Module information
Strategic Sales Management
Module description
Sales is the only area of business to generate profit, so strong sales strategists – both inside and outside the sales function - are prized and rewarded by their organisations for their crucial contributions. This module equips leaders with the theoretical knowledge, strategic perspectives and applied skills to design, implement and direct a commercially successful sales operation. From embedding and integrating sales within an organisational ethos, to critically assessing the prospecting, sales and negotiating capabilities of salesforce staff, the module provides a holistic understanding of sales which is immediately transferable into the company boardroom.
Full module specification
Module title: | Strategic Sales Management |
---|---|
Module code: | MBAM966 |
Module level: | M |
Academic year: | 2021/2 |
Module lecturers: |
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Module credit: | 10 |
ECTS value: | 5 |
Pre-requisites: | None |
Co-requisites: | None |
Duration of module: |
Duration (weeks) - term 3: 5 days |
Module aims
The aim of the module is for you to be able to:
- To identify the strategic role of sales within organisations
- To evaluate strategies for the design, operationalisation and management of the sale function of organisations
- To analyse approaches to fulfilling organisational and customer needs through strategic sales management
ILO: Module-specific skills
- 1. design, implementation and management of a commercial sales operation
- 2. Critically analyse strategic approaches to salesforce and sales function management
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
- 3. Appraise salesforce prospecting, negotiating and selling competencies
- 4. Apply analytical forecasting, budgetary and performance management strategies
- 5. Critically analyse strategic approaches to creating a sales organisation
ILO: Personal and key skills
- 6. demonstrate problem solving skills by adopting an evidence-based approach
- 7. demonstrate effective written skills and critical evaluation
- 8. deploy a creative framework for generating digital innovation; agile experience
- 9. lead/conduct/critique proposals/high-level designs for new digital services
Syllabus plan
The module will be delivered in five sessions covering the following topics and will include group roundtable discussions, case studies and exercises.
Session |
Part 1 |
Part 2 |
1 |
Intros: the module, you & your organisations Module assessment briefing |
Becoming a sales organisation The strategic roles and objectives of sales |
2 |
Salespeople and sales managers Purchasers and customers |
The role of prospecting and database management Appointment strategies and tactics. |
3 |
Strategic Key Account Management Principles of sales force management |
RoundTable discussion of content so far Recruitment, training and development of sales staff |
4 |
Motivation and incentivisation of salespeople Forecasting, budgeting, monitoring & feedback |
International sales expansion Trade exhibitions |
5 |
Ethics & sustainability in sales strategy The roles of technology in sales |
Presentations to your co-learners. Feedback and next steps |
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
- Cuevas, J.M. (2018). The transformation of professional selling: Implications for leading the modern sales organization. Industrial Marketing Management, 69, 198-208
- Cuevas, J.M., Donaldson, B., & Lemmens, R. (2019) Sales Management: strategy, process and practice (4th ed.) London: Red Globe Press
- Hr, G., & Aithal, P.S. (2020). Input and output driven sales personnel performance measures: insights from an experiment. International Journal of Case Studies in Business, IT, and Education (IJCSBE), 4(1), 23-37.
- Jobber, D., Lancaster, G., & Le Meunier-FitzHugh, K. (2019). Selling and sales management (11th ed.) London: Pearson
- Le Meunier-Fitzhugh, K., & Douglas, T. (2016). Achieving a strategic sales focus: Contemporary issues and future challenges. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Moncrief, W.C. (2017). Are sales as we know it dying… or merely transforming? Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 37(4), 271-279.
- Peterson, R.A. (2020). Self-efficacy and personal selling: review and examination with an emphasis on sales performance. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 40(1), 57-71.
- Rangarajan, D., Dugan, R., Rouziou, M., & Kunkle, M. (2020). People, process, and performance: Setting an agenda for sales enablement research. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 40(3), 213-220.
- Singh, J., Flaherty, K., Sohi, R.S., Deeter-Schmelz, D., Habel, J., Le Meunier-FitzHugh, K., ... & Onyemah, V. (2019). Sales profession and professionals in the age of digitization and artificial intelligence technologies: Concepts, priorities, and questions. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 39(1), 2-22.
- Syam, N., & Sharma, A. (2018). Waiting for a sales renaissance in the fourth industrial revolution: Machine learning and artificial intelligence in sales research and practice. Industrial Marketing Management, 69, 135-146.
Last revision date
27/01/2021