Sales Management being a part of Marketing Management focuses on management of all sales activities including Sales promotion, Product Advertisement, Promotion, Pricing, Product Distribution product merchandising. Sales Management directly relates to the Sales Personnel who are involved in Sales activities. Managing Sales personnel including hiring, training, assigning and monitoring the sales force efforts followed by paying and motivating them.

The sales management activities are performed by the sales managers who are responsible to manage all the sales activities within and outside the company or the organization. Within the organization includes developing a formal and informal environment to ensure effective communication of Sales goals, targets and strategy not only within  the sales team but within the other departments too. Outside the organization the sales managers are responsible for maintaining a healthy relationship with the customers and providing them better services. The role of Sales managers not only ends here but continues with making the sales strategies, target assigning and price modification  and to design and plan modules to face market challenges.

Marketing Vs Sales

Marketing and sales are closely related to each other but are a much different. Marketing comes first than the Sales process as it involves creating brand of the product or service. Product promotion, planning, defining customer approach and targeting the customers. Whereas the sales is the final exchange of product/service with the customer/consumer with a monetary transaction. To understand the sales function although there are some process and components that we will understand later.

Sales if compared with the Marketing function, is the monetary transaction done against handling the ownership of the product/service to gain some profit for the organization. The product sold is already designed and manufactured keeping in mind the requirements of the customers(marketing). Sales is the final efforts done to make some profit and make some interest against the efforts of the marketing team/personnel. Sales approach should be so definitive that the results should either in the form of 'creating new prospect' or with 'customer retention'. Not just the sales but also the after sales services are necessary to ensure long-term association with the customers. One time sales is not the concept. Neither it works as hunting new people all the time. Gaining new prospects from the current customers is a reward.

Sales Process

Sales management is often mixed with personal selling. Though both are similar terms and used alternatively. There is a slight difference difference between them as sales management is a composite process of defining sales activities, planning sales strategies. Still sales function have some process to approach the target prospect and end in converting that prospect into customer.
Here are steps of sales process:
1) Prospecting and qualifying: This step involves identifying prospects or potential customers. One can use cold calling, reference of existing customers, inquiries received from company's marketing activities like advertisements, industrial directories and cold canvassing.
2) Qualifying: This step is to come up with some requirement of the customer, not surely with your organization but yes to know that we that customer have some requirements that we can seize. Based on the requirements sales person approach the prospect and can rate that particular as a lead with a status of either cold, warm or hot.
3) Gathering information: Before approaching the prospect with the available solution its good that if the sales person does some research on the customer profile like to know about his business. Based on that information the objective of the first interaction can be defined. Its obvious that the sales would not be closed in the first meet or call but its better to decide in advance whether on which stage the meeting should end so as it will help to decide how to approach next time.
4) Approach: This stage can also be called 'go-ahead' stage. Its' the first time to interact with the prospect and one should be confident enough for the interaction as in sales for the sales person its the 'first impression' that shapes his future relation with the customer. Again for the first approach there are some standard techniques to be followed: a) Introduction, b) Explain benefit to the customer, c) Explain product feature, d) Ask questions, e) Propose.
5) Presentation: After getting the desired information from the client now its the time to display what you have come for. Explain all the features and benefits of your offerings to him and leave no doubt on you. At this stage good confidence is a must. Be prepared for cross-questioning.
6) Research on customer needs: Once you have presented your offerings to the customer time is to do some competitive brief. This will help to know customer needs more clearly. Further you can do more research on his needs to give a sure shot in next meeting. Get required data for his needs including competitor analysis and price comparison and benefit analysis.
7) Closing sale: If the customer is at the stage of closing the order then its the time to get results of your work. But its may not always the closing time. Remember if the customer is having some need then he must be communicating with your competitors too. If you are for the final meeting/followup with the customer there are few are sales closing techniques you can choose from like to give some discounts, repeating benefits of your offering to him, providing some informal suggestions.
8) Follow up and after sales service: Once you get the order the main part of the sales process starts. Sales process is not completed till the services are provided to him. Keep in touch with him for various activities like order placing, order processing and service delivery. This increases confidence in the customer for you. Once services are delivered you can ask him for feedback.

Above sales process are not fixed and can be changed with organizations depending the type of product/service that is offered.