Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale.
The seller, or the provider of the
goods or services
Goods are items that are usually (but not always) tangible, such as pens, physical books, salt, apples, and hats. Services are activities provided by other people, who include architects, suppliers, contractors, technologists, teachers, docto ...
, completes a sale in response to an
acquisition,
appropriation,
requisition
Requisition may refer to:
* Purchase requisition, a document issued by a buyer to a seller indicating types, quantities, and agreed prices for products or services
*Requisition in military logistics
*Requisition of property by a government under ...
, or a direct interaction with the ''buyer'' at the
point of sale
The point of sale (POS) or point of purchase (POP) is the time and place at which a retail transaction is completed. At the point of sale, the merchant calculates the amount owed by the customer, indicates that amount, may prepare an invoice f ...
. There is a passing of title (property or ownership) of the
item
Item may refer to:
Organizations
* ''Instituto del Tercer Mundo'' (ITeM), the Third World Institute
* ITEM club, an economic forecasting group based in the United Kingdom
Newspapers
* ''The Item'', an American independent, morning newspaper ...
, and the settlement of a
price
A price is the (usually not negative) quantity of payment or compensation given by one party to another in return for goods or services. In some situations, the price of production has a different name. If the product is a "good" in the c ...
, in which agreement is reached on a price for which transfer of ownership of the item will occur. The ''seller'', not the
purchaser, typically executes the sale and it may be completed prior to the obligation of
payment
A payment is the voluntary tender of money or its equivalent or of things of value by one party (such as a person or company) to another in exchange for goods, or services provided by them, or to fulfill a legal obligation. The party making the p ...
. In the case of indirect interaction, a person who sells goods or service on behalf of the owner is known as a salesman or saleswoman or salesperson, but this often refers to someone selling goods in a store/shop, in which case other terms are also common, including ''
salesclerk'', ''shop assistant'', and ''retail clerk''.
In common law countries, sales are governed generally by the
common law
In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...
and
commercial codes. In the United States, the laws governing sales of goods are somewhat uniform to the extent that most jurisdictions have
adopted Article 2 of the
Uniform Commercial Code
The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), first published in 1952, is one of a number of Uniform Acts that have been established as law with the goal of harmonizing the laws of sales and other commercial transactions across the United States through UC ...
, albeit with some non-uniform variations.
Definition
A person or organization expressing an interest in acquiring the offered item of value is referred to as a potential buyer, prospective customer, or
prospect. Buying and selling are understood to be two sides of the same "coin" or transaction. Both seller and buyer engage in a process of negotiation to consummate the exchange of values. The exchange, or selling, process has implied rules and identifiable stages. It is implied that the selling process will proceed fairly and ethically so that the parties end up nearly equally rewarded. The stages of selling, and buying, involve getting acquainted, assessing each party's need for the other's item of value, and determining if the values to be exchanged are equivalent or nearly so, or, in buyer's terms, "worth the price". Sometimes, sellers have to use their own experiences when selling products with appropriate discounts.
Although the skills required are different, from a management viewpoint, sales is a part of
marketing
Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...
. Sales often form a separate grouping in a corporate structure, employing separate specialist operatives known as ''salespersons'' (singular: ''salesperson''). Selling is considered by many to be a sort of
persuading "art". Contrary to popular belief, the methodological approach of selling refers to a ''systematic process of repetitive and measurable milestones, by which a salesman relates his or her offering of a product or service in return enabling the buyer to achieve their goal in an economic way''.
While the
sales process
Sales process engineering is intended to design better ways of selling and make salespeople's efforts more productive. It has been described as "the systematic application of scientific and mathematical principles to achieve the practical goals ...
refers to a systematic process of repetitive and measurable milestones, the definition of the selling is somewhat ambiguous due to the close nature of
advertising
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
,
promotion
Promotion may refer to:
Marketing
* Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...
,
public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...
, and
direct marketing
Direct marketing is a form of communicating an offer, where organizations communicate directly to a pre-selected customer and supply a method for a direct response. Among practitioners, it is also known as ''direct response marketing''. B ...
.
