Sales management 101

Sales management is the organisation of people as well as resources to effectively produce the desired goal. These long-term goals can have a vast scope, however, these are generally:

• Increased sales volumes, as well as
• Contribution to profits and continuous growth.

To achieve these objectives, sales managers have significant responsibilities including, but not limited to, the following:

• Demand/sales forecasting,
• Establishing quota and objectives,
• Budgeting,
• Organisation,
• Recruitment,
• Training,
• Compensation, and
• Sales performance evaluation.

Ultimately, the most vital role of sales management is not to manage sales but rather to manage the individuals whose responsibility it is to make the sales.

The different parts of the sales management process

To break this down further, the sales management process is split into three separate areas:

1. Managing people
2. Planning and strategy
3. Improving sales capabilities

Sales managers have one of the most crucial roles in any organisation. Without such a manager, a sales team will most likely not make much progress. A good manager organises and drives their sales team to achieve their goals of increased revenue as well as productivity. The tone – in addition to culture – of the sales teams, created by sales management, can help generate passion and boost morale among individual reps.

A good sales rep does not necessarily a good sales manager make

Being a good sales rep doesn’t have a direct correlation with becoming a good sales manager. It is not up to the managers to generate the sales themselves. Successful sales managers must generate sales through developing, motivating, and managing competent teams. Managers must create an atmosphere based on comradery and common goals.

Sales managers must instil a shared, organisation-wide vision into the sales team. This vision will imbue reps with an idea of what the organisation is trying to achieve. It will help direct everyone towards that goal. Having a shared vision will motivate the sales teams as they move forward.

In addition, the company’s mission statement is key to any company in the process of onboarding new hires. It develops a path that employees can latch onto when coming into an organisation. Without plainly stating what a company is trying to achieve, employees will not have a clear direction.

Managers are tasked with offering guiding principles that are understood and supported throughout the entire organisation. These principles shape how decisions, as well as overall policy, will be made and altered.

The company’s values also come into play and a good sales manager must instil the core values into their sales team. These values will guide how the team handles situations as well as makes decisions down the line. It is vital to hire people who hold personal values which are in line with the values of the company.

Get in touch with the Digital School of Marketing

Want to learn more about sales management and even, perhaps, become a sales manager yourself? If you do, then you need to have done our Sales Management Course. For more information, please follow this link.