Successful selling requires planned and coordinated sales effort. This task can be achieved only by a viable, sound and balanced sales organisation. Sales department, therefore, refers to the machinery brought into existence with a view to undertake the sales activities of an organisation smoothly and efficiently.
Sales department is an important organ of the overall business organisation. This unit of the firm is concerned with the distribution of goods. It covers human beings working together within its fold for the effective marketing of products or services. These products may either be produced by the organisation itself or purchased from other manufactures for resale purposes.
Sales department is concerned with planning, organising, staffing, directing, coordinating and controlling of the sales personnel who include recruiting, selecting, training, equipping, assigning, rating, supervising, paying and motivating the sales force. In short, sales department of an organisation is concerned with profitable and efficient distribution of goods and services to ultimate consumers.
Image Source: haffarmachine.com
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The aim of every business is to expand the sale on a continuous basis. Therefore, sales organisation is a vital necessity for any business. Along with the technological developments, selling is gradually becoming more and more complex. Simultaneously, the importance of the sales department of the organisation has also grown considerably. In the present era of mass production of goods and services, mass distribution has become all the more essential.
Mass distribution needs careful planning, organising and controlling of all the selling efforts of any organisation. The sales department provides efficient and economic administrative set-up for the smooth distribution of goods and services. It aims at achieving the best possible results with the minimum possible efforts.
The need for the sales organisation is vast and varied. It helps to plan purchase and create demand pattern for the products and services. It takes the responsibility of distribution from the shoulders of those who are engaged in production function. The sales organisation enables the top executives to devote more time to planning policy matters. It divides and fixes authority and responsibility among the subordinates. It also helps to stimulate the efforts of the salesman and enforce proper control over them.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The sales department of an organisation necessarily handles all the tasks of distribution like receiving enquiries, answering them, appealing for orders, receiving the orders, packing, despatching, and so on.
It also collects dues from the customers apart from recruiting, selecting, training, equipping, assigning, routing, supervising, paying and motivating the sales personnel. In short, sales department of an organisation is the foundation upon which the marketing machinery keeps on functioning.