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SECTION 2
CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER
Instructor’s Manual
Section 2/Chapter 1-1
CHAPTER
1
SELLING AND SALESPEOPLE
Outline of Chapter
I.
II.
III.
Why Learn About Personal Selling?
Creating Value: The Role of Salespeople in Business
What Do Salespeople Do?
A. Client Relationship Manager
B. Account Team Manager
C. Vendor and Channel Manager
D. Information Provider to their Firm
IV.
Types of Salespeople
A. Selling and Distribution Channels
1. Business-to-Business Channels
2. Consumer Channels
B. Describing Sales Jobs
1. Stage of Buyer-Seller Relationship: New or Continuing?
2. Salesperson’s Role: Taking Orders or Creating New Solutions
3. Importance of the Purchase to the Customer
4. Location of Salesperson-Customer Contact: Field or Inside Sales
5. The Nature of the Offering Sold by the Salesperson: Products or Services
6. Salesperson’s Role in Securing Customer Commitment: Information or Placing an
Order
C. The Sales Jobs Continuum
D. Examples of Sales Jobs
1. Best Buy Retail Salesperson
2. Hershey Foods Salesperson
3. Abbott Labs Pharmaceutical Salesperson
4. IBM Computer Servers Salesperson
Characteristics of Successful Salespeople
A. Self- Motivated
B. Dependability and Trustworthiness
C. Ethical Sales Behavior
D. Customer and Product Knowledge
V.
E. Ability to Use Information Technology
F. Communication Skills
G. Flexibility and Agility
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VI.
VII.
VIII.
H. Creativity
I. Confidence and Optimism
J. Emotional Intelligence
K. Are Salespeople Born or Made?
Rewards in Selling
A. Independence and Responsibility
B. Financial Rewards
C. Management Opportunities
The Building Partnerships Model
Summary
Instructor’s Manual
Section 2/Chapter 1-3
Teaching Suggestions
An alternative would be to use the PowerPoint slides provided with the text.
1.
2.
3.
4
Begin the first class by asking students "Why are you enrolled in this course?" and write
their answers on the board. You will probably find that the students will offer several
reasons for enrolling in this class, but most of their answers will fall into several
categories, including: vocational interest - they plan to go into selling as a career or as a
first job after graduation; management interest - plan to use the information in this
course to improve their background in business management; required course - the
course is required by their program or they need an additional elective; exploratory
interest - they are using the course to explore the sales field or might be interested in a
sales job; or the class time may simply fit into their schedule. Then poll the class and, by a
show of hands, determine the number enrolled for different reasons. In particular, you may
want to comment on the number of students who enrolled for intrinsic reasons (vocational,
management, or exploratory interests) versus those who enrolled for extrinsic reasons
(required course or convenient scheduling). You could make note of this information now,
and refer back to it later in the discussion when you discuss the motivational
characteristics of successful salespeople. This introduction gets students talking about
themselves, and it also stimulates interest in the course. It is also a nice lead in to a
discussion of how learning selling skills is really useful for everyone.
You can continue this discussion about why the information in this course is valuable for
everyone, even students that do not plan to go into sales by posing the following question:
"Should a production manager have a basic knowledge of selling? Why or why not?" This
question provides an opportunity to discuss the importance of selling principles to
everyone. Production managers need to have a basic knowledge of the selling principles
for two reasons. First, to do their job effectively, production managers must be able to
present the needs of their functional area to other executives in firm. For example,
production managers use "selling" principles to influence management that new
production equipment should be bought or new manufacturing policies instituted. They
also "sell" or negotiate with suppliers to provide raw materials or components at low
prices. Production managers, like all managers, use selling principles to influence their
subordinates to perform in the appropriate manner. Second, a knowledge of selling
principles helps production managers develop a better understanding of the marketing
concept and the need for all firm employees to be customer oriented. By understanding the
nature of selling and a salesperson's job, production managers realize the importance of
assisting salespeople in satisfying customer needs, meeting delivery commitments,
maintaining high quality standards, building long-term relationships, etc.
