Sales Management 2

1. Sales Management 2 Overview of Personal Selling

2. Pretty Old Profession • Plato (429-347 BCE) used the term salesman in his writings. • Traders preceded Plato by centuries if not millennia. (Phoenicia 1300 BCE) • Sales was probably at the dawn of marketing. • Door-to-door sales during the Middle Ages. (The historical era, not Dr. McDonald’s age.)

3. Sales Eras: Industrial Revolution to Professionalism • Industrial Revolution: Specialization of labor and urbanization. • Late 1800s: Traveling salesmen. • WW I, Depression, & WW II: Aggressive, high-pressure selling to stimulate sales. • After WW II: Professional. • Not manipulative • Respond to customer’s needs

4. Personal Selling • MARKETING MIX • Product • Price • Place • Promotion • PROMOTION • Paid Advertising • Sales Promotions • Public Relations • Personal Selling

5. Role of Personal Sales • Society • Stimulate Economy • Diffuse Innovation • Company • Revenue Producers (Rainmakers) • Market Research/Feedback (Boundary Spanning) • Customers • Represent Customer to Company (Boundary Spanning)

8. What Customers Want in Sales • Honesty • Knowledge of Economy • Knowledge of Customer’s Business • Guidance • Problem Solving • Professional Appearance • Pleasant Manner • One-stop Service

10. Ethics I • Sources of ethics: family, friends, school, neighbors, church, co-workers. • Individual ethics • Corporate ethics • Be able to • Sleep at night • Look in the mirror in the morning • Introduce any client to your family

13. Ethics II • Consequences of unethical sales practices • http://www.carinfo.com/repair2.html • http://www.thecomplaintstation.com/s/_sears/0000049f.htm • http://www.ezl.com/~riverbend/wilner.html • http://www.insurancejournal.com/html/ijweb/breakingnews/national/na0101/na0122011.htm

15. Ethics III • Pressures • Eating • Nasty boss • Quotas/Contests

17. Ethics IV • Puffery vs. Pinocchio

18. Ethics V • Statement of company ethics (more than “Stay out of jail.”) • http://www.president.uconn.edu/~wwwpre/ucethics.htm • http://www.halliburton.com/suppliers/ethics.jsp

20. Personal Selling Jobs • Sales support • New business • Existing business • Inside sales (non-retail) • Direct-to-consumer sales • Combination

21. Sales Support • Perform activities to stimulate sales (missionary sales). Disseminate info. Spread the word. • Detailer: furnish information. (call on physicians who specify prescriptions, or architects who write specifications) • Technical support: called in to help explain product’s advantages, installation, answer highly technical questions, assist in design (space planners, programmers), training.

23. New Business • Responsible for adding new customers, or introducing new products to the market. • Pioneers: constantly looking for new customers, or introducing new products, or both. • Order-Getters: Expand line of products sold to existing customers as well as findings new customers.

24. Existing Business • Maintain relationship with customers. • Order-takers: work a route. (Frito-Lay) • Also need to be creative to sell more productively. • Get higher share of customer. • Service is important in maintaining relationships.

25. Inside Sales (non-retail) • Physically remain in marketing company’s facilities. • Can be passive (catalog sales). • Can be active (telemarketing). • Can supplement or replace field selling. • Customer service often will serve as “add-on” sales.

26. Direct-to-Consumer Sales • Retail: 4.5 million salespeople in USA • Another million in real estate, insurance, and securities. • Yet, another millions selling Tupperware, Mary Kay, Avon, Amway, etc. • Some are part-time, some temporary, some are highly specialized/educated.

27. Combination Sales Jobs • Often, a salesperson has to perform more than one of these tasks as part of her or his job. • New and existing • Inside and outside • Provide/Receive support • It’s not always clear cut. • “Whatever it takes.”

28. Relatively Less Important Characteristics Type of Sales Job Relatively Important Characteristics Trade selling (Existing Customers) Age, maturity, empathy, knowledge of customer and business methods Aggressiveness, technical ability, product knowledge, persuasiveness Missionary selling (Promotional) Youth, high energy and stamina, verbal skill, persuasiveness Empathy, knowledge of customers, maturity, previous sales experience Technical selling (Highly technical products) Education, product and customer knowledge--usually gained through training, intelligence Empathy, persuasiveness, aggressiveness, age New business selling (New Business, Rainmaker) Experience, age, maturity, aggressiveness, persuasiveness, persistence Customer knowledge, product knowledge, education, empathy

29. Characteristics of Sales Career • Job security & Mobility • Advancement opportunities (make your own) • Immediate feedback ($, % Quotas) • Prestige (can be very successful) • Job Variety (deal with people all the time) • Independence (Lone Wolf fading) • Compensation (Make your own success) • Boundary-Role effects: Boundary-Spanner

30. Qualifications & Skills for Sales • Empathy: Understand/read customer • Ego Drive: Inner need to persuade others • Ego Strength: Self-assured (to deal with rejection) and Self-efficacy (control own success) • Interpersonal Communication Skills (listening, asking questions, explain clearly) • Enthusiasm (for yourself and customers)

31. Salespeople are Born And Made • Aptitude and personality are inherent. You cannot develop. Manager can recruit and hire people with desired traits. • Skills can be trained. Take practice. • Enthusiasm ≠ Motivation, but related. • Motivation can influence enthusiasm. • Many things can influence motivation.

32. The End of the Road