Sports Promotion and Sales Management - Assignment Example

Sports Promotion and Sales Management Table of Contents I. Introduction 3 II. Sales Structure- Benefits of Joined Sales and Service Departments 3III. Sales Structure- Benefits of Separate Sales and Service Departments 3 IV. Recommendations 4 References 6 I. Introduction This paper details the benefits of sales organizational structures where one, the sales and services departments are joined, and two, where the sales and service departments are separate. This paper also makes recommendations on the ideal sales organizational structure for a professional sport franchise. II. Sales Structure- Benefits of Joined Sales and Service Departments Where the sales and service departments are joined, there is greater collaboration between the sales and the customer service staff, in such a manner as to improve overall customer satisfaction, and in such a way as to enhance the delivery of pre-sales and post-sales services.

This means more sales potentially, all other things being equal. Conversely, one ding on separate sales and service departments is that there may be problems with satisfying customers, when sales and service messages are not in congruence. For instance, service staff may deny something that a salesperson may have already given as a promise to a potential customer. Such headaches can mean loss of business (Schmidt, 2012). Some management and business gurus even recommend that the integration of sales and service departments go to the extreme, by positing that the best practice is one where the sales person and the service person are one and the same individual.

This guarantees maximum customer satisfaction and optimal sales (Hoagland-Smith, 2013). III. Sales Structure- Benefits of Separate Sales and Service Departments On the other hand, there are many benefits to separate sales and service departments as well. By focusing on one or the other, the two departments are able to satisfy the specific needs of the customer. The specialization between sales and service also guarantees that the staff are in the best position to field either sales concerns or service concerns.

When a customer contacts customer service, the focus is on satisfying customer needs, rather than selling. Vice-versa, during the sales process, the sales department staff have the best skills to close the sale, and the focus is not on customer service per se. This yields the best results for different organizations (Jackson, 2010). There are also arguments relating to the contrary aims of sales and service staff, where the former is intent on closing the sale, and the service staff is intent on making sure that the customer is satisfied.

A sales person may over promise to close a sales, causing headaches to service staff. This is an argument to keep the two departments separate (Buljan, 2013). The benefits of the separated sales and service departments therefore include focused response to specific customer needs and to the needs of customers in different phases of the sales cycle (Buljan, 2013; Jackson, 2010). IV. Recommendations For a professional sport franchise, there are benefits to both joining the sales and service departments, and to keeping the two departments separate, as discussed above.

On the one hand, where the two departments are joined, individual customers remain happy. On the other hand, where the focus of the sports franchise is to mass market the team and related merchandise, as well as the games and the different related activities, separate departments for sales and for services-related concerns means that both can focus on those distinct activities. This can work for the sports franchise in the long run, provided that the efforts of the two are coordinated. This separate arrangement is the recommendation here (Buljan, 2013; Jackson, 2010; Hoagland-Smith, 2013l Schmidt, 2012).

References Buljan, S. (2010). For a Successful Profit Center, Sales and Service Have to Know Theyre in the Same Boat. BusinessCool.eu. Retrieved from http://businesscool.eu/2013/01/successful-profit-center/ Hoagland-Smith, L. (2013). Why Sales and Customer Service Should Be the Same Person If You Want to Increase Sales. Evan Carmichael. Retrieved from http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/137/Why-Sales-and-Customer-Service-Should-Be-the-Same-Person-if-You-Want-To-Increase-Sales.html Jackson, K. (2010). Sales and Service Contact Center Organization- Where do we stand these days? mach4um. Retrieved from http://mach4um.

com/forum/topics/sales-and-service-contactb Schmidt, D. (2012). Sales and Service Are Not Separate Departments. Loyalty Leader. Retrieved from http://www.loyaltyleader.com/blog/sales-and-service-are-not-separate-departments/