Sales Management

According to Jim Koch, Founder and Chairman of the Boston Beer Company, “Selling isn’t for sissies” is a great way to approach the art of selling products to customers. The world of marketing and selling is so competitive in today’s marketplace that sales managers have to be able to adapt quickly, before competitors can make the necessary adjustments to remain competitive.

Technology has evolved so much that customers are more independent and proactive in finding information about products and services. Sales managers had to alter their mindset, as well as their employees, to be problem solvers and caretakers of their customers. In most situations, American customers do not like to be told what do, or how to buy. American consumers only want sales representatives to give them relevant information about the product and/or service. In the article, How to Sell to Customers Who Know Everything, personalizing customers’ newly purchased smartphones is an example of sales management understanding what is important to their customers.

Today’s consumers are better informed and sales managers realize that they must make their employees go a little further than in the past to close the sale. For instance, selling products globally involves additional efforts to understanding the needs that have to be met and the rules in which they can be done. Once again, adapting to new consumers and rules quickly can make a stronger impact on the local community and profits overall. Displayed in the article, How Culture and Regulation Demand New Ways to Sell, illustrates that the capacity to succeed in Latin America rest in a company’s ability to build trust, adapt locally, and genuinely connect to its consumers.

Sometimes small businesses may have a bigger competitive advantage than larger companies. Duncan Mac Naughton, Chief Merchandising and Marketing Officer of Wal-Mart US, said that they look for “smaller businesses that can produce a product that larger companies cannot...