FOR MARKETING its products to relevant segments of consumers, an organization has to communicate with these consumers. The channel of communication may be impersonal (e.g., advertisements) or personal (e.g. Salesmen). To handle personal communications with consumers, most organization employ a sales force. The primary responsibility of the sales force is to promote the organization's products, but it may also be used to distribute the product, service the product and gather market intelligence. Sales management is concerned with the planning, direction and control of sales force's activities.

Sales management is an important activity in the Indian marketing system where commercial firms as well as non-commercial organizations employ substantial field forces to promote and distribute products (or services); to service and assist prospects, clients, and middlemen; to report on consumer preferences and competitive activity, etc. With the increasing economic and social pressure to enter rural markets, The importance of sales management is increasing; it is not possible for manufacturers to rely entirely on the trade for developing the rural markets. The increasing diversity of our industrial structure is also creating a need for more sophisticated methods of sales management. Special selling skills are required in high technology industries, chemical intermediate industries, decentralized sector and small-scale units, social programmes, etc.

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The sales manager holds a unique position in the sales organisation. He plans, organises, directs, staffs and coordinates the whole of the sales organisation.
There are several connotations of the sales manager like sales executive, sales director, marketing manager, marketing executive, etc. He is the person who steers the wheels of sales organisation. His status and power depends on the size of the organisation in his charge. In small firms the general manager or managing director performs the duties of the sales manager. But in big manufacturing firms there usually a sales manger. Here the sales manager. Here the sales manager is appointed by the top management and he is responsible to them. In giant sized companies for some territories and/or products sales managers are appointed. Whatever the position of the sales manager, he is the guiding and driving force of the sales organisation.

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In every game or competitive sport there are certain principles which have to be learnt and practiced. For example, a professional boxer has to spend a number of hours each day on exercises, like skipping, running, punchbag-practice, etc. to maintain his health and improve his skill. Even after a professional boxer attains the championship standard, he still has to go through his training programme regularly as before and is assisted by his coach during and after every practice about so that errors not be repeated.
There is an analogy between competitive sports and salesmanship. As in competitive sports so in salesmanship there are certain principles which have to be mastered. Some fundamentals in selling

must be learnt and mastered for best results. The new and inexperienced salesman, like the boxer, must first study and learn what the fundamentals are and try to put them in practice. An intelligent salesman combines the study and actual practice of these fundamentals by intelligent analysis and improvement of defects. In course of time, the use of the important fundamentals becomes a habit for the salesman.

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Organisation, quite simply defined, is the process of assigning responsibilities and activities to the various members of the work group in accordance with the plans designed to achieve the objectives established. Its aim is to produce the mos efficient and effective effort on the part of both the individual group members and the group as a whole toward the common goals. In the planning process, objectives have been established, resources have been allocated, and an action program for achieving these objectives with the resources available has been developed. The organisation process begins when we start to translate action programmes into specific responsibilities assigned to individuals.

Since, in the planning process, objectives have been established, the action to be taken broadly defined, and price tags and timetables attached to those actions, organization in its simplest from consists in assigning the objectives, actions, price tags, and timetables to the appropriate individuals and securing their understanding and acceptance.

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The average salesman in a retail organisation is required to handle a very large number of articles and it is very difficult for him to know the exact details of the materials used in the manufacture as well s regarding the method of manufacture of each article. Therefore, manufacturers today assist the retail salesmen in many ways with a view to acquiring the desired knowledge about their manufacture. Some manufacturers have now introduced the novel idea of printing a brief selling description on the package with a few selling points so that even the least experienced salesman can say something definite to his customer by glancing at the package. Other manufacturer print on the back of counter display cards a few useful selling points so that the salesman may glance at these points and thus use them as selling points in his sales talk. Salesmen can a also be induced to acquire greater knowledge about their goods by means of contests, e.g. By pitting one division of a department against another. A salesman should take advantage of all the facilities he may be permitted in this regard.

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Evolving a System for Salesmen's Remuneration

IN FEBRUARY 1971 the Divisional Manager of the Consumer Durables (C.D.) Division of Quasar Corporation was pondering over many issues that had gained considerable importance of late. Some of these issues related to certain types of conflicts that were coming to the fore amongst the divisional salesmen, the expanding network of dealers and anew category of supervisory staff (called Sales Organisers) ; also involved was the aspect of salesmen's remuneration.

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In the field of production and manufacture and manufacturing organisations the most burning problem of today is not the problem of the production but that of sale. It attaches much importance for an enterprise to forecast the sales so that the production is neither more nor less to that of demand made by customers. Sales forecasting has assumed dynamic importance mainly in the industries where the problem of large scale production, and mass distribution have to be encountered. To know what a business will do, we must know its future sales, which means that we must have forecast, without them, both short and long range planning rests on foundation much less substantial than sand.

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Selection involves three basic aspects, namely, consideration of-

(1) the number of salesman required
(2) the qualities required in the salesman
(3) the selection procedure to be adopted

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The old belief, that still persists in certain quarters, is that the ability to get along with people and physical personality are all important, and that the selling ability is something intangible which a person may or may not have. Fortunately, progresive sales executives realise that, provided basic characteristics are present, salesmen are not born but made. This has resulted in the application of scientific management techniques in developing salesmen, the emphasis being placed on (1) adequate selection procedures, (2) appropriate training and (3) sufficient supervision. Selection is important even from the training aspect as it would be a waste of good money to train bad material. The training aspect is thus connected with recruiting and selecting salesmen.

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