Sales Performance Management

Sales management is an integral sub-system of marketing management. It translates the marketing plan into marketing performance. Sales management is hence described as the muscle behind marketing management. The sales manager in a modern organization holds a multitude of responsibilities. He has to plan, direct and control the personal selling effort of the firm. His task does not stop with the achievement of sales quotas. He is also responsible for bringing in the required profits. In addition, he is also responsible for creating the desired image for the company and its products. In fact, a modern sales manager has to do marketing rather than mere selling.

His firm expects him to assume a much larger role than the traditional responsibility of achieving sales quotas. It expects him to be customer-oriented as well as profit-directed. Sales managers set sales goals for their sales teams and bear the brunt of the responsibility for achieving the set goals. They assist the firm in measuring market potential and in developing sales forecasts and sales budgets. In addition, they have to develop the sales program and achieve the forecasted sales by implementing the program.

It is the responsibility of sales managers to build the sales organization. They are required to ensure that the sales organization is maintained in trim condition, capable of effectively implementing the personal selling program of the firm and sales policies and strategies of the firm. In addition, sales managers are also required to provide assistance in planning the other aspects of the marketing program, like product mix, pricing, distribution, advertising and sales promotion.

Sales managers foster an atmosphere for the growth of the firm. In addition, they assist the firm in the management of change. In a dynamic market, customer preferences and competitive forces are constantly changing; so too are technology and marketing methods.

Sales costs increase rapidly. In managing all these changes, the firm depends largely on the sales management.

Marketing Performance Management

Marketing consists of spotting the needs of customers and meeting them in the best possible manner. Marketing research plays a key role in this process. Starting with marketing measurement, marketing research helps the firm in every component of the total marketing task. It helps the firm acquire a better understanding of the consumer, the competition and the marketing environment. It also aids the formulation of the marketing mix. Decisions on each element of the marketing mix, product, distribution, promotion and pricing need marketing research support.

With the ever-increasing complexity of marketing and business activity, marketing research has also grown in complexity. Today, carrying out research relating to customers, products and markets requires specialized skills and sophisticated techniques. And marketing research has emerged as a highly specialized function of marketing management.

Marketing research is the systematic, objective and exhaustive search for and study of the facts relating to any problem in the field of marketing. Research on product includes studies on the competitive position of a product/ brand. Consumer research includes studies on consumer behavior and buyer motives.

In applying marketing research for solving any marketing problem, the researcher has to go through several steps or stages. Each stage has its own decisive role in the total research process. Right from defining the problem down to the preparation of the report, the researcher has to proceed step by step, like a scientist in a laboratory. Defining the marketing problem to be tackled and identifying the market research problem involved in the task is the first thing followed by specifying the information requirement.

If the definition of the problem is faulty, the research results will be misleading and confusing. For example, a problem of poor profits may sometimes be understood wrongly as a problem of inadequate sales. Apart from defining the problem correctly, it is also essential to analyze the problem in depth.

About the Author

Performance Management provides detailed information on Employee Performance Management, Manufacturing Performance Management, Marketing Performance Management, Performance Management and more. Performance Management is affliated with Job Performance Appraisals.