Sales Management - An Overview

The art of meeting and exceeding the sales goals of an organization through effective planning,
controlling, budgeting and leadership refers to sales management.

Sales Management helps the organization to achieve the sales targets efficiently.

Process of Sales Management

1. Sales Planning
 Marketers must plan things well in advance for the best results. It is essential to have
concrete plans. Mere guess works do not help in business.
 Know your product well. Sales professionals must know the USPs and benefits of the
product for the consumers to believe them.
 Identify your target market.
 Sales Planning makes the products available to the end users at the right time and at the
right place.
 Sales Planning helps the marketers to analyze the customer demands and respond
efficiently to fluctuations in the market.
 Devise appropriate strategies to increase the sales of the products.
2. Sales Reporting
 Sales strategies are implemented in this stage.
 Check the effectiveness of the various strategies. Find out whether they are bringing the
desired results or not.
 The sales representatives should be aware of their roles and responsibilities in the
organization.
 It is essential for the organization to evaluate the outcome of proposed strategies for any
particular department. Organizations depend on KPI also called Key Performance
Indicator or simply Performance Indicator to measure the effectiveness of implemented
strategies.
 Ask the sales team to submit reports of what all they have done throughout the week.
The management must sit with the sales team frequently to assess their performance
and chalk out future course of actions.
 Mapping individual performance over time is essential.
3. Sales Process
 Sales representatives should work as a single unit for maximum productivity. A
systematic approach results in error free work.
 The management must make sure sales managers follow a proper channel to reach out
to the customers. It pays to adopt a step by step approach.

Sales professionals should follow the below mentioned steps for maximum sales and better
output. Do not ignore any step.

i. Initial Contact/Lead
 Collect necessary data of potential customers once the target market is decided.
ii. Information Exchange
 Inform the customers about various product offerings.
 Make the customers aware of your brand and its benefits.
 The information exchange can be either:

Over the telephone or

Face to face interaction with the potential customer.
 iii. Lead Generation
 Make a list of the people who show inclination towards purchasing your organization’s
products or services.
 The sales representatives must identify those who have the potential to buy their
products.
iv. Need Identification
 Fix a meeting with the prospective buyers. Sit with the client and try to find out more
about his needs and expectations.
 Suggest them various options which would fulfill their demands.
v. Qualified Prospect
 Identify individuals who are keen on purchasing your company’s products or services.
vi. Proposal
 Once the buyer agrees to purchase particular products, the seller presents a written
proposal to him quoting the rates as well as other necessary terms and conditions. Such
a document is often called a proposal.
vii. Negotiation
 Negotiation is a stage where two parties (buyer and seller) discuss and negotiate for the
best deal beneficial to all.
viii. Closing of Deal
 This is the stage where the transaction between the seller and buyer takes place. The
selling happens in this stage.
ix. After Sales Service
 Keep in touch with the customers even after the purchase for higher customer retention.

What is sales management?

Sales management is the coordination of people and resources to effectively produce the
desired goal. These long term goals can be wide ranging, however they are generally increased
sales volume, contribution to profits, and continuous growth. To achieve these objectives, sales
managers have vast responsibilities including, but not limited to: demand/sales forecasting,
establishing quotas/objectives, budgeting, organization, recruitment, training, compensation,
and sales performance evaluation. In the end of the day, however, the most important role of
sales management is not to manage sales, but to manage the people who make the sales.
Free Guide: The 7 ways to increase the productivity of your sales team with
Sales Enablement | Click Here.

Why is it important?
Sales managers have one of the most vital roles in any organization. Without one, a sales team
will most likely become dead in the water. A good manager organizes and drives their sales
team towards achieving their goals of increased revenue and productivity. The tone and culture
of the sales teams, created by sales management, can help generate passion and boost moral
among individual reps.
The important tasks in sales
management:
1. Sales planning
This area of sales management involves setting the objectives toward which the sales team will
work. Some of the individual tasks involved are setting overall sales targets, quotas,
demand/sales forecasting and strategy.

2. Recruitment of sales staff

An integral portion of sales management. Sales managers are tasked with managing the
personnel they have under them. This extends from the recruitment and hiring of staff, through
training and one on one coaching. When it comes to the recruitment of staff, sales managers
must analyze the open position, create a job description, and qualify the applicants.

3. Sales reporting
Sales management is also tasked with developing and analyzing KPI’s for their sales team. By
understanding these indicators, managers are better able to track and make adjustments to
improve productivity. Reports passed up the ladder allow senior management to evaluate the
overall heath of sales, as well as the performance of the sales manager individually.

