Sales management is mainly concerned with the management of salesforce, sales functions and selling activities.
But, today the team has taken a broader View By inclusion of many marketing activities and by the integration of all business activities which contribute to the increased sales.
Nature and Characteristics of Sales Management
Following are nature and features of sales management:
1. Key Function
Sales management is s key function in many kinds of enterprises or companies.
Manufacturing and wholesaling enterprises encounter a wide range of sales problems.
Sales management problems exist even in companies not employing sales personnel.
2. Responsible
It is responsible for an important part of marketing functions.
It is also responsible for the better and effective functioning of personal selling activities.
Sales managers have still other responsibilities. They are responsible for participating in the preparation of information critical to the making of key marketing decisions, such as those on budgeting, quotas, and territories.
Related: 16 Best Ways to Find Potential Customers for Your Business (Complete List).
3. Role
Sales managers participate in decisions of products, marketing channels and distribution policies, advertising and other promotion, and pricing.
The sales manager is both an administrator in charge of personal selling activities and a member of the Executive group that makes marketing decisions of all types.
4. Strategic Function
Sales management achieves personal selling objectives through personal selling strategy.
5. Development of Human Resources
Sales management efforts may be exerted in the direction of securing, maintaining, motivating, supervising, evaluating and controlling an effective field Salesforce.
Thus, the modern concept of sales management revolves around the development of human resources.
Related: 9 Important Steps of Employee Selection Process (Explained).
6. Specialized Function
Sales management is a significant branch of general management.
It is one of the highly specialized functions of general management.
A salesman must be an expert in his job. Hence, sales management is a field of specialized knowledge.
7. Consumer Welfare
The scope of sales management is not confined not only to self-centred corporate goals of profit and sales maximization and sustained growth.
It goes well beyond these towards consumer welfare, satisfaction, delight and maximum social advantage by making available the goods and services to the needy customers in the right time and at reasonable prices, at the place Wanted. How to Become a Successful Salesman? 33 Qualities (Complete List).
8. Customer Oriented
Sales management is expected to be customer-oriented.
It produces what is needed by the customer in the quest for maximum social welfare.
‘Customer delight‘ is the fundamental guiding principle of sales management.
9. Functional Area
Sales management represents one of the most important functional areas of management.
It also represents all the principles of general management such as planning, organizing, direction, motivation, and control applied to sales activities and Salesforce for securing better business performance, viz.., reasonable profits through sales.
Related: 20 Importance of The Study of Business Environment.
10. Challenging Profession
Sales management is a challenging profession.
It is responsible for obtaining sales volume, handling sales operations so as to make contributions to profits, and for ensuring continuous growth.
Sales executives assure the delivery of products with customer satisfaction.
11. Subsystem of Marketing
Sales management is an integral subsystem of marketing management.
It translates the marketing plan into marketing performance. The sales managers is subordinate to the marketing manager.
He Advises the marketing manager on the areas of sales force management.
12. Synonymous with Marketing Management
Modern sales management is treated identically to Marketing Management.
In the new age, it has attained a wider and newer dimension.
It included management of all the marketing activities such as advertising, sales promotion, marketing research, physical distribution, pricing, merchandising, and the like, in addition to the management of Salesforce.
13. Goals
The objectives of sales management include achieving sales results giving a major contribution to profits and experiencing continuous growth.
Thus, now you know the nature and characteristics of sales management.
