Problems Faced by Sales Managers - Essay Example

Sales Managers Course Name and Code Institution Name Faculty Name Insert Your Name Insert Your Number Instructor’s Name 22 May 2009 Problems faced by sales managers Sales managers have the core responsibility of ensuring that the product and services have been sold. This demanding responsibility calls upon various strategies to ensure that they entice the customer into purchasing the product. However, in any organization or business problems are inherent, an aspect that applies in sales managers. Understanding challenges and problems that are faced by an organization sets a foundation in developing the right approaches towards accomplishing given tasks. Thus, what are some of the problems that are experienced by sales managers? Sales managers have to understand and receive support from the management to ensure that the sales strategy is successful. However, the organization or company leadership in most instances does not accorded the assistance to the sales managers. The assistance may come in terms of resources that will ensure that the goals of the sale are achieved (Vieira 2002). This means that the leadership of the organization does not provide enough financial assistance and other requirements that are required by the sales managers. All translates into the lack of sales plan for ensuing that the sales process is successful. Thus, the leadership of the organization should put in place the sales plan that ensures that the sales managers can easily utilize it to achieve the aims and objectives of the sales department. Sales representatives are another contagious problem that is faced by the sales manager. These include all subordinate staff that is required to fulfil the task of sales (Klymshyn 2006). Recruitment process and retaining the sales representatives is a nightmare for the sales managers. The top sales performers usually tend to join a competitor, if the conditions of the sales representative are not fulfilled. Thus, retaining the sales representative requires many strategies since a normal contract cannot stop them from walking out. Nevertheless, the recruitment process is tricky because the sales manager can recruit a sales representative who will not translate personal credentials in accomplishing the given tasks. Morale is an important component in ensuring that the sales representatives accomplish their tasks effectively. This is another pressure point for the sales manager because it is difficult to ensure that the staffs are motivated. Morale goes handy with goal pressure. Goal pressure is the perspective taken by the management to ensure that the sales managers improves on profits and achieves the goals that are set without putting into consideration the changes of environmental or market (Stretch 2008). Generally, the challenges that are faced by the sales managers are minimal support from the management of the firm or organization, recruiting appropriate sales representative, motivating the sales representative and pressure based on the goals that are set by the management. However, a successful sales manager should formulate and implement strategies that will ensure that these challenges are turned into strategies that will accomplish the goals that are set. References Stretch, L. 2008. From Strategy to Profitability: How Sales Compensation Management Drives Business Performance, Compensation Benefits Review, 40: 32-39 Klymshyn, J. 2006. The Ultimate Sales Managers’ Guide. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Vieira, W. 2002. The New Sales Manager: Challenges for the 21st Century. New York: Sage Publications. Importance of sales training The aim of every organization is to increase sales that in most cases translate into increase of profits. However, every organisation finds this continually difficult to accomplish. These complications may be attributed to increase of competitors or the consumers purchasing behaviour have been impacted by the increase of prices of the products. Thus, the sheer competition or the changed decision making of the consumer can be corrected and implementing the right strategies using salespersons. This can be achieved through training the salesperson. Hence, what are some of the importance associated with training sales personnel? The performance of salespeople is increased through sales training. When the performance is improved, the sales personnel maximises effectively each customer encounter. Moreover, a trained sales person develops systematic selling processes that enable them to apply specific selling techniques that are coherent with initial customer buying signals e.g. advertising (Badovick 1990). Additionally, the trained sales person will improve the ability of carrying out corporate endorsed selling strategies achieving the goals that are set by the corporate party. The trained sales person can communicate with the customer effectively improving the customer relationship. This is attributed to the fact that the training will help the sales persons to understand the customer underlying motivations that make them to purchase the product. In addition, the training will give the ability to the sales person to deal more effectively with the consumer putting into consideration the objections and concerns of the consumer (Lytle 2000). Thus, sales training translates into cost effectiveness through maximising opportunities to sell the products quickly. Moreover, the training will decrease turnover for the sales personnel. This is because the new hires