4. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
A career in sales management is exciting and unique and
provides numerous opportunities. This chapter will do
the following:
Provide you with an overview of a sales manager’s
job.
Introduce you to the various types of sales managers
and the skills required of them.
Discuss what a new manager experiences when
promoted from a sales job.
5. Introduction
Sales Management is defined as “the planning, direction and control of personal selling,
including recruiting, selecting, equipping, assigning, routing, supervising, paying and
motivating as these tasks apply to the personal sales force”.
-Definition Committee of the American Marketing Association.
Sales force is responsible for the sale of products of a company and to add profit to the business
operations and fulfill social obligations. Sales force should be hardworking, result oriented, well
educated and competent to handle changing situations. Technical developments which are taking
place at a rapid speed have made the task of sales force more challenging.
6. Nature and Importance of Sales Management
1. Sales management helps to achieve the organizational objectives.
2. The main objectives of sales management is that products should be sold at that
price which realizes profits.
3. Buyers and sellers both have same types of business relationships. This
relationship is based on exchange of goods, services and money.
4. Sales person develops a positive relationship with the customers. The role of
sales team is interdependent and success of one team member depends on the other.
5. The sales team continuously monitor the customer preference, competitors‘
situation, government policy and other regulatory bodies.
7. WHAT IS SALES
MANAGEMENT?
Sales management is the attainment of sales force
goals in an effective and efficient manner through:
• Planning
• Staffing
• Training
• Leading
• Controlling organizational resources
8. FIGURE 1.1 THE SALES MANAGEMENT PROCESS
Sales Management Functions
9. PLANNING
The conscious, systemic process of making
decisions about goals and activities that an
individual, group, work unit, or organization will
pursue in the future and the use of resources
needed to attain them.
10. FIGURE 1.1 THE SALES MANAGEMENT PROCESS
Sales Management Functions
12. FIGURE 1.1 THE SALES MANAGEMENT PROCESS
Sales Management Functions
13. SALES TRAINING
The effort put forth by an employer to provide the
salesperson job-related culture, skills, knowledge,
and attitudes that result in improved performance
in the selling environment.
14. FIGURE 1.1 THE SALES MANAGEMENT PROCESS
Sales Management Functions
20. SALES EXECUTIVE FUNCTION & QUALTIES
FUNCTIONS OF SALES EXECTIVE:
1.OPERATING FUNCTIONS 2 PLANNING FUNCTIONS.
OPERATING FUNCTIONS:
•SALES FORCE MANAGEMENT.
•HANDLING RELATIONSHIP WITH COMPANY AS WELL AS MARKETING
CHANNELS
•COMMUNICATING AND COORDINATING WITH OTHER MARKETING
EXECUTIVES AND REPORTING TO SOME SUPERIOR EXECUTIVES SUCH AS
VICE PRESIDENT- MARKETING.
.
21. PLANNING FUNCTION:
SETTING PERSONAL SELLING GOAL
FORMULATING SALES POLICIES AND PERSONAL SELLING STRTEGIES
DESIGNING THE SALES PROGRAMMES
CONTROLLING SALES ACTIVITIES LIKE SALES VOLUME, SELLING
EXPENSES
FUNCTIONS OF THE SALES EXECTIVES DEPEND ON:
THE TYPE OF THE PRODUCT
THE SIZE OF THE COMPANY
THE TYPE OF SUPERVISORY ORGANIZATION.
22. QUALITIES OF SALES EXECTIVES:
Ability to define the position’s exact functions and duties in relation to the goals
to a company should expect to attain.
Ability to select and train capable subordinates and willingness to delegate
sufficient authority to enable them to carry out assigned tasks with minimum
supervision.
Ability to utilize time efficiently
Ability to allocate sufficient time for thinking and planning.
Ability to exercise skilled leadership
23. Salesmanship:
It is the art of successfully persuading prospects or customers to buy products or
services from which they can derive suitable benefits there by increasing their
total satisfactions.
Personal Selling:
Personal selling refers to personal
communication with a an audience
through paid personnel of an
organization or its agents in
such a way that the audience
perceives the communicator’s
organization as being the source
of the message.
