Managing Sales Professionals

The Reality of Profitability

William Winston, Joseph P Vaccaro

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781136590610
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

This book is designed for sales managers as they make decisions and solve problems on a day-to-day basis. Managing Sales Professionals provides readers with specific details and illustrates how to plan, organize, staff, operate, and evaluate a sales force and its activities. This book offers an approach that is practical and realistic--one that is needed by sales managers who want to oversee a successful sales staff.The author, Joseph Vaccaro, uses an "integrated model" approach. He integrates the marketing mix as it relates to selling, and then he delves into the daily situations and problems readers encounter as practicing sales managers. With cases at the end of each chapter that make the chapter material come to life, Managing Sales Professionals is a practical tool for those in the world of marketing and sales management. It is a realistic, pragmatic, practical, how-to approach that explains complex concepts in a clear and concise manner. Vaccaro avoids generalities, and he cuts right to the critical specifics for sales managers in the real world.Terms and concepts are clearly defined, and each chapter concludes with penetrating questions to further develop your sales management skills. Along with a highly pertinent chapter on legal and ethical aspects in selling, Managing Sales Professionals covers:

• how to recruit salespeople
  
• motivation procedures
  
• gender and racial diversity of the sales force
  
• how to plan and conduct a training program
  
• effective selling techniques
  
• how to develop brand awareness
  
• new sales technology
  
• how to determine pricing and discount policies
  
• compensation policies
  
• how to determine transportation policies
  
• control and evaluation procedures
  
• how to effectively interact with marketing

Anyone looking to increase sales, such as business owners, consultants, marketing professionals, and practicing salespeople and sales managers, can use this book to examine their sales staffs and look for areas in which to improve. Managing Sales Professionals is also ideal for upper level undergraduate students as they learn the basics of how to sell, organize, and run a sales force.

Section 1:

Sales Management–
The Scenario

Chapter 1

The Role of Sales and Sales Management in Marketing

A sale is basically a very simple transaction in which a salesperson transfers ownership of certain merchandise to a customer for a price. However, all the factors involved in making that sale can constitute a very complex undertaking.

There are nearly 260 million people in the United States, all of them potential buyers. And each one is different from the other in terms of their needs, their motives, their perceptions of the product, and their attitude toward the merchandise. Each person must be sold differently, and the salesperson must be able to do this to be successful.

The selling job has many requirements:

To move the merchandise

• To exchange goods for money
• To trade up
• To sell
• To know the product
• To create repeat and steady customers
• To make a quota
• To encourage customers to buy

The salesperson persuades customers to act favorably and immediately by building respect and confidence in the mind of the buyer. This is accomplished by understanding and responding to the customer’s best interests. In other words, the seller must be able to think from the buyer’s point of view, not only for the short term, but for the long term as well.

Selling Defined

Selling is the process of analyzing a customer’s need for the product or service; recommending the product or service that best satisfies the need; and persuading the buyer that the price is fair, the source of supply is satisfactory, and now is the time to buy.

This approach to selling involves building transactions into relationships by establishing the confidence and respect of the customer.

Fields of Personal Selling

There are three general fields of personal selling: industrial sales, merchant sales, and consumer sales.

Industrial Salesperson

The industrial market consists of all individuals and organizations (profit and nonprofit) that acquire goods and services to go into the product being produced, for upkeep and maintenance of the business, or for resale.

The industrial salesperson sells raw materials, fabricated materials and parts, operating supplies, installation equipment, accessory equipment, and/or services.

Raw Materials. Raw materials are used in producing the final product. They are extracted from the air, ground, or sea and have not undergone any processing other than that necessary for convenience in marketing. Examples of raw materials sold by an industrial salesperson are wheat, cotton, milk, copper, iron ore, and coal.

Fabricated Materials and Parts. Fabricated materials and parts are goods that have undergone some processing and actually become part of the final product being produced. This merchandise may be a finished product for the salesperson’s company, but not for the purchaser. Examples are textile fabrics, leather, electric motors, and steering wheels.

Operating Supplies. Operating supplies are regular expense items necessary in the daily operation of the business. However, they do not become part of the final product. Goods that are used for maintenance (waxes, mops), repair (sandpaper), and operating items (office supplies) are examples.

Installation Equipment. Installation equipment is the firm’s major capital asset and is long-lived (depreciated up to 40 years). This purchase represents a major buying decision for the company. Examples are machinery, boilers, linotype machines, and buildings.

Accessory Equipment. Pieces of accessory equipment are also capital items, although they are usually less expensive and shorter-lived (depreciated over 1 to 5 years) than installations. Examples could be typewriters, hand tools, small lathes, and adding machines.

Services. Services are intangible products provided by specialists. Examples include tax advice, management consulting, and computer programming.

Industrial selling depends to a great extent on individually negotiated deals. This is quite obvious where the product is manufactured to the specific requirements of each customer. Here each sale is clearly a separately negotiated contract from both commercial and technical standpoints.

Industrial sales departments are constantly under pressure to make minor or even major changes in a product to suit a particular customer. This interaction between individual customers and the sales department is a powerful source of product development.

