Sales Management: Definition, Objectives, Process, Function and Importance

Looking for the mining of sales management, its processes, importance, function and objectives. This article on sales management will help you understand these topics.

Without sales, there is no income and to achieve or increase them, you must apply Sales management.

As an entrepreneur, curious in the sales area or a student, you will want to better understand the general aspects of this type of management.

Therefore, today I will explain what this speciality is about and how it influences the income and profitability of the company.

For this, I present the following points:

• What is Sales Management?
• Sales management Objectives.
• Sales management processes.
• Functions of the Sales management department.
• Importance of Sales management.
• Conclusions.

To begin we will quickly know what the objectives of sales management are. 

What is Sales Management?

Selling is not something new. Before Christ, it was a very frowned upon activity by people, since they considered that no benefit could be obtained by delivering merchandise.

Little by little, this changed until the Middle Ages when they understood that merchants could make a profit by selling a product or service.

Sales management began with the Industrial Revolution in the 17th century. However, it became more important in 1930 with the economic recession.

From then on, the environment was more competitive and if you wanted to sell, you had to make an effort.

Now, Sales management is not only interested in closing the deal, but also in knowing what the customer wants and satisfying it.

If you are a sales manager or want to be one, you must be in charge of managing sales and operations to achieve your goals.

Sales are one of the fundamental processes of any company. Without them, income is not obtained.

Remember that the main objective of any for-profit organization is to increase profits, therefore, without sales, this will not be possible.

The definition committee of the US marketing association defines sales as:

The personal or impersonal process of helping and/or persuading a potential customer to purchase a product or service or to act in favour of a commercially significant idea for the seller.

This is Sales management, the discipline that is in charge of managing everything related to this process.

In this sense, it includes the analysis of the environment, planning, organization, execution and monitoring of marketing plans in a specific area.

Sales management Objectives

Sales management allows us to satisfy the needs of the clients.

The objectives of the Sales management must be based on the objectives of the organization.

Below I describe, in a simple way, the general objectives of this type of management.

• Achieve the desired sales volume.
• Contribute to the profitability and sustainability of the company.
• Maximize company profits.
• Achieve penetration in new markets.
• Minimize sales costs, guaranteeing the quality of service.
• Meet the needs of customers.
• Achieve customer loyalty.
• Increase the competitiveness of the company.
• Identify new opportunities in the market.
• Contribute to the sustained growth of the organization.
• Achieve effectiveness throughout the sales process.

Sales management Processes

As you already know, the sales that are generated in your company affect the total income, therefore you must manage them.

This is done through the administrative process, which you have probably already heard of.

However, I briefly describe how the administrative process is applied in the commercial area.

Planning :

Here you will have to think about the future, what do you want to achieve ? in how long ? what strategies will you use?

Maybe there are many questions, but you must know your environment and have a clear vision and objectives if you want to be successful.

In this sense, the administrator of the sales area studies the market, the competition, the clients and other actors with whom the company is related.

This is the starting point to develop the sales plan.

In the sales plan, the commercials will find the objectives, strategies, policies, among others.

Organization :

In this process, the administrator delivers the functions, groups the activities to be carried out and establishes the different lines of communication and authority.

The salesforce must be organized, by customers, types of products, by territories and sales by instalments.

Address :

Since you cannot leave the adrift, the function of the address appears. Here you will guide the sales force and provide training for the development of their functions.

Control :

In this process, three fields of the sales area are evaluated: the costs of making the sales, the volume of the sale and profitability.

By controlling and measuring these aspects you will be able to detect faults in time and, of course, solve them.

The evaluation is carried out by applying management indicators for the sales area in different aspects.

Functions of a Sales management Department

If you are the administrator of the sales force, you must perform the following functions in the department:

• Recruit and select the sales force.
• Investigate the market in order to detect possible opportunities.
• Carry out the different market studies.
• Perform strategic planning of the sales area.
• Manage the processes and activities of the sales area.
• Evaluate the performance of the commercials.
• Estimate the costs associated with the activities of the sales force.
• Manage the sales force.

Importance of Sales management

Sales are a fundamental process in companies pursuing an economic profit.

In this sense, your product can be great, the safest and with the best attributes. But if you can’t sell it, you’re missing something.

You must guide your effort correctly. For this reason, sales are managed.

Properly managing sales will aid in decision making and maximize revenue.

Conclusions

Sales management is the science that is in charge of everything related to the commercial area of ​​the company. This begins with persuading the client to close the deal and meet their needs.

Like all branches of management, it applies the administrative process, that is, it plans, organizes, executes, and controls resources to maximize revenue.

In this sense, good commercial management in your company will help you in decision making, reduce costs and increase profits.

I hope I have helped you with the content of this post. Check out these other articles on management:

• What Does Orientation Mean? Orientation Management and Advantages
• Qualitative Research Methods and Main Stages

Thanks for reading this post on sales management.