Genesis Management Services Pty Ltd gmservices.com.au
genesis
SERVICES
EXPERIENCE
PERSONAL SELLING & SALES MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
1. Introduction
Every organization has one or more persons who have responsibility for contacting & selling to prospects & customers - called a sales force.
Classifications of Sales Positions
deliver the product (e.g. milk, bread, fuel, toil)
inside order-taker (e.g. the haberdashery salesperson standing behind the counter).
field order-taker (as the packing-house, soap or spice salesperson does).
build goodwill or to educate the actual or potential user (e.g. the distiller's 'missionary person' or the medical 'detailer' representing an ethical pharmaceutical house).
creative sale of tangible products such as vacuum cleaners, refrigerators & encyclopaedias.
Qualities in Comparison to Advertising
alive, immediate & interactive
cultivation ranging from a matter-of-fact selling relationship to a deep personal friendship.
response (makes the buyer feel under some obligation for having listened to the sales talk or using up the sales representative's time).
expensive (average of $150 a sales call in 1982).
2. Establishing Sales-Force Objectives/Tasks
Prospecting (find & cultivate new customers)
Communicating (about the company's products & services to existing & potential customers).
Selling (art of 'salesmanship' - approaching, presenting, answering objections & closing sales).
Servicing (consulting on problems, rendering technical assistance, arranging financing & expediting delivery).
Information gathering (market research & intelligence work & supply sales reports on their customer calls).
Allocating (evaluate customer profitability & advise the company on allocating scarce products to their customers in times of product shortages).
Marketing tasks (analysing sales data, measuring market potential, gathering market intelligence & developing marketing strategies & plans).
3. Sales-Force Strategy
Developed by understanding the customer buying process & how the company can best position itself against competition.
Five types of selling situations can be distinguished:
sales representative to buyer
sales representative to buyer-group
sales team to buyer-group
conference selling; and
seminar selling.
Selling is increasingly becoming a matter of teamwork, requiring the support of the other personnel, such as top management, technical people, customer service representatives & an office staff.
The company has a choice between engaging several types of sales force, such as a direct sales force, inside sales personnel, field sales personnel or contractual sales force.
4. Sales-Force Structure
Territorial-structure (each sales representative is given an exclusive territory in which to represent the company's full line. Works quite well in companies with a relatively homogeneous set of products & customers).
Product-structure (where the company structures their sales force along product lines & is used where the products are technically complex, highly unrelated, or numerous).
Customer-structure (where companies specialize their sales forces along customer lines & is used when a great knowledge of the customer is needed).
Complex sales-force structure (combines several principles of sales-force structure & occurs when a company sells a wide variety of products to many types of customers over a broad geographical area).
5. Sales-Force Size
Most companies use the workload approach to establish the size of their sales force.
The company must determine the level of compensation which bears some relation to the going market price for the type of sales job & abilities required.
The company must also determine the components of compensation - a fixed amount, a variable amount, expenses & fringe benefits.
6. Recruiting & Selection
At the heart of a successful sales-force operation is the selection of effective sales representatives.
Among the traits recognized as being good indicators of sales representative effectiveness are: high level of energy, abounding self-confidence, unger for money, willingness to work hard, empathy & ego drive.
Develop general criteria for new sales personnel; and then
Seek applicants through various means, including soliciting names from current sales representatives using employment agencies placing job ads, and contacting college students.
An increasing number of companies are giving formal tests to applicants for sales positions.
7. Training
Training Time (from a few weeks to many months)
Purpose of Training
know the company & identify with it
know the company's products
know customers' and competitors' characteristics
learn how to make effective sales presentations
be introduced to field procedures & responsibilities.
Steps in selling process
Prospecting & qualifying (identify prospects & qualify them by financial ability, volume of business, special requirements, location & likelihood of continuous business).
Pre-approach (learn as much as possible about the prospect company, whsat it needs, who is involved in the purchase decision and its buyers, personal characteristics & buying styles.
Approach (know how to meet & greet the buyer to get the relationship off to a good start).
Presentation & demonstration (tell the company story, show how the product will make or save money).
(a) The oldest style of sales presentation is the canned approach, which is a memorized sales talk covering the main points deemed important by management.
(b) The formulated approach is also based on stimulus-response thinking but attempts to identify early the buyer's needs & buying style & then use a formulated approach to this particular type of buyer.
(c) The need-satisfaction approach does not start with a prepared presentation designed to sell the customer but rather with a search for the customer's real needs.
Handling objections (using techniques such as maintaining a positive approach, trying to have the buyer clarify & define the objections, questioning the buyer in a way that the buyer has to answer his/her own objections, & so on).
Closing (asking the prospect for the order, offer to write up the order, & ask whether the buyer wants A or B, and so on).
Follow up (to assure customer satisfaction & repeat business by completing any necessary details on delivery time, purchase terms and other matters).
8. Directing
Help the sales representatives use their time effectively & efficiently.
Develop customer targets & call norms (involves classifying customers into account types, reflecting the sales volume, profit potential and growth potential & establishing a certain desired number of calls per period).
Develop prospect targets & call norms (involves specifying how much time the sales force should spend prospecting for new accounts).
Annual call schedule
Time-and-duty analysis (refers to time spent on travel, food & breaks, waiting, selling & administration).
9. Motivating
Organizational climate describes the feeling that the sales force gets from their company regarding their opportunities, value & rewards for a good performance.
Sales quota specifies to sales representatives what they should selling during the year, by product.
Positive incentives such as sales meetings & sales contests are used to stimulate sales-force effort.
10. Evaluating
Periodic reports
Annual territory marketing plan (outline of their program for developing new accounts & increasing business from existing accounts).
Call report (salesperson records pertinent aspects of his/her dealing with a customer).
Compare & rank the sales performance of the various sales representatives.
Compare a sales representative's current performance with his/her past performance.
Qualitative evaluation of the salesperson's knowledge of the company, products, customers, competitors, territory & responsibilities & personality characteristics.