Personal selling is only one of several possible ways of communicating with customers and potential customers but, particularly where industrial goods are concerned, is undoubtedly the most effective in terms of achieving the objective - influencing the decision to buy. It is also, even though selling costs may be a small percentage of revenue, expensive. Sales staff should therefore be treated as a scarce resource, to be used as effecti

Essentially, however, the task of the Sales Manager is to produce revenue for their company through the operations of the sales staff for whom they are responsible. The size of this revenue, and the profit (however defined) which it should show, are usually predetermined in order to achieve the aims of company policy. The objectives which they set for the various activities which are involved in carrying out this task should therefore be derived from, and be compatible with, company objectives, such as return on capital employed, cash flow, market position, growth.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SALES MANAGER’S JOB

• Many of the factors which affect success are not within their control (such as competitors and government legislation)

• They are nevertheless required to forecast future sales and to plan their operation accordingly, using their judgement and experience.

• They must depend on other departments for the design, production, quality and delivery of products for which they obtain orders, just as those departments must depend on them to get these orders.

• The sales staff that they rely on to produce the results they have planned for, are for most of the time working alone, not under their immediate control.

• They are engaged in a constant struggle to obtain increased sales against competitors with the same aim.

Although the basic functions and skills of management, discussed later, apply to their job, it is clear that such qualities as creativeness, flexibility, tenacity, and ability to deal effectively with people, will be particularly important. At the same time the ability to analyse market situations and form sound judgements on them, is equally necessary but may not sit easily with the kind of qualities mentioned.

THE SELLING ROLE

Since, like other managers, the Sales Manager depends on those who work for them to produce the results by which they are judged, consideration of their job can usefully continue by examining the nature and characteristics of industrial selling and, hence, of the salesperson’s job.

Personal selling is only one of several possible ways of communicating with customers and potential customers but, particularly where industrial goods are concerned, is undoubtedly the most effective in terms of achieving the objective - influencing the decision to buy. It is also, even though selling costs may be a small percentage of revenue, expensive. Sales staff should therefore be treated as a scarce resource, to be used as effectiv

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SALES MANAGER’S JOB

• Many of the factors which affect success are not within their control (such as competitors and government legislation)

• They are nevertheless required to forecast future sales and to plan their operation accordingly, using their judgement and experience.

• They must depend on other departments for the design, production, quality and delivery of products for which they obtain orders, just as those departments must depend on them to get these orders.

• The sales staff that they rely on to produce the results they have planned for, are for most of the time working alone, not under their immediate control.

• They are engaged in a constant struggle to obtain increased sales against competitors with the same aim.

Although the basic functions and skills of management, discussed later, apply to their job, it is clear that such qualities as creativeness, flexibility, tenacity, and ability to deal effectively with people, will be particularly important. At the same time the ability to analyse market situations and form sound judgements on them, is equally necessary but may not sit easily with the kind of qualities mentioned.

THE SELLING ROLE

Since, like other managers, the Sales Manager depends on those who work for them to produce the results by which they are judged, consideration of their job can usefully continue by examining the nature and characteristics of industrial selling and, hence, of the salesperson’s job.

Personal selling is only one of several possible ways of communicating with customers and potential customers but, particularly where industrial goods are concerned, is undoubtedly the most effective in terms of achieving the objective - influencing the decision to buy. It is also, even though selling costs may be a small percentage of revenue, expensive. Sales staff should therefore be treated as a scarce resource, to be used as effecti

• They must depend on other departments for the design, production, quality and delivery of products for which they obtain orders, just as those departments must depend on them to get these orders.

• The sales staff that they rely on to produce the results they have planned for, are for most of the time working alone, not under their immediate control.

• They are engaged in a constant struggle to obtain increased sales against competitors with the same aim.

Although the basic functions and skills of management, discussed later, apply to their job, it is clear that such qualities as creativeness, flexibility, tenacity, and ability to deal effectively with people, will be particularly important. At the same time the ability to analyse market situations and form sound judgements on them, is equally necessary but may not sit easily with the kind of qualities mentioned.

THE SELLING ROLE

Since, like other managers, the Sales Manager depends on those who work for them to produce the results by which they are judged, consideration of their job can usefully continue by examining the nature and characteristics of industrial selling and, hence, of the salesperson’s job.

Personal selling is only one of several possible ways of communicating with customers and potential customers but, particularly where industrial goods are concerned, is undoubtedly the most effective in terms of achieving the objective - influencing the decision to buy. It is also, even though selling costs may be a small percentage of revenue, expensive. Sales staff should therefore be treated as a scarce resource, to be used as effecti

Although the basic functions and skills of management, discussed later, apply to their job, it is clear that such qualities as creativeness, flexibility, tenacity, and ability to deal effectively with people, will be particularly important. At the same time the ability to analyse market situations and form sound judgements on them, is equally necessary but may not sit easily with the kind of qualities mentioned.

THE SELLING ROLE

Since, like other managers, the Sales Manager depends on those who work for them to produce the results by which they are judged, consideration of their job can usefully continue by examining the nature and characteristics of industrial selling and, hence, of the salesperson’s job.

Personal selling is only one of several possible ways of communicating with customers and potential customers but, particularly where industrial goods are concerned, is undoubtedly the most effective in terms of achieving the objective - influencing the decision to buy. It is also, even though selling costs may be a small percentage of revenue, expensive. Sales staff should therefore be treated as a scarce resource, to be used as effecti

Personal selling is only one of several possible ways of communicating with customers and potential customers but, particularly where industrial goods are concerned, is undoubtedly the most effective in terms of achieving the objective - influencing the decision to buy. It is also, even though selling costs may be a small percentage of revenue, expensive. Sales staff should therefore be treated as a scarce resource, to be used as effectively as possible.

Selling itself is a process of bringing persuasion to bear, to;

- Awaken awareness of a need or problem

- Establish that the need can be satisfied by a particular type of product

- Convince the prospective user that the salesperson’s own product can offer a superior satisfaction.

The actual selling job for a particular product or company may embrace all three of these stages, the last two, or the last only, depending on the situation requirements.

- An innovatory product, hitherto unknown

- A product for which there are alternatives

- An established market in which the user can choose from a number of makes.

For economy of effort the salesperson’s task (and perhaps the kind of person required) should be defined accordingly.

OTHER TASKS OF THE SALES STAFF

Although selling is the basic justification of the salesperson’s existence and The Sales Manager’s purpose in employing them, all sales staff have to spend part of their time doing other things (e.g. travelling and preparing reports). Sales staff are, however, often also required to:

- Provide technical information other than that strictly needed to make a sale

- Give some kind of after-sales service

- Conduct market research (going beyond the normal, essential supply of market intelligence about customers, competitors, etc)

- Check credit status of potential customers

It may or may not be that the salesperson is the best person to do such things as these. As, however, he is a scarce resource, expensive, and employed to obtain orders, the cost-effectiveness of using them for such purposes compared with other means should be examined - remembering also that there may be some loss of sales to take into account (the “opportunity cost”)

THE SALES MANAGER’S RESPONSIBILITY FOR SALES STAFF

Some characteristics common to most forms of selling are:

- Smaller sales forces in industrial selling than consumer goods selling, usually dealing with a very much smaller number of clients

- Responsibility and power to make decisions vested in the individual salesperson

- The need often to deal with a number of people in the customer company in order to achieve buying decisions.

These characteristics must influence