“Sales management” originally referred to the designing, planning and directing sales force personnel to achieve the organizational objectives.

In the words of Rachman and Romano, “Sales management includes recruiting, selecting, training, supervising, motivating and evaluating the sales force.”

Learn about:- 1. Introduction to Sales Management 2. Meaning of Sales Management 3. Definitions 4. Objectives 5. Importance 6. Functions 7. Role 8. Planning 9. Control 10. Strategies.

Sales Management: Definitions, Objectives, Importance, Functions, Role, Strategies, Planning and Control


Contents:

  1. Introduction to Sales Management
  2. Meaning of Sales Management
  3. Definitions of Sales Management
  4. Objectives of Sales Management
  5. Importance of Sales Management
  6. Functions of Sales Management
  7. Role of Sales Management
  8. Planning of Sales Management
  9. Control of Sales Management
  10. Strategies of Sales Management

Sales Management – Introduction

Management of the sales force concerns itself primarily with establishing sales territories, determining the size of sales force both among the sales territories and among current and potential customers. Sales management can be defined as planning, implementing, and controlling personal contact programmes designed to achieve the sales and profit objectives of the firm.

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Sales management is an achievement 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.

Sales management process is one of many useful frameworks for planning the sales process. It includes- Conception, Planning, Execution, Control, and Feedback. This model is cyclical, so it is a constant/continuous process. Sales management, however, is concerned with the process of encouraging customers to exchange their funds for your services or goods.

By contrast, marketing might concern itself with expanding opportunities for installing more processes in more places and expanding or creating new sales channels. For example- a firm might have “walk-in customers.” Sales management would concern itself with the customer experience, the sales dialogue (“what’s in it for me,” suggestive selling, up-selling, positioning statements, consultative sales), and ultimately closing the sale.

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This organization’s marketing department, on the other hand, would be concerned with developing sales channels other than “walk-in” customers or increasing the volume. For example- out-bound telephonic out-reach might be a viable additional sales channel.

Sales management, in turn, would be tasked with developing this channel’s compensation plan, customer experience, sales dialogue, and closing. Developing a sales management process for the ‘walk-in customer sales process’ might be very different from the ‘out-bound telephonic sales management process.


Sales Management – Meaning

Every organisation has people who are entrusted with the responsibility of dealing with prospects and customers for selling their products or services. These people form the ‘sales force’ in an organisation and are known as salesmen. In many organisations, the salesmen come under the category of officers and are referred to as sales executives, technical executives or even marketing executives.

Regardless of the designations used, the major objective of the salesperson is to increase the sales, market share and profit of the sales territory. Sales people are an invaluable human resource of the firm. They have practically unlimited potential for growth and development. The effective management of the sales force is a major task of Sales Management.

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Sales Management consists of two words i.e., ‘Sales’ and ‘Management’. Selling is the process of persuading a prospective customer to buy a commodity or a service or to act favorably upon an idea that has commercial significance to the seller. Management is a process. It is a process of carrying out the essential functions of panning, organising, staffing, leading and controlling.

The term Sales Management has a broader meaning and it includes the following:

1. Managing the Sales Force:

Managing the Sales Force includes Recruitment, selection, training, motivation, remuneration and controlling the sales force.

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2. Organizing the Sales Effort:

Deals with creating appropriate organisational structure and effective coordination within the sales department and other departments such as HR, distribution, Product management in the company. It also includes management of external customers like dealers, distributors, direct consumers and opinion leaders. Sales department provides valuable inputs like sales forecast, activities of competitors and performance of the product to other departments.

Therefore, we can say that Sales Management generally refers to the management of sales force. It deals with planning, organising, directing and controlling the personal selling function. While HR, Finance and Distribution are cost centres, Sales department generates revenue for the company and therefore it one of the most important functions in an organization.

Effective management of sales force requires leadership plus administrative skills in planning, organising, directing, motivating and controlling the personnel selling function of the promotion mix.


Sales Management – Definitions: According to American Marketing Association, Rachman, Romano, Hampton and Zabin

“Sales management” originally referred to the designing, planning and directing sales force personnel to achieve the organizational objectives. The meaning of “sales management” has changed gradually over the years. The term took on broader significance in the twentieth century. Now the term includes all marketing activities including advertising, sales promotion, marketing research, physical distribution, pricing, product planning and sales force management.

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According to The Committee on Definitions, American Marketing Association, “Sales management meant the planning, direction and control of the personal selling including recruiting, selecting, equipping, assigning, routing, supervising, paying and motivating, as these tasks apply to the personal sales force.”