Selling is the profession-wide term, much like
marketing
Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...
defines a profession. Recently, attempts have been made to clearly understand who is in the sales profession, and who is not. There are many articles looking at
marketing
Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...
,
advertising
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
,
promotion
Promotion may refer to:
Marketing
* Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...
s, and even
public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...
as ways to create a unique
transaction.
Many believe that the focus of selling is on the human agents involved in the exchange between buyer and seller. Effective selling also requires a
systems approach, at minimum involving roles that sell, enable selling, and develop sales capabilities. Selling also involves
salespeople
Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale.
The seller, or the provider of the goods or services, completes a sale in ...
who possess a specific set of
sales skills and the knowledge required to facilitate the exchange of value between buyers and sellers that is unique from marketing and advertising.
Within these three tenets, the following definition of professional selling is offered by the
American Society for Training and Development
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
(ASTD):
Team selling
Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale.
The seller, or the provider of the goods or services, completes a sale in r ...
is one way to influence sales. Team selling is "a group of people representing the sales department and other functional areas in the firm, such as finance, production, and research and development". (Spiro) Team selling came about in the 1990s through
total quality management (TQM). TQM occurs when companies work to improve their customer satisfaction by constantly improving all their operations.
Relationships with marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...
and sales differ greatly, but they generally have the same goal. Selling is the final stage in marketing which puts the plan into effect. A marketing plan includes pricing, promotion, place, and product (the 4 P's). A marketing department in an organization has the goals of increasing the desirability and value of the products and services to the customer and increasing the number and engagement of successful interactions between potential customers and the organization. Achieving this goal may involve the sales team using promotional techniques such as
advertising
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
,
sales promotion
Sales promotion is one of the elements of the promotional mix. The primary elements in the promotional mix are advertising, personal selling, direct marketing and publicity/public relations. Sales promotion uses both media and non-media marketing ...
,
publicity
In marketing, publicity is the public visibility or awareness for any product, service, person or organization (company, charity, etc.). It may also refer to the movement of information from its source to the general public, often (but not always) ...
, and
public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...
, creating new sales channels, or creating new products. It can also include encouraging the potential customer to visit the organization's website, contact the organization for more information, or interact with the organization via social media channels such as
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
,
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
and
blog
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
s. Social values play a major role in consumer decision processes. Marketing is the whole of the work on persuasion made for the whole of the target people. Sales is the process of persuasion and effort from one person to one person (B2C), or one person to a corporation (B2B), in order to make a living resource enter the company. This may occur in person, over the phone or digitally.
The field of
sales process engineering
Sales process engineering is intended to design better ways of selling and make salespeople's efforts more productive. It has been described as "the systematic application of scientific and mathematical principles to achieve the practical goals ...
views "sales" as the output of a larger system, not just as the output of one department. The larger system includes many functional areas within an organization. From this perspective, the labels "sales" and "marketing" cover several processes whose inputs and outputs supply one another. In this context, improving an "output" (such as sales) involves studying and improving the broader sales process, since the component functional areas interact and are interdependent.
[
]
Many large
corporations
A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...
structure their marketing departments, so they are integrated with all areas of the business. They create multiple teams with a singular focus, and the managers of these teams must coordinate efforts to drive profits and business success. For example, an "inbound" campaign seeks to drive more customers "through the door", giving the sales department a better chance of selling their product to the consumer. A good marketing program would address any potential downsides as well.
The sales department would aim to improve the interaction between the customer and the sales channel or salesperson. As sales is the forefront of any organization, this would always need to take place before any other business process may begin. Sales management involves breaking down the selling process and increasing the effectiveness of the discrete processes, as well as improving the interactions between processes. For example, in an outbound sales environment, the typical process includes outbound calling, the sales pitch, handling objections, opportunity identification, and the close. Each step of the process has sales-related issues, skills, and training needs, as well as marketing solutions to improve each discrete step.
One further common complication of marketing is the difficulty in measuring results for some marketing initiatives. Some marketing and advertising executives focus on creativity and innovation without concern for the
top
A spinning top, or simply a top, is a toy with a squat body and a sharp point at the bottom, designed to be spun on its vertical axis, balancing on the tip due to the gyroscopic effect.
