Categories: Management Skills ,  Sales & Account Management

Managing the Sales Force:

About the Course:
Sales force performance depends directly upon the quality of management. This programme is all about leading your sales team to success through the application of sound managerial practice. The course has been designed specifically for all managers who have or expect to have responsibility for achieving sales results through others. Delegates can expect to leave the course with the knowledge and confidence to tackle one of the toughest managerial assignments, that of leading a sales team.

Programme Contents:
- The Role of Management
- The Essential Functions of Management
- Specifics of Sales Management
- Leadership and Teambuilding
- Recruiting Sales Staff
- Job Descriptions
- Special Problems of Training Sales Staff
- The Need for Knowledge
- Selling Processes
- What to Provide and How to Present it
- The Manager's Responsibility for Training
- Assessing What Needs Doing and Getting it Done
- What Can you Do to Build Better Business
- Counselling and Appraisal Systems
- Deciding When Needed
- Doing it Well
- Effective Communications for Managers
- Controlling the Internal and External Sales Operation
- Case Study
- Problems of Staff Management
- Sales Staff Motivation
- Demotivation
- Recognising the Signs
- Managing or Doing
- Organising Management Time
- Delegation
- Sales Reports and Information Systems
- Developing Potential in the Sales Team
- Management Styles
- Future Trends and Predictions

Who Will Benefit From This Course?
Designed for the newly appointed or about to be appointed Sales Force Leader. The course is also suitable as a refresher for the experienced manager wanting to benchmark current Sales Force Leadership practice.

Description of the Course:
Managing a Sales Force is different from many management environments in that the team spends most of their time working remote from the manager. The course begins with a detailed look at the very essence of what management is all about. Getting results through others is very different from self achievement and this theme continues throughout the course.

Delegates are taken through all the key management skills from recruiting to rewarding, from motivating others to managing time to manage. The emphasis throughout the course is on practical solutions to practical challenges. Case studies, pragmatic exercises and lively discussions are all part of an experience that will equip the team leader to manage the Sales Force and succeed.

This course is a residential programme and includes additional group evening work designed to enhance the learning process.

Course Objectives:
- To consider the role of the manager and to analyse the various techniques by which the manager of salespeople can create an environment for success.
- To provide delegates with a toolkit of practical ideas so that they will become still even more effective.

What You Will Gain:
The course method features presentations, discussions, case studies and syndicate work. It is highly participative and relates to the delegate's own problems. Some past delegates have used the work that they did on this course as the outline for their own company plan. Delegates can expect to gain in knowledge and leave the course with the confidence to tackle one of the toughest managerial assignments that of leading a sales team.