Sales Management
Chapter One Outline: I. The Strategy Hierarchy
A. Corporate Strategy
1. Establishing the Parameters of the Firm’s Strategy
a. Strategy: a plan designed to accomplish a mission.
b. Mission: a set of objectives.
c. Mission statement: a summary of the company’s goals.
B. Marketing and Sales strategy
1. What Markets Do We Serve with What Products
a. Ways a market can grow
i. Market penetration: trying to gain more market share with existing product ii. Product development/ account penetration: creating new products to get more business out of the company’s existing customers/ selling more products to the same accounts. iii. Market development: finding new markets iv. Diversification: combining new products and new markets.
2. What types of relationships do we form and with whom
a. Customer acquisition strategies: plans to obtain new customers
b. Customer retention strategies: plans designed to keep customers
c. Growth strategies: plans that are designed to increase sales to the same customers
3. What level of investment will be required, and how will we locate and allocate the needed resources
a. Human capital: the people that make up an organization.
b. Social capital: the ties that the firm has with others
4. What are the detailed objectives and action plans
a. SMART format
i. Specific ii. Measurable iii. Achievable, yet challenging iv. Realistic
v. Time-based II. Selling Approaches
A. Four approaches to selling
1. Transactional selling
2. Affiliative selling
3. Consultative selling
4. Enterprise selling III. The Selling Process
A. Eight steps in the selling process
1. Prospecting: A prospect is a MAD buyer, or someone with the Money to spend, the Authority to buy what you are selling, and the Desire to buy it.
2. Pre-Approach
3. Approach
4. Needs Identification
a. Use of SPIN®, New Base®, or some other questioning technique to determine the customer’s needs.
b. Identification of the decision process elements facing the customer (authority to purchase).
c. Gaining pre-commitment: an agreement to the effect that all of the customer’s needs have been identified, a budget has been identified, and the decision process is known.
5. Presentation: the salesperson describes the product and how it meets the buyer’s needs.
a. FEBAs: statements of Feature, Evidence, Benefit, and Agreement.
6. Handling Objections: Objections are reasons a buyer offers to not buy your product.
7. Closing the Sale
8. Implementation/Follow-Up IV. Sales Leaders
A. The Sales Executive
1. Responsibilities
a. Planning
b. Organizing
c. Implementing
d. Monitoring
B. The Field Sales Manager
1. Responsibilities
a. Implementing plans, policies, and procedures set forth by the sales executive.
b. Training salespeople.
c. Planning, organizing, implementing and monitoring, for his/her particular sales team
Chapter Two Outline: I. The Sales Function
A. Consists of:
1. Locating potential buyers
2. Persuading them
3. Consummating the transaction
B. Can be undertaken by:
1. Salespeople
2. Advertisements to attract customers to a company’s website
3. Service department to take care of post-sales issues.
C. Supply Chain: the complete process of events and people needed to bring a company’s product to the customer
1. Task of Sales force in the supply chain
a. Providing market information to the firm’s