Of course, this approach could also be expanded to include almost any other vocational
interests your students may have such as becoming a lawyer or an accountant. In any case,
it should not be difficult to demonstrate that selling is useful for everyone. A discussion of
your students' career interests provides a nice bridge into the advantages and
disadvantages of sales careers.
You can begin the discussion of advantages and disadvantages of sales jobs by asking
those students who expressed an interest in taking a job in selling, "Why are you interested
in a selling job?" Write their responses on the board and then follow up by asking if there
are any students who are definitely not interested in a selling career. Ask them, "Why are
you not interested in a sales job?" By also writing these responses on the board you can
generate a list of the benefits and drawbacks of a selling job.
Selling: Building Partnerships, 7/e
4.
Having discussed the benefits and drawbacks of a sales career, you are now ready to
discuss the role of salespeople in businesses. You may start this discussion by talking
about the different methods firms use to communicate with their customers. You can
stimulate class discussion by telling your students that the cost of a face-to face customer
contact with a salesperson is around $400, almost 10,000 times more expensive than some
other methods (radio, newspaper). Why is personal selling so expensive? The answer to
this question is that it is more effective at conveying messages to customers. Then ask
why is personal selling more effective in conveying messages?
Another approach is to simply ask your students what the advantages and disadvantages of
each type of communication are. You can further enhance the discussion by specifically
asking about differences in cost, flexibility, amount of information conveyed, etc. and
summarize the discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of each type.
Ask, "Why is advertising more important for marketing consumer products?" The more
extensive use of personal selling for business-to-business products can be related to the
strengths of personal selling versus advertising for communicating complex messages.
At this point, you can talk about the concept of integrated marketing communication
programs in which the elements of the communication program work together
synergistically.
5.
You can begin the discussion about the activities of salespeople by mentioning that how
salespeople spend their time depends upon the type of selling job they perform, but certain
basic activities are common to all types of selling. In addition to reviewing how the
average salesperson spends his or her time, you could also discuss differences by asking
students how they would expect the allocation of time to be different for various sales
jobs, including:
 Procter & Gamble or Frito Lay salesperson calling on supermarkets.



Cincinnati Milacron salesperson selling numerical control production
equipment to a manufacturing company.
Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical salesperson calling on doctors.
Merrill Lynch stockbroker.
Now describe how the text is organized in terms of the activities performed by a
salesperson.
Part I provides the basic foundations for partnering with buyers, what salespeople do, and
the importance of developing the kind of relationship that the buyer desires
Part II discusses the knowledge and skills needed for successful selling, including such
topics as legal and ethical considerations, the buying process, how to communicate
effectively, and methods of adapting to customers.
Part III focuses on the how-to of face-to-face selling and account servicing.
6.
Finally, Part IV looks at the salesperson as a manager and focuses on improving efficiency
by reducing waiting time, by using the telephone effectively, by dealing effectively with
other people in your company and by managing your career.
Here, you can emphasize that there are many different types of selling jobs. You may want
to emphasize that retail salespeople, the salespeople consumers have most contact with are
Instructor’s Manual
Section 2/Chapter 1-5
7.
8.
9.
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just the tip of the iceberg. You can further develop this thought by discussing the function
of salespeople in a channel of distribution and the different types of firms that salespeople
can work for and call on. You might also discuss independent agents at this point. A
position as a sales agent offers a person interested in sales an opportunity to be an
entrepreneur as well as a salesperson.
Next, we want to talk a little about the creative aspect of selling. Tell your students that the
amount of vision that they can apply to their sales career is limited only by their creativity.
After discussing these aspects of sales jobs, you might ask students which jobs they find
most interesting and why. Use this discussion to illustrate that different jobs require
different skills and people should select the job that matches their skills, abilities, and
interests.
This last discussion about creativity flows nicely into the Characteristics of Successful
Salespeople. As you present each of the characteristics, you might ask if these
characteristics are more important in some sales jobs and less important in other sales jobs.
The presentation of these characteristics can lead into a discussion of whether salespeople
are made or born. You might ask students whether they feel they would be a good
salesperson or not, and why. You could then ask them whether the skills they feel they
have now or the skills they are lacking could be taught to them.
