The Sales Function: The Key to Survival in a Highly Competitive World

In just about any organization, the single most important department would be the sales department due to the fact that it plays a pivotal role in ensuring the success of the company as a whole. As a matter of fact, the core purpose of the sales department (as well as its sister - the marketing department for that matter) is to successfully help bridge the yawning gap between the potential end customer’s needs and the products and/or services that the company actually offers to them, so as to fulfill their wants. Let us take a look at some of the more important ways through which the sales function effectively impacts the organisation’s overall scope of success.

The main source of revenue in any organization

The Sales is the most important department possible when it comes to generating revenues. It does not really matter how awesome your manufacturing operation may well be, or for that matter precisely how ‘cutting-edge’ the technology you may employ or what a well-oiled machine your financial management system consists of, or the vision of your corporate leadership for that matter, but nevertheless, as long as there is no adequate sales generation mechanism well in place, rest assured that all the supporting functions may well be useless and worse, just cash guzzling expenses.

Sales Vs marketing

Both these functions are heavily interrelated but they are however, not the same. Marketing is responsible for the conditions required for a sale to take place while the sales team actually clinches the deal. Think of it as leading a horse to the water (marketing) and actually getting it to drink (sales). So, marketing will make and distribute brochures and mass media adverts, while sales will follow through and reply to the queries that may be the customers’ response to those ads.

Sales generate conversions

Marketing can create and generate interest in a specific product or service (as the case may be) but it is sales alone that can actually lead to a conversion. Here the conversion is the successful conclusion of a marketing funnel that effectively starts with the potential consumer being guided towards a specific product and ends with him actually purchasing the same.

Customer Retention

By and large selling a product is more concerned with individual and personal interaction between people (via the sales team and the clients). This means that the sales people are the ones who actually interact with the customers and thereby convince them to actually clinch the deal. In this way, the sales function is the department most directly responsible for making the effort of actual human interaction with the client, per se. In fact, it is directly responsible for creating that amazing long-lasting impact on the mind of the customer. The sales people will be the ones he will remember when he will refer the product to his fellow peers or when he wants to make another purchase.

Conclusion

In the light of the above we can safely deduce that no organization can survive long without a fully functional sales department for revenue generation purposes.