Sales Management: Products and Services. Dr Jae K Shim

component in sales management success.

      ►Sales management is a global endeavor.

      ►Ethics underlies all selling and sales management activities.

      ►Social media marketing comes of age.

The applications of personal selling

      The Definitions Committee of the American Marketing Association defines selling as “the personal or impersonal process of assisting and/or persuading a prospective customer to buy a commodity or service or to act favorably upon an idea that has commercial significance to the seller.” However, in actual practice, the applications of salesmanship are much broader in scope, for it is an activity which permeates almost every avenue of human endeavor. The ability to convince people is a necessary skill for lawyers, teachers, ministers, politicians, and many others. It is a skill used by the doctor when she attempts to convince her patient that she should stop smoking; or a skill used by a mother when she explains to her young son that stealing is wrong. Actually, then, personal selling is the ability to influence and convince others, and we practice it almost every day.

Scope and significance of personal selling and sales management

      Personal selling is a useful vehicle for communicating with present and potential buyers.

Nature of Personal Selling and Sales Management

      ►Personal selling involves the two-way flow of communication between a buyer and seller, often in a face-to-face encounter, designed to influence a person’s or group’s purchase decision.

      ►Personal selling also occurs by telephone, through video teleconferencing, and the Internet between buyers and sellers.

      ►The tasks involved in managing personal selling include: (1) setting objectives; (2) organizing the sales force; (3) recruiting, selecting, training, and compensating salespeople; and (4) evaluating the performance of individual salespeople.

Personal Selling in Marketing

      ►Salespeople match company interests with customer needs to satisfy both parties in the exchange process.

      ►Salespeople represent what a company is or attempts to be and are often the only personal contact a customer has with the firm.

      ►Personal selling may play a dominant role in a firm’s marketing program if a firm uses a push marketing strategy.

Creating Customer Value through Salespeople: Relationship and Partnership Selling

      Salespeople can create customer value in many ways:

      1.Identifying creative solutions to customer problems.

      2.Easing the customer buying process.

      3.Following through after the sale.

      Relationship selling is the practice of building ties to customers based on a salesperson’s attention and commitment to customer needs over time. It:

      1.Involves mutual respect and trust among buyers and sellers.

      2.Focuses on creating long-term customers, not one-time sales.

      Partnership selling (or enterprise selling) is the practice whereby buyers and sellers combine their expertise and resources to create customized solutions, commit to joint planning, and share customer, competitive, and company information for their mutual benefit, and ultimately the customer. It:

      1.Relies on cross-functional business specialists who apply their knowledge and expertise to achieve higher productivity, lower cost, and greater customer value.

      2.Complements supplier and channel partnering.

      Relationship and partnership selling represent another dimension of customer relationship management (CRM).

The contributions of selling

      Personal selling plays an important role in our lives. Among its functions in, and contributions to, our business and economic system are the following:

      1.It has helped make the United States one of the most productive economies in the world.

      2.It has given our country the highest standard of living in the world.

      3.It is the major objective of every business enterprise and the only function that generates direct revenue and profits. In this sense, then, it is the heart of our business economy.

      4.It helps to maintain the spirit of competition, which is the basis for a free enterprise system.

      5.In today’s mass society, “the world will not beat a path to your door,” and selling becomes the bridge for introducing new products and services.

      6.When a new product or service is introduced by a competitive firm, a company offering an established product or service will often rely on improved salesmanship to retain its share of the market.

New concepts in selling

      Our economy has shifted from a “manufacturing-oriented” economy to a “marketing-oriented’ economy. This means that we generally do not first design and manufacture a product and then decide how to market or sell it. Instead, we first carefully study the marketplace to determine what the consumer needs and wants. Selling and promotional strategies are also determined, and then the product is designed and manufactured in accordance with these factors. In applying this concept, the function of selling becomes more important in the total business environment and involves a greater degree of coordination with the other business functions.

      Each year more and more companies are operating on the basis of this “marketing concept.” Those who adopt this marking approach make important changes in their methods, usually with improved results. They focus on satisfying the consumer, but they also zero in on the accomplishment of the company’s objectives - increased sales volume, larger share of the market, but above all, if the company is to survive, adequate profits. All aspects of the business are integrated to achieve these goals. No longer is production allowed to become an end in itself or to dominate company polices.

      In short, the marketing concept envisions a total system of operation in which satisfying the consumer leads to profitable sales. Satisfying the consumer is the means of achieving long-run as well as immediate profits. The customer, then, becomes the pivot supporting all the activities of the business. Implementation of this philosophy requires teamwork by all those in marketing research, product planning, sales forecasting, advertising, selling, physical distribution, sales analysis and control, and other related marketing activities. Selling plays a key role in this combined effort because a customer is not satisfied nor is a profit made until the product or service is actually sold.

      Business today is also influenced by more competition, both domestically and from abroad. There are more rigid cost controls, and more and better information is now available regarding the products and services we buy—particularly over the Internet. Furthermore, labor, material, and operating costs have greatly increased, and profit margins are therefore narrower. All of these conditions have made the work of the salesperson more important and complex. Accordingly, selling today requires more knowledge and skill.

      The modern salesperson must not only be skillful in selling her product or service but must also be able to show the individual customer how to use the product or service in solving her particular needs or problems. If she sells a product to a merchant, she may also be required to show the merchant how to retail the product and be prepared to advise her on activities ranging from choosing a store location to developing inventory methods, preparing advertising, analyzing consumer behavior, setting prices, and others. With this expansion in the activities of selling, the modern salesperson of today must be knowledgeable in many areas of business and be capable of adjusting to a multitude of varying circumstances.

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