One of the roles of the industrial salesperson is to transfer technical information to their customers. To deliver this technical information, salespeople are often accompanied by technical service engineers and even research scientists. There is no other field with an equivalent amount of personal contact.

More dollars and items are involved in sales to industrial buyers than to consumers. Industrial markets have several characteristics that are sharply in contrast with the consumer markets.

• Fewer Buyers: The industrial salesperson usually deals with fewer buyers than the consumer salesperson.
• Larger Buyers: Many industrial markets are characterized by a buyer-concentration ratio, which means that a few large buyers do most of the purchasing.
• Close Customer Relationship: Because of the smaller customer base and the importance and power of the larger customers over the suppliers, there is a close relationship between customers and sellers in industrial markets. Suppliers are often expected to customize their offerings to individual customer needs. Sales go to those suppliers who cooperate with the buyer on technical specifications and delivery requirements such as just-in-time production. Suppliers are expected to attend special seminars held by the industrial customers to become familiar with the buyer’s requirements.
• Geographically Concentrated Buyers: Most of the industrial buyers are concentrated. For instance, most of the agricultural products come from relatively few states. This geographical concentration of producers helps to reduce selling costs.
• Buying Influences: More people influence business buying decisions than consumer buying decisions. Buying committees of technical experts are common. Consequently, the sales representatives have to be well trained, and often sales teams deal with buyers. Although advertising and sales promotion play an important role in the industrial promotional mix, personal selling is still the main selling tool. Salespeople also have to provide more technical data about their products and competitors’ products than in consumer markets.

Merchant Salesperson

Merchants, sometimes known as resellers, are an important part of the distribution channel that stretches from the manufacturer to the final customer.

The merchant salesperson sells to wholesalers, distributors, and/or retailers. They actually sell consumer goods such as food, clothing, drugs, hardware, electrical appliances, musical instruments, and jewelry. As a result, this seller must not only satisfy the product needs of the merchant, but must also be knowledgeable about how the resellers can please their customers.

Consumer Salesperson

The consumer salesperson sells directly to individuals who are purchasing products and services for their own personal use or household needs. These goods are not for resale. Consumer selling can be done within the retail store, in one’s home or office, or by telephone. This customer buys in small quantities for a comparatively lower price than the industrial or merchant customer. Products or services are sold to satisfy individuals’ needs, motives, perceptions, attitudes, and knowledge, as well as their personalities. In addition, family, social, business, and cultural influences have an impact on their decision process. The ultimate consumer generally buys to fulfill a desire for comfort, safety, enjoyment, pride, or prestige, or to show affection. The consumer salesperson sells various types of consumer goods.

Convenience Goods. Convenience goods are those items the consumer wishes to purchase frequently, immediately, and with little effort. Convenience goods are broken down into three segments. Staple goods are usually bought frequently and routinely without much thought beyond the initial decision (for example, food and drug items used regularly in every household). Impulse goods are those products for which the consumer spends little time in conscious deliberation in making a purchase decision. These goods are often displayed near cash registers to induce spur-of-the-moment purchases (for example, batteries, tape, or razors). Emergency goods are purchased when the need is urgent. The consumer needs the product immediately; price and perhaps even quality are of a small concern (for example, umbrellas, raincoats, and boots during a severe rainstorm).

Shopping Goods. Shopping goods are items that the consumer usually wishes to purchase only after comparing quality, price, and style in a number of stores. Brand name is not that important (for example, millinery, furniture, dress goods, major appliances, shoes, rugs, and automobiles).

Specialty Goods. Specialty goods are those products that possess unique characteristics that cause the consumer to make a special effort to obtain them. They are typically high in price, and brand name is very important (for example, hi-ficomponents, perfumes, suits, and watches).

Unsought Goods. Unsought goods are those that the potential consumer does not yet want or know they can buy; they don’t search for them. However, additional promotion will create that desire (for example, life insurance, gravestones, and encyclopedias).

The techniques the consumer salesperson uses for each of these categories will vary according to intent of the buyer.

Obviously, this classification of consumer goods also pertains to the merchant salesperson who must sell these products to the wholesaler and/or retailer.

Telemarketers

Technically, telemarketing could be considered as a fourth general field of personal selling. However, the telemarketer (a salesperson) is an individual who is able to sell to industry, merchant intermediaries, or consumers.

Telemarketing is a relatively new selling technique that allows a business to generate sales over the telephone instead of in person. In the past, telemarketing was used mainly in business-to-customer sales; customers were called at their homes. Typical products and services included insurance policies and home improvement items. This marketing approach also proved very effective in fund-raising and for promoting political candidates. The telemarketing field has changed dramatically in recent years. The most drastic change is that not only are small and medium-sized businesses big users, but now even giant corporations are using the telephone for their marketing strategies.

Telemarketing is a tool used to generate more sales, as well as to establish a data base for customer service. Each telephone contact the salesperson makes becomes an opportunity to gain customer loyalty, support, and a possible sale. However, telemarketing is not for all products or services. For example, it will be difficult to sell by phone any product that involves engineering applications. Telemarketi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Section 1: Sales Management–The Scenario
• Section 2: Sales Management Policies and Procedures
• Section 3: Management of the Sales Force
• Index