Difficulties Faced by Sales Managers - Essay Example

Running Header: Sales Management Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Difficulties faced by sales managers New position new challenges. In this case therefore it means that the sales manager has to prepare and stand up to the new responsibilities. Unlike in the position of the sales representative, the sales manager now is expected to lead a team of sales representatives and therefore is expected to demonstrate high level of competencies in leadership (Earl, John, and Antonis 2003, 67). In the new position, as a sales manager, I am expected to get to understand and master the responsibilities of the holder of the position over and above everything. First and foremost, in the new position, it could prove to be real challenging when trying to work towards understanding and implementing business ethics (Fleetwood and Hesketh 2008, 304). Business ethics require that all the team members abide by the rules and regulations of their work. Business ethics are expected to promote professionalism, integrity, honesty, trust and mutual understanding among the team members. The challenge for the sales manager in this case therefore is to get to know what team ethics and how they relate to the company rules and regulations. On the same line of ethics, it’s the responsibility of the sales manager to make sure that he showing good example of business practices to the rest of the team members (Kathy and John 2001, 60). Further, planning, leading and controlling of the various activities of the sales team, is one of the areas where the new manager is likely to face very serious challenges. Planning in this case involves deciding on the team objectives and all the activities that have to be committed for the objectives to be realized. This is to mean that planning will involve deciding what to be done at what point and who should be involved (Kathy and John 2001, 60). Planning is also important in making sure that all team members are made active and part of the process. On the other hand, for the very first time, one should be expected to lead a time of people with different characters, perceptions and behaviors. In other words diversity exists in a team. The challenge for the sales manager therefore is to get to understand what each and every person needs. There is need to create a working environment under which organizational goals and objectives have to be balanced with personal life. This is to mean that the sales manager will have to deal with flexibility at workplace as he seeks to achieve the team targets. This is real a challenging task as he will have to deal with personal issues and work issues (William 2009, 105). Life and work balance is very important. This is because it demonstrates how the sales manager works to implement the company policy on working relations. The other aspect that is likely to prove difficult and challenging to the new sales manager is the ability to set out a new marketing strategy and comply with. This emerges since as a new sales manager, he will have to understand what the previous marketing strategies and how they worked and if they were efficient. In case there are some areas that need to be adjusted, then the sales manager must work on them. However, the challenging part is the design of a marketing strategy that is compatible with the ever changing technology, competition in the market, economic trends as well as legal and cultural practices that prevail in the market (Keith 2008, 34). Recruitment and selection Recruitment and selection is a very important strategy by the human resource to make sure that the business has at its disposal the right people to carry out its functions. However, as the human resources seeks to recruit and select the best team, its always expected to get support from the department in which the person is to work in. this is because the human resource management needs technical information and more especially on the job specification (Thomas and Raymond 2012, 78). In the case of recruiting the salesperson, even though much of the work will be done by the human resource management, it’s up to the sales manager to advice the human resource management team on the qualifications and character traits its looking for in an individual. The main objective of recruiting the sales person is to have the adequate of people who can boost the company sales and thereby generate more revenues to the business. However, most important above is integrity and professionalism among the sales staff (Legge 2005, 69). Certification with recognized bodies can also be used as part of the criteria to choose on who is to be in the sales team and who will not. Applying proper criteria in recruiting the sales people can be very critical as this will help create confidence and loyalty towards the company by the customers. Ability to grasp and appreciate the products and the services that the business provides is key consideration. This is because it’s not always to sell to the customer the product that one has no faith in. However, in many occasions, it has emerged that during recruitment and selection mistakes are made and wrong people chosen to the sales people. In case such as mistake occurs, the disadvantages of recruiting and selecting are likely to outweigh the benefits. First and foremost, the company products and services and confidentiality are entrusted to the sales person (Elearn 2009, 67). What if he