Sales Manager: Definition, Job Description, Role in the Company

A sales manager must be a good salesperson and psychologist. His task is to lead the sales team to the set goals and maintain a healthy company culture among the salespeople. Read what his job description is and what it should be in order to lead his team well.

Who is a sales manager or sales director

A sales manager or store manager is an experienced salesperson who manages the entire sales team and is responsible for its results.

In English, this position is referred to as sales director or sales manager, but sometimes the director stands above the manager - depending on the hierarchy of the company. But their function is similar, both are leaders of sales teams, they set strategy and business goals and make sure that salespeople follow them.

The job description of the sales manager

The Sales Manager is responsible for the sales team and the achievement of business objectives. This specifically means:

• sets business strategy and oversees compliance with it,
• plans business objectives and is accountable for team results,
• leads the sales team, trains, motivates and evaluates salespeople,
• sets and updates business processes,
• maintains business relationships mostly with VIP clients and key partners, which is assisted by a CRM, where he keeps a record of everything about them,
• represents the company,
• develops major business opportunities.

If you want to learn how to work with CRM, try it for yourself. Most CRM vendors offer a free trial version for a limited time.

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Sales manager salary

As with other salespeople, the salary of sales managers has two components - a fixed and a variable one, which is based on sales.

What is the role of a sales manager

A sales manager is straddling the line between business and leadership. He or she must manage both well, managing the business and the sales team.

He is responsible for the successes and failures of the sales team. In order for salespeople to do their best work and be satisfied, the sales manager must be a good leader. This means:

• builds good team relationships,
• leads the team to the best results,
• recruiting and onboarding new people to the team,
• educates existing salespeople.

What a sales manager should be

As you can see, a sales manager has a lot of tasks and a lot of responsibility. For this you need:

• be diligent and persistent,
• have good communication skills,
• be able to negotiate and be decisive,
• be able to assess risks,
• be a good leader and be able to pull your sales team together,
• have a positive attitude and be able to listen.

Hard skills and soft skills that a business manager should have

For more tips and advice to help sales managers quickly become pros, check out our Sales Driver hub for sales managers.