In the words of Rachman and Romano, “Sales management includes recruiting, selecting, training, supervising, motivating and evaluating the sales force.”

In the words of Hampton and Zabin, “Sales management is primarily the direction of men with all the management functions, of organization, control, recruitment, training, supervision and motivation.”

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Sales management is a key function in many kinds of enterprises. Manufacturing and wholesaling enterprises or retail institutions of small and large, have sales management problems. Sales management problems exist even in companies not employing sales personnel. Therefore, sales management has broader significance at the modern time.


Sales Management – Objectives

The objectives of sales management are decided in the light of corporate objectives. Specifically, they may be to achieve an adequate volume of sales, provide a maximum contribution to profit and ensure continuing growth. The corporate objectives are determined by the top management which is responsible for the supply of ever-increasing volume of quality goods.

The sales management formulates the objectives for the sales department, which is subordinate to the top management. It is indirectly responsible for the fulfillment of the objectives of the top management. The corporate objectives are broken down into specific goals, targets and measures.

Power is delegated to the subordinate departments to discharge their respective responsibilities. The sales manager exercises the powers and authority delegated to the sales department. He has to discharge all the duties and responsibilities of the sales department. Since he alone cannot perform all the functions, he is given the power and authority to recruit, train, motivate and control the sales force.

The sales objectives are formulated on the basis of the information and data collected by the sales force and market researcher. Market opportunities, market conditions, competition, etc., are analysed to for­mulate the market objectives. The individual target for each sales force is also decided according to the market potentials, sales force capability, cost and other component functions.

The individual targets, the group goals of sales management and top management objectives are considered to frame the sales functions and exploit the market opportunities. Keeping in view the objectives of the company, the sales management increases the net margin, which is arrived at by deducting the cost of production and sales expenses from the total value of sales.

The sales manager maximises sales and tries to minimise sales expenses. But production maximisation and cost minimisation are the functions of the production manager. Both should, therefore, co-operate to achieve the objective of the maximisation of the net profit. There should be co-ordination among the different departments so that the net profit may be maximised.

The sales management is basically responsible for the volume of sales, sales expenses and the cost of maintaining the sales force. To achieve the sales objectives, the sales management formulates policies bearing on sales planning and control, recruitment and selection, training, organising and motivating of sales force.


Sales Management – Importance

The importance of sales management can be drawn from the following elements:

1. Contributes towards achieving the organizational objectives – The success or failure of business enterprises is largely related to the functioning of its sales department or the employees associated with sales. The main objectives of it’s to earn profits, development and expansion of business; which are associated with the effectiveness of sales management. It formulates sound sales promotion programmes and implements them through suitable promotional tools.

2. Directing and controlling sales force – Efficient control on sales force facilitates to motivate them. The sales manager guides and directs the sales force by providing financial and non-financial incentives, good leadership and efficient supervision, from time to time.

3. Sound business planning – The sales manager extends cooperation to top management in formulating sound business plans and policies. In this respect he provides the top management with necessary market information relating to sales, product, competition, estimated profits, consumer behaviour, relating with middlemen etc. from time to time.

4. Integrating business and social objects – He establishes a proper balance between the business profits and social objects. He makes effort through its department for achieving maximum sales and larger profits; and on the other, he fulfills social objectives by providing maximum consumer satisfaction.

5. Acting as coordinator – He establishes coordination between various marketing mix elements and other marketing factors. At the same time establishes coordination between different categories of people, namely the customers, distributors, the society and the Government in the interest of promoting business.

6. Setting up of sales organization – The sales management sets up a sound structure for sales department so as to delegate authority to the subordinates in a reasonable manner for effective discharge of their functions.

7. Win over the competition – The sales management is able to win over the competition by appointing efficient and capable salesmen; and by controlling the selling activities. The sales manager gives proper guidance to the sales force to create brand loyalty among the customers and if necessary, he adopts product modification and differentiation to motivate the customers.

8. Consumer satisfaction – Consumer satisfaction is the basic aim of marketing. For achieving this objective, he takes effective steps in maintaining proper communication with the customers regularly, makes available the products at fair prices, and also by providing with product information to the customers.

9. Creating goodwill – Satisfaction of customers, dealers and the distributors will create and develop the image and goodwill of the producer/firm.

10. Energy and dynamism to economy – The sales department serves as a source of energy to the growth of national economy, by quality improvement, product innovation, searching for new markets, higher investment and creating additional employment opportunities to the people of the country.

