Objectives of Sales Management

Objectives of Sales Management

Whilst some objectives are unique to each organisation, all organisations pursue objectives of profitability, sales volume, market share, growth, and corporate image. The management of the sales function influences all of these objectives.

Thus, the sales management objectives of an organisation are concerned with:

• Achieving desired sales volume
• Achieving desired profits
• Promoting growth

The objectives of sales management integrate various sales functions. They must be realistic and achievable and expressed as much as possible, in quantifiable terms. The scope of sales management in an organisation includes both quantitative and qualitative objectives:

Sales Forecasting and Planning

Sales management is concerned with anticipating future sales and planning sales-related activities accordingly.

Sales Budgeting

Sales management is concerned with estimating the budget to be set aside for the sales activities. A sales budget is used to set department goals, estimate earnings and forecast production requirements. The sales budget has impact on both other operating budgets and the overall master budget of the organisation.

Sales Organisation

Sales management helps establish the size and structure of the sales organisation, i.e., the department of a company responsible for all the sales-related functions.

Planning, Recruiting, and Training of Salesforce

Sales management is concerned with the estimation of sales force requirements and the hiring of sales personnel. It also involves providing training to the hired candidates to develop their skills and knowledge.

Developing Sales Objectives

Sales management is concerned with setting up achievable and realistic objectives for the sales team.
Fixing sales quotas

Sales management is involved with fixing the monthly, quarterly, or yearly sales quota, which can be in terms of volume or value of sales. For example, a company may set the sales volume quota of selling 1 lakh units of its product in each month.

Directing the Sales Team

Sales management is involved with providing direction to the sales team in terms of which region to target, how much to sell as per the set sales targets, how much to spend on travelling and so on.

Coordinating and Monitoring the Sales Team

Sales management is involved with coordinating the members of the sales team and monitoring their performance.

Establishing Rewards, Recognition, and Incentives

It is a function of sales management to set rewards, recognition, and incentives for the sales force to encourage them to perform better.

Establishing Sales Territories

Sales management is concerned with determining the sales territories for a sales team or salesperson for selling products or services.

Collecting Customer Feedback

Another function of sales management is to collect customer feedback on their satisfaction with the product packaging, presentation, branding, and labelling.

Managing Distribution Channel

It is a function of sales management to manage and monitor channels.

Sales Promotion

Sales management is concerned with determining advertising and other promotional strategies.