Chapter

Introduction to Sales and

Distribution Management

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 • “Everybody Lives by selling something
Robert Louis Stevenson

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 • Selling is not just for sales people
• Personal selling -personal communication
of information to unselfishly persuade a
prospective customer to buy something a
good or a service or an idea

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 Growing importance of Sales
• Sales people are a dynamic power in any country’s economy
• 13% of the US workforce is in sales,more sales than marketing
managers !
• In a developing economy such as India, companies are building and
maintaining large sales forces ( insurance, Telecom, Real Estate)
• Selling generates revenue (top line)
• Sales person is a professional manager building long term
relationships with customers
• Sales persons role has become sophisticated, relationship building
focus,use of technology team selling
• Goes by a variety of names Business Development Manager,
Client Relations manager, Customer Retention Manager ,Key
Account Manager

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 Sales and Distribution Management

• Sales and Distribution Management are

both components of the marketing mix

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 Sales and Distribution management

• Sales Managers are responsible for

generating sales, profits and customer
satisfaction levels that meet corporate
objectives
• Sales management is the attainment of
sales force goals in an effective and
efficient manner through planning, staffing
training and controlling organisational
resources
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 Sales and Distribution Management

• Marketing channels are the pathways through which a

product or service is made available to consumers for
consumption
• Channel Management (Distribution management) is the
art and science of designing the channel, selecting and
motivating channel members and promoting the product
or service through the channel

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 A career in sales

• Why choose a job in Sales?

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 Why Sales ?
• Autonomy,freedom of action and
opportunities
• Job Variety,multifaceted
• Challenging role
• Career growth faster
• Financial rewards

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 Salesmen who became CEOS
• Sam Palismo IBM
• Jeff Imelt of GE
• Anne Mulcahy of Xerox
• Dirubhai Ambani began his career as a
salesperson
• Sales person has an all round knowledge
of company’s products, customers,
competition

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 Nature of Sales Management
• Its integration with marketing
management Head-
Marketing

Manager- Manager – Manager – Manager – Manager –

Promotion Market Sales Market Customer
Research Logistics Service

• Relationship Selling

Transactional Value – added Collaborative /

Relationship / Relationship / Partnering
Selling Selling Relationship /
Plastic bottle, Selling
camera with (seller assist in
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 • Varying Sales Responsibilities / Positions / Jobs
Sales Position Brief Description Examples
• Delivery salesperson • Delivery of products to business • Milk, newspapers to households
customers or households.
• Also takes orders. • Soft drinks, bread to retail stores.

• Order taker (Response selling) • Inside order taker • Behind counter in a garment
shop
• Telemarketing salesperson takes • Pharma products’ orders from
orders over telephone nursing homes
• Outside order taker. Also • Food, clothing products’ orders
performs other tasks from retailers

• Sales support • Provide information, build • Medical reps. in pharma industry

• Missionary selling goodwill, introduce new products
• Technical selling • Technical information, assistance • Steel, Chemical industries

• Order-getter (Creative, Problem- • Getting orders from existing and • Automobiles, refrigerators,
solving, Consultative selling) new household consumers insurance policies
• Getting orders from business • Software and business solutions
customers, by solving their
business and technology problems
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Importance of Personal Selling and Sales
Management
• The only function / department in a company
that generates revenue / income
• The financial results of a firm depend on the
performance of the sales department /
management
• Many salespeople are among the best paid
people in business
• It is one of the fastest and surest routes to the
top management

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 Roles and Skills of a Modern Sales
Manager
Some of the important roles of the modern sales
manager are:
• A member of the strategic management team
• A member of the corporate team to achieve objectives
• A team leader, working with salespeople
• Managing multiple sales / marketing channels
• Using latest technologies (like CRM) to build superior
buyer-seller relationships
• Continually updating information on changes in
marketing environment

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 Skills of a Successful Sales Manager

• People skills include abilities to motivate, lead,

communicate, coordinate, team-oriented
relationship, and mentoring
• Managing skills consist of planning, organizing,
controlling and decision making
• Technical skills include training, selling,
negotiating, problem-solving, and use of
computers

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 Types of Sales Managers / Levels of
Sales Management Positions

Top-Level Sales Managers /

Leaders

Middle-Level Sales Managers

First / Lower Level Sales Managers

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 Sales Objectives, Strategies and Tactics
The main components of planning in a company are
objectives, strategies and tactics. Their relationship
is shown below

Decide / Set Evolve Tactics /

Develop Strategies Action Plans
Objectives

E.G. A company wants to increase sales of electric

motors by 15 percent, as one of the sales
objectives. (see next slide)

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 To illustrate the relationship between sales objectives,
strategies and tactics, consider:
Sales Goals / Marketing Sales and Distribution Strategy Tactics /
Objectives Strategy Action plans

 Increase  Enter export  Identify the countries  Marketing / sales head to get
sales volume markets relevant information
by 15  Decide distribution channels  Negotiate and sign
percent agreements in 3-5 months
with intermediaries

 Penetrate  Review and improve  Add channels and members

existing salesforce training, motivation  Train salespeople in
domestic and compensation deficient areas
markets  Use effective and efficient  Train field salesmanagers in
channels effective supervision
 Link sales volume quotas to
the incentive scheme of the
compensation plan

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 Emerging Trends in Sales Management

• Global perspective
• Revolution in technology
• Customer relationship management (CRM)
• Salesforce diversity
• Team selling approach
• Managing multi-channels
• Ethical and social issues
• Sales professionalism

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 Linking Sales and Distribution
Management
• Either sales management or distribution
management cannot exist, operate or perform
without each other
• To achieve the sales goals of sales revenue and
growth, the sales management plans the strategy
and action plans (tactics), and the distribution
management has the role to execute these plans
• This will be illustrated by considering some sales
management actions and corresponding role of
distribution management (in the next slide), as well
as by discussing a few integrated cases given at
the end of the book

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 Role of Distribution Management for some of
the Sales Management Actions / Tasks
Sales Management Actions / Distribution Management Role
Tasks

 Strategy for effective coverage  Follow call plan / beat plan

of markets and outlets  Make customer call productive
 Use multi-channel approach

 Strategy for handling customer  Prompt action at the customer interface level
complaints  If the problem persists, involve senior sales
and service people

 Planning of local advertising  Co-ordination with distribution channels

and sales promotion  Responsibility of execution with distribution
channels
 Expenses are shared between the company and
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 Key Learnings
• Sales management is defined as the management of the
personal selling part of a company’s marketing function
• Selling includes varying sales jobs like delivery
salesperson, order taker, sales support person, and
order getter
• Sales is the only function or department in an
organization that generates revenue / income
• Skills of a successful sales manager include managing,
technical and people
• Main components of sales planning are objectives,
strategies, and tactics (or action plan)
• Either sales management or distribution management
can not exist, operate or perform without each other

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