11. Contribution towards foreign trade earnings – Finding a substantial market and fixing of a product in a foreign market will depend on the capability and foresightedness of the sales manager/department. If the sales management is successful in this effort, the foreign trade of the country will increase, simultaneously large foreign exchange earnings for the country.


Sales Management – Functions: Designing and Managing Sales Force, Managerial, Administrative and Other Functions

The important functions of sales management are the designing, planning and management of sales force.

These functions or duties may be classified as follows:

I. Designing and Managing Sales force

II. Managerial and Administrative Functions, and

III. Other Functions

I. Designing and Managing Sales Force:

Designing the sales-force – Sales force design calls for decisions on objectives; strategy; structure; size and compensation.

1. Decisions on Sales Force Objectives:

The sales force objectives should be based on the characteristics of the target market, and the company’s desired position in these markets. The company should consider the important role that personal selling can play in the marketing mix. Companies set various objectives for their sales force, in order to perform one or more of the tasks; viz. prospecting the customer, and communicating skillfully.

Selling includes approaching, presenting, clearing objections and closing sales, servicing, information gathering (to facilitate market research) and evaluating the customers quality and allocate scarce products during shortages of products.

The sales force objectives and activities are designed in such a way that they must spent 75-80 per cent of their time with the present customers and 20-25 per cent with prospective customers. Similarly, 85 per cent their time on established products and 15 per cent on new products. If no norms are established, they may spent most of their time spending for selling established products.

When companies increase their market orientation, their sales force need to become more market focused and customer oriented. They should know how to product customer satisfaction and company profits.

2. Decision on Sales Force Strategy:

Companies often set strategy for their sales force so as to help them calling on the right customers at the right time and in the right way.

The strategy should be aimed to approach customers in different ways, such as:

(i) Salesmen to individual buyer, by direct contact.

(ii) Salesmen to a buyer group.

(iii) Sales team (containing sales manager, salesmen, sales engineer, etc.) to a buyer group.

(iv) Conference selling by bringing resource persons from the company to meet with the customers and discuss problems and mutual opportunity.

(v) Seminar selling – A company team consisting of sales manager, salesmen, sales engineer etc. conducts seminar for technical groups in the customer company to discuss the change in the company policies and programme, etc.

3. Decisions on Sales Force Structure:

A decision on sales force structure will be based on the sales force strategy. The sales force structure will be simple when the company sells one product line to one category of customers in many locations. In such a situation, the company would use a territorial structured sales force. On the other hand, if the company sells many products to many types of customers, it might need either a product-structured or market-structured sales force.

In territorial structured sales force, each salesmen is assigned an exclusive territory in which to represent the company’s full line. This sales structure has a number of advantages; (i) it results in clearly defining the responsibilities of salesmen; (ii) when the territorial responsibility increases, the salesman’s incentive to cultivate local business and personal ties also increase; (iii) the travels expenses of salesman are relatively small, since he travels within a small territory.

In designing a set of territories, the company seeks certain territorial characteristics. Where the territories are easy to administer, their sales potentials are easy to estimate, they reduce total travel time, and they provide a sufficient and equitable workload and sales potential for each salesman.

4. Decisions on Size of Sales Force:

Once the company decides its sales force strategy and structure, the next step would be to decide its size. Most companies use the workload approach to establish sales force size.

This approach consists of the following steps:

(i) Customers are grouped into size classes in view of the company’s annual sales volume.

(ii) The desirable call frequencies (number of calls on an account per year) are established for each class, in relation to call intensity of competitors.

(iii) The number of accounts in each size class is multiplied by the corresponding call frequency to arrive at the total workload for the country/division/region; sales calls per year.

(iv) An average number of calls a salesman can make every year is determined.

(v) The number of sales representatives/salesmen need is determined by dividing the annual calls required by the average annual calls made by a salesman.

For example:

A company estimates that there are 1000 ‘A-accounts,’ and 2000 ‘B-accounts’ in the country/region/division, and ‘A-accounts’ require 36 calls a year and ‘B-accounts’ require 24 calls a year. This means the company needs a sales force that can make 84,000 sales calls a year (1000 x 36 + 2000 x 24). Suppose an average salesman can make 1200 calls a year. Then the company would need 70 (84,000/1200) full- time salesmen.

II. Managerial and Administrative Functions:

They include the following:

1. Setting sales objectives – First of all the sales objectives are determined. The main object is to increase sales by increasing the market share by the uses of effective sales promotion techniques.

