Sales Knowledge: Customers, Products, Technologies

1. Sales Knowledge: Customers, Products, Technologies 5 Chapter

2. 5 Chapter

3. Main Topics • The Tree of Business Life: Knowledge • Sources of Sales Knowledge • Knowledge Builds Relationships • Know Your Customers • Know Your Company • Know Your Product • Know Your Resellers • Advertising Aids Salespeople • Sales Promotion Generates Sales • What’s It Worth? Pricing Your Product • Know Your Competition, Industry, and Economy

4. Main Topics, cont... • Personal Computers and Selling • Knowledge of Technology Enhances Sales and • Customer Service • Sales: Internet and the World Wide Web • Global Technology Provides Service • Technology Etiquette

5. The Tree of Business Life: Knowledge Guided by The Golden Rule: • Be an expert on everything associated with your product(s) • Use wisdom when applying knowledge • Remember, customers rely on you to truthfully provide knowledge and wisdom • Realize that people do not care how much you know until they know how much you care T T T Service Ethical T T T T T T T T Builds T r u e Relationships T C I

6. Sources of Sales Knowledge • Sales training • Experience

7. Knowledge Builds Relationships • Knowledge increases a salesperson’s confidence • Knowledge increases a buyer’s confidence in salesperson • More knowledge leads to more sales and more relationships

8. Know Your Customers • Find out all you can

9. Know Your Company • General Company Information • Company growth and accomplishment • Policies and procedures • Production facilities • Service facilities

10. Know Your Product • Product knowledge may include: • Performance data • Physical size and characteristics • How the product operates • Specific features, advantages, and benefits of the product • How well the product is selling in the marketplace

11. Know Your Resellers • Understand the channel of distribution • Know as much about each channel member as possible • Likes and dislikes of each channel member’s customers • Product lines and the assortment each one carries • When each member sees salespeople • Distribution, promotion, and pricing policies • What quantity of which product each channel member has purchased in the past

12. Advertising Aids Salespeople • Main ingredients of a firm’s promotional effort • Types of Advertising Differ • National advertising • Retail advertising • Cooperative, or co-op, advertising • Trade advertising • Industrial advertising • Direct-mail advertising

13. Exhibit 5-2: Advertising and Sales Promotion Information the Salesperson Provides the Buyer

14. Why Spend Money on Advertising? • Companies advertise because they hope to: • Increase overall sales and sales of a specific product • Give salespeople additional selling information for sales presentations • Develop leads for salespeople through mail-ins and ad response • Increase cooperation from channel members through co-op advertising and promotional campaigns • Educate the customer about the company’s product

15. Why Spend Money on Advertising?, cont… • Inform prospects that a product is on the market and where to buy it • Reduce cognitive dissonance over the purchase • Create sales or presell customers between sales calls

16. Sales Promotion Generates Sales • Consumer sales promotion • Trade sales promotion • Point-of-purchase (POP) displays • Shelf positioning • Shelf facings • Premiums

17. What’s It Worth? Pricing Your Product • Price refers to the value or worth of a product that attracts the buyer to exchange money or something of value for the product

18. Exhibit 5-4: Examples of Prices and Discounts Salespeople Discuss in Their Sales Presentations

19. Know Your Competition, Industry, and Economy • Understand competitors’ products, policies, and practices

20. Personal Computers and Selling • The top 10 PC applications include: • Customer/prospect profile • Lead tracking • Call reports • Sales forecasts • Sales data analysis • Sales presentation • Time/territory management • Order entry • Travel and expense reports • Checking inventory/shipping status

21. Exhibit 5-6: Top 10 PC Applications

22. Knowledge of Technology Enhances Sales and Customer Service • Personal Productivity • Contact management • Calendar management • Automated sales plans, tactics, and ticklers • Geographic information systems • Computer-based presentations

23. Knowledge of Technology Enhances Sales and Customer Service, cont… • Communications with Customers and Employer • Word processing • E-mail • Fax capabilities and support • Customer Order Processing and Service Support • Salespeople's mobile offices • GPS and PDA

24. GPS Device Cell Phone PDA Exhibit 5-8: Salespeople Rely on Mobile Technology to Serve Their Customers

25. Sales: Internet and the World Wide Web • The Internet • The World Wide Web • Web page • Links • Surfing the Internet

26. Exhibit 5-9: Web Sites Can Provide Valuable Information to Salespeople

27. Global Technology Provides Service • Increased worldwide interaction

28. Technology Etiquette • Netiquette – etiquette on the internet • Cell Phones • Voice Mail • Faxes • Speakerphones and Conference Calls

29. Summary of Major Selling Issues • Company knowledge includes information on a firm’s: • History • Development practices • Procedures • Products • Distribution • Promotion • Pricing

30. Summary of Major Selling Issues, cont… • To reduce conflicts and aid channel members in selling products, manufacturers offer assistance in: • Advertising • Sales promotion aids • Pricing allowances • National, retail, trade, industrial, and direct-mail advertising create demand for products and are powerful selling tools in sales presentations

31. Summary of Major Selling Issues, cont… • Salespeople should be able to confidently discuss price, discounts, and credit policies with customers • Success in sales requires knowledge of the many technologies used to sell and service customers

32. Chapter 5 Appendix Sales Arithmetic and Pricing

33. Types of Prices • List price – standard price • Net price – after discounts • Zone price – based on geographicallocation • FOB shipping point – buyer pays • FOB destination – seller pays

34. Discounts Lower the Price • Quantity discounts • Noncumulative • Cumulative • Cash • Trade • Consumer

35. Exhibit A: Various Promotional Allowances Available to Resellers

36. Exhibit B: Types and Examples of Discounts Skip video Video Help

38. Resellers: Markup and Profit • Markup • Gross profit • Net profit • Channel-of-distribution markup • Markup arithmetic • Return on investment

39. What Is the Percent Markup? $1.00 = cost to retailer $1.00 = dollar markup $2.00 = selling price

40. What Is the Percent Markup?, cont… • It depends on whether you use • Selling Price, or • Cost • Dollar markup is divided by either selling price or cost to retailer • Selling price = 50% • Cost = 100% • We use selling price in calculating the percent of markup

41. What Is Markup? • Markup is the dollar amount added to the product cost to determine its selling price • Markup is often expressed as a percentage

42. Exhibit C: Example of Markup on Selling Price in Channel of Distribution

43. Exhibit D: Example of Using Unit Cost

44. Exhibit E: Profit Forecaster for Granola Bars Shown to Buyer Skip video Video Help

46. Organizations: Value and ROI • Value analysis • Product cost compared to true value • Unit costs • ROI is listened to

47. Video Help • The video should start automatically. • If it does not, you must move the mouse to the middle of the screen. When a hand icon appears the video is ready. • Click once anywhere on the screen to start video. • Click once during playback to pause/unpause video. • Press the space bar twice to stop video and continue presentation. • When video is over, click the next arrow to continue presentation. Video One Video Two