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CHAPTER 18: PERSONAL SELLING AND SALES
MANAGEMENT
Case Commentary: What Does It Take To Keep Johnson Controls In The
Driver’s Seat?
SYNOPSIS
The case deals with the Automotive Systems Group of Johnson Controls (ASG), a supplier of interior
components for the automobile and truck industries. In the beginning, ASG served customers by making
and selling individual products whose design was largely determined by specifications provided by car
and truck manufacturers. Important purchasing criteria were price and on-time delivery.
As the industry and competitive environments changed, the design and marketing of those products
changed as well. Customers wanted integrated components and systems, rather than individual products.
ASG evolved from a part manufacturer to a provider of pre-assembled interior packages. Not only was
the product concept changed, but Johnson began to rely more on the customers of its customers to
provide information regarding what products should be offered and how they should be designed. This
level of market attention made the selling job a lot easier for Johnson Control’s reps, because they were
sources of information that automotive manufacturers did not necessarily have access to. ASG redefined
its salespeople as creative consultants, problems solvers, and partners to its customers. It eliminated
sales commissions to reinforce this new approach and replaced them with year-end performance bonuses.
Ford and General Motors began their separate systems for auction buying of automobile parts on the
Internet. In the ensuing confusion, they merged their efforts to create an online auction called Covisint
that promises to dramatically lower their costs for parts. Johnson Controls sees Covisint as another sales
tool they can use.
RELATIONSHIP TO THE CHAPTER
The case illustrates the nature of the selling job and how it has changed considerably over time. It
addresses newer sales philosophies and approaches of team selling, relationship marketing, integrated
marketing thinking, and adding value to the role of the sales person.
SUGGESTIONS REGARDING OPENING QUESTION:
What would a business need to do in order to establish a sales culture like the one at Johnson Controls’
ASG Division?
The best way to address this question is to take a comparison/contrast approach to the similarities and
differences between a traditional sales-oriented approach and the approach that evolved within the ASG
division of Johnson Controls.
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Traditional, Sales-Oriented
Contemporary, Customer-Oriented
Suppliers take direction from most immediate
customers.
Suppliers take direction from customers as
well as from other levels of the market—
paying close attention to derived demand.
Focus on taking a consulting and partnership
role with the customer; have a long-term
orientation, forge lasting relationships, forgo
the immediate sale for the sake of the ongoing
relationship and the customer’s best interests.
Compensation is not commission based, but
salary with some other incentives, bonuses,
etc. depending on providing consistent quality
inputs and outputs, including but not limited to
sales.
Sales force is team-oriented; cooperation from
all parts of the division and company are both
needed and provided.
Focus almost exclusively on closing sales.
Compensation is commission driven.
Sales people are independent, depend on their
own skills, actions, and efforts.
SUGGESTIONS REGARDING THE CLOSING QUESTION
How can Johnson Controls and its ASG division prepare its sales force to operate in the new Covisint
environment, with information flowing freely along the supply chain?
While personal relationships and reputation between ASG engineers and Ford and General Motors
personnel matter to some extent, low-price and delivery promises are much more important on online
auctions. The marketing team would have to do an even greater selling job before the part goes out to
bid. They would try to influence the writing of the specifications for each part, pointing out the
reliability of the items they have to offer.
Should ASG be in favor of an operation like Covisint? Why or why not?
The claim that Johnson Controls makes that they are interested in lowering their customers’ costs will be
put to the test with Covisint. Ford and GM spent millions to develop Covisint so that they could lower
their costs. While online auctions characteristically invite few bidders, ASG would not be the only
bidder. This could be just the opening their worldwide competitors need to break into the supply chain
of these huge companies. In order to make Covisint pay for them, ASG would have to consider the
following:

Parts can be complex, may need frequent redesign, and be customized. ASG should be good at
that.

There are just two customers and sales orders promise to be large.

There will be intense competition.

In some instances, the product may have highly technical aspects.