Once set in motion, a top will usually wobble for a few ...
or
bottom line
In business and accounting, net income (also total comprehensive income, net earnings, net profit, bottom line, sales profit, or credit sales) is an entity's income minus cost of goods sold, expenses, depreciation and amortization, interest, a ...
s – a fundamental pitfall of marketing for marketing's sake.
Many companies find it challenging to get their marketing and sales teams to agree. The two departments, although different in nature, handle very similar concepts and have to work together to achieve the business's goals. Building a good relationship between the two teams that encourages communication can be the key to success.
Industrial marketing
The idea that marketing can potentially eliminate the need for salespeople depends entirely on context. For example, this may be possible in some
B2C
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) or business-to-consumer (B2C) is the business model of selling products directly to customers and thereby bypassing any third-party retailers, wholesalers, or any other middlemen. Direct-to-consumer sales are usually tr ...
situations; however, for many
B2B transactions (for example, those involving industrial organizations) this is mostly impossible. Another dimension is the value of the goods being sold.
Fast-moving consumer-goods (FMCG) require no salespeople at the
point of sale
The point of sale (POS) or point of purchase (POP) is the time and place at which a retail transaction is completed. At the point of sale, the merchant calculates the amount owed by the customer, indicates that amount, may prepare an invoice f ...
to get them to jump off the supermarket shelf and into the customer's trolley. However, the purchase of large mining equipment worth millions of dollars will require a salesperson to manage the sales process – particularly in the face of competitors. Small and medium businesses selling such large ticket items to a geographically dispersed client base use
manufacturers' representative
Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a rang ...
s to provide this highly personal service while avoiding the large expense of a captive sales force.
Sales and marketing alignment and integration
Another area of discussion involves the need for alignment and integration of corporate sales and marketing functions. According to a report from the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council, only 40 percent of companies have formal programs, systems or processes in place to align and integrate the two critical functions.
Sales, Digital Marketing and Automated Marketing campaigns. With the increase of the use of the internet today, sales functions of several enterprises are finding traditional methods of marketing quite old fashioned and less efficient. So the use of automated Marketing Applications is on the rise ranging from
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to
Sales Force Management
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a process in which a business or other organization administers its interactions with customers, typically using data analysis to study big data, large amounts of information.
CRM systems data collectio ...
.
Traditionally, these two functions, as referred above, have operated separately, left in siloed areas of tactical responsibility. Glen Petersen's book ''The
Profit Maximization
In economics, profit maximization is the short run or long run process by which a firm may determine the price, input and output levels that will lead to the highest possible total profit (or just profit in short). In neoclassical economics, w ...
Paradox'' sees the changes in the competitive landscape between the 1950s and the time of writing as so dramatic that the complexity of choice, price, and opportunities for the customer forced this seemingly simple and integrated relationship between sales and marketing to change forever. Petersen goes on to highlight that salespeople spend approximately 40 percent of their time preparing customer-facing deliverables while leveraging less than 50 percent of the materials created by marketing, adding to perceptions that marketing is out of touch with the customer and that sales is resistant to
messaging
A message is a discrete unit of communication intended by the source for consumption by some recipient or group of recipients. A message may be delivered by various means, including courier, telegraphy, carrier pigeon and electronic bus.
...
and
strategy
Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art ...
.
Methods
A sale can take place through:
* Agency-based sales
**
Complex sales Complex sales, also known as Enterprise sales, can refer to a method of trading sometimes used by organizations when procuring large contracts for goods and/or services where the customer takes control of the selling process by issuing a Request fo ...
**
Consignment
**
Consultative sales
**
Retail
Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...
or
consumer
A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. T ...
** Sales agents (for example in real estate or in manufacturing)
**
Sales outsourcing Sales outsourcing refers to indirect sales process through which the seller sells products or services to buyers while making some profits.
Purpose of indirect sales
The sole purpose of a contract sales organization is to provide sales resource ...
through direct branded representation
**
Telemarketing
Telemarketing (sometimes known as inside sales, or telesales in the UK and Ireland) is a method of direct marketing in which a salesperson solicits prospective customers to buy products or services, either over the phone or through a subsequent f ...
or telesales
** Transaction sales
*
Business-to-business
Business-to-business (B2B or, in some countries, BtoB) is a situation where one business makes a commercial transaction with another. This typically occurs when:
* A business is sourcing materials for their production process for output (e.g., a ...
