Disrupting the status quo may sound like a really cool thing, but it's not that easy to do. There is no one solution that makes disruption possible, but rather the adoption of an organisational culture that fosters change through people, processes, and technology, supported by an organised, competent team that works towards achieving a common goal. The product is the most effective tool for a company to be disruptive and distinguish itself in the market, and sales management is one such process that drives the success of your product.

Importance of sales management
No matter how great a product you may have engineered, without a sales plan, it’s just no good. Sales play a crucial role in bridging the gap between a potential customer’s needs and the product’s ability to fulfil them. Sales management starts with developing the right products, setting the right prices and distributing at the right places, and continues with marketing messaging, customer service and other selling activities.

Essential components of a sales management system:
• Pre-product validation
A sales management team can validate a product idea even before it is created. If you have five new product concepts and do not know which one to go ahead with first, you can test these ideas among your clients or buyers, and then select the one which displays the highest potential to drive revenue.

• Gauging product - market fit
Sales plans are an efficient way of determining if your product is the right fit for the market you are targeting. In the initial stage of your sales plan, focus groups, product pilot runs or simulations can help the sales team understand how consumers react to the product. Based on the results of these activities, the product engineering team canoptimise the product for the market and overcome any limitations identified in order to target specific consumer needs and successfully fulfil them. Ultimately, repeat sales of the product indicate that it is successful and that it is the right fit for the market.

• Strengthening the product's market power
The sales process does not end with a closure. Even after the product delivery stage, following up is essential to ensuring repeat sales to the same clients. Providing incentives to clients to refer the product to other buyers can help establish a sustained relationship with the client as well as strengthen the product’s position and growth in the market.

• Real - time product feedback
It is important to constantly interact with the end-user and gather feedback on the product to drive further improvements. Surveys and focus groups can provide sales teams with valuable insights on the customers' affinity to the product and more. Product feedback is also extremely helpful to the company in creating a marketing strategy for the product and targeting the right consumer segments. Through regular feedbacks, marketers can gain insights on the features that are valued most and design relevant and focused marketing campaigns.

No matter how great a product you may have engineered, without a sales plan, it’s just no good. Sales play a crucial role in bridging the gap between a potential customer’s needs and the product’s ability to fulfil them

Sales Readiness
Sales are no longer a function that can be carried out by a few independent reps, considering the factors determining purchase decisions have drastically changed. This is true especially in the technology industry wherein sales processes are now significantly driven by a try-and-buy model with the advent of new products like cloud or software-as-a-service (SaaS). Sales readiness ensures that sales reps have the right resources and possess the competencies to carry out sales plans, and effectively engage with potential and current customers. Every company wishes to achieve massive sales and companies often set highly ambitious targets for its sales team without providing them with the requisite knowledge or skills needed to go about the task. Hence, organisations must focus on the parallel, on training and skilling their sales force, while also utilising other marketing tools such as content to drive more productive sales processes.

Creating an effective selling system:
Building an effective selling system requires the creation of a competent sales force and effectively training them with the following competencies:

• Understanding the market and buyers: Educate your sales force on whom they are selling to, the market opportunities, risks, competition and the potential problems they may face at various stages of the selling process.

• Aligning sales processes with the customer’s buying process: Every customer has his/her unique buying process. Sales reps must be skilled enough to assist the buyer through the process and improvise wherever necessary to ensure successful closure.

• Create engaging content for your product: Content is an extremely valuable tool which can help with the selling process. It is imperative to create impactful content that engages buyers and describes how the products can help them in achieving their business objectives.

For a company to manage an effective selling system, it must have a learning system in place to support its sales force. An effective learning system is useful in recruiting new reps, while helping existing ones grow and develop new skills. This can be done by:

• Training reps to leverage content and apply new selling methods
• Skilling reps on social media marketing tools
• Developing training transfer plans
• Preparing sales managers to train reps
• Setting performance targets
• Employing performance metrics and analytics

The sales function is the most powerful tool for a business to create sustained growth. Sales management has the power to not only drive revenue and ensure building of scale, but also retain customers and develop the brand identity over the long term. Hence, building an efficient sales team is imperative to achieving all of this, while regular training and skilling can ensure greater loyalty among employees.