Sales Management Strategies

The art of meeting the sales targets effectively through meticulous planning and budgeting refers to sales
management. Sales Management helps to extract the best out of employees and achieve the sales goals
of the organization in the most effective ways.

Let us go through some sales management strategies:

 Identify goals and objectives of the sales team. Be clear on your sales targets. Make sure the
targets are realistic and achievable. Also assign a fixed timeline to achieve the targets.
 Know your product well. Understand what benefits end-users would get from your brand.
The marketers must interact with customers to find out more about their expectations from the
product as well as the organization. One would not be able to convince the customers unless and
until he himself is clear with the benefits of the products.
 Identify your target market. Selling techniques and strategies can’t be same for all individuals.
Each audience has different needs, interests and requirements.
 Hire the right individual for the sales team. Remember the sales professionals have a major
role in the success and failure of organizations. Recruit individuals who are aggressive, out of the
box thinkers and nurture the dream of making it big in the corporate world. Make the sales
representatives very clear about their roles and responsibilities in the team. Develop a lucrative
incentive plan for them. Incentives and monetary benefits go a long way in motivating the sales
team.
  Don’t lie to your customers. It is important to maintain transparency. Communicate what all
your product actually offers. It is unethical to make false promises. Only commit to what you
actually can deliver to customers.
 Know what your competitors are offering. It is essential to do a SWOT analysis of your
organization to know its strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities. A marketer must know
how his product is better than his competitors.
 Sales representatives must do their homework before going for a sales call. One should
never go unprepared. Remember the customer can ask you anything and you have to be ready
with your answers. The management must promote training sessions at the workplace to upgrade
the skills of the sales professionals and expect them to deliver their level best.
 Devise strategies as per the target audience. Know your market well. The individuals must be
able to relate to your products. The strategies must be formulated in the presence of all. Each
one should have a say in the same. Let everyone come out with his suggestions. Be ready with
alternate plans if one plan fails.
 The management must conduct frequent meetings with the sales team to review their
performances. Keep a track on their daily activities. The sales team must prepare Daily Sales
Reports (DSR) for the superiors to know what they are up to.
 One must assess his own performance. Recall your interactions with the clients and analyze
where you went wrong and where things could have been a little better.
 Treat your customers well for higher customer satisfaction and retention. Don’t oversell.
Once you are through with your sales presentation, don’t be after your client’s life. Give him time
to think and decide.
 The sales pitch must be impressive for the desired impact.

How to Get Your Sales Team to Support the Implementation of a Strategy

A big part of the sales manager's job is getting her sales team to fall in line with
company sales initiatives and overarching strategies. It is easier said than done,
as salespeople — especially the great ones — tend to be very independent,
tough-minded folks. So how do you get them to sign on to and execute a
new sales strategy that's been imposed on them from high?

Explain the New Plan of Action

Just telling the sales team what the new plan of action isn't enough. Remember,
salespeople, are often independent and contrary.

If you're asking them to change their whole way of doing business, you must
explain why the new strategy is important to the company and why you think it
will work better than the old strategy. If you don't know the answers to these
questions yourself, pester upper management until they tell you.

Motivate the Sales Team to Implement the Plan

Once you've explained what the strategy is about and why it matters to the
company, the next step is to explain why it matters to your sales team.
In essence, you're selling your team on this new plan, so you need to approach it
in the same way that you'd approach a sale to a prospect. In other words, you'd
better have some powerful benefits to share with the sales team. Without
benefits, why would the team bother to make more than the minimum effort to
adhere to the new strategy?

Measure Sales Metrics and Discover New Goals

You won't know if the strategy is working unless you can collect some actual
data. As part of the new strategy, you should set up some new goals and ask
your team to keep track of their relevant sales metrics. This information will allow
you to compare the results of your team's new approach with their old strategy,
allowing you to hopefully prove to them that the new approach is, in fact, helping
them to sell better.

Examples of metrics to track would be the number of cold calls made,

the number of appointments set, the number of referrals collected, etc.
Depending on the nature of your strategy change, you may wish to track other
activities as well.

Train the Sales Team to Learn New Skills

If your new strategy involves using social media and no one on your sales team
so much as has a Twitter account, you are going to need to get them some
serious training before you proceed. Otherwise, even the most enthusiastic
salesperson will struggle to close sales under the new regime. Whatever tasks or
sales skills your new approach emphasizes are the ones that your salespeople
will need to master before they can succeed.

If you're not sure how strong your team is in these areas, either meet with them
one-on-one and ask about their experience with those tasks or schedule a time
to go with them on appointments so that you can see for yourself.

Reward the Team When the New Sales Plan Is Implemented

Implementing a whole new sales approach is no minor task. Your sales team
needs to know that you appreciate how hard they're working even if their efforts
aren't met with instant success.

