Download Personal Selling and Sales Management

19
C H A P T E R
Personal Selling
and Sales
Management
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Learning Objectives
After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
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Understand the role and importance of personal selling in
the marketing communications mix.
See how the key steps in personal selling depend on a
relationship perspective.
Identify the similarities and differences in the job
responsibilities of salespeople and sales managers.
Describe the key activities in sales management.
Appreciate important ethical issues faced by salespeople
and sales managers.
Bearden Marketing 5th Ed
19-2
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Opening Vignette
Started in 1849, Pfizer has
grown to be a worldwide
pharmaceutical company. Much
of this success came under the
leadership of CEO William
Steere. Steere started as a
Pfizer sales representative in
San Francisco over 40 years
ago.
Pfizer is the leading
pharmaceutical company in the
world, with annual sales in
excess of $52 billion. Effective
personal selling is one of the
keys to Pfizer’s success.
Bearden Marketing 5th Ed
19-3
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Multiple Roles of Salespeople
Producing
Sales
Revenue
Contributions
of Personal
Selling to
Marketing
Providing
Marketplace
Information
Bearden Marketing 5th Ed
19-4
Meeting
Buyer
Expectations
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
The “Dos” of Salespeople
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Know your product and its competition better than the
buyer does.
Be a tough, but open, negotiator.
Have the backing of your company to make strategic
partnerships.
Understand the customer’s future plans and offer ideas
about how your company can help further them.
Be willing to change your processes and products.
Offer something unique—a technological change, a new
way of delivering, or a large price concession.
Get to know all the people interested in the product, from
purchasing managers to engineers.
Keep on top of potential product problems.
Be able to explain how your company plans to improve
the quality and reliability of its products.
Bearden Marketing 5th Ed
19-5
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
The “Don’ts” of Salespeople
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Use industry buzzwords without knowing what you’re talking
about.
Portray your company as quality-conscious if it’s not.
Focus exclusively on short-term sales goals.
Talk about strategic alliances without having the support of
your company.
Say, “We want your business, and we’ll make it up later.”
Try to persuade purchasers to buy something that doesn’t
meet their needs.
Simply talk pricing or Give a canned presentation.
Come without ideas or Know nothing about the competition.
Fly by the seat of your pants.
Offer products today that you’re not likely to have tomorrow.
Roll over dead in negotiations.
Bearden Marketing 5th Ed
19-6
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Types of Personal Selling Jobs
Sales Support
Technical
Support
Sales support salespeople are not
directly involved in concluding customer
purchases. They support the personal
product selling function by promoting a
product or providing technical support.
Technical support salespeople have
expertise in areas such as design and
installation of complex equipment and
may provide specialized training to
customer employees.
more
Bearden Marketing 5th Ed
19-7
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Types of Personal Selling Jobs (con’t)
New
Business
Members of the sales force who
concentrate on selling new products or
selling to new customers are called
new-business salespeople.
Existing
Business
Existing-business salespeople,
sometimes called order takers, include
wholesaler reps who follow an
established route, writing up fairly
routine orders from their customers.
more
Bearden Marketing 5th Ed
19-8
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Types of Personal Selling Jobs (con’t)
Direct to
Consumer
Bearden Marketing 5th Ed
Direct-to-consumer salespeople sell
to individuals who personally use the
products and services. This category
includes over 4.5 million retail
salespeople and over a million others
who sell residential real estate and
financial securities to ultimate
consumers. Several additional million
direct-to-consumer salespeople
represent firms such as Avon, Mary
Kay, Tupperware, Creative Memories,
Amway, and other direct-selling
companies.
19-9
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Sales Process
Bearden Marketing 5th Ed
19-10
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Sales Management Activities
The starting point for sales management is
developing a sales strategy to execute the firm’s
marketing strategy, which emphasizes the
development of a marketing mix to appeal to
defined target markets.
A sales strategy focuses on how to sell to specific
customers within those target markets. Two key
elements of a sales strategy are a relationship
strategy and a sales channel strategy.
Bearden Marketing 5th Ed
19-11
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Sales Management Activities
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Should salesforce be generalists or specialists?
If specialists, should they be product, market,
customer, or functional specialists?
Should centralized or decentralized control be
used?
How large should the salesforce be?
How should customers and geographic areas be
assigned to form sales territories?
How should salesforce turnover be factored into
sales organization design decisions?
Bearden Marketing 5th Ed
19-12
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Sales Management Activities
The main activities are:
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Recruiting is the process of finding prospective job
candidates
Selecting involves choosing the candidates to be hired
Initial training, which typically focuses on product
knowledge and sales techniques
Continual training for all salespeople is becoming more
standard as firms attempt to stay current and
competitive in an ever-changing environment.
Bearden Marketing 5th Ed
19-13
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Sales Management Activities
Directing salespeople to meet goals and
objectives consumes much of the typical
sales manager’s time. These activities
include:
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Motivation
Supervision
Leadership of the sales force.
Bearden Marketing 5th Ed
19-14
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Sales Management Activities
Sales managers must establish standards by
which performance and effectiveness are
measured, evaluate performance and
effectiveness against these standards, and
then take appropriate follow-up action.
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Salesperson performance refers to how well individual
sales people meet job expectations.
An evaluation of sales force effectiveness is in fact an
assessment of the entire sales organization.
Bearden Marketing 5th Ed
19-15
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Sales Forces Effectiveness Example
Bearden Marketing 5th Ed
19-16
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Unethical Sales Behaviors
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Exaggerating features and benefits
Lies about availability
Lies about competition
Sells something people don’t need
Giving false answers to questions
Falsifying product testimonials
Passing blame for their own mistakes
Pose as market researcher when doing phone sales
Misrepresent warranties & guarantees
Make nonbinding oral promises
Bending company rules
Selling dangerous or hazardous products
Bearden Marketing 5th Ed
19-17
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Salesperson Competencies
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Align customers’ strategic objectives with your company’s
so both gain.
Go beyond product needs to assess business potential and
add value to the relationship.
Understand the financial impact of the decisions made by
your company and the client’s organization.
Organize company resources to build customer-focused
relationships.
Develop consultative problem solving and a willingness to
change.
Establish a vision of a committed customer–supplier
relationship.
Utilize self-appraisal and continuous learning by requesting
feedback from customers, colleagues, and managers.
Bearden Marketing 5th Ed
19-18
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Sales Manager Competencies
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Provide strategic vision.
Organize company resources by leveraging relationships.
Influence company strategy.
Coach effectively.
Diagnose performance.
Select high-potential salespeople.
Leverage technology.
Demonstrate personal selling effectiveness.
Bearden Marketing 5th Ed
19-19
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Summary
After studying this chapter, you should be able to:





Understand the role and importance of personal selling in
the marketing communications mix.
See how the key steps in personal selling depend on a
relationship perspective.
Identify the similarities and differences in the job
responsibilities of salespeople and sales managers.
Describe the key activities in sales management.
Appreciate important ethical issues faced by salespeople
and sales managers.
Bearden Marketing 5th Ed
19-20
© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.