2. Formulation of sales plans – After the sales objectives are made, sales territories, salesman’s requirements and necessary sales promotion materials are determined.

3. Setting selling terms – Decisions relating to credit sale, delivery schedule, payment terms, return of unsold goods, brokerage, etc. are taken at this stage.

4. Sales budget – Sales budget is a part of marketing budget, but it becomes the duty of the sales manager to prepare the budget of his unit. This prevents the budget estimates of sales force management and the amount to be spent of sales selling activities, before the top management for approval.

5. Sales forecasting – This is an important function of the sales manager. Sales forecasting is made keeping in view of various factors influencing the sales, such as demand conditions, competition, quality and price of the competitors, products, consumer psychology, and buying motives etc.

6. Sale organization – The sales manager sets up the organization structure of his department. For this purpose, he distributes responsibility to sales employees and other sales persons and then establishes the authority relationship between them. Then he coordinates the activities of other units operating under the coverage of the marketing manager.

III. Other Functions:

They include the following:

1. Gaining knowledge about economic condition of customers – The sales manager, through the sales force operating in the fields, gains the knowledge about economic conditions of customers so as to decide the pricing and product policies.

2. Recoveries of amounts on credit sales – It is the duty of the sales manager to ensure that arrangements are made for the recovery of outstanding amounts on sales from the buyers. This duty is assigned to the salesmen, for which extra benefit is usually given to them.

3. Administration of office work – It is the duty of sales manager to look after the office work with regard to purchases of office equipment, stationary, etc. and the administration of employees of his department.

4. Collection and maintenance of data bank – Collection and maintenance of data bank is another important function so as to enable him for sales forecasting.

5. Sales research – Sales research is undertaken occasionally to judge the marketing and customer characteristics, keeping in view of change in the marketing conditions, technology, etc.

Sales management is a challenging profession. Top management hold sales executives responsible for obtaining sales volume, handling the selling operations, so as to make contributions to profits and seeing to it that the business continues to grow and at the same time to see that products are socially responsible.


Sales Management – Role

Marketing stresses the importance of satisfying customer needs and wants through a process of exchange. Marketing occurs in virtually every aspect of life. The advertising and Marketing magazine defines “Business is marketing.” Marketing and selling are directly related to each other.

Sales Management is a vital sub-system of marketing management. It will continue as an indispensable part of marketing management as long as sales people are required to interact with the customers, influence them and win them. In reality, marketing plans, strategies and policies are implemented through Sales Management.

Hence, sales management acts as the dynamic force (muscle power) behind marketing management. In a modern organisation, Sales Management centres round the management of sales force and sales efforts. Modern sales manager is not only profit-oriented but also customer-oriented.

As consumers of goods and services, we all participate in the marketing process many times each day. Today, however, a new philosophy concerning the relationship between marketing and sales is emerging, with both functions being carried by the same person.

Many scholars characterise today’s trend-setting salespeople in this way:

1. They work in teams;

2. The computer is their primary sales tool;

3. They do not sell to customers; rather, they partner with them;

4. The term ‘salespeople’ is out, ‘relationship manager’ is in.

Sales Management plays an important role in marketing, especially for firms in business- to-business markets. Personal selling is the most frequently used promotional technique in business markets and management of the sales force is an important quality component of any selling effort.


Sales Management – Planning

A plan is a blueprint for future action. The success of an action depends on planning. The sales management should, therefore, formulate concrete, useful and effective plans, which should include objectives, forecasting, budgeting, strategy, programming and controlling. The plan should be specific and properly classified in relation to time, objectives and budget.

i. Setting Objectives:

The first and foremost function of sales planning is to determine the sales objectives. An environmental study helps in setting these objec­tives. The internal as well as external factors of environment are properly evaluated to find out how far they would assist in the achievement of objectives.

The strengths and weaknesses of the company are assessed to formulate feasible and useful plans. The objectives should be specific and framed within the limits of the corporate objectives. Sales objectives are always subordinate to corporate objectives.

Sales objectives are broken down in periodical targets, territorial goals and departmental objectives so that each unit may specifically know its respective targets and goals. Specific and well-defined objectives can be easily achieved.

The channels of distribution, the duties and respon­sibilities of the sales force, the need for a sales force, recruitment, training and motivation and many other functions of the sales management are decided under sales objectives and planning. Territorial planning and sales force planning are important elements in sales planning and are properly decided in the very beginning. The sales manager should formulate mean­ingful objectives for each territory and salesman.

ii. Forecasting:

Sales forecasting is done to decide the sales objective and sales process. The volume of sales, the quality, and design of the product are forecast for the total market and for each market. The sales forecast is made on the basis of records of past years, sales records by territory, local conditions in each market, information on one’s strengths and weaknesses.

