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Description In simple words, the purpose of selling is to generate sales. In most companies sales people are the single most direct link to the customers that mean they are the company. Sales force represents the company to the end user. Sales personnel are the people who can make or break the image of the company present in the minds of the consumer. The effectiveness of sales team is very important and that is why companies spend a large amount of money in recruiting, training and managing the salesforce.
Modern Selling In today’s world, selling requires a variety of professional skills. Those days are gone when selling could be done successfully with good presentation and closing skills. It is analyzed that for most of the companies, 20% of their customers generate 80% of their sales. Hence, it is important for every organization to allocate majority of the resources to retain existing profitable customers. Salesforce can easily focus on one or more key customers with the concept of account management, which has proved to be an efficient way of sales management. Reaching new customers might be costly as it requires more marketing cost. New customers might be unprofitable for the business so it is better to drop these customers.
Characteristics of Modern Selling
Marketing the product
Problem Solving
Customer Retention
Build and Maintain Relationship
Providing value to customers
Customer
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Satisfying needs
Responsibilities of Sales Manager Sales manager has to work in coordination with other departments of the company and also give input in the development of company strategies. It is the duty of a sales manager to ensure that the sales department makes an effective contribution to the attainment of organization’s mission and goals. Sales manager is responsible for setting objectives and goals of sales function. Sales forecasting and budgeting is a crucial task which is also the responsibility of a sales manager. A good sales manager is the one who motivates and leads the sales team to the desired path.
Role of Sales Management In sales management, the focus is more on management. Sales management includes planning, organizing and controlling. Traditionally, the idea of a good sales person was to have an influential personality and to complete the sales volume. Although such qualities are still required but the perception of selling has broadened. Company objectives and marketing objective should be clearly communicated to the sales department because sales management is now based on the needs of customers. Deciding the target audience also plays a vital role in the sales management because sales people are the ones who transfer the target audience into individual accounts. Therefore, salesforce must have a clear understanding of the target market so they can understand the need of customers and approach them in an effective way.
Conclusion The strategies of companies have evolved from time to time. First, they were product oriented. Then they became sales oriented and now they are market oriented. Market oriented companies know the importance of sales management that is why they invest a large sum of money to train their salesforce. Selling objectives are also derived from marketing strategies. Additionally, selling strategies must be integrated with the four P’s of marketing in order to achieve maximum results.
Reference: http://www.researchomatic.com/sales-management-164488.html
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