SALES MANAGEMENT UNIT-I

Sales Management--Introduction

Sales Management has been defined in many ways. American Marketing Association says Sales Management means 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 However this definition equates the sales Management with the Management of sales Force . Modern Sales Managers have considerably broader responsibilities

 Sales managers are incharge of personal selling activity and their primary assignment is management of personal sales force. They are responsible for organizing the sales effort both within and outside their companies Within the company they build formal and informal organizational structures ensuring effective communications not only is sales department but in its relation with other organizational Units Outside the company, they serve as a key contact with customers and other external publics and are responsible for building & maintaining an effective distribution network

They are also responsible for participating in the preparation of information critical to key marketing decisions such as on Budgeting,Quotas and Territories They participate , upto an extent , in decisions on products, marketing Channels and distribution policies , advertising and other promotion and pricing. Thus they are both an administrator in charge of personal selling activity and a member of executive group that makes marketing decisions of all types

Thus we can say that Sales Management is a key function in many kinds of enterprises.. Objectives of Sales Management: There are three general Objectives such as Sales Volume Contribution to profits Continuous Growth

 Sales Executives make a substantial contribution to reach these Objectives but ultimately it is the responsibility of the Top Management Top Management delegates to Marketing management which then delegates to Sales Management ,sufficient authority to achieve these three general objectives In the process ,Objectives are translated to more specific goals that the company has reasonable chances of reaching

 During the planning which precedes goal setting,sales executive provides estimates on market and Sales potential,the capabilities of sales force etc. After finalizing the goals ,it is upto sales executive to guide and lead sales personnel and middlemen who play critical roles in implementing the sales plans Sales Management is influential in charting course of future operations

 It provides higher management with informed estimates and facts for making marketing decisions and for setting sales and profit goals. The sales management appraisal of market opportunities leads to setting of targets for sales Volume,gross Margin and net profit in units of products and in currency terms This along with benchmarks of growth projected for sales and profits at specific future dates is done.

The nature or characteristics of the sales Management can be explained in terms of Its Integration with the Marketing Management Relationship Selling and Varying sales responsibilities Integration with the Marketing Management: As it is a part of Marketing, Sales planning should be integrated with Marketing planning. A companys marketing team consists of two basic groups such as: Field selling or personal selling Team Head Quarter Marketing Team

Field selling teams are in territories or branches or regions contacting existing and prospective Customers. The Headquarter Marketing team provides the service and support functions.

Relationship Selling: The Buyers and the sellers who do business together have some type of business or working relationships Their relationship have a range or spectrum given below as : Transactional Relationship Selling Value added Relationship Selling Collaborative or Partnering Relationship Selling Every relationship is an exchange of desired product/service in return to the money The attitude and culture of an organization are reflected in the attitude and behaviour of individual buyers and Sales persons Relationship selling is done to create Customer Loyalty

It means important customers need continuous attention through partnering or collaborative relationships. Relationship selling is the tactical or action oriented arm of relationship marketing. Companys best sales people are assigned to sell and service A class or major customers. Both selling and Buying organizations work collaboratively to lower cost or increase value The focus is on single Transaction in case of businesses having Low priced or low profit products or services like seeing a movie in a theatre or eating out in a Restaurant This is known as Transaction oriented selling

 In case of Value added exchange, the focus is on the sales person understanding the current and future needs of the customers After the purchase is made, the sales person contacts the customer to find out if the customer is satisfied and has any future needs Such customer has medium Sales and profit potential For example Maruti Udyog sales& Service center contacts the customer after a sale is made.

Evolution of Sales Management

Barter System( Barter Economy)

Money Economy( Evolution of Commerce and Industry) with Rise of Entrepreneurs Industrial Revolution Information Revolution

Role and Skills of Sales Managers

Three important roles of Sales Managers Informational Role: such as role of Figurehead,
Leader and Liaison Officer

Interpersonal Role: Such as role of Monitor,

Disseminator / Decision maker and Spokesperson

Decisional Role : Role of a Entrepreneur, Resource

Allocator, Disturbance Handler and Negotiator

Skills required in sales Manager

Conceptual Skills Human Relation Skills Technical Skills Personal Skills Political skills

 Conceptual Skills: Concerned with the knowledge of Sales Manager regarding Organization and has three important aspects such as Its Levels of Management and Operatives Its Competitors Its Financial position

Human Skills: Concerned with Interpersonal Skills

such as Empathy, Objectivity, Communication Skills and Social Skills
Technical Skills: Concerned with Specialized Knowledge regarding Technicalities of the Job, Proficiency and expertise Personal Skills: They are inherent to a sales Manager and are such as Intelligence, Emotional Maturity, Personal Motivation, Integrity and Flexibility of Mind Political Skills: Ability to build Power base and right Connections

Sales Strategies
Offensive Sales Strategy: Challenging Market Leader For Example : Reliance Textiles Only Vimal brand challenged S.Kumars, Digjam Suitings etc. Defensive Sales Strategy: Adopted by Market Leader to save his top position For Example : VIP Luggage flanking against Aristocrat, Gujarat BD Luggage Nicher Sales Strategy : Adopted by companied having limited resources such as Castleton , Jungapana Tea plantation in Darjeeling selling to Western Europe

Emerging trends in Sales Management

Morph Marketing( Chatterjee1995): It is transforming products into Services, rewriting the core benefits of Brands and delivering undreamt of Value to the Customer Social Marketing ( refers to design, Implementation and Control of programs to increase acceptability of social idea, cause or practice among a target group for example Publicity Campaign for prohibition of Smoking in Delhi Relationship Marketing: The process of creating ,maintaining and enhancing strong value laden relationships with Customers

 Augmented Marketing: It is provision of

additional customer services and benefits built around the care and actual products that relate to introduction of high tech services like Movies on Demand , on line computer repair services, secretarial services etc.

Direct Marketing: Marketing through various

Advertising Media which interact directly with the Customer. It includes Catalogue selling , Mail, Telecommuting, Electronic Marketing, Shopping and TV Shopping Enlightened Marketing: It says that Companys marketing should support best long run performance of marketing system

 It includes Customer oriented Marketing, Innovative Marketing,Value Marketing sense of Mission and Societal Marketing Services Marketing Organization Marketing( to change attitude of customer towards the Organization) Person Marketing: Place Marketing such as business sites Marketing, Tourism Marketing