Industrial Sales Management

Aim

As international competition increases, this places higher demands on sales departments and sales engineers in industrial companies. In addition, customers' purchasing has become increasingly professional, their supply base has become more international, and greater demands are placed on cost efficiency. There are increasing demands on companies to offer sustainable and digitalized complete solutions. All in all, this means that the demand for sales engineers' skills in the industry is increasing. This course will meet the industry's increased demands for knowledge of industrial sales.

The course aims to provide students with knowledge and understanding of the industrial company's sales and sales management, its impact on the company's strategy development, its impact on the company's relationships with customers, and the consequences for the company's opportunities to develop and offer sustainable services and solutions.

After completing the course, students shall be able to:

• Describe and explain how the sales function in an industrial company works.
• Analyze the role of the sales function and sales engineers, the function's strategic significance, and generally be able to deal with issues that concern the sales function.
• Apply CRM methodology and know and be able to use essential sales support systems or CRM systems.
• Be able to follow and contribute to academic discussions and dialogues with practitioners regarding the frontier of sales strategic research concerning, for example, sustainable business development, digitalized offers, or how industrial sales affect CSR work.

Content

The course provides an understanding of the strategic importance of sales for industrial companies. The role of sales and sales management and different types of sales are explained and discussed. The sales process, value-based sales, pricing, organization (for example, Key Account Management), and sales planning will be covered during the course. Special emphasis is placed on sales support systems, sales strategies, applied customer segmentation, and the development of customer relationships. The effects of focusing on sustainability, digitalization, and automation on industrial sales are discussed. Specific areas, such as negotiation techniques, are also included in the course.