Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University

Mid La Union Campus

City of San Fernando, La Union

College of Graduate Studies

DAP 233 – SALES MANAGEMENT

1st Semester, School Year 2020-2021

Topic : Introduction - What is Sales Management?

Time & Day : 2:00 – 5:00 / Saturday

Professor : DR. NESTOR P. SORIANO

What is Sales Management?

Sales management is the process of hiring, training and motivating sales

staff, coordinating operations across the sales department and implementing a
cohesive sales strategy that drives business revenues. Sales are the lifeblood of any
organisation and managing the sales process is one of the most important functions
of any business.

In recent years, that process has changed dramatically as the vast majority
of sales take place online or over the phone instead of in person. And in response,
sales management systems have become more technologically sophisticated.
 
What is Management Process?

An effective sales management process will encompass lead and

opportunity management, sales forecasting, and reporting and management
techniques that empower sales representatives to meet and surpass their targets.

The term sales manager could reasonably be applied to a number of

members of an organisation, including marketing executives, managers of field
sales forces, district managers and product line sales administrators. But the
purest sales manager is someone who directly controls and supports a sales force.

Their primary strategic role involves:

 Setting goals for the sales team

 Formulating a sales management strategy to achieve those goals
 Executing that strategy while managing and motivating staff
 Evaluating and reporting on results of the strategy

While every member of the sales team contributes to the business’ overall
commercial efforts, it is the frontline manager that will directly impact their
performance on a daily basis and can make or break the team.

A manager with an effective sales management model in place will give

employees consistency and predictability in how they should plan and execute
sales, help them to prioritise activities and link those activities to sales objectives.

Sales management models also allow managers to analyse and assess sales
success.

Sales Management skills for Success

Sales managers need to master a number of sales management skills,

including:
 
a) Planning
Setting targets, assigning areas of coverage, designing lead
generation tactics.
 
b. Recruitment
  Hiring the best team for the job.

c. Training
  Keeping sales staff up-to-date with professional development and
training in new products, the competition and potential lead sources.
 
d. Directing
  Leading the team day-to-day and being on-hand for feedback and
guidance.
 
e. Evaluating
  Constantly fine-tuning the sales strategy to meet clients’ needs.
 
f. Assessment
  Analyzing the performance of both tactics and the team, and ensuring
that sales staff are deployed efficiently.
 
g. Compensation
  Keeping staff motivated and working hard with the right bonus
incentives and realistic but ambitious targets.

When all these elements are in place, sales managers can help their team
achieve their targets and have a positive impact on the bottom line.

The Benefits of Effective Sales Management

 Increased sales revenue and profitability

 Improved sales forecast reliability, thereby reducing revenue variability
 Better satisfaction and loyalty both from customers and staff
 Reduced staff turnover and therefore reduced recruitment and retention
costs
 Increased productivity per staff member

Build and Manage Sales Team the Salesforce Way

Learn from the experts at Salesforce how to build a highly effective sales
team.
Sales Management Techniques

Three sales management techniques that should be used to drive successful

selling include:

1. Talent management

The first step in good management is finding, hiring and retaining the best
staff. Recruitment is an expensive process, but managers will save money in
the long run if they pay out upfront to secure the best people for the job.
Choose highly skilled staff and match candidates carefully to the social and
organisational goals of your business.

Once the right people are on board, invest in them. Successful sales
organisations have regular training and professional development, both to
stay on top of the industry and to help motivate staff. Sales reps need to be
updated with new product knowledge, information about the competitive
landscape and new avenues for leads, as well as professional training.

2. Feedback loops

The sales profession breeds independent, highly competitive workers

and they’re not always the easiest people to manage. Effective sales
managers know how to take that competition and use it to motivate
everyone, for example by posting updates on internal social network feeds to
make high performers a spur to others. Wins can also be celebrated as soon as
they happen, so giving everyone a boost.

Modern sales management systems make real time tracking and

instantaneous feedback possible, allowing the sales team to work together
and with management more effectively. Employees don’t have to stop what
they’re doing to check that it’s going well and other team members or
managers can help and collaborate on deals as they happen. Most
importantly, managers can make sure that key performance indicators are
clear and concise. Sales staff need to know exactly what is expected of
them and exactly what happens if they hit or miss a target.

3. Tracking and forecasting

Sales managers need to work on forecasting a wide range of numbers,

not just quarterly sales for deals that are practically in the bag, but
pipelines for the future development of sales or leads as well. The sales
team can work more effectively if they know which of their activities are
deal-making, lead-sourcing or relationship-building, so communicate that as
part of ongoing training.
 Putting together key sales metrics and creating a completely
transparent environment helps to drive motivation. Everyone should know
how everyone else is performing and how the team as a whole is
succeeding, preferably in real time. Keeping an eye on the numbers and
developing a standardised process on them helps the team to know how to work
with customers. But there needs to be some flexibility built in too. Again, real-
time tracking and interaction with sales reps can help by letting managers
make last-minute adjustments in a dynamic sales environment.