Sales control
The sales management is a part of company management and focuses on the control of sales .
definition
Sales control converts the company's strategic goals into operationally feasible sales goals , thus making sales a strategic instrument of corporate management. The definition of the concept of control in sales management shows considerable variance in different sources. Mostly, sales management is defined in relation to the allocation of resources . Pangratz describes sales management as "the specific design and use of sales means, measures and functionaries". Broader definitions also subsume controlling activities under the term sales management. In some cases, sales control is viewed as a sub-area of marketing .
tasks
In practice, sales control is assigned the following core tasks:
- Control of market development and resource allocation : Distribution of sales resources to market and customer segments as well as definition of suitable allocation mechanisms
- Management of conflicting goals : harmonization of conflicting goals (e.g. short-term sales success vs. long-term profitability)
- Remuneration and incentives for sales employees : Definition of remuneration systems that lead to optimal motivation of sales employees and to resolve conflicts of interest (e.g. excessive discounts granted by sales employees to meet sales targets with decreasing profitability)
- Controlling processes : Implementation of a continuous target and premises control as well as deviation analyzes
Specifically, this includes the following activities:
- Planning of sales success by customer , product , region , sales representative
- Specification of sales per sales resource
- Specification of the turnover per customer
- Specification of sales per product
- Control of the planning specifications
- Analysis of the deviation
- Development of measures to achieve the goals
- Commission accounting for sales partners, for example according to a target agreement
Roles and responsibilities
Depending on the size of the company and the organizational structure , sales management can be carried out by one or more people who are wholly or partially responsible for it. Since sales control is basically a management task, the management is responsible. In a large organization that tends to be very division of labor, the function of sales control is often an auxiliary or staff function of the division or sales management.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jan Wieseke / Thomas Rajab, planning and control in sales , in: C. Homburg & J. Wieseke (eds.), "Handbuch Vertriebsmanagement", Gabler Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2011, p. 24 5ff.
- ↑ Olaf Pangratz, Sales Control in Industry with Special Consideration of the Concentration of Demand Potential in Retail , Berlin, 1979, p. 10.
- ↑ Stefan Duderstadt, Value-oriented sales management through holistic sales controlling: Concept for retail banking , Wiesbaden, 2006, p. 7.
- ↑ Michael Kleinaltenkamp / Samy Saab, Technical Sales - A Practice-Oriented Introduction to Business-to-Business Marketing , 2nd edition, Heidelberg, 2009, p. 113 f.