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THINGS, TANZANIA MANAGERS SHOULD KNOW
ABOUT THEIR SALES PEOPLE.
1. In this country, most sales people hate their jobs as “sales executives,” only considering sales as a stepping stone to a better position. Instead many always end up QUITTING or GETTING FIRED.
Sales is only one of the many marketing components but a very crucial one, especially in our country where effective means of advertisements are limited.
A sales person should be regarded as the personal communicator of information, and a persuader of prospective clients with the skills of closing a sale. Growing businesses need to use sales people as communicators before anything else.
Most sales people and their managers choose to let sales be all about selling while marketing be all about customers satisfaction, this has led to many sales people acting like greedy vultures because they have targets to meet, and would care less about the company’s brand or the client’s needs.
2. Mangers should know that the sales people are their ambassadors in a journey of creating great household names, which means they have to be fully trained to be able to close sales, while maintaining a great lasting relationship with the clients.
In this country selling is regarded as the lowest-rated job category making many Tanzanian young men take the profession for granted. A company that chooses to respect and listen to their sales team has chosen to build a great image for itself. Yes! A sales person has not done his job until he closes a sale, but that is not all a sales person has to do for your company.
With the need for Innovations and creativity in managing a great brand, this team that is always out there meeting clients and competitors should be given a chance and knowledge to participate in Innovations and creativity. They need to be trained to know all the tricks and necessary skills required to be professional sales people; otherwise they go out there and destroy the reputation of your business.
As long as a sales person is well trained and proven to be a good employee, closing or not closing, these people play a big role in your company. They advertise you directly to potential clients, they generate possible leads, they participate in creating success of new and old products, and they remind potential clients of your brand. So don’t just expect them to close sales, expect them to be professional in their everyday journey of building not just a good brand but an excellent one.
3. When the sales person doesn’t close a sale, don’t directly assume he/she is not good enough. Go through you brand once more; is your price reasonable? Your targeting? Did your competitor improve something? Is your sales team not well trained? Are you missing something here? If the answers to these questions satisfy you, then you can think of firing your sales person.