To conclude this class, you might want to ask students why they think building
partnerships are becoming more important in business. Also ask them, "What do buyers
and sellers have to do to build an effective partnership?" And finally, "How will building
partnerships affect the role of salespeople?" The answers to these questions are a nice
lead-in to Chapter 2: BUILDING PARTNERING RELATIONSHIPS.
Selling: Building Partnerships, 7/e
Suggested Answers to Ethics Problems
1.
Some buyers are now demanding 24/7 response (24 hours a day, seven days a week) from
their suppliers. What impact do you think that would have on a salesperson’s personal
life?
It can make life much more stressful for the salesperson, because he/she is never “off
work.” With cell phones, pagers, and email, the salesperson may get into the habit of
never being “off” and find it hard to relax while not at work.
2.
The chapter says that selling jobs can be a great way to get your foot in the door at an
employer. Let’s say you really want to be in product development, not sales, yet the
position that is being offered at the company is in sales. You hope that after doing the
sales job for six months to a year you’ll get promoted to the product development job.
Should you be honest and tell the interviewer (the sales manager) that now? Or should
you act like you want to be a career salesperson?
Why not be honest and tell the recruiter what your thoughts are? You can certainly say
that, who knows, you might love sales. And you certainly plan on giving sales all your
effort, all your attention, all your time, while you’re in that position. In other words,
you’re not going to be trying to find ways to move into product development to the
exclusion of doing your sales job. If asked, you could even ask the recruiter if everyone
who starts in sales with that company, stays in sales in that company. Chances are the
answer is “no.” Hence, you’re not that different from others in the firm.
Suggested Answers to Questions and Problems
1.
There are many different go-to-market strategies. For which of the following
products/services do you think a sales-force intensive strategy would probably not be
used? Why? Make any assumptions needed and list your assumptions in your answer.
a. Golf balls.
Maybe. If the new ball is high tech and expensive, for example, a salesperson may be
needed to help the buyer realize the value of the ball for resell. Could also be sold via
telemarketers to resellers who already carry our current line of balls.
b. Oil change service.
It depends on the size of the order. Oil change service for one vehicle for a business
would certainly not warrant a salesperson. But convincing a fleet manager to have all the
oil service done on 300 vehicles might be worth having a salesperson talk about the skill,
time saved, etc.
c. Paper for copy machines.
Probably not, assuming that someone is simply going to buy a few reams or boxes at a
time.
d. Energy-efficient air conditioning system for a commercial building
Probably so, since it will take a lot expertise to design and sell a cooling system.
Instructor’s Manual
Section 2/Chapter 1-7
2.
Think of three people you know whom you would identify as very confident. Make a grid
of the following traits and indicate whether each of these people exhibits the trait:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Open to criticism.
Seeks advice from others.
Seems to learn from mistakes.
Honest about his or her own limits.
Sets realistic goals.
Student answers will vary.
3.
Discuss the following myths about selling:
Salespeople rip people off.
Salespeople don’t’ just rip people off, rather they do serve a useful role in society. They
increase the benefits that customers get out of products by providing information on how
to use the products. They also develop programs with distributors and customers to make
products available at convenient locations when and where the customers need them.
Salespeople help customers solve problems, inform customers about new products, and
help firms develop new products.
Salespeople are born, not made.
Some skills and capabilities required for successful selling are working hard, working
smart, emotional maturity, dependability, and technical product knowledge. People can
learn these skills; thus, successful salespeople can be "made" through training. Research
has shown that many characteristics that people are "born" with such as sex, race, size, and
physical attractiveness are not related to successful selling. However, some people may
have some natural skills, developed as they grew up such as flexibility and an interest and
ability to interact with a lot of different types of people. People with these natural skills
may not need as much training to become successful salespeople.
Selling is just a big bag of tricks.
The primary objective for most salespeople is to develop long-term relationships with
customers and get repeat business. This objective is particularly important in business-tobusiness selling. Deception or tricks may be successful in making one sale, but they
backfire over the long-term. When customers realize they have been deceived, they will
not deal with the salesperson in the future.
A salesperson should never take no for an answer.
