The Sales Department Is Important - Essay Example

?Sales Management Module Module ID: Q4: Sales department is rightly d to be maintaining central place in every organisation of the world at large because of its imperative significance in the growth and development of the organisation (Jobber et al., 2011:16). It is therefore the management pays due heed to the recruitment process associated with the sales personnel. Since it is sales personnel that play front man role, at the behalf of the company, they are actually the reflection of their workplace, where the society gets oriented with the company through their behaviour, proficiencies and professional skills. Consequently, the administration takes important measures by arranging training sessions, seminars and discussion forums for the professional growth of sales staff in order to obtain best results in return against the investment of time and money it allocates for the grooming of the sales staff. Not only this that the sales staff is educated, trained and groomed in order to make him adept with the corporate environment of the organisation, but also the organisations pay remunerations to them against the services they render for the increase of sales volume of the products manufactured, distributed and/or marketed by their company. Since every activity performed at corporate scale is made with the purpose of financial benefits and pecuniary gains in mind. It is not only confined to the employers, directors and managerial staff; on the contrary, it is equally applied on the employees, workers and labourers. Hence, everyone embarks on commercial activities with the ambitions of earning something to feed oneself and one’s family in general. Being one of the most dynamic parts of corporate organisations, sales staff also embarks upon the corporate venture for meeting their financial needs (Johnson & Scholes, 1993:343). It is therefore, they launch the sales campaign by motivating the clients and customers to purchase the commodity they carry because of the distinguished characteristics of these commodities and items. Hence, they have to sell the company products under a challenging environment of perfect competition in this age of globalisation, where millions of companies have launched their products and services for capturing the attention of the consumers. However, such a powerful sales campaign could only be launched successfully provided the members of team obtain respectable and considerable remunerations against the efforts they make while performing their professional obligations. In other words, if the members of sales team are offered a handsome salary package, along with incentives on the sales item they is expected to sell, there would be smile on their faces because of the financial satisfaction they gain in the wake of achieving their goals and targets. On the contrary, if the sales staff is offered low salary package, with no or least incentives on meeting with the targets, the sales staff would remain extremely worried, disturbed and dissatisfied, and hence will not be in a position to demonstrate his professional skills in an adequate manner. According to the motivation-hygiene theory of job satisfaction (1959), articulated by German-American psychologist Frederick Irving Herzberg, pertinently lays stress upon the fulfilment of the hygienic or financial needs of the staff in order to let them work under the state of great satisfactions. It not only help the company to make tremendous achievements, but also the sales staff will work more diligently for the progress of the organisation (Stello, 2009:5). On the contrary, lack of financial growth and denial of providing them with sufficient salary package, the sales personnel will undergo dissatisfaction, due to its being a negative motivation. Q1: It has pertinently be observed that sometimes the organisations earn great profits against the investments they have made; similarly, they also undergo losses or low profit margin, which force the management to introduce alterations in their strategic plans in order to maximise the profit volume as well as minimise the losses through applying various methods. The same is the situation in the case under consideration (Hisrich et al., 2005:67), where motivational factors are to be applied to encourage the sales force for demonstrating better performance in the wake of the decline observed by the company in the sales of their product i.e. chocolates. Since managers always strive to explore the ways for motivating the sales force (Aldag & Stearns, 1991:432), different methods are applied for increasing sales volume. One of the most important steps to be taken by the managers for motivating the sales force includes the fulfilment of their physiological needs, along with assuring them of the job security, social respect, and safeguarding the issues related to ego and self- actualizing (Maslow, 1943). If the staff is realised that their financial and social growth is associated with the company growth, the sales force would make extraordinary efforts for the good name and fame of their workplace. Moreover, the sales manager must convey the message that decline in sales may put the future of the company as well as the sales staff into grave jeopardy. Such a powerful portrayal of uncertain situation can encourage them to observe their talent for the personal growth as well as the promotion of the company. In addition, one of the most important issues appear before the sales manager at the eve of undergoing losses is the uncovering of major reasons behind the decline in sales volume. For instance, a chocolate manufacturing company experiencing the decline in sales volume could analyse the scenario by investing into the following issues: The manager must explore whether the decline