quickly understand the requirements of the organization and products or services that they have to sell. The training also helps the experienced sales representatives becoming more successful with the existing opportunities. This is attributed to the fact that training improves the morale of the sales person, which translates to satisfaction of job resulting in decrease of sales person turnover. Consequently, the training ensures that the sales person has better clarity in accomplishing the tasks since the sales person understands all the requirements of the given tasks and mission and aims of the company (Lytle 2000). Generally, the main benefit of training personnel is to increase the profits of the company. Thus, the short-term changes that training of personnel will bring around are better role clarity, motivates the employee, increase job satisfaction and faster development of the employee in accomplishing tasks. On the other hand, the long term benefits are increase in profits, decreases employee turnover, increase the amount of sales and better customer relations. Thus, training of the sales person should be the core of any organisation that wants to increase the profits and retain the best sales persons in the industry. References Badovick, G. 1990. Emotional Reactions and Salesperson Motivation: An Attributional Approach Following Inadequate Sales Performance, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 18: 123-130 Lytle, C. 2000. The Accidental Salesperson: How to take Control of your Sales Career and Earn the Respect and Income you deserve. New York: AMACOM Association. Miller, W. 2001. Proactive Sales Management: How to Lead, Motivate, and Stay Ahead of the Game. New York: AMACOM Association. Importance of Recruitment and Selection of Sales Persons The salespersons are important assets in any organization and are the main ingredients in ensuring that the organization succeeds. Many organizations recruit new employees because of expansion and sales turnover. The salesperson that have been recruited and selected will bring an important component in the way that the company will accomplish the task of selling the products or service. The sales manager should understand the requirements of the firm so that the sales manager can recruit the appropriate staff that will accomplish the tasks of selling the firms products. Thus, what are the importance of recruiting and selecting the sales persons? The aim of any organisation is to ensure that they have the personnel that can accomplish their respective tasks. Thus, choosing the right personnel to accomplish the tasks requires a recruitment process and selection, which will determine whether the aspirant can accomplish the available tasks (Havaldar 2005). Hence, when the right employee is recruited it will decrease the issue of employee turnover. Employee turnover is usually an expensive to the firm. This is attributed to the fact that selecting another employee will take a lot of time and increases the cost of operation. Moreover, the employee may have be an important component in the organisation and may become a competitive sales person in another company that the salesperson will be employed. Thus, appropriate recruitment and selection will ensure that the appropriate person for the given task is selected and ensures that it decreases the chances of employee turnover. Recruitment of the right person may improve the success of the organization through bringing new ideas towards accomplishing the selling tasks. However, there are some instances that recruitment may not be successful and the wrong person may be selected to accomplish the selling process. Incompetent sales person may become a liability to an organization (Vashisht, 2006). This is due to the fact that they be less productive and may not contribute towards to the success of the company has planned. Moreover, inefficient recruitment cost the company in terms of salary, trainings and other benefits that the incompetent employee may get. To prevent these looses and shortcomings the sales manager should recruit and select an employee that fulfils the roles and responsibilities that are set (Harris, Mowen, & Brown 2005). Recruitment and selection in an important aspect that a sales manager should accomplish so that duties and responsibilities of the sales department can be accomplished. Recruitment may be done because of expansion of the business or an increase in employee turnover. Employee turnover is usually a liability to the company because the wealth of experience the employee has is lost and may contribute in moving out with the salesperson favourite customers. Thus, appropriate selection will ensure that employee turnover is decreased and hence prevent ineffective recruitment process. Hence, the sales manager should set policies and directives that ensure that the recruitment process is successful. References Havaldar, K. 2005. Industrial Marketing: Text and Cases, 2nd Ed. Jakarta: Tata McGraw-Hill Publishers. Harris, E., Mowen, J. & Brown, T. 2005. Re-Examining Salespersons Goal Orientations: Personality Influencers, Customer Orientation, and Work Satisfaction, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 33: 19-35. Vashisht, K. 2006. Practical Approach to Sales Management. New York: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors. Yilmaz, C. & Hunt, S. 2001. Salesperson Cooperation: The Influence of Relational, Task, Organizational and Personal Factors, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 29: 335-357 Read More