Read and translate the text. Get ready to summarise it

THE SALES MANAGER

Unit 6

Read and translate the text. Get ready to summarise it.

Unit 5

Donald L.Ford has more than 30 years of experience as a CEO, small-business owner, manager and consultant. He and his wife, Susie, started and have successfully been operating retail gift stores. One of the questions they dealt with at the beginning of their business career was to be or not to be in e-commerce.

The last years of the previous millennium saw the meteoric rise of a new phenomenon in retailing – online purchasing. Stocks of Internet start-ups rose but soon investors began to retreat and the year 2000 saw the bankruptcy of many internet companies. Still, there was a growth in the amount of trade through the internet because of its main advantages- speed and convenience of internet shopping. Most major retail chains now have web sites from which one can purchase all or a selection of their goods. Most of the web commerce sites deal in mass-produced goods which consumers may find in Wal-Marts and other main department and discount stores.

Donald and Susie considered e-commerce several times and decided against it. The main reason they went into retail in the first place was the people factor- getting to meet new people, interact with them, get feedback from them and form new personal relationships. There were always many people who wanted to see and feel the items before they bought them.

Lately they have been investigating the pluses and minuses of managing both “real” and “virtual” stores. First because their business has been suffering from competition on the internet. Second, consumers have been asking them if they have a web page. Finally, they don’t want to ignore the possibilities of internet marketing any longer. One of them is the provision of outstanding service and the marketing of a unique and one-of-a-kind product. For example, eBay, which serves as “flea markets” on the web. From your computer, you can browse through an unlimited number of unique items, such as antiques and collectibles, look at color photos, and then haggle on the purchase price. Such sites have been attracting a lot of attention.

Of course, even if your site is attractive you benefit from it only if it is accessible to a large number of potential buyers. It is also necessary to make the right decision about the way to start selling online. That is why Donald and Susie are not in a hurry. They have been looking into their options and investigating similar businesses to get some ideas.

At one time the word "manager" was just a mere title. "Sales manager" was a salesman whose sufficient knowledge and experience of salesmanship gave him seniority over his fellows.

In these days, however, management is both a science and profession. The sales manager still needs the knowledge and experience of salesmanship, although some very successful sales managers have never been "on the road"; but they should also have the knowledge and experience of management. Doing something oneself and supervising the operations of others are two very different things. It does not mean that if a man can do certain work he can successfully monitor the progress of other sales force.

It is, of course, obvious that the product, the channel of distribution, the market and customer base demand the performance of various functions from the manager. Even if they have no great selling ability or experience, they must have a "selling sense," and creative organizing abilities, and they must have managerial abilities. These are the three fundamental qualities, and it is almost equally important that they should be in well-balanced proportions.

The sales manager must bе able to make decisions, and have the courage to put them into action. This may be quite challenging.

He must have the personality of a leader, because he has to inspire his sales force. When a sales manager leads his staff with enthusiasm and goodwill, these qualities benefit the whole organization. Every employee tries to take an important part in the success of work.

A manager is to set a good example. If the manager is unpunctual, the staff is unpunctual; if the manager is lazy and careless, the staff is lazy and careless; if the manager is dishonest, the staff is dishonest as well.

Leadership must be consistent and systematic, and this means that the sales manager must be in close touch with his staff, and accessible to them at all times. The manager who shuts himself up in his room, and avoids his assistants may find things in a very bad shape when he leaves his room for a tour of inspection.

It is also necessary to remember that high education and high achievement in practical affairs don't necessarily go together. A story tells of two schoolboy friends, one brilliant at maths, one completely hopeless, who meet much later when the first is a professor and the second a multi-millionaire. Unable to control his curiosity, the professor asks the figure-blind friend how he managed to find his fortune. 'It's simple,' was the answer. 'I buy things at £1 and sell them for £2, and from that difference I make a living.' The business world is full of successful people who live by knowing the difference between a buying price and a selling price. It is also full of clever fools who establish ambitious financial targets but can’t achieve them. A Harvard Business School graduate has no reason at all to suppose that he can manage more effectively than a less instructed person.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-27