Chapter 1 Selling and Salespeople Why Learn

Chapter 1 Selling and Salespeople

Why Learn About Personal Selling? Personal selling-a person-to-person business activity in which a salesperson uncovers & satisfies the needs of a buyer to the mutual, longterm benefit of both parties Everyone sells Principles of selling are useful to everyone l (employers, customers, and yourself) l

What Do Salespeople Do? Depends on job l Client Relationship Manager – many use Six Sigma programs designed to reduce errors – Standard Register used as an example in the book – one of our corporate partners l Account Team Manager – teams work well, if chosen carefully! l Vendor & Channel Manager – see example in text l Information Provider to their firm – use CRM

Distribution Channels Business-to-Business l Two main B-B channels are: (Exhibit 1 -3 – P. 11) Direct Sales to a business customer – call directly on customers – e. g. Nucor and Dow, IBM –examples P. 12 Sales through Distributors Trade salespeople call directly on other manufacturers – e. g. Intel-Arrow Electronics-Hewlett Packard, 3 M Missionary salespeople – promote products ONLY – do not actually sell the product , e. g. Merck, Eli Lilly

Distribution Channels Consumer Channels l Direct salespeople–no middlemen-P. 11 l Trade and retail salespeople sell to distributors or retailers. Examples: l State Farm sells directly to consumers l Sony uses 4 th channel – sells to Best Buy l Black & Decker uses 5 th channel – distributors l Firms can uses more than one channel

Sales Jobs and the Distribution Channel

Describing Sales Jobs P. 15 – Exhibit 1. 4 1)Stage of Relationship: New or continuing? 2)Role: Taking orders or creating alternatives? 3)Buying Decision: How crucial is it to the customer? Low? High? 4)Contact Location: Field or inside sales? 5)Offering: Products or services: Tangible vs. intangible benefits 6)Securing Customer Commitment: The salesperson’s role – limited or significant

The Sales Job Continuum

Examples of Sales Jobs Retail - Best Buy - relationship builders, not just order takers Trade - Hershey – influencers who handle existing customers – see text for more information Missionary - Abbott Labs – classic example of missionary salesperson – promote products only Industrial - IBM capital goods & services, infrequent sales calls, can be for services and/or capital equipment – often new sales calls

What It Takes To Be a Top Salesperson David Mc. Clelland (Substitutes for P. 16 -17) Entrepreneurial Drive • • (achievement motivation research) Setting challenging goals for self that exceed those set by the organization for them Using time efficiently and measuring their own activities in terms of time Sensitivity to the Environment Extensive memory for minute details related to consumers or sales calls in the past Detailed observation skills, demonstrated by an ability to focus on the details of people’s appearance, names, and situational settings

Continued • • Customer Orientation Asking questions to identify critical customer issues, needs, or desires Finding ways to establishing a personal level (vs. business level) of contact with the customer (i. e. rapport building) Cognitive Flexibility Making procedural exceptions that are, in the end, of mutual benefit Looking for ways to match a customer want with an available service, even one that is not offered by the salesperson’s own organization if it comes to that

Continued • • Experiential Learning Eagerness to experience new responsibilities and sales techniques that have picked up by observing other Ability to learn from their own mistakes

Emotional Intelligence - EI Definition: The ability to effectively understand use one’s own emotions and the emotions of people with whom one interacts 4 Aspects: 1) Knowing one’s own feelings & emotions as they are experienced 2) Controlling one’s emotions to avoid acting impulsively 3) Recognizing customers’ emotions (empathy) 4) Using one’s emotions to interact effectively with customers

Are Salespeople Born or Made? § Hard work , time management, and adapting a sales approach to customers’ needs are learned attributes § Others – not learned? § Bell curve example – on board

Rewards in Selling • Independence and Responsibility Freedom, flexibility, and variety Financial Rewards • Compensation for excellent skills and talent See P. 20 -21 Management Opportunities • Strong foundation of sales skills allow opportunities for advancement