Long-term relationships built on trust and customer satisfaction are critical for success.
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Lecture Outline
I. The nature of personal selling.
A. Personal selling—the personal communication of information to persuade someone to buy
something.
B. Personal selling as a form of promotion.
1. It provides flexibility to adapt the promotional message across to prospective customers.
2. It can be focused on qualified prospects, eliminating waste from contacting non-prospects.
3. Its end result may be closing the sale.
4. It is costly to develop and operate a sales force.
5. It is not always possible to obtain qualified people for the job.
C. Types of personal selling.
1. Inside selling—customers bring themselves to salespeople, primarily retail sales.
2. Outside selling—sales people go to the customers, making contact by phone, in writing, or in
person.
3. Wide variety of sales jobs: basic sales jobs include order taking, customer support, and order
getting.
a. Delivery-salesperson—sales persons primarily deliver the product and selling
responsibilities are secondary, though they may be rewarded for increasing sales or closing
new accounts.
b. Inside order taker—salesperson takes orders and assists customers at the seller’s place of
business; serves customers efficiently and may use suggestive selling.
c. Outside order taker—the salesperson goes to the customer to generate repeat or new sales
through making sales presentations.
d. Missionary sales person—usually found in pharmaceutical or foods firms, their primary
responsibilities are to develop goodwill and provide customer service, not to generate sales.
e. Sales engineer—the major task is to explain the product to prospects and adapt it to
customer needs.
f. Consultative salesperson—the primary responsibility is to design a system to fit the needs
of a particular customer; the most challenging of sales jobs.
4. The professional sales person—sales stereotypes of high pressure, false friendship, glibness,
and price-cutting order chasers are largely outdated; women are as likely as men to be
salespeople.
a. Sales reps are often managers of their own territories.
b. Sales people identify prospects, build goodwill, sell their products, train their customers’
sales people, relay market information to the firm.
c. Sales reps organize their own time and effort, recruit new sales people, plan sales activities,
and perform other managerial functions.
d. Greater sales professionalism also is more commonplace among retailers who view personal
selling as a major component of their promotion strategy.
5. The cost of personal selling—depends on the sales approach used; ranges between $85 and
$190 per call.
6. The uniqueness of sales jobs.
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a. They are largely responsible for implementing the firm’s marketing strategies.
b. Sales people are the most visible representatives of the firm.
c. Sales people operate with little or no direct supervision.
d. Some sales jobs require frequent travel and time away from home.
II. Changing patterns in personal selling.
A. Selling centers or team selling—a group of people representing various departments in an
organization (sales, finance, R&D, etc.) who participate in the selling process; expensive and used
only when there is potential for high profits and sales volume.
B. Systems selling—selling a total package of related goods and services to solve a customer’s
problems; a major step beyond selling individual products separately.
C. Global sales teams—responsible for all sales to accounts anywhere in the world; located in
offices or distribution centers in foreign locations near important customers.
D. Relationship selling—involves developing mutually beneficial relationships built on trust with
selected (usually large) customers over time; trust is developed through:
1. Giving customers’ needs primary importance.
2. Having a shared vision of success.
3. Having a long-term orientation focusing beyond an immediate sale.
4. Taking a partnership, not an adversarial, approach.
E. Telemarketing—the innovative use of telecommunications equipment and systems in selling.
INSERT #1
The Federal Trade Commission appeared to win major congressional support in its battle to
implement a telemarketing “do-not-call” rule in 2003: the endorsement of Rep. W.J. “Billy”
Tauzin, R-La, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. A number of
congressmen of both parties commented during the FTC hearing. None opposed the Federal
consumers’ list of those who do not want to be bothered listening to telemarketers and several
suggested the only problem with it was it did not include calls by politicians.
The comments came as the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), which represents marketers,
softened its position opposing a federally mandated list. This put it in conflict with the American
Teleservices Association (ATS), which represents calling firms. DMA officials made the point
that with 28 state laws and proposals from both the FTC and FCC, the popularity of the concept is
clear. DMA was more concerned about problems with multiple lists rather than a single mandated
list. As a DMA spokesperson said: “You go with reality. The states are going forward and we
could have 50 lists, and you have a situation where it is very expensive [to comply] and it really
