Overview of Sales Management and the Selling Environment Sales and Distribution Management Marketing 3345

Sales Management in the 21st Century Building long-term relationships with customers Creating more nimble and adaptable sales organizational structures Removing functional barriers within the organization to create greater job ownership and commitment from salespeople

Sales Management in the 21st Century Shifting sales management style from commanding to coaching Leveraging available technology for sales success Integrating salesperson performance evaluation to incorporate all activities and outcomes

Key Themes Innovation – thinking outside the box Technology – broad spectrum of tools available to salespersons Leadership – capability to make things happen Globalization Ethics

Innovation Classical selling involved . . . Transaction Selling – a series of transactions, each one involving separate organizations entering into an independent transaction. The contemporary shift . . . Relationship Selling – narrowing the vendor pool, improving efficiencies, working directly with customers to solve problems. In general, salespeople are asked build relationships.

Technology Constant accessibility to people/data via computers and mobile phones Interactive web presences Just-in-Time (JIT) delivery Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) in manufacturing Efficient Customer Response (ECR) in retailing Customer Relationship Management Software (CRM) Intranets for internal communication Extranets to serve all stakeholders

Leadership versus Managing Leading (Mentoring) Communicate Cheerleader/coach Empower to make decisions Managing Control Supervisor/boss Direct

Globalization – bridging the culture gap View customers in terms of ethnic core values Get in sync with customer business practices Follow customers’ lead See others honestly Adopt the perspective of other cultures

Ethics Customer loyalty is impossible to maintain without trust Long term relationships require higher ethical standards Federal Sentencing Guidelines designed to punish unethical firms

Sales Management Process The formulation of a sales program The implementation of the sales program The evaluation and control of the sales program

Environmental Impact on Selling Environmental forces constrain the ability to pursue certain marketing strategies or activities Environmental variables determine the ultimate success or failure of marketing strategies Changes in the environment create new marketing opportunities Environmental variables are affected by marketing activities

Economic Environment Buyer-seller interactions take place within the context of current economic conditions The economy impacts real potential demand Global economic conditions are important Competitive structure affects selling success

Legal-Political Environment Many of the changes in society’s values reflect new laws and new government regulations. Three broad categories of laws are relevant: Antitrust Consumer Protection Equal Employment Opportunity

Technological Environment Changing the way salespeople and sales managers do their jobs Influences sales strategies Provides increased opportunities for product development Transportation, communications, and data processing technologies change sales territories, sales rep deployment and sales performance evaluation

Social and Cultural Environment Ethics - concerned with development of moral standards by which actions and situations can be judged. Of concern to sales managers: Their relationships with salespeople Interactions between salespeople and their customers Managers must influence ethical performance by example Ethical standards reflect integrity of the firm

Natural Environment Nature influences demand for products Weather Natural disasters Availability of raw materials Energy resources Demarketing may result from shortages caused by nature Growing social concern about the possible negative impact of product and production have important implications for marketing and sales programs

Goals/Objectives/Culture Mission and objectives drive customer management approaches A well-defined mission + successful corporate history + top management values = strong corporate culture

Personnel Modern sales organizations are highly complex and dynamic Often difficult to expand to take advantage of growing markets Utilizing outside specialists can help firms meet need to expand

Financial Resources Lack of financial resources can: constrain ability to develop new products limit promotional budget limit size of sales force

Production and Supply Chain Capabilities Production capacity Location of production facilities Transportation costs Ability to ensure seamless distribution and service after the sale

Service Capabilities Opportunity for strong competitive advantage Difficult for other firms to compete for same customers Customers reluctant to switch regardless of price

R&D and Technological Capabilities Excellence in design and engineering provide major promotional appeal Ability to communicate technological sophistication as value-add helps prevent over-reliance on price to get sales

Key Terms transactional selling relationship selling leading versus managing sales management sales management process formulation Implementation evaluation and control internal (organizational) environment corporate culture discontinuous change external environment economic environment legal and political environment technological environment social and cultural natural environment ethics demarketing