What's the higher priority for a Sales Manager - The customer satisfaction, or the company profitability?

Customers' satisfaction should be a higher priority of sales manager to achieve long term set goals. But short term strategic sales plans should always be in place to maintain higher profits.

These two are interconnected. As someone before me wrote, "Customer satisfaction will lead to higher sales and thereby increasing profits and overall company profitability." 

This is a book rule, make your customer satisfied in order to make more profit. 

However it is not always like this, because there are occasions were, customer satisfaction does not reflect profitability, or vice verse. 

For example,imagine if you are working for a company that is producing or distributing new World Cup Sticker Album and Sticker Images. Your main target group are parents that are fulfilling their children demands, which in this case is an album and sticker cards/images.Every parent (customer) is going to be frustrated because their children need to fill in400/500/500 sticker images to their new album, which is money consuming of course. It means actually that you are going to have unsatisfied customers (parents) that are doing everything to please their kids, which in the end increases your company's profitability. Basically, it is a situation where you can not satisfy customers, but you are increasing profitability of your company.

The other way around is if you would have a great product, with great quality and price, which implies  satisfied customers, but then there is no enough demand on the market for that product, which reflect on decreasing the profitability of your company.

Either way, the end result is the profitability of your company, which is on the stake, and it must be primary to you as the Sales Manager.

There is a say, "Everything begins and ends with the money". 

 

Both are inter linked or reciprocal to each other. Without able to keep your customer's happy will be you be able to achieve your targets? Without achieving targets would the company able to cover costs (FC &VC) ?Thus without that will you reach profitability?..

As all the answer is a big 'No". But, the question should be what is the extent you would be able to negotiate to keep your customer happy & simultaneously ensuring bottom line is maintained (Bottom line is nothing but profitability -"Not Gross Margin but Net Margin" :-) ).

'No business should be done in Loss irrespective of Industry'.   

Agree with earlier answers that both are important and very well correlated and should be in the focus in any sales manager business goals and should be balanced in a way that non of them will affect the other's performance. If the manager focused only on customer satisfaction that might affect the cost and consequently on the profit, and vice versa if he focused only in higher sales he'll lose the business continuity due to lack of customer satisfaction that will also affect the profit.

Customer satisfaction will lead to higher sales and thereby increasing profits and overall conpany profitability.

customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction, as it is directly proportional to company profitability.

The company profitability

Higher priority for a Sales Manager s "The Customer Satisfaction"

Theoretically Customer satisfaction is real long term profit for a company . but practically  Job requires compromise on customer satisfaction to a certain level for more profitability 

Customer Satisfaction should be the priority which ultimately leads to profitability through repeat purchases and Word of Mouth.