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b. Involves three tasks:
1. Setting Objectives.
a. Setting objectives:
• Is central to sales management.
• Specifies what is to be achieved for:
b. Selling objectives can be:
• Output-related. Focuses on:
– Dollar or unit sales volume.
• Input-related. Focuses on:
– The number of sales calls.
• Behaviorally-related. Focuses on:
– Product knowledge.
– Customer service satisfaction ratings.
c. Firms also emphasize knowledge of competition:
• Since salespeople are calling on customers.
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MAKING RESPONSIBILE DECISIONS
Ethics: The Ethics of Asking Customers about Competitors
Salespeople are a valuable source of information about what is happening in the
marketplace. By working closely with customers and asking good questions, salespeople
often have firsthand knowledge of their problems and wants. Also, they can spot the
activities of competitors. However, should salespeople explicitly ask customers about
competitor strategies?
Gaining knowledge about competitors by asking customers for information is an
d. Objectives should:
• Be precise and measurable.
2. Organizing the Salesforce.
a. Companies organize the sales force based on:
• Geography
• Customer
Chapter 18 – Personal Selling and Sales Management
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• Customer sales organization.
– Is used when different types of buyers have different needs.
– Means that a different salesforce calls on each separate type of buyer
• Key account management.
* Is the practice of using team selling to focus on important
customers.
* Builds mutually beneficial, long-term, cooperative relationships.
* Is a variation of the customer sales structure.
* Involves:
3. Developing Account Management Policies.
a. Account management policies specify:
b. These policies might state:
• Which individuals in a buying organization should be contacted.
c. [Figure 18-4] Different accounts or customers can be grouped according to:
• Level of opportunity.
• The firm’s competitive sales position.
Chapter 18 – Personal Selling and Sales Management
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• When specific account names are placed in each cell, salespeople see:
– Which accounts should be contacted.
B. Sales Plan Implementation: Putting the Plan into Action
• The sales plan is put into practice through the tasks associated with its
implementation.
1. Salesforce Recruitment and Selection.
a. Effective recruitment and selection of salespeople entails finding people who
match the type of sales position required by the firm.
b. Job analysis. Is a study of:
• How the sales job is to be performed.
• Explains:
– To whom a salesperson reports.
– How a salesperson interacts with other personnel.
– The customers to be called on.
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d. Job qualifications include those behavioral characteristics considered
necessary to successfully do the job:
• Aptitudes. • Skills.
• Effective communication and listening skills.
• Responsiveness to buyer needs, customer loyalty, and follow-up.
f. Firms use personal interviews, reference checks, and background information
provided on application forms to evaluate prospective salespeople.
g. Successful selling also requires a high degree of emotional intelligence:
• Is the ability to understand:
– One’s own emotions and…
MARKETING INSIGHTS ABOUT ME
What is Your Emotional Intelligence? You Might Be Surprised.
A person’s success at work depends on many talents, including intelligence, technical
skills, and emotional intelligence! Emotional intelligence (EQ) has five dimensions: (1) self-
motivation skills; (2) emotional self-awareness; (3) the ability to manage one’s emotions and
impulses; (4) empathy, or the ability to sense how others are feeling; and (5) social skills, or
the ability to handle the emotions of other people. What is your EQ? Visit the website at
2. Salesforce Training.
Chapter 18 – Personal Selling and Sales Management
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b. Training new salespeople is expensive.
3. Salesforce Motivation and Compensation.
a. Salespersons are motivated by:
• A clear job description.
• Effective sales management practices.
• A personal need for achievement.
• Proper compensation, incentives, or rewards.
b. Salespeople are paid using one of three plans:
• Straight salary compensation plan.
– A salesperson is paid a fixed fee per week, month, or year.
– Is easy to administer.
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– A majority of firms use this plan.
c. Nonmonetary awards:
• Are given to salespeople for meeting or exceeding objectives.
C. Salesforce Evaluation: Measuring Results
Quantitative and behavioral measures evaluate the salesforce and assess whether sales
objectives were met and account management policies were followed.
1. Quantitative Assessments.
Are based on input- and output-related objectives set forth in the sales plan.
a. Input-related measures focus on the actual salespeople activities such as:
• Sales calls. • Account management policies.
b. Output measures often appear in a sales quota, which:
• Contains specific goals for a stated time period that are assigned to a:
– Salesperson. – Branch sales office.
2. Behavioral Evaluation.
a. Because behavioral characteristics often determine sales success, firms
measure the following salespeoples’ attributes:
• Attitude. • Selling and communication skills.
