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Aspect of sales management that you are going to look at? |Why is this aspect important? Which questions are you going to ask? Priority of the aspect? | | |Customer analysis |This aspect represents the key success factor in assessing the business and setting the future goals | | |both in terms of customer planning and meeting the customer needs through organizing and reallocating | | |resources, human or financial. | |The main questions which are to be asked are the quality and quantity of the customer base. Are the | | |customers that represent the biggest volume of the sales sufficient to maintain the business while the | | |rest is developing? In this case it is essential to see what part of the business goes to high spending | | |users and businesses, and how much business is coming from low-potential customers.
These data would | | |mainly depend on the level of market development. If it is a low infrastructure market, there are | | |probably much less high-spending customers, and the rule of 20:80 changes more likely to 5:95, where 5%| | |of the customers account for more than 95% of the income. | |Anyhow, the company should have obtained so far some insight on the level of customer satisfaction and | | |suggestions in which way should the provider develop. | | |Also, we need to set the goals and to adapt the strategy to current market needs. | | |Common sense implies that this task is essential before any other analysis or planning. We first need to| | |see in which direction we should proceed.
What motivates the customers to remain with us, or to sign ion| | |as new users? Who should we target in order to expand our business? | |Market analysis/Trends |After seeing what are the business options, in terms of customers, the second step would be to analyze | | |the market in which the company operates. This aspect is closely related to customer assessment, | | |however, these two are not equal, but rather compile together to form a much clearer picture.
The modern| | |telecommunications market is getting more and more similar to an FMCG with more and more players | | |entering the race. | | |If the market is at the low level of the development the needs of the customers, or at least of the | | |majority are likely to be also at the basic level, which means that the phone lines are considered as a | | |”luxury”, and the priority to the existing users is to have e. . a direct phone line, without the | | |line-sharing (twin line)… The quality of the phone lines at this level is not considered as important | | |as the development and the spreading of the infrastructure to offer the basic solutions to as many | | |customers as possible.
If, for example, the market is in a much higher stage of development, then the | | |market needs are different, and the company should accept this reality and offer more competitive | | |services, such as cheap long-distance calls, VOIP, introduction of broadband access and digital TV | | |through the same network and therefore create the wish for modern way of communication and | | |entertainment.
This way, the telecom company would benefit from monopolistic or dominant role in the | | |country as a national provider, and it is in the Sales Manager grasp to capitalize on this advantage by | | |developing sales plans, goals and strategies to meet targets.
In this part of the analysis, competition | | |overview is highly recommended as it often shapes the specific market. The polls, sales force feedback | | |etc, are a much valued source of information about the specific market and give some hints about the | | |desired positioning of the company.
In the end, all these information are needed for the purpose of | | |planning and forecasting. To put it simple, all the data and analyses are worthless if they are not of | | |practical use and directly applicable, in this case to set challenging, yet realistic and achievable | | |goals. |People Management |Since the position is the result of the promotion, for the purpose of this assignment I will presume | | |that I am already well acquainted with the market to some extent or at least with the segment that I | | |have been working in.
Therefore, even though the customer and market analysis are a natural priority, | | |the main task would be to asses the potential, capabilities and limitations of the sales force and all | | |employees which are in report line to the Sales Manager .
Also, the cooperation between the sectors of | | |Sales, Marketing, Logistics, and Finance is crucial, and it has to be one of the major goals for an SM | | |to develop those communication pathways, or improve them if they already exist. The employees must not | | |always (and usually don’t) fit in the desired frameworks expected by the Sales Manager, and it is up | | |to him to decide whether to keep the current, promote, or bring an outside person.
The contemporary | | |philosophy of the sales management emphasizes the need for coaching rather than old-fashioned directing | | |type of management. In this segment, the cooperation between the HR department and SM is vital. The SM | | |needs to see whether the people are capable of delivering the tasks put upon them and to identify the | | |improvement needs of the employees.
Those needs can be fulfilled through existing in-house programs, | | |learn-on-the-job, by learning from more experienced colleagues and internal trainings. Motivation is one| | |of the key factors which determine the success or the failure of an organization. The role of SM is to | | |develop a trusting and open communication between all employees and to act as a role model.
It has been | | |proven by many, that poor relation between employees and line managers, are on of the most frequent | | |reasons why employees leave. Actually, employees leave their manager, and not the company. To prevent | | |that a lot of effort needs to be invested by the Sales Manager in order to find the right motivating | | |triggers for his reports. | |The remuneration package must also not be forgotten, as it is also part of the job description to | | |develop a sustainable Sales Incentive Plan, which should not be tied only to sales, but to an overall | | |performance of the employees, as are the complexity of the job, leadership skills, innovative thinking, | | |commitment etc… | |Sales Processes/Sales Plan |This segment Is a Sales Manager`s exclusivity. All the analyses and information need to be put into a | | |SMART action plan and applied in practice. I would need to optimize and reallocate the sales force in | | |order to increase coverage and decrease cost of selling.
Check the adequacy of current selling | | |techniques and offer trainings, coaching and support. Undertake good change management if needed. | | |However, the sales execution planning is worthless if the forecasts are grossly wrong. In that case, it | | |is the SM`s duty to rectify the situation, mainly by reforecasting and taking into account the new | | |situation, and not putting everything on the backs of field force but take the full responsibility for | | |his part.. |