in sales has been observed in one specific area and locality, or the same has been found in all regions where the sales operation of chocolates has been launched. Here, the sales staff could be sent with higher incentives in order to increase their motivational level on the one side, and boost up their morale on the other. Moreover, another important thing worthy to notice is to find the period or month during which the sales volume has sought highest sales decline. If the sales personnel have experienced some problems during those days, the management could provide the moral and financial support in this matter for the collective interests of the company. In addition, the management would explore whether there has been observed changes in the sales staff rendering its services for the company. Moreover, the competitor factor, as well as packing, presentation and price phenomena regarding the products are also taken into consideration while revising the strategic scheme in the wake of decline in sales volume. Since chocolate is the product that is equally consumed by in the people belonging to different age-groups; however, chocolates are most popular among the children and adolescents, which are regarded to be the most important consumers of chocolate. Thus, focusing on the advertising plan for encouraging the children to buy the product would be most important. Q2: Like every financial activity related to the corporate sector, the sales phenomenon also observes some ethical values and moral principles abiding by the same is most necessary for the sales teams working in various sectors and organisations. One of the most significant ethical responsibilities of the sales staff is this that they should always be committed to their company, and should never try to criticise or defame it in any manner. In case, some products undergo criticism from the customers, it is the ethical duty of the sales person to defend the product by highlighting its merits and qualities. In addition, the salesman should not sell or offer the products that are contrary to the public interest. For instance, selling tobacco to the individuals under 18 years is strictly prohibited one; so, the salesman should not offer cigarettes to adolescents at any cost. Moreover, the sales personnel must have obtained all information regarding the product he intends to sell, so that he could be in a position of explaining its characteristics to the customers. Furthermore, a salesman should be polite, friendly and confident person. It is an old proverb that a man with no smiles should not open a shop. Hence, displaying of mannerism is extremely necessary for the sales staff. Thus, the salespersons must be friendly, modest and well-mannered while convincing the customers to buy their products. Another ethical responsibility of the salespersons is this that they should present the same thing the customers are looking for. They should not motivate the customers for buying some other things just for the increase of their sales volume. The salespersons must devise strategies to achieve their targets established by the management (Culbert & McDonough, 1985:490), and must work hard sincerely for the best interest of their company. In case, the company has appointed them to sell the product to some specific area, without appointing any supervisor on them, they should never try to waste their time in idle talk or useless pursuits. On the contrary, they must work diligently to work for those who would pay them against their services. The sales personnel must speak the truth while offering the products they intend to sell. They should never associate the characteristics of the products to them that are not found in the products. Thus, there should not be any exaggerations while defining the commodity; as such type of exaggeration may turn out to be humiliating and degrading for the company. Another important moral obligation associated with the sales staff while rendering the services includes their loyalty and dedication to the company. If their company requires some extra time from them, the sales persons should comply with the requests made by the organisation without making demands against the extra services they are going to exercise. The sales manager should also devise the strategies that could bring about the best results for the organisation (Whittington, 1993). Hence, the sales personnel should display loyalty, commitment and dedication to the company, and must be confident enough to explain everything necessary for impressing and motivating the customers and consumers. Works Cited Aldag, Ramon J. & Stearns, Timothy M. Management South-western Publishing Company 1991:432 Culbert, Samuel A. & McDonough, John J. Radiant Management. Power Politics and the Pursuit of Trust. The Free Press New York. 1985 Hisrich, R.D., Peters, M.P., &Shepherd, Dean A. Entrepreneurship, sixth edition. McGraw-Hill/Irwin, N.Y. 2005 Jobber, David., Lancaster, Geoff., Jamieson, Barbara. Sales Force Management Herriot-Watt University 2011 Retrieved from http://www.ebsglobal.net/documents/course-tasters/english/pdf/h17sf-bk-taster.pdf Johnson, Gerry & Scholes, Kevan. Exploring Corporate Strategy. Text and Cases. Third Edition. Prentice Hall New York 1993. Maslow, Abraham. H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation Psychological Review, July Stello, Christian M. (2009). Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory of Job Satisfaction: An Integrative Literature Review Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development College of Education and Human Development University of Minnesota pp. 1-32 Retrieved from http://www.cehd.umn.edu/olpd/research/StudentConf/2011/StelloHerzberg.pdf Whittington, R. What is Strategy and does it matter?, Routledge, London 1993 Read More