Effective Sales Management - Essay Example

Effective sales management-Discussions What type of territorial management is the most effective Territorial management is decentralization of theeffective marketing of the given products. The fallowing are the important implications: The target audience can be segregated according the majority of customers residing in one area. The resources can be allocated according to the number of customers or clients we need to meet. The sales manager has the scope of selecting the human resources according the nativity and the knowledge of the sales person in a particular area and assigns the targets to make him feel more comfortable in perceiving his job. The familiarity of the sales person on a region can make a difference in achieving or over-achieving the sales targets. The sales persons can add up their network customer in the familiar regions and can add value to the client database maintained. The work flow can be tightly maintained in small groups. The delegation of daily activities can be adjusted according to the human traffic or the manning hours in the region under consideration. What type of forecasting is the most effective A sales person in the field can estimate the right time and the right season to market a product. He can give a valuable feedback of the fast moving products and the slow moving. A regular analysis of the sales feedback, the existing competitors, the products volume in the market, reveals some interesting facts about the customers' tastes, customers requirements and customer expectations leading to a more refined innovations and valuable predictions to regulate the sales operations in the future. The volume of business achieved in different periods can create an idea on how we need to place our products in near future to sustain the market fluctuations. Ability to operate powerful information and sales channels. Ability to collect fuller and richer information about markets, customers, prospects, and competitors. Faster internal communication amongst employees. Two way communication with customers and prospects. Send ads, coupons, samples, and information to customers. Customize offerings and services to individual customers. Improved purchasing, recruiting and training. Improved external communication. Improved logistics and service quality The time do we think should be spent prospecting new accounts The customers are always hard to retain and new customers do creep into the list of clients as the value of the products spreads in the market. A sales person has to on look the existing customers' network and he needs to explore on the new possible clients acquisition by the able management of existing clients. The new clients' acquisition can not be achieved overnight but it requires a dedicated effort from the existing sales professionals and parallel promotional efforts to introduce the products to new customers at large. For example the booming aviation business in India due to the increase in the number of low cost airlines, for niche products like the airline products the turn around will be more than year. The pharmaceutical products and medical equipments products tests your ability to maintain a sustainable relationship with client. A customer lost is a loss of a life time in such industries. The best methods to attract new customers The best viable methods wood be the word of mouth promotion indirectly by the existing customers. A client has to be carefully monitored regarding his requirements and expectation now and then to make him fell comfortable with the existing products line. The second best customer enticing program would be organizing and participating in the conferences and activities of the client in order to make them feel more secure with your association. How do you add value to a product or service besides raising the price A quality product will never be denied by a customer. An organization has to consistently highlight the features of the product to make the clients differentiate between the competitors product. The promotional activities should highlight the best assets of the services. and the constant monitoring of the product performance with the client will make the client feel comfortable Participating in social responsibility acts among the society may elevate the value of the company. Customer needs are first priority and understanding these needs is a constant concern. Marketing research is an on-going activity assigned a very high priority. Companies exceed the clients' expectations to keep them more enthusiastic about their services. For example a well know restaurant chain organizes a surprises celebration for a old client to make him feel that the company cares beyond providing services. If the performance matches the expectations, the customer is satisfied. If the performance exceeds expectations, the customer is highly satisfied or delighted. The link between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty is not proportional. Suppose customer satisfaction is rated on a scale from one to five. At a very low level of customer's satisfaction (level one), customers are likely abandon the company and even bad-mouth it. At levels two to four, customers are fairly satisfied but still find it easy to switch when a better offer comes along. At level five, the customer is very likely to repurchase and even spread good word of mouth about the company. How can customer relationships are built through the selling process A sales person will be in direct contact with customer. The sales person way in managing the customer will make the company retain the customer and make the customer to make repeated visits to the outlets. To make the customer feel comfortable with customer a sales person needs to have good Product knowledge, proper training, dedication to their work and concern for customers. However, the main reasons for missed sales opportunities often lie with the manager. The manager must be aware of the opportunities and should keep the products in offering when the customers can visit. The manager should hire people who are capable of being developed into salespeople. Technological advances with the order entry processes improved the reporting processes The technological advances has made the complex order entry and updating process more easier and simple to work with more options. The order entry technologies give us a scope to analyze the current stock options and to avert us the discrepancies in the products movement. The