Sales are the heart of the business

Sales is paramount in any company.

Making a simile with the human being, sales are the heart of the business. Sale is the action of making a good or service available to someone for their use or consumption through the corresponding payment of the fixed value.

Sales are the most important function of any company. They are what generate the movement of the other areas. Nothing happens in a company until the first sale is made. The results of a company are directly related to the sales made.

The needs of the sales area should take priority in the use of the company's available resources. Thus, the way of managing the sales area is essential for the fulfillment of the objectives that are intended to be achieved. It is preferable that the administration of the sales area is carried out by administrative personnel and not the sales force so that the latter is basically dedicated to selling .

The main functions of sales management are:

Plan and manage sales Establish and monitor the commercial strategy Direct, motivate and evaluate the sales force personnel Coordinate, supervise and follow up the work of the sales force Coordinate the development of a professional presentation for prospects and clients Prepare quotes and presentations from salespeople, account executives or business managers for your new prospects or existing clients Coordinate and follow up on customer orders and purchase orders Supervise timely deliveries and quality of customer orders Sales statistics by customer, by salesperson and by team Select sales professionals to be hired Establish and coordinate sales team training programs.Prepare market studies periodically Establish sales costs Define and control the budget designated to the sales area Establish strategies to finance sales Generate reports and indicators that facilitate measuring the results of the sales team Establish good relationships with manufacturers, distributors and retailers Coordinate and supervise after-sales service Establish the sales force compensation plan Coordinate the receipt of customer returns Have updated price lists of services and products offered by the company Have forecasts of objective and realistic sales with professional support studies.Generate reports and indicators that make it easier to measure the results of the sales team Establish good relationships with manufacturers, distributors and retailers Coordinate and supervise after-sales service Establish the sales force compensation plan Coordinate the receipt of returns Customers Have updated price lists of the services and products offered by the company Have objective and realistic sales forecasts with professional support studies.Generate reports and indicators that make it easier to measure the results of the sales team Establish good relationships with manufacturers, distributors and retailers Coordinate and supervise after-sales service Establish the sales force compensation plan Coordinate the receipt of returns Customers Have updated price lists of the services and products offered by the company Have objective and realistic sales forecasts with professional support studies.Have updated price lists of the services and products offered by the company Have objective and realistic sales forecasts with professional support studies.Have updated price lists of the services and products offered by the company Have objective and realistic sales forecasts with professional support studies.

A good sales forecast is, without a doubt, the most important tool in a company's sales planning.

The sales forecast consists of making an estimate of sales, in pesos and in physical units for a certain period, based on a market research and a marketing plan. It can be weekly, monthly, semester and yearly.

Forecasting is, in essence, the art of predicting what potential buyers will do, under a set of certain conditions. It is the basis of a good budget; in fact, it is made with the results of the sales forecast.

The budget is essential for the planning of the other areas of the company, so it is important to have it ready within the times indicated in the programs. The latter have the advantage that they coincide with the annual financial planning and are used for estimating business activity for the following year. Medium and long-term forecasts should also be made. (3 to 5 years).

The forecast can be made for a specific product, a line, a division, or the entire company. It is important to note that the sales forecast is not an estimate of sales under ideal conditions, as this would be the maximum sales potential.

There are several factors to consider when calculating the sales forecast:

Advantages and competitive conditions of the company General strengths and weaknesses of the competition Market conditions and trends within the company's line of business in recent years Buying capacity of potential customers Statistical information of sales of previous years of the company and the turn as a whole Potential new competitors that are bolder or have more potential than existing ones Local, regional, national and international socio-economic and political conditions Frequently unexpected weather changes History of natural disasters in the area

In many cases, entrepreneurs or businessmen calculate it based on intuitions, hunches or premonitions of the owners and directors of the companies, generally having large deviations with respect to the estimates and objectives initially set.

There are very complex trend analytical techniques and probabilistic correlations that use mathematical and statistical instruments with minimal margins of error almost always.

When there is historical information on the behavior of sales, techniques such as time series study or statistical analysis of demand are used.

Salespeople may be asked to provide their sales projections based on their experience from the previous year. These estimates can be classified by customers, products, divisions, sales areas, vendors, others.

If the company has information about other sales forecasts from previous years from the same seller, the margin of error it had in its calculations can be verified and in some cases, this correction factor can be applied to its new forecast.