– Business-to-business ("B2B") sales are likely to be larger in terms of volume, economic value and complexity than business-to-consumer ("B2C") sales. Often the complexity involves one business working closely with the other to define problems, to finding solutions, to supporting after-sale operation. Because of this complexity, there is a need to manage the relationships between the buying and selling organizations, for example using Peter Cheverton's relationship models and the stakeholder map by Anderson, Bryson and Crosby
* Channel sales, an indirect sales model, which differs from direct sales. Channel selling is a way for sellers to reach the "B2B" and "B2C" markets through distributors, re-sellers or value added re-sellers VARS.
*
Direct sales
Direct selling consists of single-level marketing (in which a direct seller makes money by buying products from a parent organization and selling them directly to customers) and multi-level marketing (in which the direct seller may earn money f ...
, involving person to person contact
* Electronic
**
Electronic Data Interchange
** Web –
Business-to-business
Business-to-business (B2B or, in some countries, BtoB) is a situation where one business makes a commercial transaction with another. This typically occurs when:
* A business is sourcing materials for their production process for output (e.g., a ...
("B2B") and
business-to-consumer ("B2C")
* Indirect, human-mediated but with indirect contact
**
Mail-order
Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as:
* Sending an order form in the mail
* Placing a telephone call
* Placing ...
**
Vending machine
A vending machine is an automated machine that provides items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or otherwise made. The fir ...
*
Pro forma
The term ''pro forma'' (Latin for "as a matter of form" or "for the sake of form") is most often used to describe a practice or document that is provided as a courtesy or satisfies minimum requirements, conforms to a Convention (norm), norm or ...
sales
*
Request for proposal – An invitation for suppliers, through a bidding process, to submit a proposal on a specific product or service; an
RFP usually represents part of a complex sales process, also known as "
enterprise sales Complex sales, also known as Enterprise sales, can refer to a method of trading sometimes used by organizations when procuring large contracts for goods and/or services where the customer takes control of the selling process by issuing a Request fo ...
"
*
Selling technique
Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale.
The seller, or the provider of the goods or services, completes a sale in r ...
:
** Action selling
**
Auction
An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...
s
** Challenger sales
**
Cold calling
Cold calling is the solicitation of business from potential customers who have had no prior contact with the salesperson conducting the call. It is an attempt to convince potential customers to purchase either the salesperson's product or service ...
** Compass Selling
** Conceptual selling
** Consultative selling
**
Cross-selling
Cross-selling is a sales technique involving the selling of an additional product or service to an existing customer. In practice, businesses define cross-selling in many different ways. Elements that might influence the definition might includ ...
** Guaranteed sale
** Hard selling
** Inbound sales
** Needs-based selling
** Paint-the-picture
**
Personal selling
Personal selling occurs when a sales representative meets with a potential client for the purpose of transacting a sale. Many sales representatives rely on a sequential sales process that typically includes nine steps. Some sales representative ...
** Persuasive selling
**
Price based selling
Price-based selling is a specific selling technique in which a business exclusively reduces their price in attempt to close the sales cycle. Price-based selling clearly exists in businesses such as: commodity sales, auto sales, hospitality, and e ...
** Professional selling skills
** Relationship selling
** Reverse selling
**
Sales enablement
** Sales habits
** Sales negotiation
**
Sales outsourcing Sales outsourcing refers to indirect sales process through which the seller sells products or services to buyers while making some profits.
Purpose of indirect sales
The sole purpose of a contract sales organization is to provide sales resource ...
** Sandler selling system
**
Social selling
**
Solution selling
Solution selling is a type and style of sales and selling methodology. Solution selling has a salesperson or sales team use a sales process that is a problem-led (rather than product-led) approach to determine if and how a change in a product coul ...
