Sales Management (MKT335)

By

Hafiz

Muhamad Arslan
SALES MANAGEMENT
1.1

INTRODUCTION

In daily life, a layman deals with different transaction in terms of selling and
purchasing of goods and services. In these transactions the second one
persuades the first person. Therefore, selling may be defined as persuading
people to satisfy the want of first one. The person, who does this act, is
called as the salesman, the result of this action as sales, while these
activities of the person, are supervised and controlled by sales-management.
In the present scenario sales executives are professionals. They plan, build
and maintain effective organizations and design and utilize efficient control
procedures. The professionals approach requires thorough analysis, marketefficient qualitative and quantitative personal-selling strategy. It calls for
skillful application of organizational principles to the conduct of sales
operations. In addition, the professional approach demands the ability to
install, operate, and use control procedures appropriate to the firms
situation and its objectives. Executives capable of applying the professional
approach to sales management are in high demand today. The quality of
selling is referred to as salesmanship. In other words, management is
synonymous with leadership. Managers do the same thing in industry, as
ministers do in states and at the center, i.e., they have to plan, forecast,
direct and control their personnel. Here success lies in running together,
hand in hand. Managers are the captains of the army of their followers.
1.2 DEFINITION
Originally, the term sales management referred to the direction of sales
force personnel. But, it has gained a significant position in the todays world.
Now, the sales management meant management of all marketing activities,

including

advertising,

sales

promotion,

marketing

research,

physical

distribution, pricing, and product merchandising. The American marketers

association (AMAs) definition, takes into consideration a number of these
viewpoints. Its definitions runs like: the planning, direction, and control of the
personnel, selling activities of a business unit including recruiting, selecting,
training, assigning, rating, supervising, paying, motivating, as all these tasks
apply to the personnel sales-force. Further, it may be quoted: it is a socioscientific process, involving group-effort in the pursuit of common goals or
objectives, which are predetermined. Co-ordination is its key, though, no
doubt, it is a system of authority, but the emphasis is on harmony and not
conflict. Sales-management differs from other fields of management, mainly
in different aspects: the selling operation of a business firm does not exist in
isolation. Thus, simultaneous with the changes taking place in the business,
as well as marketing-orientation, a new concept of sales management has
evolved. The business, is now society-oriented, on human-welfare aspects.
So, sales-management has to work in a broader and newer environment, in
co-existence with the traditional lines. The present emphasis is now on total
development of human resources.
1.3

BENEFITS OF SELLING ACTIVITIES

There are different benefits of selling activities, which are as follows:

(1)Benefits

to

the

society:

economic

growth

and

maximum

employment are the basics for national development. The achievement

of both these goals means jobs and incomes for a nations labor-force.
The number of people, who need jobs, continues to expand, and also
some jobs are being eliminated, because of the introduction of
computers and abolition of obsolete technology. If jobs are to be made
available for all those, who want and expect them, the economy must
continuously expand its production of goods and services, which can
only be done by adopting sound government-policies and efficient use
of people. Equally important here is the fact, that an economy needs

individuals, to sell what is produced. Through their persistent efforts to

create and stimulate demand, salespeople could be said to be the life
and blood of a productive
(2)Economic-system. The large number of workers, in factories, and
offices, would not be needed, if someone were not selling their
products.
(3)Benefits to consumers: professional people may not know every fact
of a product, but they, at least know its major uses, limitations and
benefits; so they can easily serve their customers, quite effectively. For
exan1ple, an insurance agent can analyze the hazards and risks that
confront a clients business or home-situation, examine existing
coverage and offer helpful advice, in order to eliminate the gaps or
overlaps in coverage, in addition to saving the clients money. The
sales-engineers are qualified to analyze technical problems, which may
be confronting a particular organization and they can give the right
recommendations for developing efficient operations. Like-wise, the
medical representatives may help the busy doctor, by keeping him
abreast of new drugs in the market. The list of sales-people who can
offer assistance to customers is practically without end.
(4)Benefits to business firms; their sales-persons and customers:
salespersons are owned by their companies, while customers are the
end-users of the companys product(s) and/or services, all these
people, in the chain of marketing, stand to benefit by sales-activities. A
business firm can be profitable only if its revenues exceed its costs.
The prime responsibility of the salespersons is to sell the goods,
produced by the organization, at a profit. The creative sales-person,
tries to penetrate his territory, and adopts suitable means and
techniques of profitable-selling of goods and/or services. Business
firms, derive various other benefits from, non-selling activities of salespersons. The salesperson, in the field, is an ideal person, to keep the
company abreast, or ahead of competition. He, thus, becomes an
important source of field-intelligence by providing important (and

sometimes very crucial) information, about the nature of competitive

activities, and also about the changing needs of customers. The salesforce has the additional responsibility of serving the needs of
customers that buy the films product(s). Most firms cannot survive,
only on the basis of one-time sales; repeat-sales are necessary. This is
possible only if the customers are served in a professional manner. A
customer-oriented sales-person has to perform such activities as:
providing customers with product-information and demonstration(s);
training customers-employees, in product-use; providing customers
1.4

with sales-advice; and assisting customers in maintaining inventories.