techniques give us more scope to provide a feedback on the production measures to taken to meet the product demands. The new technologies give us the scope to regulate the production among the product line, regulate the mismatch in production count and products sale, and analyze the order demands from specific region to lend a supportive eye on providing feedback of the stock movement into the market. Five stages of the selling process is the most important Amoung the five stages of selling Prospecting, Making first contact, The sales call, The issue handling, Closing the sale. The Sales call is the most important part of the selling the product. The sales call is the first and the best stage to create an everlasting image on the client about our product. The presentation by the sales professional and the etiquette fallowed by him will reflect on the client perceptions about the product. The presentation will differentiate the products features and provides the information on the company's expertise in the product. The presentation skills create the confidence in the clients mind that he can trust the product and after sales support. Here in the first sales call the ability of the sales professional will be highlighted to mesmerize the client to land up in opting te product. The sales professional should be keen to extract the information about the client expectations on the product. He should be ready to answer any tricky question on the product features. The sales person has to motivate the client mood to tune up to the product acceptance. Why should you do a trial close Trail close intensifies your desire to capture the client lead. The efforts will leads to either successfully addressing the issues raised by both the parties or making a suitable understanding for mutual gains with the deal. The trail brings out the sales professional expertise in estimating the client potential volume of requirements. The sales professional and amend his offering according to the best possible options provided by the sales manager. The sales person weighs the pains and gains in the sales and leverages the issues to sales manger to decide on the future course of action. What is the most effective way to handle an objection A sales person should allow the client to express his thought and concerns in the presentations. The sales person has to provide a positive affirmation about the current product and should assure him the best possible effort from his side. The sales person has to persuade the client to ease his dissatisfaction. The sales person has to extract the client issues with the product or after sales service and then he needs to provide the recent changes the company has adopted to eliminate the issues. The sales personal should politely eliminate the unwanted issues and should be more affirmative about the positive aspects of the products. Ways to build good will The customers is king, he always expects the better from the products or services. The companies have to think out of box to mark an everlasting impression on the client perceptions. The company has to reach the extra mile to exceed the customers expectations. For example creating database of wedding anniversary, birthdays, festive greeting and invitations provide an opportunity for affection and affirmation of your company's commitment to serve your client. Participating in the events organized by the clients and sponsoring the events may open up new relations and help to build a strong network. Participating in the social responsible acts may elevate the value your brand from typical management companies. Key elements to maintain a customer base A well educated sales team with sound knowledge about the products and after sales services capabilities. A sales team with a passion to excel in sales career An eye foe every client details for distinctive feedback A welcoming heart with extreme persuasive skills A team to respond for every concern of the client regarding the product Extremely communicative personalities can make a difference in sustaining and enhancing the customer base in the contemporary business management. What is the most significant customer relations problem in your organization The most significant customer relationship problem will be coordination of the various departments involved in the direct client interaction. The direct sales team, the public relations team and the after sales support team, the R&D teams should have good coordinating skills to pass on the key clients' issues and problems among themselves and address the issue with respect to the concerned departments. We can observe more than three departments involve in interaction with the client which demands more promptness in coordination. A manufacturing fault should immediately be forwarded to technical team of after sales department and the direct sales person should ensure that the issue was addressed in no mean time. A product feature concern should be passed to R&D team to modify in the next release. What should you do to prepare for a sales call for a current customer When a sales person is attending a repeated sales call, he needs to gather information on the amount of business he provided in the period of time, the reason behind any below par orders from the client, the new added features in the current product, the features briefing materials like brochures, the new product line to be launched and the features. The sales person has to provide new initiative organized by the company and take the feedback of the existing products. The above discussions reveal the importance of sales in making an organization profitable. Sales department is the window for the organization to view the market and to create a perceptional view that would entice the best aspects of the market. The organizations have to innovative it operational and productivity aspects to best suit the market keeping in view of the current customer trends to sustain in the business. The advent of technology in every field has opened up new scope of interpreting the viability of business operations and demands quick change to suit the ever changing business environment. Reference: http://www.cbsc.org/servlet/ContentServerpagename=OSBW/CBSC_WebPage/CBSC_WebPage_Temp&cid=1102940227898 http://marketingteacher.com/Lessons/lesson_personal_selling.htm http://www.bachmanco.com/pretz/PDF/Trial%20Closing%20Questions.pdf http://www.business.com/directory/advice/sales-and-marketing/sales/6-ways-to-supercharge-sales-and-growth-now/ Read More