** Strategic selling
**
Take-out
A take-out or takeout (U.S., Canada, and the Philippines); carry-out or to-go (Scotland and some dialects in the U.S. and Canada); takeaway (England, Wales, Australia, Lebanon, South Africa, Northern Ireland, Ireland, and occasionally in Nort ...
or take away
** Target account selling
** Transactional selling
**
Upselling
Upselling is a sales technique where a seller invites the customer to purchase more expensive items, upgrades, or other add-ons to generate more revenue. While it usually involves marketing more profitable services or products, it can be simply ...
* Traveling salesman
**
Door-to-door
Door-to-door is a canvassing technique that is generally used for sales, marketing, advertising, evangelism or campaigning, in which the person or persons walk from the door of one house to the door of another, trying to sell or advertise a p ...
methods
**
Hawking
Hawking may refer to:
People
* Stephen Hawking (1942–2018), English theoretical physicist and cosmologist
* Hawking (surname), a family name (including a list of other persons with the name)
Film
* ''Hawking'' (2004 film), about Stephen Ha ...
** E Selling (Selling on E Commerce portals)
Sales agents
Agents in the sales process can represent either of two parties in the sales process; for example:
* Buyers broker or Buyer brokerage: This is where the salesman represents the consumer making the purchase. This is most often applied in large transactions.
* Disclosed dual agent: This is where the salesman represents both parties in the sale and acts as a
mediator
Mediator may refer to:
*A person who engages in mediation
*Business mediator, a mediator in business
* Vanishing mediator, a philosophical concept
* Mediator variable, in statistics
Chemistry and biology
*Mediator (coactivator), a multiprotein ...
for the transaction. The role of the salesman here is to oversee that both parties receive an honest and fair deal.
* Internet Sales Professionals: These people are primarily responsible for ensuring immediate response to the leads generated via social media, website or email campaigns.
* Sales broker, seller agency, seller agent,
seller representative: This is a traditional role where the salesman represents a person or company on the selling end of a deal.
* Sales managers aim to implement various sales strategies and management techniques in order to facilitate improved
profits and increased sales volume. They are also responsible for coordinating the sales and marketing department as well as oversight concerning the
fair
A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks.
Types
Variations of fairs incl ...
and
honest execution of the sales process by their agents.
* Sales outsourcing involves direct branded representation where the sales representatives are recruited, hired, and managed by an external entity but hold quotas, represent themselves as the brand of the client, and report all activities (through their own
sales management
Sales management is a business discipline which is focused on the practical application of sales techniques and the management of a firm's sales operations. It is an important business function as net sales through the sale of products and ...
channels) back to the client. It is akin to a virtual extension of a sales force (see
sales outsourcing Sales outsourcing refers to indirect sales process through which the seller sells products or services to buyers while making some profits.
Purpose of indirect sales
The sole purpose of a contract sales organization is to provide sales resource ...
).
* Salesperson: The primary function of salespeople is to generate and close business resulting in profit. The salesperson will accomplish their primary function through a variety of means including phone calls, email, social media, networking, and
cold calling
Cold calling is the solicitation of business from potential customers who have had no prior contact with the salesperson conducting the call. It is an attempt to convince potential customers to purchase either the salesperson's product or service ...
. The primary objective of the successful salesperson is to find the consumers to sell to. Sales are often referred to as a "numbers game" because a general law of averages and pattern of successful closing of business will emerge through heightened sales activity. These activities include but are not limited to: locating prospects, fostering relationships with prospects, building trust with future clients, identifying and filling needs of consumers, and therefore turning prospective customers into actual ones. Many tools are used by successful salespeople, the most important of which is questioning which can be defined as a series of questions and resulting answers allowing the salesperson to understand a customer's goals and requirements relevant to the product they are selling. The creation of value or perceived value is the result of taking the information gathered, analyzing the goals and needs of the prospective customer and leveraging the products or services the salesperson's firm represents or sells in a way that most effectively achieves the prospective client's goals or suits their needs. Effective salespeople will package their offering and present their proposed solution in a way that leads the prospective customer to the conclusion that they acquire the solution, resulting in revenue and profit for the salesperson and the organization they represent.
vs.
