A proper Sales management team will impact the sales performance by 50%. How impactful this can be to your sales?

The art of meeting and surpassing sales goals of a business through arranging of effective plans and budgets, and controlling them using efficient leadership is known as sales management.

It is a business discipline that focuses on practical application of techniques of sales. The net profits of a company’s sales operations are indicative of its sales performance. The department is headed by a sales manager whose role involves planning, managing the team of salespersons, developing talent, leadership, and controlling the assets of the organization.

The American marketing association Definition Committee defines sales management 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.”

The process of managing the sales of a business comprises of:

–  Planning:  In order to maximize results, sales management must plan well in advance. It is also important to make concrete and accurate plans. Working along mere guess work does not help in running businesses efficiently. Planning is required for getting the correct goods to the consumer at the right time. An analysis of the customer demand has to be made, and plans should be laid out accordingly. The business must, then, proceed to respond to fluctuations in the market.

–   Gaining knowledge:  The sales professionals must know his/her product or service very thoroughly, their USPs, the benefits, and the utility and believe in them firmly.

–   Identifying target market: Knowledge has to be gained about the identity of target market and its volatility. The latest trends and fads of the market have to be kept track of. This will help to formulate appropriate methods of approaching customers and win their favoritism. Assessment has to be made of the market’s buying potential. Information sharing is important for the organization to make progress.

–   Coaching: Coaching the salespeople is a key in impacting the performance of results. Each sales manager role is to support each sales individual to eliminate his weakness and improve his performance..

–   Sales Management Training:  A 20 hours of training per year is essential to master and boost sales managers and sales supervisors performance and will positively impact the sales of each company

 –   Sales recruitment:  The selection of the right candidate that will sell for your organization will finally end up with a lot of sales. setting the criteria and using the right sales pre-hiring tool assessment will surely provide you with a great results.

Reaching out Salespeople

–  Devising new strategies: I n order to increase sales, sales management is responsible for devising new strategies, and discarding old ones in view of the newest targets set for the sales and marketing team and the customers’ demands. Working in synergy is crucial here. Sales and marketing are said to be the driving force behind all successful organizations.

–  Reporting:  It is essential for the top sales management to collect reports on predetermined parameters from the salespeople. The regularity of these reports could vary according to the type and need of the organization and the salespeople team size. The reports are to be used to chalk out the future course of action. The performance of salespeople should be mapped over time and incentives awarded.