One approach is to set milestone goals for which you provide a small reward (for
example, giving each salesperson a $20 gift card after they've made 200 cold
callswith the new script). Some generous verbal praise can also make a big
difference in morale. And when sales do start to take off, you should certainly
praise and reward your team publicly.

On the other hand, if your team starts to slip and goes back to their old sales
strategies, you must hold them accountable. If you simply overlook backsliders,
your team isn't likely to maintain a change in strategy for long.

Who Benefits from Sales Management?

Sales management in practice positively affects everyone involved in

the sales cycle.

The more mature your sales process is, the more the manager adapts
and improves it over time, the more likely your team will achieve top
performance.

In the same way that we've outlined the three aspects of sales
management, there are three key stakeholders involved with the sales
management process: the sales manager, salesperson, and customer.

The Definition of a Sales Evaluation

Sales evaluation involves an analysis of the performance of your sales personnel. Through sales
evaluation, your sales team members learn about their strengths and weaknesses, so they know
which areas to improve. If you conduct proper sales evaluations regularly, you may improve the
efficiency of your sales efforts and drive up your profits.

Sales Force Evaluation Process

When you're in charge of a sales force, it's easy to skip individual performance reviews in lieu of allowing
sales volume to speak for itself. But sales force performance can't be determined by productivity alone.
Managers need to look at individual and team performance in a number of areas to determine how the sales
force can best be improved.
Benefits
Evaluating your organization’s sales force can do a lot more than help you determine how to help individual
sales associates improve what they do. Evaluations can improve your ability to recognize gaps in your sales
force’s abilities and determine your hiring needs. They can even clarify potential training needs, customer
service improvements, or which employees deserve a raise.

Other Evaluation Techniques

A 2001 Gallup Management Journal study found that customer loyalty is one of the strongest
indicators that your sales force is doing its job. Gallup notes: “The best sales forces we have studied
aren't just selling products or services; they are building customer loyalty … your sales force is a key
factor in generating loyalty and emotional attachment to your company.” If your sales force, or the
individuals that make it up, are selling a lot but not bringing back the same clients again and again,
you may be in trouble when the competition introduces a new product or service. Check to see
which team members have the highest customer loyalty.

Chapter 2
Sales Activities

The selling process is a set of activities undertaken to successfully obtain an order (i.e., customer
agrees to purchase) and, in many cases, begin building a long-term customer-salesperson
relationship. While the activities we discuss apply to all forms of selling and can be adapted to
most selling situations (including non-product selling such as selling an idea), we will mainly
concentrate on the activities carried out by professional salespeople. For our purposes, we define
professional salespeople as those whose principle occupation involves selling products (i.e.,
goods and services) to buyers and do so for organizations actively support sellers who are well-
trained and ethically responsible.

1. You keep up with your customers:

Your job doesn’t finish once the contract is signed. You follow up on your customers
periodically, not to hard sell, but to ensure that they are satisfied and getting the value you sold to
them.

You know that maintaining this relationship warm is a good practice that has many added
benefits. For example, it helps establish you as a trustworthy business person, making the
organisation look good.
On top of that, it creates a strong affiliation between you and your customer, which will later
help in ‘land and expand’ campaigns, customer testimonials and industry referrals.

You see each happy customer as another route to lead generation, procuring more and longer
lasting business in the future.

2. You stay on top of your pipeline:

You have one eye on the telephone and the other on the number running through your pipe.

Your pipeline is your bread & butter and you work hard to keep it clean and running smoothly.
You base all your decisions and workload around the fact-based data you glean from it and are
methodical about keeping it full and up-to-date. You objectively review opportunities and only
allow healthy deals to enter into the forecast.

3. You use a measurable and repeatable sales process:

You fully understand that every sales person should have a solid and reliable sales process to
follow. This process has been born from extensive trial and error, is fortified by hard evidence
and regularly helps you move a large number of prospects through the pipeline.

You don’t rely on gut-feeling and intuition to make your decisions. You continuously analyse
your key metrics, adjusting them as you see necessary.

4. You always tailor messaging to suit particular needs:

That same old sales pitch doesn’t quite cut it for you. You know that one size does not fit all and
work hard to keep your message closely tied to your prospect’s needs.

Before every discussion, you take time to highlight the particular requirements of your audience,
slicing and dicing your demo to match what the buyer actually wants to hear.

You don’t stop there, either. You regularly check up on the collateral being used and take care of
bringing anything that’s sounding tired up to date.

If something is not hitting home with your prospects, you change it. You prove yourself wrong
regularly and are glad to find new ways to convey your message every once in a while.

