Any business should be profitable for the owner, this is expressed in a continuous flow of cash. Provide its sales, they are the basis of any business, its engine. Sales are a kind of locomotive that pulls all the other cars along with it. The size of the material benefit from the activities carried out depends entirely on how masterfully the owner has learned to manage, understand and control this locomotive.
What is Sales Management?
The concept of "sales management" includes a whole range of different activities aimed at obtaining the organization's maximum turnover. Sales management is the competent planning of each step, the formation of a sales department, the hiring of highly qualified specialists, the organization of workflow and control over the conduct of trade transactions. The overall success rate of the company as a whole depends on how well each component is organized.
Principles of sales management
The key sales controls are as follows:
- OrientationTo the market. The rules are always dictated by the consumer, this is manifested in his behavior and needs, it is essential that attracts his attention. All sales decisions are influenced by the customer in one way or another.
- Adequate flexibility. A sales management system is such a “mechanism” that must constantly monitor the ongoing changes in the market and, based on this, think through productive measures and adapt to the real situation.
- Setting priorities. Sales details must be constantly monitored and prioritized areas that show the highest results.
- Risks. Leaders of organizations and trade managers must be able to prevent and anticipate possible risks.
- Marketing is sales management. One of the main principles, because without good marketing support, a successful process of selling goods and services is almost impossible.
- Professional retraining. Sales managers need to be systematically sent to specialized courses in order to increase knowledge and acquire new skills. This also applies to sales managers.
- Responsibility for the actions taken. Employees interacting with consumers should take care of their own reputation, since only trust from customers can make a company successful.
Effective sales management
How to comprehend the science of effective sales management, how to fulfill a sales plan, and not sit around waiting for customers? For this you need to followthe following rules:
- Know and understand the sales process well.
- Systematize and analyze the information received.
- Build a competent sales system.
- Learn effective sales management.
Let's consider each item in more detail.
Understanding the sales process
At this step, it is important to analyze the following business indicators:
- Market size and your market share.
- Your effective product matrix, that is, understanding which particular product brings the maximum profit.
- Advertising.
- Motivating employees.
- Worker performance.
- Well-established business processes within the organization.
These are the main points to learn at the initial stage, since only what is very familiar can be successfully managed.
Systematization and analysis of the received information
At the second step, it is necessary to group and analyze the data obtained at the first stage. It is better to do this in a special program or, in extreme cases, using Excel, through tables and graphs, you can see changes in dynamics. After such an analysis, it will become clearer which areas are more promising for your business, respectively, it will be possible to optimize work and business processes, as well as avoid unnecessary expenses.
This analysis is recommended to be performed regularly. Only in this case will it be possible to promptly respond to anychanges and make adjustments in a timely manner.
Building a sales system
A systematic approach to sales management is the consideration of a company as a single mechanism, consisting of parts interconnected with each other and the outside world.
The sales system must be transparent (for all players), controlled (each participant must understand what result this or that action will lead to) and interchangeable (the organization's activities cannot be based on the personal qualities of this or that employee).
The sales process is most often based on three components:
- Attract new customers.
- First deals.
- Support and work with regular customers.
It's best to have different people overseeing each step to help increase productivity. For each of the components of sales, it is recommended to develop instructions and reporting, they will help employees understand what is required of them and to what extent.
Sales Management
These skills are important in any field. Effective sales management work in real estate or any other area allows you to determine what place an organization occupies in the market, as well as soften the blows of a crisis. This block consists of several items:
- Planning. Forget such a phrase as "Sell the more, the better!". It is not right! The main instrument of sales management is planning. To get good results, you needto give order and meaningfulness to the activities of the organization. Only with regular preparation of sales plans, reporting and analysis of the information received, there will be progress in dynamics.
- Professional development. It is necessary to pay great attention to the work of sales managers and to promote their professional development. One of the training options is mentoring and sharing experience, for example, as a discussion and analysis of the most difficult cases once a week. This applies not only to specialists, but also to the management team.
- Maintaining relationships with regular customers. Develop a system that facilitates interaction with regular customers. These reliable long-term relationships will allow the organization to plan for the long term.
- The ability to identify the "target customer". Do not forget that there is a category of people with whom it is unprofitable for the company to work. The “right” customer is a person whose needs are not fully met, but the organization has the opportunity to correct this and make a profit.
- Control of distribution channels. Build a client base, do not rely on one large customer. Such cooperation is most often accompanied by a constant delay in payment, large discounts and fear of loss. Do not stand on one leg, there should be several large clients.
- Specification. The head of the sales department should give employees a detailed sales plan, and not just a task to sell goods for a specified amount. Distribution can be done for specific clients,regions, names and other criteria.
Not so long ago, such a service as trust management of sales appeared on the market. The process consists of concluding an agreement with a certain organization, developing a strategy and implementing it into work. Therefore, if the leader can not cope, then you can use the help of professionals.
Sales management strategy
Without a well-thought-out strategy for the work of the sales department, it is almost impossible to manage and control sales in the trade. In practice, not all managers correctly understand the specifics of the activities of this department and confuse it with the functionality of the customer service department. Of course, employees of the sales sector are looking for new customers and maintain relationships with existing customers, but their main task is to conclude contracts, that is, to make sales.