hampers interstate commerce. We think there should be one-stop shopping for consumers and
telemarketers. Let’s get it all together and do it right.”
ATS does not agree and has discussed a lawsuit challenging the list, arguing both that their calls
are not fraudulent and that the FTC only has legal authority over fraud and unfair practices. They
also believe the list amounts to a ban on marketers’ free speech and violates the First Amendment.
Source: Ira Teinowitz, “In Washington: ‘Do Not Call’ Rule Gains Congressional Support; Tauzin
Backs $16 Million in Initial Funding.” Advertising Age, January 20, 2003, p. 14.
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1. Buyers prefer it in selected situations, and it can increase efficiency.
2. May be used for the following:
a. Seeking leads to new accounts and identifying good prospects.
b. Processing orders for standardized products.
c. Dealing with small-order customers.
d. Improving relationships with middlemen.
F. Internet selling—most sales of these types are not considered personal; however, the impersonal
nature speeds up purchasing and reduces frequency of errors; used for both consumer and
business-to-business markets.
G. Sales-force automation—equipping sales people with laptops, cell phones, fax machines, and
pagers to give them access to databases, the Internet, e-mail and other information and
communication tools. Implementing sales-force automation involves several challenges:
1. Identifying which parts of the sales process can benefit the most from automation.
2. Designing a user-friendly system.
3. Gaining the cooperation of the sales force so they incorporate the technology in their jobs.
III. The personal selling process.
A. Prospecting—an application of market segmentation.
1. Prospects are identified by developing an ideal customer profile using records of past and
current customers, sales manager suggestions, customer referrals, trade/industry directories,
leads from ads, etc.
2. Prospects are qualified by determining the willingness to buy, the ability (financially) to buy,
and the authority to buy.
B. Preapproach to individual prospects—learning all possible about prospects, consumer or
business—their buying processes, preferences, needs, habits, etc.
C. Presenting the sales message.
1. Attract attention—The approach.
a. Objective is to attract prospect’s attention and generate curiosity.
b. This may be relatively easy or quite difficult and requires creativity.
c. Sales people must be sensitive to the prospect’s personality and circumstances.
2. Hold interest and arouse desire
a. There is no set pattern to follow.
b. Product demonstrations can be useful.
c. Salesperson must focus on the product’s benefits to the customer.
d. Some presentations are “canned,” meaning they have a script from which little deviation is
made.
3. Meet objections and close the sale.
a. Closing—obtaining the prospect’s agreement to buy.
b. Trial close—used to measure willingness to buy.
c. Sales person must uncover objections, spoken or unspoken, and resolve them before a close
can be made.
4. Postsale services—selling does not end when the order is taken. After-sale service is used to:
a. Build customer goodwill.
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b. Lay the foundation for future business.
c. Reduce cognitive dissonance.
IV. Strategic sales-force management.
INSERT #2
When the economy turned for the worse, so did Scott Rosen, sole owner and CEO of the Rosen
Group, a human resources recruiting and staffing firm founded in June 1995 in Cherry Hill, NJ.
Sales began to fall in early 2001 from a high of $5 million the year before. He became
increasingly frustrated when his eight salespeople could not make their numbers, and so month-bymonth he began taking steps to improve them. These were people who were earning an average
base salary of $60,000 on top of commissions. He tried to light fire after fire under his selling
staff:
 He rode shotgun when they went on sales calls.
 When sales kept falling, he offered $2,000 to the rep who scored the most appointments
with potential clients.
 He redoubled his training efforts and tracked the reps’ progress continuously.
 Then he began to suspect they were not trying hard enough, so he changed the
compensation plan midyear, raising the compensation rate by 35 percent and cutting base
salaries by the same margin. “I thought the change would bring out their hungriness,” he
said. One of his people quit. He was losing about $10,000 per month.
 He then offered to spend more time helping the most promising reps if they in turn would
take on more responsibilities. They refused. “That sealed it for me. No one said, ‘I’ll do
whatever it takes,’” said Rosen.
 Then came 9/11. In October he laid off half his salespeople, as well as other core staffers.
Even that didn’t work.
 So then he fired everybody and began running the operation alone. Where he had once
had 15 employees in 3 locations, now he had none.
When he went solo, Rosen zeroed in on former customers.
 He called 15 or 20 of them a day. “Clients said, “We like you, you have a good reputation,
but we’re not hiring now, and we’re not using outside recruiters.”
 He tried lowering his price, but that didn’t do well either.
 It was either March or April 2002 when he finally gave up. He was psychologically
beaten. He quietly put his client file away and took a sabbatical. He figured his threeperson staff and 20 remaining HR temp workers could keep his sales levels at $3 million –