The data are compiled at the head office, and specific forecasting is done about the sales volume expected. The probable effects of all the factors are assessed to determine their influence on the sales volume in each territory.

Salesmen are a very useful source in sales forecasting. They collect all the information bearing on the customers, competition, potential markets, products, and so on. They base their forecasts on realistic assumptions and factual information. The sales manager makes the necessary modifications in the salesmen’s forecasts. He prepares a useful and final sales forecast on the basis of the information and those data.

iii. Budgeting:

The term “budgeting” refers to the inflows and outflows of resources estimated by planners. Budgeting is confined not only to money; it includes materials, manpower, etc. The “sales budget” refers to the volume of sales to be achieved during a particular period, viz., a month, a year, etc. The actual sales are compared with the budgeted sales to discover deviations and reasons therefor.

Sales expenses are also budgeted to rationalise the funds allocation. They may be divided into manpower expenses, travel expenses, administrative expenses, and so on. The sales budget may be prepared for each territory, salesman, and branch. Periodical estimates of the sales performance of the budget should be made.

iv. Strategy:

A comprehensive and concrete strategy assists in the achievement of sales objectives. The sales manager decides the strategy in the light of the suggestions made by sales representatives and on the recommendations of the top management. The strategy may determine how to approach the buyer and organise a sales group.

It guides the sales persons how to contact various persons in the buying and selling organisations. Technical salesmen may approach customers before, during and after the sale. The number and quality of men in the sales force are decided before a programme of organisational development is launched.

v. Programming:

The term “programming” refers to the specific activities to be per­formed by workers in future. It also determines the sequence in which specific activities will be performed by sales persons. It decides on the resources to be allocated between the sales force and branch offices. Procedures follow programming. Procedures are means and methods of performing activities. Sales programming is also known as an action plan.

Each salesman decides how to achieve the pre-determined objectives. The programming may consider customer classification, product line em­phasis, sales approach and new designs of sales functions.

vi. Sales Control:

Planning is the mechanism of controlling the sales functions. It indicates the necessary action to be initiated to correct imbalances. The management needs a control device, which includes control of money, materials, methods and management functions. The sales force control mechanism is decided by the sales people. The sales volume, travel ex­penses, territorial coverage and activities of sales persons are controlled by effective planning.


Sales Management – Control

The sales executives or managers play a significant role in the perfor­mance of sales in terms of volume, net profit and long term growth. This requires coordination involving organisation, planning and marketing strategy. The coordination for getting a higher sales order requires minimising the cross work handled by the different departments in an organisation. The decision-making process should be streamlined and participatory approaches should be encouraged in designing the right sales strategies.

The sales executives should plan the sales targets and approaches according to the marketing objectives of the company. The draft sales plans should be prepared and appraised to achieve the desired results at an optimum cost. The sales executive as a member of the business planning group should develop such a market plan that is appropriate for market conditions and reflect the probable contribution of the Salesforce.

The sales executives should also coordinate with the distribution network and manage the supply of goods and services on the given time schedule. He has to coordinate the personal selling with the marketing efforts of the carrying and forwarding (C&F) agents and wholesale dealers (WD). The following aspects of coordination are important for the sales execu­tive for the effective distribution of goods and services –

i. Gaining product distribution.

ii. Getting dealer identification.

iii. Reconciling business goals.

iv. Sharing promotional risks.

Gaining the product distribution is a high task for the sales executives in case of the new products, unless the trade margins are competitive, and the package of deal includes some incentives. The C&F agents and WDs refuse to accept the distribution of the new products on various eco­nomic and physical grounds. The sales executives should play a crucial role in convincing the distributors.

Some of the manufacturers go for forced distribution through heavy advertisement and consumer pull strategies. The sales executive should ensure that the consumers know the outlets, dealers, stockist and agents of the goods and services. The access to outlets and the layout are important issues to be considered in promotion of the sales volume. Inadequate dealer identification results in clogged distribution channels right from the dealer network to the factory.

Many times the conflicts are developed in the distribution of the goods and services due to rivalry and brand hoax. This situation needs to be handled skillfully by the sales executives through an effective distributor coordination. The less the manufacturer and the distributors work at cross purposes, the greater the return to both the parties. The information management from the market to the manufacturer and vice versa is an important task in coordinating the sales.