5. You’re always looking ahead:

More than a sales activity, this one is perhaps more of a winning habit. And one you don’t often
find in run-of-the-mill sales reps. Top salespeople are forward facing.
 You are not satisfied with simply achieving your given quota, you’re constantly looking for ways
to augment it. Moreover, you also take it into your own hands to build a certain percentage of the
pipe. You attend networking events, up-sell to existing customers and proactively find new and
better ways to reach out to more people.

6. You follow up:

Here’s a sales activity that we all know is good practice but, often due to our very busy
schedules, we sometimes side step. The most effective salespeople always follow up. More than
that, they always have a relevant next step up their sleeve.

As a top salesperson, you make sure your demo has hit the right spot or your proposal has
reached the right contact. You answer any questions that may have been left up in the air and
keep tabs on any possibility for a future catch up with a wider part of the buying team.

The top seller’s ability to constantly deliver a certain cadence of these six winning actions
ultimately determines just how effective their selling approach is.

Of course, these are just some of the sales activities that make up the most successful sales
people.

SALES ACTIVITIES - SALES MANAGEMENT

The typical range of activities of the salesperson can be allocated generally to one of the
functions identified in Figure.

Planning
The planning functions of the salesperson include the following.
 Prospecting for new customers
 Journey planning
 Appointment scheduling
 Travel plans
 Longer-term account planning
 Call objectives
 Sales presentation strategies
 Preparing sales aids
 Post-call evaluation and future planning.
 Selling
Typically the selling activities will cover at least the following stages, depending on the nature of the
products being offered to the customer.

Identifying decision makers

 Access to decision makers
 Analyzing customer needs
 Making effective presentations
 Overcoming objections
 Closing sales
 Product merchandising
 Promotional activities
 Post-call follow-up.
 Communicating
Much of a salesperson’s activity involves communicating, in person, by telephone, or through
correspondence. Skill training may be beneficial in each of these areas. There is risk of
misunderstanding in any communication,and brevity, clarity and simplicity are basic guidelines that
reduce the risk. A typical salesperson will be communicating with:
 customers
 sales line managers
 head office support departments
 distribution depots
 wholesale distributors or other trade dealers.
The range of communication tasks will encompass:
 arranging appointments with customers
 communicating journey plans
 reading, interpreting, understanding and implementing communications from head office and
line managers, which frequently relate to matters such as: customer payments, marketing and
promotional activity, new products and initiatives, price changes, trading terms,performance
analysis of sales with accounts, deliveries, production issues(scheduling of product
production) , product specifications, and so on
 distilling relevant aspects of communications originating from head office into local territory
action plan, or relaying communications in a digestible form to customers
 communicating the contents of sales presentation sand marketing and promotional activity
effectively to buyers
 liaison with head office support service son aspects relating to particular customers,such as
order lead times, product availability, and payments.
Administering
Sales administration puts a significant time burden into the lives of most salespersons,whether
systems are still paperwork based or computer based, and therefore managers should work to keep
administration to a minimum and as simple as effective management control will permit. The use of
standard forms and recording systems will aid efficient and effective administration, and reduce the
risk of neglect. The next chapter will examine some typical standard sales administration,but a few
key controls include:
 customer call records
 journey planning reports or programmers
 order forms and other order processing paperwork
 daily activity reports
 contact reports (for major accounts)
 credit notes (for goods uplifted or exchanged)
 internal memos to internal departments
 sales promotion control forms (for managing sales promotional activity)
 salesladies and forms chasing payments/credit control.
Decision making
While the decisions that a salesperson has to make may not be as large in impact on company
performance as those of the sales director,they are probably as frequent, and require the same
 processes in arriving at a judgment on a course of action. Some of the typical subjects of decision
making at territory level include:
 alternative account development strategies
 sales presentation strategy and tactics
 trade channel product mix priorities
 product portfolio mixes in customer outlets
 display space utilization advice (for consumer products) alternative promotion opportunities
 choice of product to offer to an industrial or business-to-business client
 trade terms to individual customers.
Market intelligence
An important function of every salespersons to collect market intelligence about customer sand
competitors. This might cover arrange of topics such as those in the following table. The sales force
should collect information and submit a (weekly) report on all relevant market intelligence in order
that evaluations can be undertaken by sales management

Sales Occupations
Employment of sales and related occupations is projected to grow 3 percent over the next ten years,
slower than the average for all occupations, which will result in about 458,700 new jobs. Sales
workers in the services and wholesale sectors will continue to be in demand because these
occupations remain critical in building and maintaining customer bases for businesses. Rising levels
of E-commerce will depress employment growth in the retail sector, where the number of cashiers is
projected to decline slightly.
The median annual wage for sales and related occupations is $26,590, which is lower than the
median annual wage for all occupations of $37,040.

