages to sales in the twenty-first century. The evolution of the sales concept can also be studied in terms of seven generations.

In addition to helping an organization achieve its business goals, the selling function performs various other roles such as enhancing knowledge pertaining to the internal and external environments, developing positive relationships with customers, suppliers and distributors, and negotiating with customers to sell the company's products profitably. Despite the crucial role the selling function plays in the growth of an organization, sales has a rather negative image associated with it.

This can be attributed more to the misconceptions in the minds of the people rather than actual knowledge of the profession. The major objectives of a sales organization are to increase sales volume, contribute to profits, and attain long-term growth. For an organization to be successful, it is essential to integrate the sales and marketing functions so that coordination of activities can be achieved.