at just about the place when he hired his first salesperson.
The Rosen Group is still alive with sales of $2.5 million to $3 million, the value of his 17 or so
corporate contacts. With only four employees including himself and limited overhead in his
smaller office, he steered his company back into the black.
Rosen summed up his sad story: “I’m a good salesperson, but not as good as I thought.”
Source: Susan Greco, “A Sales Force of One,” Inc., January 2003.
A. Planning, implementation, evaluation.
1. Set goals and plan sales-force activities.
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2. Select and train sales force.
3. Supervise the sales force.
4. Evaluate individual sales people as well as the entire sales force.
B. Sales managers.
1. Effective sales managers have traits that are different from effective sales people.
2. Sales management success requires sales experience, knowledge of the selling process, and
managerial skill.
V. Staffing and operating a sales force.
A. Recruitment and selection.
1. Determining hiring specifications.
a. Requires a detailed job analysis and written job description.
b. Determine the important attributes of successful performers.
2. Recruiting applicants.
a. Performed continuously, not only when vacancies occur.
b. A systematic approach to reach all appropriate sources of applicants.
c. Should provide a flow of more applicants than are needed.
3. Matching applicants with hiring specifications.
a. Application forms.
b. Interviews—at least one is necessary to determine interest, skill matches, and motivation.
c. Reference checks.
d. Credit reports.
e. Psychological and aptitude tests—useful if they are actually accurate in predicting
performance.
f. Physical examinations.
B. Assimilating new sales people—integrating new persons into the company family; often
overlooked, which may lead to discouragement and turnover.
C. Training a sales force—needed for both new as well as experienced sales personnel.
D. Motivating a sales force—a high degree of motivation is required to be in sales; management must
determine which incentives are motivational for which people under what circumstances.
1. Financial incentives—compensation plans, expense accounts, fringe benefits.
2. Nonfinancial rewards—job enrichment, praise, recognition, awards.
3. Sales meetings and contests.
E. Compensating a sales force.
1. Straight salary.
a. Offers the most security and stability of earnings.
b. More control of management over work assignments.
c. Less likelihood of high pressure selling tactics; more likelihood of considering prospect’s
best interests.
d. Limits incentive to close sales.
e. Fixed cost basis of compensation.
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f. Used for new salespeople, missionary salespeople, when opening new territories, for
technical products and lengthy negotiation periods.
2. Straight commission.
a. Provide maximal incentive to close the sale; may cause sales person to lose sight of
prospect’s needs and best interests.
b. Little work not directly related to selling is required.
c. Offers company a variable-based compensation method.
d. Company has less direct control over activities of sales force.
3. Combination plan—tries to combine the best features of both straight salary and straight
commission, eliminating as many drawbacks as possible.
F. Supervising a sales force—helps ensure policies are being carried out, creates two- way
communication between management and sales people, but may be difficult due to the nature of
the sales job; field observation may overcome this.
VI. Evaluating a sales person’s performance—provides the necessary information to offer rewards or
make constructive proposals, make effective training programs, determine salary decisions.
A. Quantitative measures—specific and objective.
1. Inputs such as call rate, number of formal proposals presented, and non-selling activities
(displays, training, etc.).
2. Outputs such as sales volume, gross margins, orders, closing rates, and accounts retained and
numbers of new accounts opened.
B. Qualitative Measures—based on and limited by the subjective judgment of evaluators (i.e.,
knowledge of product, time management, quality of reports, customer relations, and personal
appearance).
Answers to Questions and Problems
1.
This question should generate a discussion of the relative merits of advertising and personal
selling as the main factor in the promotional mix. Obviously we cannot answer this specific
question without much more information. Students should identify what information they need,
such as: What is the nature of the product? Is demonstration needed? Is presale or postsale
service needed? Is it a large-unit or small-unit sale?
2.
Many soft-drink bottlers are not tied to an entire line of a franchisor. They may produce for
alternative brands or for their own private brands. It is hoped that their customers will stock not
only the leading house brand, but all the brands they carry, including some the private brands
they may produce for them exclusively. Some of their customers also have vending machines on
the premises. So there is a little potential for system selling.
System selling has a bit more potential for the plumbing supply distributor. Toilets, pipe fittings,
hot water heaters, circulating and submersible basement pumps, and electric wire and switches
are just a few of the thousands of items companies such as Square-D and Grainger must carry.
