Strategic sales management is the process whereby an organization strategically structures its sales mechanism with a view to increasing revenue. The reason why it is necessary for a company to develop a strategic sales management model is because businesses must adapt to the ever-changing requirements of consumers to remain relevant in a competitive market. The components of a strategic sales management include things such as an analysis of the market in relation to the business, plans aimed at increasing market presence, plans for effective distribution channels, an analysis of the recruitment strategy and the setting of a target.
The first step toward conducting an effective strategic sales management is analyzing the market. An analysis of the market includes an evaluation of the target customers and the market environment. Target customers are the those in the demographic that is most likely to buy the product or obtain the service offered by the company. The sales strategy will be formulated with those people in mind. For example, company makes purses or bras knows that its main consumer base will be women and therefore will target its sales efforts toward women.
Another part of strategic sales management is an analysis of the market environment. The company must find out how many competitors it has, what their sales plans are like and how their marketing activities affect the success of the company. When the company has this information, it will assess its own business model to determine its areas of strengths and weaknesses in relation to its competitors.
Part of an effective sales process is good advertising management. This includes taking out television advertisements and other types of promotion that will appeal to the target demographic while ensuring that it reaches the audience. For instance, this might mean making decisions about whether to take out expensive spots during prime time, the length of the commercial and the frequency with which the ad will run. Another advertising consideration that is related to sales is the manner of presentation of the product or service. The company will have to make decisions about the packaging of the products.
Distribution channels also are important in the development of strategic sales management. This is because the company must have a good distribution network that will ensure that its products reach the target consumer base in an expeditious manner. The sales team must be carefully selected, and it must include driven and highly motivated, result-oriented people. Setting financial targets for the members of the sales team gives them a purpose and can help the organization meets its financial projections for each business cycle.