is not the right person who cannot be trusted? There is a possibility that company products and services may be sold and not accounted for. This is to mean that lot of money will be lost and at the end this will be very big expense to the company to bear with. On the other hand, the sales person need to one who can protect the interests of the company and keep the customers confident about the company. However, in such situations it’s expected that the process of implementing the sales plan is not going to happen as planned as there will be no goodwill to do so. Further, the wrong person is likely to impact negatively on the perception the public has about the company and therefore its not easy to make sale. The other element that is directly associated with recruiting the wrong sales person is business ethics (Robert 2007, 56). It’s very obvious that the person who does not have all the characteristics that entail a qualified sales person such as professionalism, integrity, honest and trust in all dealings with the customers. Motivation of sales people Employee motivation not only for sales people is very critical for any business that wants to succeed. It’s the responsibility of the employer to make sure that the employee is motivated and remain focused towards realizing the organizational objectives (Richter, Dawson and West 2011, 2750). Motivation can be described as the process through which the employees are instilled with that will that can lead them to working hard and realize objectives of the business. Employees can be motivated by using different ways and therefore do not agree with the argument that, the sales people can be fully be motivated by paying them well. For example referring to Maslow’s theory on the hierarch of needs, money is just one way to motivate the employees. For example, according to this theory, there are several needs that are important in satisfying the employees’ needs and that are important in motivating the employees. The hierarch of needs starts from as low as physiological needs through self-actualization (Dominic, Ivan and Robertson 2003, 143). From this view therefore, there are a number of arguments that refute good pay as enough for motivation. For instance, consider the case of these theories such as equity, expectancy, attribution and goal-setting. These theories have come to dominate in the 21st century after it has been established that employees need more than just good pay. For example, the employees pay must not only be enough or higher but be relevant to what others in the same industry get and the workload they are assigned. Many of the employees are very cautious of what their peers get and they relate to theirs. The other important argument that refutes good pay as the only way to motivation for sales people is the work environment (Elearn 2009, 16). For example, the employees expect that as they work hard to meet their target, the workplace environment is expected to be flexible enough to allow them balance their personal life and that of work. According to the expectancy theory of motivation, the employees are always motivated with what they expect as a reward or outcome from performing a given duty. This theory is especially important in motivating the sales people. This is because more than any other staff work on targets and therefore employees will be motivated if they know that at the end of a campaign period, they are to be rewarded or they expect some outcome from their effort (Mathew 2006, 90). In general, the sales people motivation is a long process and its likely to take the form of the Maslow’s hierarch of needs. This is to mean that even though pay can be used to motivate the sales people, this is just one attempt. There are other methods of motivating them like creating flexible working environment where they can balance personal life and work. Further, motivation can be achieved through setting of clear goals and explaining what are some of the reasons for success or failure of individual sales people. Bibliography Dominic, C., Ivan,T., and G. Robertson. 2003. Recruitment and Selection: A Framework for Success. London: Cengage Learning EMEA. Earl, D. John, B., and C. Antonis. 2003. Sales Management: A Global Perspective. London: Routledge. Elearn. 2009. Recruitment and Selection. Sydney: Pergamon Flexible Learning. Fleetwood, S., and A. Hesketh. 2008. Theorising Under-theorisation in Research on the HRM – Performance Link. Personnel Review 37(2): 237-319 Kathy M., & M. John 2001. Designing and aligning an HR system. Human Resource Management 11(2): 57–72. Keith, R. 2008. Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions: A Tactical Playbook for Managers and Executives. New York; John Wiley & Sons. Legge, K. 2005. Human Resources Management: Rhetoric’s and Realities. Human Resource Management Journal 9(1): 65-75. Mathew, S. 2006. Fundamentals of Sales Management for the Newly Appointed Sales Manager. New York: AMACOM. Richter, A., Dawson, J. & M. West. 2011. The effectiveness of organizational teams: A meta- analysis. International Journal of Human Resource Management. 22(14): 2749-2769. Robert, J. 2007. Sales Management Demystified. London: McGraw-Hill. Thomas, N. and W. Raymond. 2012. Sales Management: Analysis and Decision Making. New Delhi: M. E. Sharpe. William, M. 2009. ProActive Sales Management: How to Lead, Motivate, and Stay Ahead of the Game. London: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. Read More