Personal Selling and Sales Management

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Personal Selling and Sales Management

• Chapter 17

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Introduction to Sales Personnel

• Importance of personal sales
• Direct link to the customer
• Most customers see the sales person as the
  company
• Designing the sales force internationally is one
  of the most important functions of the marketing
  department
• A salesman is someone who sells goods that wont
  come back to customers who will. (Anonymous)

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Step 1. Prospecting and Qualifying
Steps in the Selling Process
Step 2. Preapproach
Identifying and Screening For Qualified Potential
Customers. Learning As Much As Possible About a
Prospective Customer Before Making a Sales
Call. Knowing How to Meet the Buyer to Get the
Relationship Off to a Good Start. Telling the
Product Story to the Buyer, and Showing the
Product Benefits.
Step 3. Approach
Step 4. Presentation/ Demonstration
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Step 5. Handling Objections
Steps in the Selling Process
Step 6. Closing
Seeking Out, Clarifying, and Overcoming Customer
Objections to Buying. Asking the Customer for
the Order. Following Up After the Sale to
Ensure Customer Satisfaction and Repeat Business.
Step 7. Follow-Up
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Factors Affecting the Importance of Personal
Selling in the Promotional Mix
Variable Conditions That Favor Personal Selling Conditions That Favor Advertising
Consumer Product Geographically concentrated Relatively low numbers Expensive Technically complex Custom made Special handling requirementsTransactions frequently involve trade-ins Geographically dispersed Relatively high numbers Inexpensive Simple to understand StandardizedNo special handling requirementsTransactions seldom involve trade-ins
Price Relatively high Relatively low
Channels Relatively short Relatively long
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The Evolution of Personal Selling

• Todays salesperson is usually a highly-trained
  professional
• Sales professionals take a customer-oriented
  approach employing truthful, nonmanipulative
  tactics in order to satisfy the long-term needs
  of both the customer and the selling firm
• Todays professional salespeople are problem
  solvers who seek to develop long-term
  relationships with customers

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Four Sales Channels

• Over-the-counter selling personal selling
  conducted in retail and some wholesale locations
  in which customers come to the seller place of
  business
• Field selling sales presentations made at
  prospective customers homes or businesses on a
  face-to-face basis

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Four Sales Channels

• Telemarketing promotional presentation
  involving the use of the telephone on an outbound
  basis by salespeople or on an inbound basis by
  customers who initiate calls to obtain
  information and place orders
• Inside selling performing the functions of
  field selling but avoiding travel-related
  expenses by relying on phone, mail, and
  electronic commerce to provide sales and product
  service for customers on a continuing basis

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I. Designing Recruiting Sales Personnel

• 3 Ways to Design Sales Force
• 1. Expatriates
• 2. Local Nationals
• 3. Third Country Nationals
• Advantages/Disadvantages of all 3
• 1. Expatriates (declining)
• Advantages
• Used most when products are highly technical or
  requires a lot of information in order to sell
• Familiar with headquarters policies, procedures
• Opinions/Ideas are valued more by home office

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I. Designing Recruiting Sales Personnel

• Disadvantages
• High cost
• Cultural and legal barriers
• Difficult to recruit many highly skilled will
  not re-locate overseas
• Other type of Expatriates
• Virtual Expatriates
• Created by the internet and other advanced types
  of communications, where they manage operations
  in other countries, but do not move to that
  country.

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I. Designing Recruiting Sales Personnel

• 2. Local Nationals
• Advantages
• Most knowledgeable about culture, legal
  environments, business structure, distribution
  networks
• Disadvantages
• Home office does not see as the experts in the
  field
• Seen as not being familiar with home office
  procedures, policies
• Not the experts on the products
• Difficult to recruit most skilled and
  knowledgeable
• Recruiting the best may mean taking away from
  another company or competitor this goes against
  some cultural believes where loyalty is
  important
• Crossing Borders 17.3 pg. 521 -Avon calling or
  not?

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I. Designing Recruiting Sales Personnel

• 3. Third-Country Nationals
• Advantages
• If recruited within same area most are familiar
  with culture, language, how to conduct business
• Disadvantages
• Host country does not see individual as one of
  their own
• Many of the same disadvantages to a smaller scale
  with the expatriate.

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Selecting Sales and Marketing Personnel

• To select personnel for international marketing
  positions effectively, management must choose
  individuals who have the following traits

1. Maturity
4. Flexibility
2. Emotional Stability
5. Cultural Empathy
3. Breadth of Knowledge
6. Energetic and
7. Enjoy Travel
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III. Training Sales Personnel

• Types and method of training differs depending
  upon type of sales structure
• 1. Expatriates
• Focus is on culture, customs, special foreign
  issues (not on products, selling methods, home
  office policies..)
• 2. Local Nationals/Third-County Nationals
• Focus on product knowledge
• More continual training
• Methods of training need to be adapted to
  recipients way of learning
• Internet is facilitating faster and more
  efficient learning for all types of sales
  structures

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IV. Motivating Sales Personnel

• What motivates people varies from culture to
  culture
• Though some similarities exist in certain
  cultures, many cultures vary in a number of areas
  (individual bonuses vs. group bonuses
  compensation vs. personal growth, etc)
• Designing Compensation Systems
• Expatriates
• Things to consider
• Countries with high taxes, prefer larger expense
  accounts, fringe benefits (things that are
  non-taxable)
• Where the company is multi-national, sales
  personnel will compare compensation plans from
  home country to re-assigned country

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Compensating Salespeople
Sales Force Compensation Plans Can Both Motivate
Salespeople and Direct Their Activities.
Salary
PAYCHECK
Components of Compensation
Benefits
Bonus
Commission
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IV. Motivating Sales Personnel

• 2. Global Sales Force
• Allows for most flexibility in creating
  compensation plans
• See dos and donts of global compensation
• pg. 532

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Preparing U.S. Personnel for Foreign Assignments

• Obstacles to overcome
• 1. Reluctance to accept foreign assignment due
  to
• Concerns for career and family (most common)
• Career fears relate to out of sight, out of
  mind
• Family is uprooted in a very different
  environment
• 2. Reducing the rate of early returns
• Unsuccessful family adjustment is the single most
  important reason for early returns.
• 3. Ensuring successful return home
• Need to have a personal career plan designed to
  successfully transition the individual and family
  back to their home country.

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Important Points in Recruiting Sales Personnel
Managers

• Important characteristics/skills to look for when
  recruiting
• Cross-cultural skills
• More important in most cases than technical
  skills
• Language skills
• Many believe that the more fluent in languages,
  the more culturally sensitive
• Crossing Borders 17.6 pg. 525

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Evaluating Salespeople
Expense Reports
Sales Report
Sources of Information
Call Reports
Work Plan
Annual Territory Marketing Plan
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Relationship Marketing

• Process of creating, maintaining, and enhancing
  strong, value-laden relationships with customers
  and other stakeholders.
• Based on the idea that important accounts need
  focused and continuous attention.