sales management"originally referred exclusively to the direction of sales force personnel.

"sales
management" meant management of all marketing activities,including advertising,sales
promotion,marketing research,physical distribution,pricing & product merchandising. Sales
management is attainment of an organization's sales goals in an effective & efficient manner
through planning, staffing, training, leading & controlling organizational resources. Revenue,
sales, and sources of funds fuel organizations and the management of that process is the most
important function.

Sales Strategy and Planning

An essential sales leadership role is to establish a sense of purpose or vision and clear direction.
Senior sales managers are responsible for translating the overall business plan and marketing
plan into a sales plan, using their own strategic analysis. The sales plan takes its direction from
overall marketing strategy and brand values. It should be based on thorough research and a
considered positioning of the company within the market place. Some authors recommend
(particulary in business to business sales) that a customer portfolio analysis model, modified by
an understanding of each customer's purchasing strategy (Fiocca, 1982; Rogers, 2007) should
inform the sales plan. Typically, such a model enables the sales manager to identify customers
where joint strategic investment will deliver mutual value and predictability of volume and
growth, customers whose business is valuable but static, target prospects who require
considerable activity to be converted into strategic customers and customers whose business is
occasional and/or low-value. This type of analysis enables a sales manager to allocate resource
priorities and ensure that all sales budget and the time of salespeople is used effectively and
efficiently.

Sales planning involves predicting demand, which has a very important knock-on effect on the
overall productivity of the company and needs to be as accurate as possible. The detail of the
sales plan needs to be closely aligned with customers' buying cycles (Rackham and DeVincentis,
1999). Failure to plan or tactical plans can reduce the predictability of sales volume, which can
seriously endanger cash flow and product throughput. Sales planning is important to product
availability and customer satisfaction; it should also consider how sales assets are deployed to
address new opportunities, which may involve the engagement of new channels to market or
contract sales staff. Flexible sales assets ensure that the company can respond effectively to
demand fluctuations.

Sales motivation and performance

The sales manager is responsible for the implementation of the sales plan via the motivation and
performance of the salespeople employed by the company and direction of its other sales
resources, such as value added resellers or even e-portals. Key Performance Indicators can be
used, both for individuals and for activities within the sales function to ensure that
implementation of the plan is kept on track. Traditionally, sales performance has been focused on
achieving sales volume, which is suitable in a growth economy, but may not suit mature markets.
In the 21st century, the profitability of volume growth is considered important, and customer
loyalty which may be measured by the Net Promoter Score (Reichheld, 1996). Whichever
measurements are chosen, their purpose is to indicate whether or not the sales process is being
operated effectively and achieves the objectives set out in the sales plan. Because sales cycles in
some industries are very long, it is important to have a realistic sales "funnel", where some KPIs
are aligned to milestones in customers' buying cycle. KPIs enable the sales managers to take
timely corrective action where necessary, and they allow senior management to evaluate the
sales manager. Sales reports are required for investors, partners and government, so the sales
management system should have advanced reporting capabilities to satisfy the needs of different
stakeholders.