AT&T SALES MANAGEMENT PLAN - Term Paper Example

Task How AT&T Organization Conducts Its Sales Management The organization conducts its sales activities with the aim of maximizing their sales and ensuring their customers get the required satisfaction. The sales team is charged with implementing an understandable mixture of instructions and technology through the internet. This is aimed at connecting commercial tactical challenges with development activities that will advance their skills (Henderson, 2011). It also supports online performances, certification and the tracking of the bottom line effects. The organization additionally offers training for its sales team to improve on their negotiation skills to focus on achieving their most decisive objectives. The AT&T organization holds workshops for the different managers in the organization. These workshops enable them to acquire adequate skills in using the sophisticated equipment the organization sells. The management is also able to have a feel of what their customers require. The organization should focus on a few areas such as increasing their negotiations for sales with their customers. They should use online training to enhance support among their users’ performances. The sales team should also been assigned with the task of tracking the results of their sales and reporting them to the organizations management. This will in turn enable the management to make improvements on the products that are performing dismally. The sales team will rely on building more stable and accountable relationships with their customers to ensure their sales remain high. The organization has entered into an agreement with other producers of technology to improve on their product’s quality. This ensures that their sales and profitability levels remain high (Still, Cundiff and Govoni, 2006). An example of such an agreement was entered into with Cisco systems, which was meant to create products that were compatible with their widely used technologies. They should enter into similar agreements in future to enhance their productivities and profitability. The Role of the Sales Management Team in the Marketing Strategy of the Organization The sales management is charged with the responsibilities of planning, controlling, directing and staffing the sales team activities. They are left to plan the strategies the team will use in order to accomplish the organizations objectives. This is because the sales team mingles directly with the customers and understands their needs better. They are left to control the teams activities to ensure their activities reach a wider market. The sales team has experience in the field and should employ methods that increase the organization’s profitability while cutting costs. The activity of directing and staffing the organization involves recruiting and issuing directions to the members of the sales team. These are tasks that are handled by the organizations sales team. This activities augment the sales team efforts of increasing their sales and profits (Johnston and Marshall, 2011). This is because they will direct their energies to the more profitable areas. Organizing the efforts of the sales team should be the responsibility of the sales team. This is because they know their sales team well enough and will assign each member the appropriate tasks. The sales management team also knows how best to motivate their workers while minimizing the costs the organization incurs. The External and Internal Environments The internal environment comprises of those factors within an organization that affect its performance. The organization usually has control on these internal factors and they include their suppliers, customers, distributors and retailers (Still, Cundiff and Govoni, 2006). The sales management team controls the costs to incur when dealing with these internal factors. This enables the organization to cut costs and increase their profitability. The external environment on the other hand encompasses the issues, which are beyond the control of the organization. They include issues such as the fiscal, technological, natural and political environments. The sales management team should be left to develop measures to counter the adverse effects of these factors. They greatly affect the performances and profitability of their organization (Johnston and Marshall, 2011). The sales team should consider all external factors affecting the performance of the company to ensure their impacts are minimized. The Sales Objectives The sales management team is actively involved in the decision-making process to ensure the organization sets achievable and realistic targets. They should ensure that the organization uses cost effective methods of achieving their set objectives (Still, Cundiff and Govoni, 2006). This will ensure the organization remains profitable while implementing the best sales strategies and policies. The sales management team is charged with recruiting the most efficient teams in achieving their set objectives. This team has prior experience in these activities and they already know the type of obstacles they are likely to encounter. They should be encouraged in the future to be more creative and innovative in their activities. This will in turn aid the organization in achieving their objectives more efficiently. Recruitment and Selection The sales management team is involved in the selection and recruitment of sales and staff that enables them to meet their set objectives. The team selected should be qualified and should also meet the minimum set standards for joining the sales team (Wit and Meyer, 2010). Such a move ensures that the organization has an efficient team for meeting their set objectives. The sales team knows the most desirable characteristics that they look for in sales men and women (Johnston and Marshall, 2011). This makes it vital for them to be included in the process because they can easily indentify these traits in a person. Sales Force Organization The sales team management is responsible for the allocation of duties to the members of their teams. This enables them to select and send the most appropriate team out to the field to advertise their products (Johnston and Marshall, 2011). This also ensures that customers in different areas are addressed since the teams are assigned different locations at different times. The organization by the sales management team should ensure that costs are cut and the best advertisement methods are used. Organization of the sales force requires a team that has experience in the field so as to select the best teams to send to the field. Training The organization continuously gives training to their sales team to ensure that they are updated on the new technologies in the market. This ensures that the sales team is able to handle the concerns raised by their customers concerning the use of these products. Training enables the sales team to enhance their skills and improve on their productivity. Refresher training courses should also be introduced for the senior members of the sales team. This will enhance their abilities in handling the latest technology in the market. The sales management team should