Salespeople must satisfy the needs of their companies and their customers. Companies
want their salespeople to makes sales and so salespeople need to be persistent. However,
companies also want salespeople to satisfy customer needs and build long-term
relationships. Thus, salespeople need to accept situations in which their products will not
effectively satisfy a customer's need and accept a "no sale" in these situations.
A good salesperson can sell anything to anybody.
Some skills possessed by good salespeople such as working hard, working smart,
dependability, and emotional maturity are useful when selling all products to all types of
customers. However, salespeople need technical product knowledge and knowledge about
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customers to be effective. Thus, the effectiveness of salespeople in different situations is
limited until they acquire this knowledge required in the specific selling situation.
4.
Maria Smith has been working as a receptionist at her father's business for two years
since graduating from college. She is considering taking a selling job with a
pharmaceutical company. The job involves calling on doctors and explaining the benefits
of the firm's products. What are the similarities and differences between her receptionist
job and the selling job she is considering?
Similarities: She will still have to be concerned about details and follow-up. She will
need to be exact. She will need to not puff or exaggerate her product’s capabilities. She
will still have to be involved with paperwork and appointments.
Differences: She will not be working in the same office day after day. She will have to
use more creativity. She will have to increase knowledge of the medicine and how it will
solve patient’s problems. She will probably do some entertaining. She will not have the
physical presence of her superior right next to her all day. There won’t always be cut and
dried answers to all her questions about how to sell or interact with customers. She will
have to deal with rejection and disappointment. She will have to develop skills in time
and territory management. She will have to do more verbal communication and more
reading of nonverbals.
5.
Jerry White worked his way through college by selling Home Theatre Systems at Best
Buy. He has done well on the job and is one of the top salespeople in the home electronics
department. Last week Safety Harness, Inc. offered him a job selling seat belt kits to
school bus manufacturers. Explain the differences between selling in a consumer
electronics store and the Safety Harness, Inc. sales job.
There are differences along several dimensions between department store selling and trade
selling. The nature of the customer, the nature of the salesperson's duties, the importance
of the buying decision to the customer, the location of selling activity, and the closing
skills required by the salesperson all differ between these two levels of sales jobs. Selling
appliances in a department store can be more simple than trade selling. To begin,
customers come to you and in many instances the customers already know what they want.
Duties are primarily to respond to customer ordersCresponding to customer-initiated
requests and ringing up the sale. There is often little need to persuade customers to make a
sale. In addition, the location of selling activity is different. Department store sales are all
inside; there are no cold calls, no prospecting for new customers, and usually no long-term
relationships. There is usually immediate positive reinforcement to the salesperson for
having made the sale. And a sense of satisfaction for the customer because presumably,
the appliance will bring pleasure to the buyer. Finally, there is a lower level of closing
skills required to make a sale.
Trade selling is somewhat different from retail sales along most of these dimensions. First,
the nature of the customer will be different in that while the trade seller will be
prospecting for new customers, mostly the seller will be selling and servicing regular
customers. So, successful trade salespeople build long-term relationships with their
customers. Also, the nature of the sales duties requires more skills in that salespeople must
convince retailers in their territory to buy and display Makita products. The trade
salesperson for Makita has a responsibility to see that out-of-stock conditions do not arise
for the retailer. Those decisions could have strong financial impacts on the success or
Instructor’s Manual
Section 2/Chapter 1-9
failure of the business. In addition, the location of the selling activity is different for the
trade salesperson. Sales for the trade person will be made in the field, probably in a
territory, so there will be some traveling involved. The trade salesperson has more
flexibility in planning daily activities. Finally, Chad can expect to earn more as a trade
salesperson for Makita than he did as a retail salesperson.
6.
Poll at least five students who are not taking your selling course (and who, better yet, are
outside the business school or program). What are their opinions about salespeople?
How accurate are their opinions based on what you’ve read in this chapter?
Answers will vary. Expect that some students will have negative opinions, based partly on
the myths discussed in Question 3. Be prepared to discuss these openly and honestly.
7.
Think about what you want in your first job out of college. Based on what you know so far
from this chapter, how well does selling match your desires in a job?
Answers will vary.
8.
According to the text, some sales jobs involve taking orders instead of creating new
solutions. Why would anyone want a job that involves only taking orders?
