978-1259709074 Chapter 20 Part 1

Chapter 20 – Personal Selling and Sales Management Marketing 6th

McGraw-Hill Education.

1

Chapter 20

Personal Selling and Sales Management

Tools for Instructors

• Brief Chapter Outline

• Learning Objectives

• Extended Chapter Outline with Teaching Tips

• Answers to End of Chapter Learning Aids

• Chapter Case Study

• Additional Teaching Tips

• Connect Activities

Brief Chapter Outline

The Scope and Nature of Personal Selling

The Personal Selling Process

Managing the Sales Force

Ethical and Legal Issues in Personal Selling

Chapter Case Study: Alta Data Solutions: Making the Sale

Learning Objectives

LO20-1 Describe the value added of personal selling.

Although the cost of an average B2B sales call is expensive, many firms believe they couldn’t do

business without their sales forces. Customers can buy many products and services without the help of a

LO20-2 Define the steps in the personal selling process.

Although we discuss selling in terms of steps, it truly represents a process, and the time spent in each

step varies according to the situation. In the first step, the salesperson generates a list of viable

customers. During the second step, the preapproach, the salesperson gathers information about the

customer and prepares for the presentation. The third step, the sales presentation, consists of a personal

LO20-3 Describe the key functions involved in managing a sales force.

The first task of a sales manager, assuming a firm is starting a sales force from scratch, is to determine

whether to use a company sales force or manufacturer’s representatives. Then sales managers must

determine what the primary selling responsibilities will be—order getter, order taker, or sales support. The

sales manager recruits and selects salespeople, but because there are all sorts of sales jobs, he or she

must determine what it takes to be successful and then go after people with those attributes. In the next

Chapter 20 – Personal Selling and Sales Management Marketing 6th

McGraw-Hill Education.

2

LO20-4 Describe the ethical and legal issues in personal selling.

Ethical and legal issues arise in three areas in personal selling. First, ethical and legal issues could arise

based on how the sales manager interacts with the sales force. Second, there might be inconsistencies

Extended Chapter Outline with Teaching Tips

I. The Scope and Nature of Personal Selling

A. Personal Selling as a Career

B. The Value Added by Personal Selling

1. Sales People Provide Information and Advice

2. Sales People Save Time and Simplify Buying

3. Salespeople Build Relationships

II. The Personal Selling Process

A. Step 1: Generate and Qualify Leads

B. Step 2: Preapproach and the Use of CRM Systems

C. Step 3: Sales Presentation and Overcoming Reservations

1. The Presentation

2. Handling Reservations

D. Step 4: Closing the Sale

E. Step 5: Follow-Up

Progress Check: Several questions are offered for students to check their understanding of core

concepts.

1. Why is personal selling important to an IMC strategy?

Answer: Firms that use personal selling as part of their integrated marketing communications

worth more than it costs.

2. What are the steps in the personal selling process?

Chapter 20 – Personal Selling and Sales Management Marketing 6th

McGraw-Hill Education.

3

III. Managing the Sales Force

A. Sales Force Structure

1. Company Sales Force or Manufacturer’s Representative

2. Salesperson Duties

a. Order Getting

b. Order Taking

c. Sales Support

d. Combination Duties

B. Recruiting and Selecting Salespeople

C. Sales Training

D. Motivating and Compensating Salespeople

1. Financial Rewards

2. Nonfinancial Rewards

3. Evaluating Salespeople by Using Marketing Metrics

Progress Check: Several questions are offered for students to check their understanding of core

concepts.

1. What do sales managers need to do to manage their sales force successfully?

2. What is the difference between monetary and nonmonetary incentives?

incentives include objects like plaques or rings, free trips or days off, or public recognition.

IV. Ethical and Legal Issues in Personal Selling

A. The Sales Manager and the Sales Force

B. The Sales Force and Corporate Policy

C. The Salesperson and the Customer

Progress Check: Several questions are offered for students to check their understanding of core

concepts.

1. What are three areas of personal selling in which ethical and legal issues are more likely to arise?

salesperson and the customer.

Chapter 20 – Personal Selling and Sales Management Marketing 6th

McGraw-Hill Education.

4

Answers to End of Chapter Learning Aids

Marketing Digitally

1 Go to Salesforce.com’s You Tube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/salesforce. Watch

a few of the short videos and discuss how the tools described would help you as a

salesperson.

Students’ answers will vary depending on which video they watched. One of Salesforce.com’s offerinsg is

the App Cloud.

“The demand for apps has quickly outstripped the development capacity of many IT departments. App

2 To learn more about careers in sales, go to www.bls.gov/oco/, the website for the Bureau of

Labor Statistics. This site contains a wealth of information about careers in all fields. Click on

“Sales.” Choose any of the sales fields listed, and explore that career field. What experience is

necessary to be hired for that job? What is the median salary? What do earners in the highest

10 percent of performance earn? Is job growth anticipated in that field?

This exercise gives students the chance to explore different sales careers in depth, including what

experience is needed, the median salary, what the top performers earn, and anticipated growth potential

for particular fields.

