Course Overview

The goal of the Sales Management course is to examine the elements of an effective sales force as a key component of the organization's total marketing effort. The course will extend student’s understanding of marketing's reach and potential impact in achieving its overarching goals. Course objectives include understanding the sales process, the relationship between sales and marketing, sales force structure, customer relationship management (CRM), use of technology to improve sales force effectiveness, and issues in recruiting, selecting, training, motivating, compensating and retaining salespeople. Delegates learn to apply the discussion topics through an interactive project worked on throughout the course.

Course Objectives

• Define the strategy hierarchy and understand how a firms sales and marketing strategies affect its overall strategy
• Describe the sales management process and the responsibilities and activities of sales managers
• Explain what the sales function consists of and how salespeople affect a firm's supply chain
• Identify the various channels in which the sales function can be carried out
• Explain how effective sales management efforts an align a firm's sales strategy in a multi-channel environment
• Recognize the contributions made by contemporary leadership approaches
• Identify issues today's sales leaders face
• Identify the more common ethical dilemmas that face salespeople, sales managers, and sales executives and develop appropriate actions when faced with ethical issues
• Comprehend how buyer-seller relationships are established and maintained
• Know how to leverage information technologies
• Effectively design and organize a salesforce
• Recruit and select the right salespeople
• Identify factors that determine what types of training are needed by salespeople and implement effective training programs to develop the salesforce
• Understand the elements of teamwork and how to successfully develop and work with teams, including those that are virtual
• Learn to set goals and manage the sales force's performance
• How to motivate and reward salespeople
• Effectively turn customer information into sales knowledge
• Asses the performance of the sales force and the people who comprise it
• Understand cultural forces and how a diverse sales force is important to an organization's success