Sales Management Department

What is Sales Management?

Sales management is the process of developing a sales force, coordinating sales operations, and implementing sales techniques that allow a business to consistently hit, and even surpass, its sales targets.

If your business brings in any revenue at all, a sales management strategy is an absolute must. When it comes to boosting sales performance for any size of operation, no matter the industry, the secret to success is always precise sales management processes.

Besides helping your company reach its sales objectives, the sales management process allows you to stay in tune with your industry as it grows, and can be the difference between surviving and flourishing in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

The three recruitment tasks used in sales management are Job analysis; Job description and Job qualifications.

Job analysis is performed to specify the certain tasks that a salesperson is responsible for on a daily basis. It should identify what activities are deemed as being vital to the success of the company. Any person associated with the sales organization or the human resources department could carry out the analysis, or it could be done by an outside specialist (Spiro, pp. 134). The person that is responsible for completing a job analysis should have an in-depth comprehension of the daily activities of the salespeople.

This job analysis is then written in an explicit manner as a job description. The general information consists of:

1. Title of job
2. Organizational relationship
3. Types of products and services sold
4. Types of customers called on
5. Duties and responsibilities related to the job
6. Job demands.

An effective job description will identify compensation plans, size of workload, and the salespeople's duties. It is also primarily responsible for hiring tools such as application forms and psychological tests.

The most difficult part of this process is the determination of job qualifications. A reason for this difficulty is because hiring affects a company's competitive advantage in the market as well as the amount of revenue.Additionally, there should be a set of hiring attributes that is associated with each sales job that is within a company. If an individual does not excel in their assigned territory, it could be due to external factors relating to that person's environment.

A company should be careful not to submit to discrimination in regards to employment. A number of qualifications (ethnic background, age, etc.) can not be used in the selection process of hiring.