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b. About 60 percent of U.S. companies now include customer satisfaction as a
APPLYING MARKETING METRICS
Tracking Salesperson Performance at Moore Chemical & Sanitation Supply, Inc.
A Variety of Metrics
MooreChem is a large midwestern supplier of cleaning chemicals and sells to
janitorial companies that clean corporate and professional office buildings. MooreChem uses
a marketing dashboard for each of its sales representatives to track seven measures—sales
revenue, gross margin, selling expense, profit, average order size, new customers, and
customer satisfaction. Each measure shows actual salesperson performance relative to target
goals.
Your Challenge.
Review a particular salesperson’s performance for the previous quarter.
Your Findings.
The salesperson’s performance is displayed on the marketing dashboard. He has
exceeded targeted goals for sales revenue, selling expenses, and customer satisfaction. All of
Your Action.
Focus attention on the salesperson’s gross margin and selling expense results and
D. Customer Relationship Management Systems and Technology
• Personal selling and sales management have:
• Salesforce automation (SFA).
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a. Is the use of computer, information, communication, and Internet technologies
to…
b. Make the sales function more effective and efficient.
c. Applies to each stage in the personal selling process and management of the
sales force itself.
• SFA applications include:
a. Account analysis. d. Sales presentations.
• SFA is designed to:
a. Ease administrative tasks.
1. Marketing Automation
a. Marketing automation applies systems and technologies to provide
intelligence to sales people.
2. Customer Service and Support Automation
a. Customer service and support automation consists of processes and tech that
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LEARNING REVIEW
18-8. What are the three types of selling objectives?
18-9. What three factors are used to structure sales organizations?
18-10. How does emotional intelligence tie to adaptive selling?
Answer: Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand one’s own emotions and the
emotions of people with whom one interacts on a daily basis. Evidence suggests that
Chapter 18 – Personal Selling and Sales Management
APPLYING MARKETING KNOWLEDGE
1. Jane Dawson is a new sales representative for the Charles Schwab brokerage firm.
In searching for clients, Jane purchased a mailing list of subscribers to The Wall Street
Journal and called them all regarding their interest in discount brokerage services.
She asked if they have any stocks and if they have a regular broker. Those people
without a regular broker were asked their investment needs. Two days later, Jane
called back with investment advice and asked if they would like to open an account.
Identify each of Jane Dawson’s actions in terms of the personal selling process.
Answer:
SELLING STAGE
ACTION
Prospecting
Purchase mailing list
Preapproach/Approach
Call subscribers and ask if they have any
stocks and a regular broker. People with a
regular broker might be asked about
investment needs.
Presentation/Close
Call back with investment advice and ask
if they would like to open an account.
2. For the first 50 years of business, the Johnson Carpet Company produced carpets for
residential use. The salesforce was structured geographically. In the past five years,
a large percentage of carpet sales has been to industrial users, hospitals, schools, and
architects. The company also has broadened its product line to include area rugs,
Oriental carpets, and wall-to-wall carpeting. Is the present salesforce structure
appropriate, or would you recommend an alternative?
18–32
3. Where would you place each of the following sales jobs on the order taker/order
getter continuum shown below? (a) Burger King counter clerk, (b) automobile
insurance salesperson, (c) Hewlett-Packard computer salesperson, (d) life insurance
salesperson, and (e) shoe salesperson?
Answers:
Sales Job
Order
Getter
a.
Burger King
counter clerk
b.
Automobile
insurance
salesperson
X
c.
Hewlett-
Packard
computer
salesperson
X
d.
Life insurance
salesperson
X
e.
Shoe
salesperson
X
4. Listed below are two different firms. Which compensation plan would you
recommend for each firm, and what reasons would you give for your
recommendations? (a) A newly formed company that sells lawn care equipment on a
door-to-door basis directly to consumers and (b) the Nabisco company, which sells
heavily advertised products in supermarkets by having the salesforce call on these
stores and arrange shelves, set up displays, and make presentations to store buying
committees.
Answers:
a. Newly formed company. Compensation plan: Straight commission. Job requires
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5. Suppose someone said to you, “The only real measure of a salesperson is the amount
of sales produced.” How might you respond?
Chapter 18 – Personal Selling and Sales Management
BUILDING YOUR MARKETING PLAN
Does your marketing plan involve a personal selling activity? If the answer is “no,”
read no further and do not include a personal selling element in your plan. If the answer is
“yes”:
2. Determine what information you should obtain about the prospect.
4. Outline the presentation you would make to the prospect for your product or service.
5. Develop a sales plan, focusing on the organizational structure you would use for your
salesforce (geography, product, or customer).
Answer: For some businesses, personal selling activities are the single most important