Marketing Applications

1 How has your perception of what it would be like to have a career in sales changed since you

read this chapter?

Students may have had very different ideas about the sales profession prior to reading the chapter, and

their answers will vary. This question encourages them to demonstrate what they have learned and how

this chapter has altered their thinking. Students might be surprised to find out how common sales careers

2 “Salespeople just make products cost more.” Do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Discuss why you’ve taken that position.

This question challenges students to consider the degree to which they think salespeople provide enough

value to justify their costs. Depending on the types of products or services students consider, they might

agree or disagree. For standardized, commodity-like products, they might believe salespeople do not add

salespeople provide value by educating and guiding the consumer.

Chapter 20 – Personal Selling and Sales Management Marketing 6th

McGraw-Hill Education.

5

from the business to the consumer.

3 Choose an industry or a specific company that you would like to work for as a salesperson.

How would you generate and qualify leads?

4 Why is it important for salespeople to be good listeners? To be good at asking questions?

Students might offer any number of answers, but most responses likely will center on understanding the

customer’s needs, determining the customer’s position in the buying process, and/or effectively handing

5 Suppose you are a salesperson at a high-end jewelry store. What can you do to ensure that

your customers are satisfied? Now imagine you are the store manager of the same store; what

can you do in your position to guarantee customers remain happy with the service they

receive?

Students’ answers will vary. To ensure that customers are satisfied, the salesperson might listen to the

customer’s needs, understand the customer’s budget, learn the purpose of their purchase visit, and

6 Imagine that a time machine has transported you back to 1961. How was a day in the life of a

salesperson selling appliances such as washing machines different in 1961 than it is now?

In 1961, there was little variation in appliances. There were maybe a few colors and a few additional

product features for the product category. Today, there are thousands of options on washing machines

7 What are some of the potentially ethically troubling and illegal situations facing professional

salespeople, and how should they deal with them?

Ethical and legal issues arise in three areas of personal selling: (1) the relationship between the sales

manager and the sales force, (2) inconsistencies between corporate policy and the sales force’s ethical

comfort zone, and (3) the salesperson’s interaction with the customer. Students should explore all three

of these potentially troubling and illegal situations.

Chapter 20 – Personal Selling and Sales Management Marketing 6th

McGraw-Hill Education.

6

8 Why would Gillette use a company sales force, while a small independent manufacturer of

organic shaving cream uses manufacturer’s representatives?

This question deals with two similar product categories, so students should focus on the sizes and

product mixes of the companies to explain how these different sales force structures help them achieve

their respective goals.

9 Similar to the way a sales manager evaluates a salesperson, your instructors evaluate your

performance to assign you a grade. Choose one of your classes and analyze the advantages

and disadvantages of the objective and subjective bases used to evaluate your performance.

10 A customer has the following reservations. How do you respond?

a. “I really like all the things this copier does, but I don’t think it’s going to be very

reliable. With all those features, something’s got to go wrong.”

b. “Your price for this printer is higher than the price I saw advertised on the Internet.”

An integral part of the sales presentation is handling buyers’ reservations and objections. This exercise

challenges students to consider their possible responses; effective answers will focus on avoiding an

argument or confrontation with the customer and instead find a way to understand and address the

customer’s true concern.

11 Imagine that you have just been hired by the school newspaper to sell ad space. You are

asked what you think would be a “fair” compensation package for you. Using the information

from the chapter, make a list of all the elements that should be included in your compensation

package. How would this compensation package change over time and with continued strong

performance?

This question describes a situation students are likely to encounter at some point in their careers. In their

answers, students should focus on a combination of both financial and nonfinancial rewards.

Chapter 20 – Personal Selling and Sales Management Marketing 6th

McGraw-Hill Education.

7

12 You have taken a summer job in the windows and doors department of a large home

improvement store. During sales training, you learn about the products, how to best address

customers’ needs, and how to sell the customer the best product to fit their needs regardless

of price point. One day your manager informs you that you are to recommend Smith Windows

to every window customer. Smith Windows are more expensive and don’t really provide

superior benefit except in limited circumstances. The manager is insistent that you

recommend Smith. Not knowing what else to do, you recommend Smith Windows to

customers who would have been better served by lower-cost windows. The manager rewards

you with a sales award. Later the manager tells you that he received an all-expenses-paid

cruise for his family from Smith Windows. What, if anything, should you do with this

information?

Students will respond in various ways. This scenario may make the typical salesperson very

uncomfortable. Salespeople sometimes get mixed signals from their managers or simply do not know

Quiz Yourself

1 One of the advantages of personal selling over other types of marketing communication is that

a. salespeople can build strong relationships with customers.

b. personal selling almost always costs less than other marketing communication alternatives.

c. personal selling has greater reach than advertising.

d. cold calling is easier than direct mail advertising.

e. personal selling requires less training than other types of selling.

2 All of the following are service quality dimensions related to follow–up except

a. ethics

b. reliability

c. tangibles

d. responsiveness

e. empathy

Chapter Case Study: Alta Data Solutions: Making the Sale

1 Who should be at the presentation?

Students should demonstrate that they understand who the relevant players are for a sales presentation

such as this one.