Scribd
Upload
43 views

Sales and Distribution Management: This Photo by Unknown Author Is Licensed Under CC BY-SA

This document provides an overview of sales management. It defines sales management and discusses the importance of the salesforce in meeting sales targets and acquiring new customers. It also describes the evolution of sales management from the industrial revolution to modern times. Finally, it outlines the nature, scope, and roles of modern sales managers, including strategic planning, coordination, use of technology, managing multiple channels, and key skills.

Uploaded by

Utsav Singhal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
43 views

Sales and Distribution Management: This Photo by Unknown Author Is Licensed Under CC BY-SA

This document provides an overview of sales management. It defines sales management and discusses the importance of the salesforce in meeting sales targets and acquiring new customers. It also describes the evolution of sales management from the industrial revolution to modern times. Finally, it outlines the nature, scope, and roles of modern sales managers, including strategic planning, coordination, use of technology, managing multiple channels, and key skills.

Uploaded by

Utsav Singhal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 17

BBA-310

SALES AND DISTRIBUTION


MANAGEMENT

This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA.


Unit-I

INTRODUCTION TO SALES MANAGEMENT


Introduction to sales Management

• DEFINITION OF SALES MANAGEMENT-


 According to Committee on Definitions, American Marketing
Association, "Sales Management is the planning, direction,
and control of the personal selling activities of a business unit
including recruiting, selecting, training, equipping, assigning,
routing, supervising, paying and motivating, as these tasks
apply to the personal sales-force. 
Some other definitions-

• In the words of Rachman and Romano, "Sales Management


includes recruiting, selecting, training, supervising,
motivating and evaluating the sales-force."
• In the words of Hampton and Zabin, "Sales Management is
primarily the direction of men with all the management
functions, of organisation, control, recruitment, training,
supervision and motivation. 
SALESFORCE

Salesforce are responsible for communicating the


details, information to the customers and gathering
information in the form of feedback from the customer.
What is the importance of sales force? 
 To meet your sales targets, you'll need to manage a
sales force. To continue in business and grow in a
sustainable way, all businesses must sell. Increase
revenue, acquire new clients, and strengthen
relationships with existing customers by focusing on
efficiently managing your sales crew.
Evolution of Sales Management-

• Before the industrial revolution, which began about 1760 A.D. in England, small-
scale manufacturers had a commanding influence on the economy.
Manufacturing received most of the attention, because that was the major
problem. Goods were sold to nearby customers without any problem. After the
industrial revolution in United Kingdom and the American Revolution in the
United States, largescale manufacturing organizations with huge quantities of
goods started dominating the economy. Separate functional departments were
established, which included manufacturing, finance and sales.
• Due to manufacturing of large quantities of goods,
selling to nearby markets was not adequate and there
was a need to expand the market. This was possible
with the involvement of intermediaries such as
wholesalers and retailers, selling the company’s goods
to consumers who were located far away from the
manufacturing unit. In the meantime, marketing
activities like advertising and sales promotion,
conducted by the manufacturer’s sales department,
became not only important, but also complex. It,
therefore, became necessary to split the marketing
functions into sales functions and other support
functions like advertising, sales promotion, marketing
research and market logistics (or physical distribution).
• The nature or characteristics of sales
management can be explained by
Nature of the following three ways: 
• (i) Its integration with marketing
Sales management 
Management:- • (ii) Scope of sales management 
• (iii) Role and skills of modern sales
managers
Integration with Marketing Management 

• As sales management is a part of marketing management, sales


planning should be integrated with marketing planning. 
• A company’s marketing team typically consists of two basic groups: 
• (i) Field selling (or personal selling) team-Field selling teams (or field
sales force) remain in their territories/branches/regions contacting
existing and prospective (new) customers. 
•  (ii) Headquarter marketing team – The headquarter based service
and support functions are as follows- promotion,marketing Research,
logistics, customer services etc.
The Scope of Sales Management-

• During the early period of gradual development of sales management, the scope of sales
management was narrow. The main activities of sales management were recruiting, selecting,
training, motivating and supervising salespeople.
• At the present, sales management has much broader scope. In addition to the traditional
activities as defined by American Marketing Association that is indicated earlier, sales
managers are responsible for many more tasks. These include participating in strategic
planning, forecasting sales, taking part in budgeting process, designing sales territories,
developing sales force organization structure, coordinating internally with various
departments or functions in the company and externally with customers and advertising
agencies. Sales managers should ensure that all these tasks are effectively integrated.
Roles and Skills of Modern Sales
Manager-

• The role of a traditional sales manager has changed


and hence, we will discuss the role of a modern sales
manager. Instead of giving orders in an arrogant
manner like a “boss”, a modern sales manager
behaves like a team leader with an ability to influence
the salespeople towards achievement of objectives
and treats them equally. 
Some of the
important roles or • Strategic Planning :The sales manager at
functions of the the senior level is a part of the company’s
modern sales top management team for strategic
planning. In particular, the modern sales
managers are as managers’ role is to develop long-term and
follows: short-term sales forecasts, to obtain
information about changing needs of
customers as well as strengths and
weaknesses of competitors. These inputs
from the senior sales manager are useful
for evolving the company’s strategic plans. 
• Coordination: In addition to managing the salespeople, the
first-level sales manager has to coordinate with other
functions or departments within the organization and also
with customers, intermediaries like distributors, dealers and
retailers. 
• Use of Technology Modern : sales managers use computers
and technology more than the past sales managers.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) software packages are used
to ensure superior customer service and customer
satisfaction than competitors in globally competitive markets.
• Managing Multiple Channels : Besides the company’s salespeople (i.e.
personal selling channel), a modern sales manager manages other
marketing (or distribution) channels, such as telemarketing (using the
telephone), online selling through Internet, manufacturer’s
representatives (or the agents), and the intermediaries like distributors,
wholesalers, dealers and retailers. Even in personal selling, the sales
manager has options like team selling, independent sales
representatives, key account executives and part-time salespeople. 
Skills of a Sales Manager:

• A sales manager’s job is complicated. It also varies widely


from company to company and from consumer marketing
to business marketing. Management thinkers propose a
long list of skills, which can be summarized into three
important skills: 
• (i) people,
•  (ii) managing 
•  (iii) technical. 
• People Skills :The people skills include the sales manager’s
ability to motivate, lead, communicate, and coordinate
effectively with the people around him.
• Managing Skills: For managing the sales force, the sales
manager should have administrative or managing skills like
planning, organizing, controlling, and decision-making.
• Technical Skills: These are specific tasks or functions such as
training, selling, negotiating as well as the ability to use
computers (or information technology skills) and problem-
solving abilities in the specific industry discipline.

You might also like