Sales is what? Who is the Sales Manager?

Sales is a line of activity in the service sector. Specialists of this industry are the key link in any company, since each field of activity is mainly locked in the sales department.

Analysis of the manager's activities

Sales manager in recent years has become very popular among the most popular and popular professions. Another name for this specialist is a sales manager.

A sufficiently high rating reached sales. This was due to the rapid development of the service sector in Russia. At the same time, sales managers are the core of the service industry and ensure the overall success of the company.

The specialist who runs the sales is a professional, associations with which are associated with the sale of something tangible (household appliances or real estate). However, modern representatives of this profession find themselves an effective application in the sphere of services (for example, it is a financial market or banking activity).

Methods for determining the key competencies of the salesperson

To understand what a sales is, you need to define the basic competencies. To do this, it is advisable to use some standard methods: repertory grids (J. Kelly), interviews or critical incidents. Also, such an auxiliary method as the questionnaire, which includes six blocks of questions that have a direction on the working profile of the business entity, can be used quite successfully. The results obtained after such a survey can be used in further analysis.

Profile of the sales manager

This profile consists of the main four blocks. Each of them includes two competences. The first block is called "Personal characteristics" and includes such components as creative mind, flexibility of thinking and purposefulness.

A creative mindset is used when presenting an enterprise or individual services to potential customers. Flexibility refers to some of the characteristics of a person that are necessary to perform certain tasks: establishing cooperation with consumers, determining the reasons for receiving refusals from cooperation, and agreeing on the price, quantity and terms of delivery. Such a component, as dedication, is necessary for the sales manager when agreeing on the terms of cooperation or promotion of commodity items.

The second block of the profile is "Communications", which constitute the main vectors of interaction in the field of general communicative activity, command influence and client-orientation.

Specificity of the services market

In this segment of the market, specialists in the provision of services such as sales are the most common professions. And indeed, the market is saturated with such specialists. They are responsible for the sale of goods of various categories, products and services. Difficulties in the availability of highly qualified specialists are related to the specifics of sales and the specifics of the goods. Education in this case is not important. It is important to understand the principles of turnover of goods, to monitor the needs of customers and business partners, as well as the formation of demand. In this area, a fairly successful career can be made by specialists who have a basic economic education.

However, doctors and drivers can achieve high performance. Only need to take into account that in connection with the presentation of the company in different regions, sales managers often have business trips (sometimes they take up to 80% of the time). Therefore, what is the sales and what is its benefit, can only understand the flexible and mobile people.

Features of activities to promote sales and sales promotion

These activities are aimed at the effective use of packaged goods. Sales promotion is carried out when there is a need to obtain a strong and immediate reaction of the services market. In this case, the product should be viewed from the perspective of the life cycle.

This concept has become widespread in the field of marketing and reflects the stages of development of commodity positions from the moment of their development to the very exit from the market.

Justified sales-promotion is considered not only at the stage of introduction of a new product on the market, but also at the stage of its withdrawal from the same market.

The goals that are achieved with the use of incentive methods in the sales area are determined by the objectives of the company and the characteristics of the target audience to which they are oriented. A short-term goal is the formation of certain attractiveness or value of goods for a potential consumer (examples include the use of various discounts, strong and functional packaging). As a long-term goal, the formation in the consumer consciousness of the perception of the greater value of certain goods.

There are three main destinations for this sales format: consumers, intermediaries and sales personnel. As the main methods and tasks of stimulating sales, the following examples can be cited:

• Discounts for the price for the specified volume of goods. In this case, we are talking about a certain quantity of goods to the intermediary for a lower price, if they purchase a specific (stipulated) quantity.
• The so-called "pusher" premiums, which are paid to dealers from the sale of products in excess of the agreed amount for a certain period of time.

What is the sales-presenter

It is safe to say that this concept is associated with tools to improve sales performance. Often, the sales presenter is associated with a retail sales network. However, this format of providing data is quite effective at professional levels.

What does the sales-presenter do? He is responsible for implementing activities aimed at improving the efficiency of the company's sales. If this format is competently and qualitatively developed, the sales representative ensures the dominant position of his company in the outlets, thanks to which it will be possible to achieve a successful increase in sales.

The concept of "sales-presenter" is associated not only with human activities, but also with the organization of the sales manager. For example, it can be a convenient folder with the inserts embedded in them.