Chapter One

Sales Management

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Evolution of Sales Management

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Meaning and Definition

 Sales management means “the planning, direction and control of
personal selling, including recruiting, selecting, equipping, assigning,
routing, supervising, paying and motivating as these tasks apply to
personal salesforce”.
 John Henry Patterson widely known as father of Sales Management
 Sales person is a person where :
 it deliver a product e.g. milk, bread, gas etc

 He is an internal order taker e.g. counter sales clerk

 An order taker but works in the field as a pizza boy, soap seller etc

 A person is not expected or permitted to take an order but is called

only to build goodwill or to educate an actual or potential user e.g:

medical representative
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 THE NATURE AND IMPORTANCE OF
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SALES MANAGEMENT

According to Robert N. McMurry in his famous article ‘The

Mystique of Super Salesmanship’ (Harvard Business Review,
March-April 1961, p.114) classified a salesperson’s position in the
organization on following ways:-

•Position where a salesperson’s job is predominantly to

deliver A product;

•Positions where a salespersons is predominantly an internal

order taker;

•Positions where a salesperson is also predominantly an

order taker but works in the field;
THE NATURE AND IMPORTANCE OF SALES
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MANAGEMENT
• Positions where a salesperson is not expected or
permitted to take an order but is called only to build
goodwill or to educate an actual or potential user;

• Positions where the emphasis is placed on technical

knowledge;

• Positions which demand the creative sales of tangible

products;

• Positions requiring the creative sale of intangible

products;
 THE NATURE AND IMPORTANCE OF
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SALES MANAGEMENT
While the role of sales management professionals
is multidisciplinary, their primary responsibilities are:-

(a) Setting goals and standards for a sales-force;

Planning, budgeting, and organizing sales program to

(b)
achieve pre-defined goals;

Implementing the program with proper segmentation

(c)
and

Controlling the overall program and evaluating the

(d)
results.
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Types of personal selling

 Broadly classified into three:
 Industrial (manufacturing sector selling): categorised into
four based on types of customer.
a) Selling to resellers: resellers is a wholesaler or a retailer who buys finished
goods and resells them to end-users. Eg: hero cycles, tyres, T-series

b) Selling to business users: output of one producer enters into production

process of another producer or manufacturer a final good for the
consumption of the end-users Eg: IBM sells intel Pentium processors which
are used by HCL or Compaq to make computers for the final customers.

c) Institutional selling: These customers use the product in their daily

operations. Eg: Xerox in photocopies, Johnson and Johnson in surgical
equipment's.

d) Selling to government: eg: military equipment’s, railway tracks

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 Retail Selling: It is defined as all the activities directly related to

the sale of goods and services to the ultimate consumers for
personal or non-business use o consumption.
 In retailing customer approaches a seller, where as in industrial selling seller
seeks customer.
 In retailing seller directly sells to ultimate customers.
 Retailer purchase from industrial seller in large quantities and sells them in
smaller assortments according to the demand of the customer.
Eg: Big bazar, Shopper’s stop, Crossroads,

 Services Selling: Services are the activities or benefits provided to

customers. Eg: insurance, airline, travel etc.
 Services are intangible in nature
 They are produced, sold and consumed at the same time
 They are less standardized and uniform in nature than the products
 Services are very individualized
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Qualities of sales person

 Willingness to go to bid for the buyer within the supplier
firm
 Thoroughness and follow through
 Knowledge of the product line
 Market knowledge and keeping the buyer posted
 Imagination of applying his product and services to the
buyers needs
 Preparation for sales call
 Regularity of sales calls
 Diplomacy in dealing with operating departments
 Technical education