In order to have as many deals as possible, a sales manager should devote at least 80% of his time to calling potential customers and meeting with them. But, unfortunately, the organizational structure of most sales departments can hardly be called good. The most common scheme is the following - at the head is a manager who controls employees and plans plans, and he has only a few people in his subordination in the areas of an “exit” manager and an employee who takes orders.
In such a situation, “salespeople” do everything at the same time (consulting, advertising, reporting, conducting transactions andsolving other problems), but not the main activity.
Of course, planning and analysis of activities are very important for productive work, but in no case should work with potential clients be replaced with paperwork.
For more efficient work of the sales department, it is recommended to organize it as follows:
- Two main groups of managers who will be actively involved in sales and work with regular customers and report to their superiors.
- Department manager interacting with these bosses.
- An Order Receiving and Document Management Manager who also reports to the Manager.
Besides this, there should be several other structures working with the sales department - the financial department, logistics, support, advertisers and marketers.
With this arrangement, sales staff can devote themselves entirely to finding new customers and closing deals, rather than solving related issues. This distribution of responsibilities contributes to more efficient operations and the formation of positive sales dynamics.
Sales Specialist: How to Manage Sales Effectively
Sometimes it is very difficult to understand what exactly needs to be changed in order to improve practical results. But there are several actions that will help the manager in managing retail sales and organizing the normal work of employees:
1. Learning the art of selling and managing it. Knowledge will helpmanage any sales, regardless of the direction of activity. It is necessary to use different sources of useful information, this will help to keep abreast of new sales methods, useful technologies, concepts for meeting the right people, and so on. But in order to have a result, knowledge must not only be obtained, but put into practice with maximum benefit.
2. Knowledge of clients. You need to know as much information as possible about the line of business in which you work, as well as understand the needs and desires of potential customers and customers.
- For example, if an employee is engaged in cold calls, then he should know the names, positions of potential customers and other nuances. When interacting with existing customers, you need to know almost everything about them.
- The sales management process will not bring results if the manager does not know what his department and competitors are selling. Solving complex issues with customers and giving advice to those who have doubts is possible only when you know the product thoroughly and what issues it solves. The same goes for the team.
- Procurement and sales management is a very difficult business, so a specialist must know in advance not only what the client needs today, but also what he wants tomorrow.
3. Applying the right tools. Owning only special tools will not make a poor job of a sales manager professional, but it can turn an unremarkable department with good people into a great sales team. For these toolsinclude:
- Good software (CRM) to fit an organization.
- Analytical and statistical counters that record the behavior of visitors on the official resource on the Internet.
- Managed automatic telephone exchange (PBX) with a huge number of useful features. This will improve communication with customers and employees.
4. Setting tasks and reward system for subordinates. For the sales department, a special system of measurable indicators and motivation should be developed. And you will always have measuring instruments if you use the right tools. This will help you figure out what's best for your organization and set goals accordingly.
Quite often, sales leaders ignore the fact that every organization should strive to ensure that employees try to improve their performance for the sake of increasing the effectiveness of the system, and not to modernize the company. This requires proper planning.
According to the results of a recent experiment, it was found that personal non-material incentives for employees work much more effectively, since monetary incentives very quickly cease to be associated with subordinates with productive activities.
5. Regular communication with each other. Every day after completing several current tasks, arrange short meetings in the department to discuss future plans, to form a general idea ofwork and get evidence that all the recommendations for managing sales in the enterprise are working as they should.
Communication is the key to building a motivated team, setting goals to achieve collective results. You should not turn this process into unnecessary correspondence, it is much faster to discuss the problem by phone or by meeting with the whole department in the office than waiting for an answer by e-mail.
Automation as a factor in the formation of an effective sales management system at the enterprise
Indispensable condition of the modern world is automation. Today, sales management includes complex and multiple processes with a huge amount of information, detailed calculations, comparative analysis and data exchange. To ensure efficiency, clarity and maximum safety of information, enterprises are implementing CRM systems. These are computer programs that allow you to automate strategies for working with clients: increase sales, save data on customer relationships for further analysis, optimize marketing, and more. Having a CRM system opens up the following opportunities:
- Keep your customer base up to a single standard.
- Evaluate the quality of the department at any convenient time.
- Evaluate the performance of requests and incoming calls.
- Analyze weaknesses, draw up development strategies.
Automating the sales management process has noonly positive aspects, when implementing it into work, some problems may arise:
- Insufficient staff training.
- Poor-quality training of personnel in the capabilities of the system.
- Lack of coordination between departments and inconsistencies in task setting.
In order for the return on the introduction of automated systems to be high, it is necessary to clearly define functional responsibilities for each employee. A responsible person should be appointed for each project, who will control all parties, assess risks, analyze and smooth out "sharp corners".
Conclusion
No matter how strange it may sound, but all the above tips on managing purchases and sales have a downside, for example, you can immerse yourself in the study of theory at the expense of practice, use broken tools, and so on. Try to stick to the golden mean, be attentive to the little things, objectively evaluate your own activities and the work of subordinates. Only daily work can make significant progress in business and keep it at the proper level.