People are different. Some need the positive reinforcement of getting orders every single
day. Some want less stress and the ability to better gauge what their income might be
from week to week. Some people simply don’t have the creativity or intelligence to
interact at the higher level of creating new solutions.
9.
Would society benefit if new car companies eliminated salespeople and sold new cars at a
lower price to the customer over the Internet?
It might. But this assumes that all of the customer’s questions and needs could be
addressed via an interactive Internet experience. If not, then there is still a need for a
salesperson.
10.
Assume you are a sales manager and you need to recruit someone for the following sales
positions. For each position, list the qualities you would want in the recruit:
a. Salesperson selling web design services to small businesses.
Motivation to make lots of calls, ethical sales behavior, good communication skills,
knowledge of the Internet, able to conceptualize and communicate creative sites that meet
individual customer needs, ability to read the prospect’s verbal and nonverbal cues.
b. Salesperson calling on college book stores, selling university logo backpacks.
College textbook salesperson.
Interest in providing service to the bookstore personnel.
Willingness to travel.
Ability to develop long-term relationships.
c. Used-car salesperson.
Persistence.
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Ability to obtain a commitment from a customer.
Work hardCput in long hours.
d. Salesperson selling janitorial services to a county courthouse.
Motivation to deal with buyers in the governmental sector, knowledge of janitorial needs
in general, ability to do follow up work after the sale to insure the courthouse is satisfied
with its service.
11.
Review the story told in “From the Buyer’s Perspective 1.1”. Assume you are a new
salesperson for the company that originally sold most everything to Sammy’s Pizza. You
were not around when someone lost the Perralla family trust, and you would really like to
get them back as an account. What would you do to try and regain that trust?
Student answers will vary. The reality is that it is probably going to be impossible to get
the account back. But the salesperson can help by “seeding” the account with information
that will help the Perralla family. The seller can also make promises about what s/he will
do and then follow through completely. Studies show that people trust those whom they
like, so it will be important for the new seller to be friendly and try to find areas of
common interest with the buyers.
Instructor’s Manual
Section 2/Chapter 1-11
Suggested Answers to Case Problems
Case 1.1 Peter’s Valet
Questions
1.
This chapter described sales jobs in terms of six factors (the stage of the buyer-seller
relationship, the salesperson's role, the importance of the customer's purchase decision,
the location of salesperson-customer contact, the nature of the offering sold by the
salesperson, and the salesperson's role in securing customer commitment). Based on what
you know about the new selling position at Peter’s Valet, describe the position in terms of
the six factors.
The stage of the buyer-seller relationship—For existing customers, this would be a
continuing relationship role for the salesperson. However, for the new business they are
going after, it would be considered creating new relationships.
The salesperson's role—Again for existing customers, this could often just be taking
orders. However for new customers, and perhaps for some of its existing customers, it
will involve creating new solutions.
The importance of the customer's purchase decision—While it is important that clothes be
cleaned properly and that the company is reliable and efficient, for most of its customers,
the cleaning would probably be a relatively minor purchase decision.
The location of salesperson-customer contact—This will probably be field sales.
However, for some types of businesses, an inside salesperson could handle the sales.
The nature of the offering sold by the salesperson—It is a service.
The salesperson's role in securing customer commitment—For the most part, the
salesperson’s job will be to supply the customer with information. Order taking will be
done by automated systems on a per-usage basis.
2.
To what extent do you think this new selling position would require the salesperson to be
a client relationship manager? A vendor and channel manager?
Being a client relationship manager would seem to be very important for this position.
There are probably a number of cleaners that a business could choose to use. Without a
good relationship, the buyer might want to switch to another business.
The extent to which the cleaners does all of its own pickup and delivery of cleaned items
will determine how much of a vendor and channel manager the seller must be. The
cleaner probably does all of this already, so this probably won’t be a big part of the seller’s
job responsibility.
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Case 1-2: Kristin Johnson
Questions
1.
How would you reply to each statement by Ryan and Ty?
You don’t need a college education to sell—This is certainly true for some sales jobs,
especially retail ones. However, a college education is a requirement for many entry level
positions in Fortune 500 firms.