Indeed, many are now setting up computer networks so that orders can be made, filled, and
billed—all electronically.
3.
It is difficult to generalize about sales positions but likely responses from the students follow:
a. The only job that is likely to have close supervision is an inside order taker. The rest of the jobs
will be relatively free of close supervision because they are outside and, unless a sales manager is
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traveling with the salesperson, it would be difficult to have close supervision. The position that
is likely to have the least supervision is creative selling because people in that position are given
the most discretion about how to perform the job.
b. The highest paid are generally the creative salespeople. They are usually paid on a commission
or bonus system that allows them to reach very high levels of pay. The sales engineers,
missionary sales, and detail salespeople are also usually paid handsomely.
c. Motivation is necessary for all of these jobs, but what will usually vary is the source of
motivation. For the lowest paying jobs, it is the sales manager or other executive that is
responsible for trying to find methods to motivate the salespeople. For the higher paying jobs,
the motivation usually comes from the salespersons themselves. The people who have worked
their way to these positions of respect and compensation are usually internally highly motivated
persons.
4.
Businesses that should consider replacing inside telephone sales people with web-based ordering
systems would include those who matched one or more of the following characteristics:
standardized, frequently purchased products; products with low unit value; companies whose
sales come from repeat customers; companies whose sales from telemarketing have become more
costly or have declined substantially; and companies receiving ongoing complaints about the
intrusiveness of their calls.
5.
Presented below are some possibilities for new customer prospects for these products. It is
important to encourage the students to think about how information that is compiled for some
other purpose may be useful in developing prospect lists.
a. People moving into apartments in the surrounding area, home sales in the bank’s trading area,
and marriage and divorce listings from the newspaper.
b. Graduation lists from dental schools, yellow pages, and referrals from current customers.
c. Mail-in cards placed in in-flight magazines, electronic bulletin boards, and listings of mobile
phone owners.
d. Potential contributors for this product are everywhere, but the larger ones may come from the list
of Chamber of Commerce members, executives of large firms, and personnel officers of firms
with a large number of employees.
e. Birth announcements in the paper and birth listings from hospitals.
6.
Each sales person may have different types of information that he or she may feel is crucial to
know about a customer before making a presentation. In each case, the customer generally
comes to the salesperson and the salesperson has to try to acquire the necessary information to
adapt his or her sales presentation in the first few minutes of conversation.
a. Current living situation (i.e., apartment, house, trailer), expected amount of payments, and size of
family.
b. Expected amount of payments, age and model of current car, and what the important aspects of
an automobile are to the customer (i.e., styling, power, ease of maintenance).
c. Where the carpeting will be used, number of children in family, and expected cost of the carpet.
7. a. There are a number of sources that a Marriott might use for this type of outside sales person.
Certainly current employees would be a good source because they already know the hotel, are
familiar with the benefits it could offer the customer, and have a commitment to the firm.
Another good source would be people from other hotels in the same type of position because
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they are experienced and know the business. A third source would be college placement offices,
especially schools that have programs in hotel and restaurant management because these students
are obviously looking for a career in this area.
b. IBM has a reputation for promotion from within and development of its employees, so its current
employees are a very logical first step. IBM might also consider hiring a salesperson from a
competitive firm because of the valuable product knowledge and experience the person would
have. While IBM does hire a number of people from college campuses, these people would
seldom be given immediate responsibility for such an important product. It is possible that IBM
may use an executive search firm or discreet ads in select publications.
c. Johnson Controls could consider someone with experience in the same industry or persons who
have worked at other levels in the automotive industry, for example, from suppliers or customers.
Employees with Johnson Controls are a possibility since the Johnson Controls approach is so
team-oriented. It needs perspectives and skills from a wide variety of areas. Johnson Controls
might hire a limited number of graduates fresh from college to infuse the newest methods and
ideas, but the sales force must be balanced and heavily led by those experienced with the
industry and its volatility.
8.
Advantages of a straight-salary plan include:

