Moving from top sales performer to sales manager is one of the hardest transitions in a commercial career, because the skills that made someone good at selling — persistence, instinct, one-to-one persuasion — are not the same skills needed to plan, forecast, and lead a whole team toward a shared target.

This Professional Sales Manager training course, delivered by the Arab British Fellowship Training Academy, is built for that transition. It covers the manager's role in setting objectives and building sales plans, recruiting and developing a team, negotiating and closing at a senior level, and reading performance data to make timely decisions — across direct, indirect, and digital sales channels.

Participants finish the programme able to move beyond day-to-day supervision toward purposeful sales leadership, grounded in clear targets, sound management practices, and measurable results.

• Develop skills for managing and leading sales teams and improving overall performance.
• Prepare clear sales plans aligned with organisational goals and target markets.
• Analyse sales data and performance indicators to support better decisions.
• Strengthen negotiation, objection-handling, and deal-closing skills.
• Improve customer relationship management to retain customers and grow sales.

Target Audience

• Sales managers, supervisors, and sales team leaders across various sectors.
• Business development officers, account managers, and sales department personnel.
• Professionals preparing for managerial or supervisory positions in sales.
• Business owners and department managers seeking to improve sales team performance.

Module 1: Sales Leadership Fundamentals

• Sales management duties and managerial and sales responsibilities
• The relationship between sales management and organisational business objectives
• Essential skills of an effective sales manager, and factors affecting sales management efficiency

Module 2: Strategic Planning, Forecasting and Quota Management

• Setting sales objectives and aligning them with organisational goals
• Analysing markets, customers, and competitors, and developing sales plans according to available resources
• Methods for forecasting sales volumes and setting and distributing sales quotas across teams
• Monitoring gaps between actual results and forecasts

Module 3: Building and Developing the Sales Team

• Organising sales teams, defining roles and responsibilities, and allocating territories and accounts
• Establishing clear standards for monitoring team performance
• Criteria for selecting suitable sales personnel and identifying training needs

Module 4: Leading, Motivating and Communicating with the Team

• Leadership approaches suited to sales teams, and incentives and rewards for improving performance
• Addressing underperformance and strengthening commitment to targets
• Building effective communication channels, directing employees, and managing meetings, reports, and daily follow-up

Module 5: Understanding and Managing Customers and Accounts

• Classifying customers, identifying priority accounts, and building long-term relationships
• Identifying customer needs and purchasing motives
• Developing sales proposals suited to customer requirements and managing differences in buying decisions

Module 6: Negotiation, Objection-Handling and Closing

• Negotiation principles, main stages, and managing concessions while protecting deal value
• Analysing customer objections and their underlying causes
• Methods for responding to objections, deal-closing techniques, and post-sale follow-up

Module 7: Measuring, Analysing and Reporting Sales Performance

• Defining key performance indicators for sales teams and monitoring individual and team results
• Linking performance with incentives and sales targets
• Reading sales reports, analysing trends and gaps, and using data to support management decisions

Module 8: Channels, Territories and Digital Sales Opportunities

• Direct and indirect sales channels, and selecting suitable channels for products and customers
• Monitoring distribution and sales channel performance
• The role of digital channels, managing prospects and the sales pipeline, and improving conversion rates
• Dividing sales territories, allocating resources, and identifying priority markets and growth opportunities

Module 9: Growing Sales, Relationships and Profitability

• Increasing sales from existing customers, acquiring new customers, and developing cross-selling and upselling
• Building trust, managing complaints and feedback, and strengthening customer satisfaction and retention
• Understanding the relationship between sales volume and profitability, and managing discounts and pricing

Module 10: Sales Strategy Development and Professional Excellence

• Reviewing sales results, adjusting priorities according to market changes, and aligning strategy with organisational objectives
• Developing an influential leadership style for managing sales teams
• Building a performance-driven, accountable sales culture that sustains growth