Advertising, Promotions, and Marketing Managers

Advertising, promotions, and marketing managers plan programs to generate interest in products or
services. They work with art directors, sales agents, and financial staff members.

Advertising Sales Agents

Advertising sales agents sell advertising space to businesses and individuals. They contact potential
clients, make sales presentations, and maintain client accounts.

Cashiers
Cashiers process payments from customers purchasing goods and services.
Insurance Sales Agents
Insurance sales agents contact potential customers and sell one or more types of insurance.
Insurance sales agents explain various insurance policies and help clients choose plans that suit
them.

Models
Models pose for artists, photographers, and other clients to help advertise a variety of products,
including clothing, cosmetics, food, and appliances. Models also work as fit or fitting models,
enabling the manufacturer or fashion designer to achieve the best fit for new styles.

Real Estate Brokers and Sales Agents

Real estate brokers and sales agents help clients buy, sell, and rent properties. Although brokers
and agents do similar work, brokers are licensed to manage their own real estate businesses. Sales
agents must work with a real estate broker.

Retail Sales Workers

Retail sales workers help customers find products they want and process customers’ payments.
There are two types of retail sales workers: retail salespersons, who sell retail merchandise, such as
clothing, furniture, and automobiles; and parts salespersons, who sell spare and replacement parts
and equipment, especially car parts.

Sales Engineers
Sales engineers sell complex scientific and technological products or services to businesses. They
must have extensive knowledge of the products’ parts and functions and must understand the
scientific processes that make these products work.

Sales Managers
Sales managers direct organizations' sales teams. They set sales goals, analyze data, and develop
training programs for organizations’ sales representatives.

Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents

Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents connect buyers and sellers in financial
markets. They sell securities to individuals, advise companies in search of investors, and conduct
trades.

Travel Agents
Travel agents sell transportation, lodging, and entertainment activities to individuals and groups
planning trips. They offer advice on destinations, plan trip itineraries, and make travel arrangements
for clients.

Wholesale and Manufacturing Sales Representatives

Wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives sell goods for wholesalers or manufacturers to
businesses, government agencies, and other organizations. They contact customers, explain the
features of the products they are selling, negotiate prices, and answer any questions that their
customers may have about the products.
Five Stages of the Business Buying Decision Process

The business buying decision process involves five distinct stages. At each stage, different
decision makers may be involved, depending on the cost and strategic importance of the
purchase. To navigate the buying decision process successfully, you need to provide the right
type of information and ensure that your sales representatives are contacting the right decision
makers. You can also strengthen your position by offering customers advice and guidance at
each stage – a process known as consultative selling.
Awareness and Recognition

The process begins when a company identifies a need for a purchase. It may want to replace an
existing item, replenish stocks or buy a new product that is just available on the market. You can
also stimulate a need that the company may not be aware of by advising them of issues and
challenges that other companies in their industry face.

The buying team next works with the requesting department to firm up on the requirement. Your sales team
can provide advice and guidance at this stage by offering discussion papers or inviting decision makers to
workshops or seminars on the topic.

Specification and Research

When the buying team has agreed requirements, it prepares a detailed specification that sets out quantities,
performance and technical requirements for a product. Your sales team can support this stage by advising
the buying team on best practice or collaborating with the buying team to develop the specification. Buying
teams then use the specification to search for potential suppliers. They may search the internet to find products
or companies that provide a match to their specification, so it is important that your website features keywords
that match your customers’ product or service needs.

Request for Proposals

When the buying team has identified potential suppliers, it asks for detailed proposals from the suppliers.
The team may issue a formal document known as a request for proposal, or it may outline requirements and
invite potential suppliers to make a presentation or submit a quotation. If the product or service has a precise
specification, the buying team may simply ask for price quotations. If the product is more complex, it may ask
for proposals on how a supplier would meet the need.
Evaluation of Proposals

The buying team evaluates suppliers’ proposals against criteria such as price, performance and
value for money. As well as evaluating the product, they assess the supplier on factors such as
corporate reputation, financial stability, technical reputation and reliability. You can influence
decisions at this stage by providing company information, case studies and independent reports
that review your company and products

Order and Review Process

Before the buying team places an order with the chosen supplier, they negotiate price, discount,
finance arrangements and payment terms, as well as confirming delivery dates and any other
contractual matters. When the order is complete and delivered, the buying team may add a
further stage by reviewing the performance of the product and the supplier. This stage may
include imposition of penalty charges if the product fails to meet the agreed specification.