FUNCTIONS OF SALESMAN

FUNCTIONS OF SALESMAN

The days when all the sales force (salesman) did was “sell and sell” are long gone. Salesman need to know how to diagnose a customers’ problem and proposed a solution that can help improve the customer’s profitability.

Companies need to define specific sales force (salesman) objective. For example, a company might what its saves representative to spend so percent of their time with current customers and 20 percent with prospects and 85 percent of their on established products and 15 percent on new products.

Regardless of the selling context, sales people (salesman) perform one or more specific tasks.

1. Prospecting – searching for prospects or leads
2. Targeting – deciding how to allocate their time with current customer and prospects.
3. Communicating – communicating information about the company’s products and services.
4. Selling – approaching presenting, answering questions, overcoming objections and closing sales.
5. Servicing – providing various services to the customers – consulting on problems, rendering technical assistance, arranging financing, expediting delivery.
6. Information gathering – conducting market research and doing intelligence work.
7. Allocating – deciding which customers will get scarce products during shortages.

To manage costs, most companies are choosing a leveraged sales force that focuses reps on selling the company’s more complex and customized products to large accounts and uses inside sales people and web ordering for low-end selling. Saves people handle fewer accounts and are rewarded for key account growth, lead generation, proposal writing, order fulfillment and post sale support are turned over to others. This is far different from expecting sales people to sell to every possible account, the common weakness of geographically so they call on the right customers at the right time in the right way, acting as “Account managers” who arrange fruitful contact between people in the buying and selling.

To maintain a market focus, salesman should know how to analyze sales data, measure market potential, gather market intelligence and develop market strategies and plans. Especially at the higher level of sales management, they need analytical marketing skills. Managers believe sales forces are more effective in the long run if they understand and appreciate marketing as well as selling. Too often marketing and sales are in conflict. The sales force complains marketing is not generating enough leads and marketers complain the sales force isn’t converting them, improved collaboration and communication between these two can increase revenue and profits.

Once the company chooses its strategy; it can use a direct or a contractual sales force. A direct sales force consists of full or part-time paid employees who work exclusively for the company inside sales personnel conducted business from the office using the telephone and receive visits from prospective buyers and field sales personnel travel and visit customers. A contractual sales force consist of manufacturers; representative sales agents, and brokers, who earn a commission based on sales.