The sales exec­utives have to make periodical appraisal of the existing marketing poli­cies in reference to the marketing information made available by the distributors. There are different strategies for ensuring effective sales management. Some of them are setting quantitative performance stan­dards, factual analysis of market information, comparing results and standards and sales variation adjustment approaches.

The quantitative standards are set for the product sales after careful analysis of SWOT to measure the performance of the product sales. The process of standard setting requires continuous experimentation and consumer behaviour analysis. The standard setting requires the identifica­tion of a dynamic work force. Such standards are set in ranges indicating acceptable performance.

The market information system needs to be strengthened ensuring the factual information flow to help decision-making in setting the performance standards. Besides, the sales functions may be controlled through the informal and formal approaches. The large organisations need written sales policies for uniform implementation of the strategies. The sales policies should be formulated from the thorough review of the tangible information.

The sales control standards can also be developed on the basis of fixing the target estimating the anticipated sales of the product in the market. Sales volume performance is best appraised by comparing it with potential sales volume or the targets. The formal control is required also for sales budgetary controls and setting up the sales territories. The budgetary control mechanisms help control over the margins and expenditure and so over the profit. Hence, the sales managements a challenging task and assigns broad responsibilities.


Sales Management – Strategies

Sales managers are confronted with several challenges when designing an effective sales strategy. Strategies vary based on the number of products that the firm offers and if the firm sells to one particular type of customer versus selling too many different types of customers.

When selling one product line to a single industry, with customers in many locations, a territorial sales strategy is used. With this strategy, a sales manager will assign sales representatives to exclusive territories in a given region. These representatives will sell their companies products and services consisting of multiple products to customers in that territory.

A good example of this strategy is to selling financial services products especially investment products like insurance, mutual funds etc. Finally, sales managers may use a customer focused sales force strategy where salespeople specialize in matching target customers to specific products or services. This strategy helps a company to concentrate more on building strong, long-term relationships with key customers.

The three most important sales management strategies that are currently used, these strategies are- Establish a Never-Before Sales Quota, Establish and Build a Team Selling Programme, Employ Advanced Prospecting Technologies. In competitive situation it is extremely important for survival in the market to remain competitive that demands to use the most advanced technologies, including not only technical aspect but managerial as well.

It means that a company that uses the most advanced and most effective management strategies can be more competitive and has more chances for success. It is especially important when the company deals with the sales management.

The sales management is one of the most significant parts of any company’s work since it is due to sales management the company can finally sell its products or services to customers and the general success of the company greatly depends on the effectiveness of the sales management.

Consequently, it is absolutely necessary to know well recent trends and strategies that are used nowadays by the most successful companies, that would permit to realize what strategies are the most perspective what are their advantages and disadvantages and finally it would be possible to define what strategies may be used in the future or in what way the current strategies should be modified in order to be the most effective.

Sales Strategies Used in Recession Period:

As the economy continues to stagnate, small businesses are charged with the task of developing sales management strategies that will produce results, even in the face of recession. There are some special tactics you can take with your sales management strategies during the ongoing recession to generate revenue.

1. Maintain Current Fees, Rates and Prices:

Customers are likely to cut back on spending during a recession, and if you increase fees, rates or prices, it will draw unnecessary attention to them.

2. Explore Old Leads:

One of the most tested and true recession strategies involves exploring old leads to generate renewed business opportunities. You can do this by contacting former customers directly and talking with them to see what they need at the moment.

In a recession, strategies like this work best if you send some preliminary information by email, mail or fax, and then place a courtesy call to discuss it later. Give the client ample time to review the materials before placing a friendly call to explore old leads.

3. Revise Your Marketing Campaign:

One of the most important recession strategies you can implement is making critical revisions to your marketing campaign. A beefed up marketing campaign does not necessarily mean a significant financial investment, but the added investment of your time will produce results. Your additional time will be spent making follow up calls, exploring new leads, and building relationships with potential clients.

4. Give Reasonable Quotes and Place Affordable Bids:

Sales management strategies don’t work in a recession if the customers you are serving cannot afford to do business with you. Now is time to reduce your prices and give them affordable bids prices, as a general rule of thumb, reducing your quotes and bids is one way to ensure that customers will buy and your business will be awarded contracts.

5. Offer Additional Services:

Effective sales strategies in a recession often involve providing a little something extra for the customer. This could be a promotional item or extended discount of an additional service. Customize your promotional offers and additional services to meet specific customer needs. These recession strategies won’t turn your business around when used independently, but if you combine several of them, they can help you transform your outlook for the future.