Sales is a service business line. Specialists in this industry are a key link in any company, since each area of activity is mainly confined to the sales department.
Manager activity analysis
Sales manager in recent years has become very widespread among the most popular and popular professions. Another name for this specialist is a sales manager.
Sails reached a rather high rating. This happened due to the rapid development of the service sector in Russia. At the same time, sales managers are the core of the service sector and ensure the overall success of the company.
The specialist engaged in sales is a professional whose associations are associated with the sale of something tangible (household appliances or real estate). However, modern representatives of this profession find effective application in the service sector (for example, this is the financial market or banking).
Methods for identifying key sales competencies
To understand what sales are, it is necessary to define basic competencies. To do this, it is advisable to use some standard methods: repertoire bars (J. Kelly), interviews, or critical incidents. Such an auxiliary method as the questionnaire can also be used quite successfully, which includes six blocks of questions that have a direction to the working profile of the business entity. The results obtained after such a survey can be used for further analysis.
Sales Manager Profile
This profile consists of four main blocks. Each of them includes two competencies. The first block is called “Personal Features” and includes components such as a creative mindset, flexibility of thinking, and determination.
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 refusing to cooperate, agreeing on the price, quantity and delivery conditions. A component such as determination is required by the sales manager when agreeing on the terms of cooperation or promoting product items.
The second block of the profile is “Communications”, which constitute the main interaction vectors in the field of general communicative activity, teamwork and customer focus.
Service market specifics
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 associated with the peculiarities of sales and the specifics of the goods. Education in this case is not fundamental.
It is important to understand the principles of the turnover of goods, to monitor the needs of customers and business partners, as well as the formation of demand. In this area, specialists with a basic economic education can make a rather successful career.
However, both doctors and drivers can achieve high performance. It is only necessary to consider that in connection with the representation of the company in different regions, sales managers often have business trips (sometimes taking up to 80% of the time). Therefore, what is sales and what is its benefit can only be understood by flexible and mobile people.
Features of sales promotion and sales promotion activities
These activities are aimed at the efficient use of packaged goods. Sales promotion is carried out when it becomes necessary to obtain a strong and immediate response from the service market. In this case, the product should be considered from the perspective of the life cycle.
This concept has become widespread in the field of marketing and reflects the stages of development of product positions from the moment of their development until the very exit from the market.
Sales promotion is considered justified not only at the stage of introducing a new product to the market, but also at the stage of its departure from the same market.
The goals that are achieved using sales promotion methods are determined by the objectives of the company and the characteristics of the target audience to which they are oriented. The short-term goal is to create a certain attractiveness or value of the product for the potential consumer (examples are the use of various discounts, durable and functional packaging). As a long-term goal, the formation in the consumer consciousness of the sensations of the greater value of certain goods is taken.
There are three main recipients of this sales format: consumers, intermediaries and sales staff. The following examples can be cited as the main methods and tasks of sales promotion:
- Price discounts for a specified volume of goods. In this case, we are talking about a certain amount of goods to an intermediary at a lower price if they purchase a specific (agreed upon) quantity.
- The so-called premium “pushers” that are paid to dealers from the sale of products in excess of the previously agreed amount for a certain period of time.
What is a sales presenter?
It is safe to say that this concept is associated with tools to increase sales efficiency. Often, the sales presenter is associated with a retail network. However, this data presentation format is quite effective at professional levels.
What does the sales presenter do? He is responsible for the implementation of measures aimed at improving the sales efficiency of the company. If this format is competently and efficiently developed, the sales representative ensures the dominant position of his company in retail 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 work of the sales manager. For example, it can be a convenient folder with inserts embedded in them.