Answer:
The job of sales personnel involves a number of responsibilities. It is the income producing division of a business. The salesperson is responsible for:
• Providing profit contribution
• Creating a proper image for the company and it's products/services
• Achieving the sales targets of the organization
• Satisfying the customers and participating in marketing activities
• He/she is responsible to the customer and society for continuing growth of the organization. He has multifarious activities, including setting goals and achieving them, building sales organizations and managing them.
For example, in Eureka Forbes Pvt. Ltd. they called their sales force as sales champs (champions) as they are responsible for the direct marketing of company’s products and revenue generation.
Qualities of good sales personnel
Sales people are the backbone of the organization because they have to face customer and interact with them. Some people say, salesmen are born salesmen, while others believe that training can help in making good salesmen. Irrespective of these opinions, good salesman has certain qualities and abilities as a result he is able to perform better than others. In this section, we will discuss qualities of a good sales person.
Philip Kotler has identified two basic qualities of a good sales person namely, empathy and persuasion. Some of the qualities of a good sales person are as follows:
Ability to estimate customer's needs and desires: He is alert and quickly determines what the customer wants and the best way to sell.
Ambition: He likes to do a good job and is interested in getting ahead with company’s goals and sales objectives.
Appearance: Appearance means a lot today and the successful salesman is neat and organised. He presents himself well in person. Also, he keeps his desk books and manuals neat and ready for use.
Business sense: He is quick to learn the strengths and weaknesses of the company and makes an effort to improvise on the company’s strengths.
Courtesy: He reveals a sincere desire to help customers and treats them as guests even when he visits their places of business.
Creativeness: Imagination, vision and the ability to create ideas make your man dynamic.
Enthusiasm: A salesman must radiate enthusiasm during and after the sales call.
Figure sense: He should have the mathematical ability to figure and fill up order form correctly and to make the necessary reports.
Flexibility: A good salesman is able to adapt himself to a variety of customers. Each contact may require a adapting the sales talk, speech habits and even appearance.
Friendliness: A salesman should be able to make people like him and he must like to meet people.
Health: Good health generates energy and energy is needed to sell. Poor health prevents many salesmen from fulfilling their potentials.
Integrity: A salesman must be trusted to do his job well. He cannot help but he successful when his customers trust him.
Interest in his job: He likes selling and working for the company.
Knowledge: In some business, sales person must also have a through knowledge of the highly specialized products or services his employer offers. In some cases, this knowledge can be gained only by years of experience.
Loyalty: He must be able to impress upon his customers the idea that his company is the best in the business.
Mental abilities: He has the intelligence to understand your products and those of your competitors. He must know how to use words, to understand and direct people and to remember names and faces. He should also be able to understand prospective customers and know how to act under varying conditions.
Motivation: He must have more than just an interest in selling. They live in the present and not in the future. They do want power over others and prefer not to work under close supervision.
The sales manager is the most important person in a sales organization so, all activities are based on his functions and responsibilities. Following are some of the principal duties of a sales manager:
• Organising sales research, product research and such other research activities.
• Getting the best output from the sales force under him.
• Setting and controlling the targets, territories, sales experiences, distribution expenses, etc.
• Advising the company on various media, sales promotion schemes, etc.
• Monitoring the company's sales policies.
1 Sales manager as sales coordinator
The sales manager performs the function of a coordinator and ensures that the other departments in the company are well informed of sales activities so that they can produce what is required, when it is required and whether the same can be produced with the existing facilities or it requires changes and so on.
The sales manager also carries out coordinating work with the distribution network.
2 Sales manager as controller
Sales manager should act as per the objectives set by the organization and exercise control over his staff so that they may look for advice and may give their best efforts to bring results. He should analyze present condition of the firm, make plans for future and find ways to achieve those plans.
3 Generating profits
Sales department is responsible for the sales of the products at the best available prices in the given circumstances. Salesperson produce volume sales as per targets, and he sell the product at a price which may generate profit for the company. After all it is positive financial results that add position and power to the sales manager and bring credit to the sales department.
4 Sales manager skills
A sales manager should possess following skills:
Active listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Mathematics: Using mathematics to solve problems.
Time management: Managing one's own time and the time of others.
Service orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people.
Persuasion: Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
Social perceptiveness: Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Reading comprehension : Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of self, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Negotiation: Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
5 Differences and similarities between a salesperson and a marketer
Points that differentiate marketers from sales persons:
1. The marketers perform market research and explore the target markets.
2. They run focus groups and launch various market surveys.
3. They analyze data constantly and develop pricing strategies which is based on a number of business variables.
4. They brand the products and services.
5. They develop and analyze marketing campaigns.
6. They refine and adjust marketing strategies based on data and feedback.
Points that differentiate salespersons from marketers:
1. Sales personnel are responsible for selling religiously. They need to spend most of their time selling.
2. They interact with customers and prospective customers.
3. They live to present and always look for opportunities to show off their product or service.
4. They are driven by achievement, targets and goals (quotas, sales competitions, financials, etc.)
5. They have a successful track record of selling.
6. They have confidence, know their products inside and out, have a passion for sales, and can overcome obstacles.
Although they have many differences, there are a few similarities too. They are listed below.
1. Both marketers and sales personnel work towards common ultimate goal of revenue generation.
2. They both need to be passionate and aware of the current market trends.
3. Sometimes, they both report to a common manager, may be the department head or the marketing manager.
4. Though marketers do not interact with customers very often but still they do need to know about their needs and preferences, like the sales personnel.