24. Differences between Salesmanship and
Personal Selling
• Salesmanship • Personal Selling
• Narrow Concept • Broader Concept
• This involves only selling of • Personal selling is meant for
the product or service. implementing marketing
• Salesmanship skills are used programs.
in personal selling.
• It’s a persuading activity.
25. Buyer-Seller Dyad:
Sociologists use the term “dyad” to describe the situation where
two people interact.
The interaction between sales person and prospect(or customer) is
known as “Buyer-Seller Dyad”
26. MAJOR PARTS OF AN
ORGANIZATIONAL SYSTEM
Organizational effectiveness is the degree to which
the organization achieves a stated objective.
Organizational efficiency refers to the amount of
resources used to achieve an organizational goal.
27. FIGURE 1.3 SALES LEADER LEVELS IN THE ORGANIZATIONAL HIERARCHY
CEO
President T o p S a le s L e a d e r s
(S tr a te g ic )
Vice President of Marketing
National Sales Leader
M id d le S a le s
Zone Sales Leader L ead ers
(T a c tic a l)
Regional Sales Leader
F ir s t - L in e
District Sales Leader
S a le s L e a d e r s
Assistant District Sales Leader ( O p e r a t io n a l)
Nonmanagerial Salespeople
Sales Trainee Salesperson Key Account
28. FIGURE 1.4 PERCENTAGE OF TIME SPENT ON FUNCTIONAL ACTIVITIES
BY ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL
Top Managers
P la n n in g S ta f f in g T ra in - L e a d in g C o n t r o llin g
in g
35% 10% 5% 30% 20%
Middle Managers
P la n n in g S t a f f in g T r a in in g L e a d in g C o n t r o llin g
28% 10% 10% 30% 22%
First-Line Managers
P la n n in g S ta f f in g T r a in in g L e a d in g C o n t r o llin g
15% 20% 25% 25% 15%
29. FIGURE 1.5 A SALES PERSONNEL CAREER PATH
President
Vice President of Marketing
National Sales Mgr.
Zone Sales Manager
Regional Sales Manager
District Sales Manager
Key Account Salesperson
Salesperson
Sales Trainee
30. SALES MANAGEMENT SKILLS
1. CONCEPTUAL AND DECISION SKILLS
Refer to the cognitive ability to see the organization as a
whole and the relationships among its parts.
2. PEOPLE SKILLS
Involve the ability to work with and through other people and
to work effectively as a group member.
3. TECHNICAL SKILLS
The ability to perform a specialized task that involves a certain
method or process.
31. PROMOTION FROM SALESPERSON
TO SALES MANAGER
Changes that occur when a person becomes a new
manager:
1.
2. Goals change
3. Responsibilities change
4. Satisfaction changes
5. Job skill requirements change
6. Relationships change
32. FIGURE 1.6 RELATIONSHIP OF CONCEPTUAL AND DECISION, PEOPLE, AND TECHNICAL
SKILLS TO SALES LEADER LEVEL
C o n c e p tu a l a n d P e o p le S k ills T e c h n ic a l S k ills
D e c is io n S k ills
T o p S a le s L e a d e r s
M id d le S a le s L e a d e r s
F ir s t - L in e S a le s L e a d e r s
N o n m a n a g e r ia l S a le s p e o p le
33. THE PROMOTION EXPERIENCE
Phase One – Immobilization
Phase Two – Minimization or Denial of Change
Phase Three – Depression
Phase Four – Acceptance of Reality
Phase Five – Testing
Phase Six – Searching for Meanings
Phase Seven – Internalization
34. PROBLEMS NEW MANAGERS EXPERIENCE
• Lack of preparation for the job.
• Expected to step into the job and
immediately function effectively.
• Often lacks an immediate peer group.
35. MAKING A SUCCESSFUL TRANSITION TO
MANAGEMENT
• Have a learning attitude – a
willingness to learn, change, adapt,
and seek help when needed.
• Having realistic expectations.
• Leave the old job behind.
36. THE BOTTOM LINE
Skilled sales managers are the key to a successful organization.
Sales managers have five functions that, when combined, can
allow them to achieve the goals desired by higher levels of
management.
The various types of sales managers can be broken down into the
categories of vertical and horizontal.
Most corporations hire a person who cannot only sell but who
also shows the potential to one day become a sales manager.
