Sales Organisation and Relationship

Sales Organisation and Relationship

Sales organisation consists of human beings or persons working together for the effective marketing of products manufactured by the firm or the products purchased for resale. Sales organisation coordinates the efforts of members of a group to bring about a desirable result. It provides an efficient, economic and flexible administrative set-up to ensure the timely movement of products from the warehouse to the ultimate consumer. Thus it provides satisfactory jobs to buyers and sellers.

A sales organisation has several departments. It has a planned and well-coordinated structure. It performs the functions of planning, organizing and controlling the marketing and distribution of products. The sales organisation is a foundation for effective sales planning and sales policies. Systematic execution of plans and policies and programmes of a sales organisation control all the sales activities. As such it ensures maximum efficiency and profitability without losing consumer service and satisfaction.

According to Boiling, “A good sales organisation is one wherein the functions or departments have each been carefully planned and coordinated towards the objective of putting the product in the hands of the consumers—the whole effort is efficiently supervised and managed so that each function is carried out in the desired manner.

Need for a Sales Organisation

“A sales organisation is like a power station sending out energy, which is devoted to the advertising and selling of particular lines; and there is a tremendous waste of energy between the power station and the points where it reaches the consumers. Therefore, there arises the necessity of organizing the sales department. ”

So long as the firm is a small one, there is no need for the sales organisation, as the proprietor himself can sell all the output or in certain cases, he is assisted by one or two salesmen, under his direct control. But when the firm or the business itself expands, because of extension of markets, production in large-scale, competitive market etc., the need for a sales organisation is felt.

Importance of Sales Organisation

A sales organisation is the mechanism through which a sales manager’s philosophy is translated into action. The sales organisation provides the vehicle for making decisions on planning, organisation, selection and training of salesmen, their motivation, directing and controlling them. It also provides a vehicle through which these decisions are implemented.

“A business organisation is like a home. It has a characteristic atmosphere. In some homes the head of the household and all its members are vitally concerned about religion, politics or some other interest—the occupations of the individual members being only of minor interest. In other homes where the personality of the head of the household dominates the activities and spirit of the members the opposite occurs. Like any group a business organisation has its own culture, traditions, and to some extent its own language and climate. ” —Hepner

“A sale organisation is like a power station sending out energy which is devoted to the advertising and selling of particular lines and there is a tremendous waste of energy between the power station and the points where it reaches the consumers. Therefore, there arises the necessity of organizing the sales department. ” —Boiling

“Sales are the lifeblood of business,” Sales organisation is part and parcel of a business firm. All the departments are carefully plaited in a good sales organisation.

Functions of a Sales Organisation

The modem sales organisation is not only profit-oriented but also customer-oriented.

Sales management is concerned mainly with the management of the selling function. The sales function in a business is a basic function. Sales management represents one of the most important functional areas of business management, and all the principles of general management such as planning, organizing, directing, motivating, and controlling are applied to sales management too for securing better business performance, viz., reasonable profits through sales. Modem business is consumer centred.

The American Marketing Association has defined sales management as “the planning, direction, and control of the personal selling activities of a business unit, including recruiting, selecting, training, equipping, assigning, rating, supervising, paying and motivating as these tasks apply to the personal sales force.