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SALES AND DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT UNIT-I

Sales Management--An Overview


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 cosiderably 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 delagates 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

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

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 curent 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.

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