ensure that adequate information is also given to their members. It helps in ensuring their activities are in line with the organizational objectives. The team should prescribe the best training methods for their staff as it increases their productivities and efficiencies when performing their activities (Johnston and Marshall, 2011). Territory Management and Deployment The sales team management is allowed to decide on the areas where they will focus their marketing efforts. This is usually achievable after conducting a market analysis to determine their customers preferences and distribution (Wit and Meyer, 2010). The sales management team should be held responsible for deploying and coordinating their sales teams activities. This will ensure that they are able to meet the organizations objectives cost effectively. The team should be able to make decisions regarding which advertisement strategies to use in different regions. The use of these different strategies will allow them to reach their market more effectively. This is because different regions have people who have diverse beliefs, morals along with attitudes. The management will deploy their sales teams to areas where they intend to expand their markets. Supervision The supervision of the sales team is assigned to their sales management team. This enables them to monitor the activities and efficiency of their teams in advertising the organizations products (Wit and Meyer, 2010). The sales management team should come up with achievable standards to compare their staff’s performance. They should implement different forms of motivations and punishments to control their staffs behaviors along with attitudes towards work. Proper supervision ensures that the workers stick to their organizations policies when performing their tasks. It also ensures that the organizations activities aim at achieving the sales teams objectives. The management could use direct or indirect supervision methods. Direct supervision involves sending a member of the management team to directly oversee the activities of the members of staff. Indirect supervision on the other hand, involves delegating the duty of supervision to a third party. Both types of supervisory methods ensure that the members of staff are working to achieve their organizations sales targets. The dismissal of non performing members of the sales team should be enforced along with the rewarding of performing members. Compensation and Incentives The sales management team is actively involved in determining the amount of compensation that will be awarded to customers. This enables the team to come up with ways of addressing similar problems in the future (Waterhouse, 2003). The sales team should come up with more incentives to improve on their sales strategies and make greater impacts to their target market. The sales team relies on their negotiation skills to ensure that the customers complaints are adequately addressed. They should establish care centers for their customers for the purposes of collecting information on their products along with their complaints. The sales team is also included in the formulation of policies to guide the organization in compensating customers. This is because they have adequate skills and experience in handling similar matters and know the effects to their activities. The inclusion of the sales management team in the introduction of sales incentives to the market has a variety of benefits for the organization. This is because more realistic ideas from people who have firsthand experience in the field are incorporated. The inclusion of this team in these activities enables the members of the team to enjoy favorable working conditions. This eventually leads to an increase in their productivity because they are more confident when carrying out their sales activities. Incentives that aim to increase the organizations productivity should be encouraged among the sales team as it brings growth to the company’s efforts. Evaluation and Control The sales management team is allowed to participate in the evaluation and control of their staff’s activities. This ensures that they meet the organizations set standards since the evaluation is done in accordance to the organizations objectives (Thomas, 2008). Their involvement in the evaluation and control of the activities and staff ensures there are no unfair victimizations for failing to meet the organization set targets. The control of their team members efforts ensures that the costs they incur are controlled and are within the organizations budgetary estimates. This enables the company to operate at a profit while experiencing no losses in the performance of their duties. The sales team should be involved in controlling the activities of their team members to ensure they are in line with the organizations objectives. The lack of controls within an organization will lead to disorder in the performance of their activities. This brings along the issues of time and resource wastage. The use of controls within the organization should be done in consideration of their members welfare and working conditions. They should not violate the sales persons liberty’s. The sales management team should be included in this process to ensure that their members welfare is put into consideration. Their inclusion also necessitates the formulation of adequate control policies because they have sufficient skills and experience in the field. Remuneration The inclusion of the sales management team in remuneration activities ensures that their staff needs are well catered for (Hall, 2008). They ensure that the members allowances are paid on time and adequately to keep the team members motivated. This actions greatly assist the team in ensuring the organizations sales objectives are adequately met. Demands for better working conditions and pays can also be aired more easily to the senior management. This is because the sales team management has been included in the decision making activity. The sales team should be encouraged to air their team members dissatisfaction in their salaries and working conditions. The implementation of these issues greatly increases their motivation towards work. References Hall B. (2008). The New Human Capital Strategy, Improving the Value of Your Most Important Investment, Year after Year, New York: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. Henderson, J. (2011). 10 Ways To Wire Sales Training: How AT&T Used A Web- Enabled Process To Improve Sales Skills And Connect Them To The Bottom Line - Analysis. Retrieved on November 28, 2011 from: Johnston, M and Marshall, G. (2011). Sales Force Management. New York: McGraw-Hill. Still, R., Cundiff, W and Govoni, N. (2006). Sales Management, Decisions, Policies and Cases. New York: Prentice-Hall. Thomas, M. (2008). The sales manager’s success manual, New York: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. Waterhouse, S. (2003). The Team Selling Solution, Creating And Managing Teams That Win the Complex Sale. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional. Wit, B and Meyer R. (2010). Strategy, Process, Content, an International Perspective. London: Cengage Learning. Read More