In the United States, the
Fair Labor Standards Act defines outside sales representatives as "employees
hosell their employer's products, services, or facilities to customers away from their employer's place(s) of business, in general, either at the customer's place of business or by selling door-to-door at the customer's home" while defining those who work "from the employer's location" as inside sales. Inside sales generally involves attempting to
close business primarily over the phone via
telemarketing
Telemarketing (sometimes known as inside sales, or telesales in the UK and Ireland) is a method of direct marketing in which a salesperson solicits prospective customers to buy products or services, either over the phone or through a subsequent f ...
, while outside sales (or "field" sales) will usually involve initial phone work to book sales calls at the potential buyer's location to attempt to close the deal in person. Some companies have an inside sales department that works with outside representatives and book their appointments for them. Inside sales sometimes refers to
upselling
Upselling is a sales technique where a seller invites the customer to purchase more expensive items, upgrades, or other add-ons to generate more revenue. While it usually involves marketing more profitable services or products, it can be simply ...
to existing customers.
Sales Coaching
Sales Coaching is a one-on-one coaching process by high-performing sales professionals and consultants with salespeople, managers, and executives. The process involves equipping them with the knowledge, abilities, and skills needed to become more effective sales professionals. Unlike sales training, sales coaching is typically an individualized, ongoing endeavor.
Sales Enablement
Sales Enablement is a term applied to a holistic training and resource methodology including training materials, sales aids, and solutions designed to modernize the sales processes. Most sales enablement platforms or services provide technology for lead management and sales reporting. Sales enablement technology platforms frequently use data driven AI. Sales enablement provides support systems needed by sales teams to close deals and exceed quotas at a higher rate than traditional sales models.
See also
*
Buzzword
A buzzword is a word or phrase, new or already existing, that becomes popular for a period of time. Buzzwords often derive from technical terms yet often have much of the original technical meaning removed through fashionable use, being simply used ...
*
Choice architecture
Choice architecture is the design of different ways in which choices can be presented to decision makers, and the impact of that presentation on decision-making. For example, each of the following:
* the number of choices presented
* the manner i ...
*
Demand chain
The term demand chain has been used in a business and management context as contrasting terminology alongside, or in place of, "supply chain". Madhani suggests that the demand chain "comprises all the demand processes necessary to understand, creat ...
*
Financial transaction
A financial transaction is an agreement, or communication, between a buyer and seller to exchange goods, services, or assets for payment. Any transaction involves a change in the status of the finances of two or more businesses or individuals. A ...
*
Personal selling
Personal selling occurs when a sales representative meets with a potential client for the purpose of transacting a sale. Many sales representatives rely on a sequential sales process that typically includes nine steps. Some sales representative ...
*
Sales (accounting)
In bookkeeping, accounting, and financial accounting, net sales are operating revenues earned by a company for selling its products or rendering its services. Also referred to as revenue, they are reported directly on the income statement as ''Sa ...
*
Sales contest A sales contest is a motivational program in which rewards are offered to sales
Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sa ...
*
Sales effectiveness Sales effectiveness refers to the ability of a company's sales professionals to “win” at each stage of the customer's buying process, and ultimately earn the business on the right terms and in the right timeframe. Improvinsales effectivenessis n ...
*
Sales incentive plan
An incentive program is a formal scheme used to promote or encourage specific actions or behavior by a specific group of people during a defined period of time. Incentive programs are particularly used in business management to motivate employees ...
*
Sales territory
A sales territory is the customer group or geographical area for which an individual salesperson or a sales team holds responsibility. Territories can be defined on the basis of geography, sales potential, history, or a combination of factors. Comp ...
*
Sales variance Sales variance is the difference between actual sales and budgeted sales. It is used to measure the performance of a sales function, and/or analyze business results to better understand market
Market is a term used to describe concepts such as:
*M ...
*
Trade
Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market.
An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...
*
Vendor
In a supply chain, a vendor, supplier, provider or a seller, is an enterprise that contributes goods or services. Generally, a supply chain vendor manufactures inventory/stock items and sells them to the next link in the chain. Today, these terms ...
* ''
''
References
External links
{{Authority control
Business process
Business terms
Distribution (marketing)
Sales occupations