Page 150 - DMGT205_SALES_MANAGEMENT

Sales Management

Notes In both cases, the effort of the salesmen contributes to the overall sales turnover of an
organisation. The advertising effort and the sales effort are to a certain extent interrelated. The
main function of advertising is generally before the actual selling occurs. The customer looks at
advertisements and is thus induced to go to the shop or wait for the salesman and make his
purchase. The salesman's job is to hand over the merchandise against exchange of money and
provide satisfaction to the customer. Besides, he also some times has to provide after-sales
service. In terms of selling, the role of a salesman can be sub-divided into several stages. These
are:
1. Prospecting, i.e. trying to find out likely customers who are called Prospects.

2. Pre-approach, i.e. trying to find out more about the customers, before actually meeting
them.
3. The Approach, i.e. when the-salesman actually communicates with the prospect with a
view to sell the product.
4. The actual selling where he Answers Objections and Closes the sale.
5. In addition to this, he may also provide services such as giving technical Assistance,
arranging credit facilities and expediting deliveries.
6. Collecting Information useful for the organization.
A salesman following these steps will have a higher chance of being successful with his customers.
In sharp contrast to selling activity, a sales supervisor performs the function of managing the
sales staff. This is a very important aspect. It is at times thought that good salesmen can make
good sales managers. This is not true because a good salesman is very keen on selling or the
`doing' part of his job. When he becomes a sales supervisor, and as he goes up higher and higher
and becomes a sales manager, his job changes in emphasis to that of managing', which consists
of (1) planning and goal setting, (2) organising, (3) motivating, and (4) controlling his subordinates.
Thus the job has changed from doing' to getting things done through people". Of course, it is true
that many sales managers continue to perform the selling function and provide necessary support

Did u know? The Telling Method is the oldest form of communicating information and is
often described as lectures. These can be quite boring and the salesman may feel that he is
not a student in a classroom. However, this is a method which is extremely good in
communicating information quickly. The other methods take a little time, although they
may be more effective in terms of results.

Now let us try to understand the field of sales management. There is a lot of confusion in the
expression Sales Manager and Marketing Manager. They are at time used synonymously. You
have learnt the meaning of marketing and therefore know that the marketing manager is
concerned with the four Ps in marketing. The sales manager's function is limited. It is limited to
one of the P's in marketing, namely, promotion.
The American Marketing Association has defined Sales Management as follows:
"The planning, direction and control of the personal selling activities of a business unit, including
recruiting, selection, training, equipping, assigning routing, supervising, paying and motivating
as these tasks apply to the salesforce."
From this definition we can define the functions of a sales manager as:

1. Selection of the sales force.
2. Training the sales force.

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