Provides security of income for salesperson;

Provides income during developmental period—new sales rep, new product, or new market;

Management can better control and guide salespeople’s activities; and

Sales reps should be able to give proper consideration to customers’ interests.
Sales positions where this type of compensation program is frequently successful include detail
salespeople for pharmaceuticals and sales engineers who work closely with the customer on
developing specialized products or installations.
Advantages of a straight-commission plan include:

Provides maximum incentive for salespeople to close the sale;

Company can budget the compensation expense; i.e., it becomes a fixed percentage of net
sales or gross margin;

Allows salespeople more flexibility in their work behaviors because they get paid only for
sales; and

Attracts good salespeople because it offers higher compensation.

Sales positions that frequently have this type of compensation include sales of consumer
products and a number of retail sales positions.
9.
A firm might get an idea of high-pressure selling tactics through the number of canceled orders,
customer complaints about a salesperson, complaints about merchandise, and amount of returned
goods attributed to a salesperson.
10.
Some factors that might be used include:
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
Number of new accounts;

Number of orders from new accounts;

Total sales volume generated from new accounts;

Percentage of total sales coming from new accounts as compared with percentage coming
from old customers; and

Percentage of calls on old customers compared with calls on new prospects.
Commentary on Ethical Dilemma: “Lying by Salespeople”
Placement in the Chapter
This appears in the sections on motivating and supervising a sales force.
Differing Viewpoints
Should a sales manager ever tolerate lying by a sales rep?
It is all right to lie:

Car salesmen usually score the lowest when people are asked to rate professions as to
truthfulness. This is not by accident. Some salesmen go to “car salesman school” for days of
intensive classes paid for by their dealerships. Others watch videos and read books. Many
dealerships have weekly sales meetings in which they conduct role-playing sessions. While it is
probable that dealers do not encourage their salespeople to out-and-out lie, they put enormous
pressure on them to perform – whatever it takes. Lying is a result of the pressures of the game.
Since they work entirely on commission, if they don’t sell, their families don’t eat.

Used car salesmen and politicians get the bad raps, but the rest of us may be just as bad when it
comes to lying.
It is not all right to lie:

There are misleading statements that do human damage. Witness the massive lying on the part of
dozens of executives and their accounting firms in such sorry examples of ethical capitalism as
Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia, and Global Crossing. Corporations collapsed, retirement accounts
evaporated, thousands were laid off, and the stocks of these firms and others in the same
industries cratered.

As weak as they are, a company code of ethics taught to new hires and backed up by strong
management support may define the limits of unethical behavior including lying.
Additional Discussion Points
Philosophers identify four elements constituting a lie: a misstatement or untruth, intent to deceive,
seriousness of the issue (the “big lie” versus the “little white lie), and the recipient’s right to be told the
truth. This framework excludes the daily blizzard of fibs, light humor, tall tales, satiric hyperbole,
evasive fog defenses against nosy neighbors or invasive telemarketers, and “social lying” (falsifying our
real feelings) routinely expected in social mixing as we flatter the dull and praise boring parties. This
contributes to “social lubrication.”
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Imagine if you were forced to state the absolute truth for a single week. You would probably have to
make dozens of apologies to loved ones and acquaintances at the end of that time hoping to salvage some
measure of their concern and respect for you. Some of those fences may never be mended.
It has been argued that leading up to and after the impeachment of Bill Clinton, moral values began to
flatten. People lied about their immigrant status, their welfare eligibility, their work history, their
resumes, and even the research conducted by leading scholars and scientists. Since there is no right and
wrong, good and evil, and the idea that all cultures, histories, and values are equal, how about lying? If
basic morals and values are meaningless, why not lie?
Sources: Michael Royce, “Q & A: The Car Salesman’s Game,”
http//:www.beatthecarsalesman.com/cargame; James Owens, “New Cultural Norm: Lying is OK,” 1999,
http://www2.netcom.net; Oliver Libaw, “The Bitter Truth From Politicians to History Professors, Lies
Are All Around,” ABC News, July 2, 2001, http://www.abcnews.go.com.
Commentary on You Make The Decision: “Should Organizations Use
Special Incentives to Motivate Sales People”
Historically, sales force motivators have come in various forms: cash, vacations, gifts, contests,
recognition and awards, and so forth. In sales, experience and research have shown that money is the
primary motivator. However, money cannot be the only motivator a sales manager has or uses. First,
past some point, more money does not seem to motivate, though the “some point” will vary from person
to person. Second, money is purely an extrinsic reward, and people usually desire some combination of
intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Third, using cash based on sales output only will motivate salespeople to
close sales and do just enough to get by in other areas of performance such as consulting clients, aftersale service, and cooperating with other members of the sales force.
To determine how often and in what ways cash should be used as a motivator as well as what other
incentives should be considered, the following factors must be analyzed:






What motivates different individuals within the sales force?
What social and/or cultural values influence how incentives and rewards will be perceived and the
likely outcomes they will generate?
What inputs specifically need encouragement? Some motivators and incentives should be directed at
processes and activities (number of sales calls per day, number of customer complaints/complements,
timely and accurate preparation of sales records, amount of optional sales training the rep participates
in, etc.) rather than directed towards outputs only.
How do the incentives and rewards for one person affect the level of motivation for the rest of the
sales force?
What resources are available within the firm?
How often are the incentives and rewards used (intermittent, continual, etc.)?
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