MBA in Sales

A new product has been launched. It is meant to be useful in the daily lives of men and women, but to be able to be useful in the daily lives, one needs to be aware of the product first. Now, one way is to launch an advertisement on television and newspaper, another way is to put up a billboard, another hand over pamphlets to random people on the road but is there a guarantee that this will lead to success of the product? Guess Not!

Ask any company, be it a multinational company or a young startup, is having the best product in town the only criteria for making profit? I'm sure you'll hear a collective NO! This is because for any company to sell its product, the customers need to know the existence of the product, they need to know its value addition in their lives and what sets it apart from its competitors.

The Sales and Marketing Team.

The Marketing team does put the cherry on the top, but the Sales Team is the one in direct contact with the clients, making them understand the perks of the product and making instant sales.

Sales is an umbrella term for all activities involved in selling a product to the consumers of a business. Companies have big teams of dedicated sales professionals to directly interact with the customers and sell the product. They come up with plans to make people aware of the product and their usefulness. All organizations have a well-functioning sales team broken down into separate segments focusing on different aspects of selling.

The formation of these sales teams depends on the following 3 criteria:-

• The region they're selling in
• The product or service they're selling
• The target customer

The primary goal of the Sales team is to reach out to the interested/ target customers. Now how do they find their target customers? In this age of global digital revolution, Sales is a profession that invites technological breakthroughs. They use it to screen from a pile of customers to pick out the potential buyers. They target people who say, downloaded their brochure, has had a high response rate in their various online ads, is a regular viewer of their products, has visited their website many times in the last few weeks, have made visits to their office and so on.

But what do Sales teams sell? The following are the most common sales types:-

By now the reader must have a quite clear understanding of what is sales, what does a sales team do and how they do it. But the question of the hour is WHY do companies shell out millions of dollars for building an efficient sales team? WHY is Sales SO important?

In any organization, sales play a pivotal role in making a business successful. The primary role of the sales team is to bridge the gap between the needs of the potential customers and the products offered by the organization. They study the requirements in the form of a survey or a questionnaire and come up with plans on how to build the product’s value to suit the need of the customer.

The following are some of areas in which the Sales team creates an impact:-

• Reaching out to customers:- The best way to boost your brand reputation is to add that extra personal touch. The Sales team adds this exact personal touch in their interaction with the customers. Long lasting relationships between your brand and the customer has the potential to boost your brand awareness through referrals, word of mouth and more. This is exactly why an organization needs an excellent sales team with powerful communication skills. A good Sales personnel not only closes the deal but also converts a one-time customer into a life long one. Repeat customers push your brand forward. One of the most effective ways of customer retention is to conduct sales follow ups, ask for feedback, set up meetings with repeat customers and even go the extra mile to register and solve customer issues and complaints. That’s the road to customer retention and the sales team carries out this task by acting as a bridge between the customers and the company.
• Sales Conversions:- As mentioned before, a company's sales team acts as a bridge between the customers and the company. They feed the customer with that extra information that they need to make a purchase, the information that the customers do not get from your advertisements, brochures, and such. For example, suppose you want to buy a car. The Car Sales personnel will ask you about your family size, your additional requirements, your budget, the color you would prefer and so on. He/She will then analyze your needs and suggest the best available product. This direct interaction with the customer will go a long way in terms of building your reputation.
• Product-Market Fit:- A key to increasing profits for any organization is to match the right products with the right market. This is done through the data provided by the Sales team. Sales Data helps make forecasts for the company which in turn increase its revenue and profitability.

Topics covered in Sales:-

• Sales strategy
• Place of sales management in marketing
• Organizational structures
• Sales techniques
• The selling processes
• Buyer motivation
• Consumer markets
• Institutional markets
• Sales recruitment

If you have excellent communication skills and are looking for a career that has high income potential, flexible working hours and constant growth then look no further, Sales is a lucrative career for you!

• Potential to earn big bucks:- In the Sales domain, the rule is as simple as it can get. The harder you work, the more you earn. Your income depends on your performance or effort. The greater number of clients you convert, the greater number of hours you put in, the higher is your earning. Generally, there’s a weekly/monthly target that the Sales personnel needs to meet. If you overshoot the target, then you’re rewarded with fat checks, bonuses and even holiday trips.
• Anyone can be sales personnel:- For a successful career in Sales, you don't have to have a degree in a particular stream or subject. You just need to have good communication skills and should be able to understand and interpret the customer psyche.

The following are some of the common sales jobs:-

• Sales Development Rep
• Accountant Executive
• Outdoor Sales Personnel
• Regional Sales Manager
• Sales Engineer
• Director of Sales
• VP of Sales

No doubt for a company, Sales team is like a backbone on which the entire firm’s profit depends on. Marketing is important of course but we have seen it gone wrong if the product is not selling and company is just losing the money. Sales sweep in for these times, personal interactions, approaching customers, discount offers, deals, all this tactic increases the selling of the product thus saving the company’s revenues and increasing profits.

Good luck finding the sales job that best fits your skills. No other career path will give you this much autonomy and high earning potential. You're your own boss!

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