Sales are essentially activities related to the exchange or buying of products at a given point of time. A sail is said to occur when an exchange of one commodity for another occurs. In business, sales are also referred to as gross proceeds. Sales persons are involved in all stages of sales and they act as intermediaries between the seller and buyer. The exchange of goods or services for a certain price is also regarded as a sale. It can be defined as a sale when a buyer pays for the goods or services that he has bought and the seller then sells them at a price higher than the prevailing market price.
All sales activity is done by professionals who are called as salespeople. An outside sales person acts on behalf of the seller and an inside sales person acts on behalf of the buyer. Both these people meet up once in a while and carry out their business. There are many types of salespeople. These include: inside salesperson, outside salesperson, tele-salesperson and retail salesperson.
Sales and Marketing teams form the core of any organization and they are responsible for executing the overall sales process. The success of any business organization depends on the effectiveness of the sales process. Marketing and CRM teams are the brainchild of a successful sales team, which should be backed by a strong support infrastructure and the expertise of top-notch professionals. These come and marketing teams bring out the best in each other and help the organization achieve its objectives.
Marketing strategies include outbound and inbound marketing techniques which are known to be the most efficient ways to promote a product or a brand. This method is mostly used for selling goods and services rather than advertising, which is mainly used for online marketing. Outbound marketing techniques involve advertising the product or service using various media such as print, electronic media, television, radio, etc. whereas in case of inbound marketing techniques, it includes advertising the product using various channels such as print, electronic media, and telephone.
With inbound marketing, a salesperson tries to attract potential customers by creating awareness about the product. They follow up with phone calls, send electronic newsletters and create catalogs of the potential customers. The tele-salesperson deals with orders received through phone call. They often come up with the right offer that can be beneficial to the potential customers.
CRM software enables easy access to information about sales and customer information. It also provides the tools for tracking sales, tracking the status of accounts, and planning future sales activities. CRM applications also help in decision-making. Sales and marketing teams can make use of CRM software in order to integrate their activities and increase productivity.