1-1

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Chapter 1-2

1 The Field of
Sales Force
Management
The best executive is the one
who has enough sense to pick
good people to do what he
wants done and self-restraint
enough to keep from meddling
with them while they do it.
Theodore Roosevelt

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 1-3
( Figure 1-1) Help on the Net
Percentage of Companies Using the Internet for Sales Activities

100%

80%

60%

40%
Product Explanation

Competitive Reporting
Proposal Development

20%

Expense Reports

Prospecting

Order Entry
0%

Source: “G-BB,” Sales and Marketing Management, June 2000, pp. 64&65.
Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
( Figure 1-2) Types of Sales Jobs
Position Product Examples Customers Selling Responsibility:
To Increase Sales By

Industrial sales representative Industrial Products Manufacturers Providing technical

for a Cummins Wholesalers information and
producer Alcoa assistance
or a wholesaler V.S. Steel
Milacron
Fanuc
Microsoft

Business products representative Business Products & Services Manufacturers Providing product
for a Xerox Wholesalers information and
producer Eli Lilly Retailers assistance
or a wholesaler Lincoln National Insurance Institutions
Consolidated Freightways
Leo Burnett

Consumer products representative Consumer Products & Services Wholesalers Providing product
for a Proctor and Gamble Retailers information, merchandising
producer, Ford Motor Company Consumers and promotional
wholesaler, General Electric assistance, and
retailer, or Metropolitan Life Insurance management consulting
nonprofit Avon
organization American Cancer Society
 1-5

The Nature of Personal Selling

Transaction Selling Relationship Selling

 Get new accounts  Retain existing accounts
 Get the order  Become the preferred
 Cut the price to get the sale supplier
 Manage all accounts to  Price for profit

maximize short-term sales  Manage each account for

 Sell to anyone long-term profit
 Concentrate on high-profit-
potential accounts

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 (Figure 1-6
(Figure 1-3)
1-3)

Selected Activities of Salespeople

Salesperson

Generate sales: Provide service to Professional Company service:

Territory
•Precall planning customers: development:
management: •Train new salespeople
•Prospecting •Provide
•Gather and analyze Participate in: •Perform civic duties
•Make sales management/technical
presentations information on •Sales meetings
consulting
•Overcome objections customers, competitors’
•Oversee installations •Professional
general market
•Close by asking for the and repairs associations
orders developments
•Check inventory levels •Training programs
•Arrange for delivery •Disseminate
•Entertain •Stock shelves information to
•Provide merchandising appropriate personnel
•Arrange for
credit/financing assistance: within salesperson’s
•Collect payments company
•Co-op advertising,
•Participate in trade point-of-purchase •Develop sales
shows displays, brochures strategies and plans,
•Oversee product and forecasts, and budgets.
equipment testing
•Train wholesalers’ and
retailers’ salespeople

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 1-7
Sales jobs differ from other jobs
because salespeople…
 implement a firm’s marketing strategies in the field.
 are authorized to spend company funds.
 represent their company to customers and to society in general.
 represent the customer to their companies.
 operate with little or no direct supervision and require a high
degree of motivation.
 develop innovative solutions to difficult problems.
 need more tact and social intelligence.
 travel extensively, which takes time from home and family.
 have large role sets.
 face role ambiguity, role conflict, and role stress.
Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 (Figure 1-8
(Figure 1-5)
1-5)

Sales Management Responsibilities

Strategic
Planning
Organizing
Performance
the sales
Evaluation
force

Communication
Coordination
Integration
Motivation Recruiting,
and selection,
supervision assimilation

Training and
development

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 (Figure 1-9
(Figure 1-6)
1-6)

Executive Ladder in Personal Selling

President

Vice president of sales

National sales manager

Regional/divisional sales manager

District sales manager

Staff assistants
Sales supervisor available for advice
and support at any
step along the ladder.
Salesperson

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 (Figure 1-10
(Figure 1-7)
1-7)

Executive Ladder in Team Selling

President

Vice president of marketing

Distribution Client-team Product

logistics leader engineer
specialist

Customer
sales/service
representative

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Sales Force Management
1-11

Challenges in the 21st Century

Customer relationship management (CRM)
Sales force diversity
Electronic communication systems and
computer-based technology
Selling teams
Complex channels of distribution
An international perspective
Ethical behavior and social responsibility

Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.