subject: Effective sales management [print this page] Sales management is simply the attainment of an organization's sales goals in an effective and efficient manner through planning, staffing, training, leading and controlling organizational resources. Revenue, sales, and sources of funds fuel organizations and the management of that process is the most important function.
Organizations continue to face the challenge of achieving and maximizing sales force effectiveness. To improve their return on investment, savvy executives are examining the sales process from end-to-end, that is, from management, coaching and development to sales force effectiveness and performance measurement.
The prominence of the Sales Management function is all too evident but skill requirements are increasing from energy, enthusiasm and presentation skills to include managerial capabilities and strategic thinking.
The abilities of teamwork, understanding consumer needs, product profitability analysis, leveraging knowledge, and relationship management are necessary for the present generation Sales Managers. This shift in 'grooming' is essential to deliver results in a highly competitive environment.
Along with proper sales training to sales managers, few consulting organizations provide benchmark reports that explains strategies that help sharpen the sales force effectiveness and streamlines the sales management processes
According to some of these reports, there are nine key areas that contribute to the success of sales performance management structures. They are:
Strategic Direction with Clear Sales Force Objectives
Tactical Execution of Strategy
Employee Selection & Recruitment
Quantity of Sales Interaction with Customer
Quality of Sales Calls
Training & Development; Coaching & Mentoring Through Sales Manager
Motivation, Incentives, Rewards & Recognition
Accountability & Monitoring
Development of Tools to Optimize the Sales Process
In sales, to attain best management practices, organizations must seek to identify and achieve optimal performance of their resources. It is important that organizations highlight their goals, while enabling their executives to develop a road map to achieve these performance targets. Benchmark reports on sales effectiveness are available that provide organizations with important insights that help them focus on key aspects of sales process management such as sales force effectiveness, sales performance measurement and sales process improvement.
An organization with a structured sales management team should integrate tools and techniques such as proprietary databases, surveys, lessons-learned interviews, site visits, multi-industry assessments, insightful decision-support tools, and unparalleled access to high-level contacts at industry-leading organizations across the globe.
The results of this lean sales process management are best practice research, analysis, competitiveness review and insight that enable organizations to evaluate total productivity and improve: growth, cost position, process design, and overall operating effectiveness.