5. Sometimes, sales personnel also carry out the work of the marketers and vice versa.
The job of sales personnel involves a number of responsibilities. It is the income producing division of a business. The salesperson is responsible for:
• Providing profit contribution
• Creating a proper image for the company and it's products/services
• Achieving the sales targets of the organization
• Satisfying the customers and participating in marketing activities
• He/she is responsible to the customer and society for continuing growth of the organization. He has multifarious activities, including setting goals and achieving them, building sales organizations and managing them.
For example, in Eureka Forbes Pvt. Ltd. they called their sales force as sales champs (champions) as they are responsible for the direct marketing of company’s products and revenue generation.
Qualities of good sales personnel
Sales people are the backbone of the organization because they have to face customer and interact with them. Some people say, salesmen are born salesmen, while others believe that training can help in making good salesmen. Irrespective of these opinions, good salesman has certain qualities and abilities as a result he is able to perform better than others. In this section, we will discuss qualities of a good sales person.
Philip Kotler has identified two basic qualities of a good sales person namely, empathy and persuasion. Some of the qualities of a good sales person are as follows:
Ability to estimate customer's needs and desires: He is alert and quickly determines what the customer wants and the best way to sell.
Ambition: He likes to do a good job and is interested in getting ahead with company’s goals and sales objectives.
Appearance: Appearance means a lot today and the successful salesman is neat and organised. He presents himself well in person. Also, he keeps his desk books and manuals neat and ready for use.
Business sense: He is quick to learn the strengths and weaknesses of the company and makes an effort to improvise on the company’s strengths.
Courtesy: He reveals a sincere desire to help customers and treats them as guests even when he visits their places of business.
Creativeness: Imagination, vision and the ability to create ideas make your man dynamic.
Enthusiasm: A salesman must radiate enthusiasm during and after the sales call.
Figure sense: He should have the mathematical ability to figure and fill up order form correctly and to make the necessary reports.
Flexibility: A good salesman is able to adapt himself to a variety of customers. Each contact may require a adapting the sales talk, speech habits and even appearance.
Friendliness: A salesman should be able to make people like him and he must like to meet people.
Health: Good health generates energy and energy is needed to sell. Poor health prevents many salesmen from fulfilling their potentials.
Integrity: A salesman must be trusted to do his job well. He cannot help but he successful when his customers trust him.
Interest in his job: He likes selling and working for the company.
Knowledge: In some business, sales person must also have a through knowledge of the highly specialized products or services his employer offers. In some cases, this knowledge can be gained only by years of experience.
Loyalty: He must be able to impress upon his customers the idea that his company is the best in the business.
Mental abilities: He has the intelligence to understand your products and those of your competitors. He must know how to use words, to understand and direct people and to remember names and faces. He should also be able to understand prospective customers and know how to act under varying conditions.
Motivation: He must have more than just an interest in selling. They live in the present and not in the future. They do want power over others and prefer not to work under close supervision.
The sales manager is the most important person in a sales organization so, all activities are based on his functions and responsibilities. Following are some of the principal duties of a sales manager:
• Organising sales research, product research and such other research activities.
• Getting the best output from the sales force under him.
• Setting and controlling the targets, territories, sales experiences, distribution expenses, etc.
• Advising the company on various media, sales promotion schemes, etc.
• Monitoring the company's sales policies.
1 Sales manager as sales coordinator
The sales manager performs the function of a coordinator and ensures that the other departments in the company are well informed of sales activities so that they can produce what is required, when it is required and whether the same can be produced with the existing facilities or it requires changes and so on.
The sales manager also carries out coordinating work with the distribution network.
2 Sales manager as controller
Sales manager should act as per the objectives set by the organization and exercise control over his staff so that they may look for advice and may give their best efforts to bring results. He should analyze present condition of the firm, make plans for future and find ways to achieve those plans.
3 Generating profits
Sales department is responsible for the sales of the products at the best available prices in the given circumstances. Salesperson produce volume sales as per targets, and he sell the product at a price which may generate profit for the company. After all it is positive financial results that add position and power to the sales manager and bring credit to the sales department.
4 Sales manager skills
A sales manager should possess following skills:
Active listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Mathematics: Using mathematics to solve problems.
Time management: Managing one's own time and the time of others.
Service orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people.
Persuasion: Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
Social perceptiveness: Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Reading comprehension : Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of self, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Negotiation: Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
5 Differences and similarities between a salesperson and a marketer
Points that differentiate marketers from sales persons:
1. The marketers perform market research and explore the target markets.
2. They run focus groups and launch various market surveys.
3. They analyze data constantly and develop pricing strategies which is based on a number of business variables.
4. They brand the products and services.
5. They develop and analyze marketing campaigns.
6. They refine and adjust marketing strategies based on data and feedback.
Points that differentiate salespersons from marketers:
1. Sales personnel are responsible for selling religiously. They need to spend most of their time selling.
2. They interact with customers and prospective customers.
3. They live to present and always look for opportunities to show off their product or service.
4. They are driven by achievement, targets and goals (quotas, sales competitions, financials, etc.)
5. They have a successful track record of selling.
6. They have confidence, know their products inside and out, have a passion for sales, and can overcome obstacles.
Although they have many differences, there are a few similarities too. They are listed below.
1. Both marketers and sales personnel work towards common ultimate goal of revenue generation.
2. They both need to be passionate and aware of the current market trends.
3. Sometimes, they both report to a common manager, may be the department head or the marketing manager.
4. Though marketers do not interact with customers very often but still they do need to know about their needs and preferences, like the sales personnel.
5. Sometimes, sales personnel also carry out the work of the marketers and vice versa.
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