In an organisation, the success of planning largely depends on the efficient supervision and control of the sales force. It is an important aspect of the management of the sales force.
In fact, the activities of the salesmen have to be supervised and controlled to ensure that the job is done properly and efforts are being made towards the achievement of the sales objectives. Supervision and control of salesmen is essential for the sales organisation to achieve maximum success.
An organisation may have a talented and efficient sales force with adequate training and the compensation plan may be attractive, but unless the activities of the sales force are properly supervised and controlled, it is hardly possible for the organisation to achieve the sales targets.
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Therefore, an effective method of supervision, direction and control of the sales force is extremely important in order to secure the most productive and economical performance from them. The establishment of sales territories and sales quotas are the specific control devices by which the sales manager exercises control on the salesmen.
Control is the process of trying to achieve conformity between goals and actions. Controlling is an act of checking and verifying an act to know whether everything is taking place in accordance with the predetermined plan. In other words, control covers the direction and guidance towards securing desired objectives.
To M.C. Niles, ‘controlling is maintaining of a balance in activities directed towards a goal or a set of goals.’ Therefore, control consists of the steps taken to ensure that the performance of the organisation conforms to the plans. The process of control consists of a few steps, namely
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(i) Establishing standards or measures for performance,
(ii) Measuring and recording of actual performance
(iii) Comparing actual with the planned measures to find out the deviations, if any, and
(iv) Taking corrective measures, if needed. Thus, control is one of the important ingredients for the success of the sales department.