Salespeople are pushy—This is true of some salespeople. But it is decreasing among
professional salespeople. Buyers don’t appreciate being pushed around.
Salespeople don’t tell the truth—If this were always true, the salespeople would have no
credibility. One could make the case that there are liars in every profession.
Salespeople don’t have to be creative or smart—While this might be true of simple order
takers, it certainly isn’t true for most order getters.
Salespeople do a lot of traveling—Some do, and some don’t do any traveling that requires
an overnight stay. It all depends on the nature of the sales job, as the chapter explains.
2.
Why do Ryan and Ty have the perceptions they have? Are they at all
accurate?
Of course they are accurate, when describing a single salesperson they might have
encountered. However, as the chapter indicates, their views do not reflect reality for many
sales jobs today. Buyers are sophisticated and just won’t put up with most of what Ryan
and Ty voiced.
Instructor’s Manual
Section 2/Chapter 1-13
End Of Chapter Role Play Case
You will be splitting the class into groups of three (see textbook for description) for this in-class
exercise. Hand a different role play sheet (found on the next three pages) to each student in a
team.
Chapter 1 Role Play
Version A
As the NETSUITE recruiter, ask the following questions to the person in your team that you are
interviewing for a sales job.
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
Why sales? Why are you cut out for sales?

What do you hope to achieve in your career?

What do you think makes a salesperson successful?

How would you sell NETSUITE?
Selling: Building Partnerships, 7/e
Chapter 1 Role Play
Version B
As the NETSUITE recruiter, ask the following questions to the person in your team that you are
interviewing for a sales job.

You know, most students we interview want to start in sales but think they should move
into marketing soon after. How long would you plan to stay in sales? Why?

What would you hope to get from your sales manager? (If asked, talk about training,
support, and so forth.) Why would that be important?

As a salesperson, what would you expect from NetSuite?

Which would you prefer, salary or commission? Why?
Instructor’s Manual
Section 2/Chapter 1-15
Chapter 1 Role Play
Version C
As the NETSUITE recruiter, ask the following questions to the person in your team that
you are interviewing for a sales job.
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
What is your sales philosophy, or approach to selling?

What experience have you had selling? Tell me of a situation where you were
selling something, an idea or anything, and they weren’t buying. What did you
do? (After they tell you, follow up with this.) Why did that work or fail to work?

Why should I hire you? Sell yourself.
Selling: Building Partnerships, 7/e
EXERCISE 1-1 YOUR ATTITUDES TOWARDS SALES.
1.
In the space below list twenty adjectives that you think describe salespeople
2.
Did you draw on any experiences with any specific salespeople or type of salespeople that justify
those adjectives? If so, describe them.
3.
At this point, most students have listed mostly negative adjectives and experiences. Some students,
especially those whose parents are salespeople or who may be salespeople themselves, have a more
positive list. But everyone has had some good experiences with salespeople. How did those
experiences make you feel?
What behaviors did the salesperson engage in that resulted in your good experience?
4.
Where does the negative stereotype of salespeople come from?
Instructor’s Manual
Section 2/Chapter 1-17
EXERCISE 1-2 HOW ARE SALESPEOPLE PORTRAYED?
1.
Search the press for five portrayals of salespeople. This exercise is more fun if you go to the library or
hop on the Web and try the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek, Business
Week, and other similar magazines. Then you can compare what is being written in the business press
versus the popular press. Do these articles reinforce a negative image of salespeople? If so, How?
2.
Call and interview someone who buys from salespeople as part of his or her job. For example, you could
visit a physician (or other health care practitioner) at the health center, a pharmacist, a locally-owned
retailer who is a dealer for one or more lines (like a car dealer, a farm equipment dealer, a tire dealer,
etc.), a manager of a department store, or the manager of a grocery store. Ask the following questions
3.
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A.
How do salespeople help the interviewee accomplish his or her job objectives?
B.
What is it that the interviewee likes about his or her favorite salespeople?
C.
What is it that the interviewee likes least about salespeople in general? About his or her least
favorite salesperson?
Compare the portrait drawn of salespeople by the press with that of your interviewee.
Selling: Building Partnerships, 7/e