ELEMENTS OF SALES MANAGEMENT
There are the four basic elements of sales management, discussed

below:
1. Planning: a business cannot be taken as a chance. Every
salespeople or person concerned have to see for the future, in a
planned way like what must be done? And who will do it? The plan
must be based on extensive market research, and the facts must
be verified at every stage. The plan should also be evaluated, after
investigating the total-market, for a particular type of product.
Flexibility

must

be

provided

by

establishing

specialists

production line, to allow for variation in production. The plan

should also be subject to continued review. The details of the plan
should be discussed, with all the departmental heads, concerned,
and their sub-ordinates, who bear responsibility for fulfilling their
parts of the plan.
2. Co-ordination: Co-ordination is all pervasive and permeates
every function of the management-process. For example, ill
planning, departmental-plans are integrated into a master. Plan,
ensuring adequate co-ordination. Similarly, organizing starts by
co-ordination
personnel

wholly,

matters.

partially

inter-departmental

Co-ordination

also

helps

in

and

inter-

maximum

utilization of human-effort by the exercise of effective leadership,

guidance,

motivation,

supervision,

communication

etc.

The

control-system also needs coordination. Co-ordination does not

have any special techniques. Nevertheless, there are sound
principles, on which to develop skills. It has a special need to help
the staff, to see the total picture and co-ordinate their activities,
with the rest of the team. The sales manager has to encourage
direct personal-contact, within the organization, particularly where
there is lateral-leadership. Harmony, and not discord, should be
the guiding mantra. In addition, one has to ensure free flow of
information that is selective to the objectives of the business. No
personal problems, arising from business operations are to be
ignored, but solved through a free exchange of ideas. This is
especially true in the case of the sales-force of any organization.
3. Controlling: the sales manager has to check regularly, that the
sales activities are moving in the right direction or not. He guides,
leads, and motivates the subordinates, so as to achieve the goals
planned for the business. He has to take steps to ensure that the
activities of the people conform to the plans and objectives of the
organization. The controlling system should be such that one can
study the past, note the pitfalls and take corrective measures, so
that similar problems may not occur in the future. The controller
has to ensure that the set targets, budgets and schedules are
attained or followed in letter and spirit. There must be procedures
to bring to light the failure to attain a target. The control-system
has to (i) prepare sales and market forecasts; (ii) determine the
level of sales-budget; (iii) determine the sales-quotas for each
salesman; (iv) determine, review and select distribution-channels;
(v) organize an efficient sales force; (vi) establish a system of
sales-reporting; (vii) establish a system of statistical sales-credit;
(viii) establish stock control system(s); (ix) review of performance
of the salesforce; and (x) establish periodical testing programs. In

a big organization, each salesman is assigned a territory (not so

big that it cannot be adequately covered). Each salesman has a
target, set for specific period. From the weekly and monthly salesreports, the control system is established, that will prepare records
whether a particular salesman is working efficiently or not.
4. Motivating: Motivation is essentially a human resource concept.
It aims to weld together distinctive personalities into an efficient
team. For this, knowledge of human psychology is needed, as a
means of understanding behavior patterns. This is especially
important in the case of the sales-force. Only motivated salespersons can achieve companys goals.
1.5 OBJECTIVES OF SALES MANAGEMENT.
Every business firm has certain objectives to achieve. These
objectives may be very explicit and definitive, or they may be implicit
or general. Although, firms have different mixes of objectives, and they
do place differing emphasis, on individual ones, the typical objectives
include:
(i)
Profitability,
(ii)
Sales-Volume,
(iii) Market Share,
(iv) Growth,
(v)
Corporate-Image.
While all these objectives are important to a business firm, the
objectives, relating to sales-volume, market share and profitability, are
greatly affected by the effectiveness and efficiency, with which the
sales-function is managed. Business firms, have, in fact, found that it is
the most effective management objective of the firm; that must
emanate out of its overall business or corporate objectives. The salesmanagement objectives of a business firm, generally relate to the
areas of
(i)
(ii)
(iii)

Achieving sufficient sales-volume,

Providing sufficient profit, and
Experiencing continuing growth.

Generally, objectives of sales-management have to cover various

sales-functions, in an integrated manner. These objectives are to be
expressed, as far as possible in measurable and quantitative terms,
and should also be realistic and achievable. Since, there are more than
one objective, these should be put, on a hierarchical manner (most
important, down to the least important). To ensure their flawless
realization, they must be congruent, i.e., they must fit together, and
not be in conflict with each other. For example, suppose you ask a
salesman to cut his travelling expenses, and ask him to spend more
time, in the field. To make these two requirements, more meaningful,
they must be linked with specific time-element. The setting of
objectives should not be based only on the judgment of the topmanagement. Rather, it should be formulated and finalized, with the
involvement of the sales-force, at the grass-roots level. In addition, the
process of setting of sales-objectives should begin, only after the
company has conducted benchmark studies, to find out, as to where it
stands in terms of product, brand and market-sales and market share
trends (all in measurable terms)