Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Selling is the process by which the seller satisfies the needs and wants of the
buyer through the sale of a product or service.
Prospecting
2) Pre-approach
3) Approach
The approach is the actual contact the sales professional has with the
prospect. This is the point of the selling process where the sales professional
meets and greets the prospect, provides an introduction, establishes rapport
that sets the foundation of the relationship, and asks open-ended questions to
learn more about the prospect and his or her needs.
4) Making the Presentation
During the presentation portion of the selling process, the sales professional
tells that product "story" in a way that speaks directly to the identified needs
and wants of the prospect. A highly customized presentation is the key
component of this step. At this point in the process, prospects are often
allowed to hold and/or inspect the product and the sales professional may
also actually demonstrate the product. Audio visual presentations and/or
slide presentations may be incorporated at this stage and this is usually when
sales brochures or booklets are presented to the prospect. Sales professionals
should strive to let the prospect do most of the talking during the
presentation and address the needs of the prospect as fully as possible by
showing that he or she truly understands and cares about the needs of the
prospect.
7) Follow-up
Sales quotas are a way of life for the sales force. All activities of the sales
force revolve around the fulfillment of sales quotas. Sales quotas are
targets assigned to sales personnel. They signify the performance
expected from them by the organization. Sales quotas help in directing,
evaluating and controlling the sales force. They form an indispensable tool
for sales managers to carry out sales management activities. Sales quotas
are prepared on the basis of sales forecasts and budgets. Sales quotas
serve various purposes in organizations.
Territory Management
Territory management develops and implements a strategy
for directing selling activities toward customers in a sales
territory aimed at maintaining the lines of
communications, improving sales coverage, and
minimizing wasted time. It includes the allocation of sales
calls to customers and the planning, routing, and
scheduling of the calls.
Territory management develops and implements a strategy for directing selling activities toward customers in a
sales territory aimed at maintaining the lines of communications, improving sales coverage, and minimizing
wasted time. It includes the allocation of sales calls to customers and the planning, routing, and scheduling of
the calls.
We know that territory management is a two-way street – a dual process of information and communication.
First, territory management provides sales managers with accurate measurements of territory results, and the
relative success of that territory’s sales teams. And second, territory management offers the sales team strategic
information about the impact of promotional campaigns and a variety of other data and analyses.
Managers can gain an up-to-the minute view of their individual territory pipeline from the highest level
to the most granular.
Regional sales teams can keep lock-step with one another when collaborating on important deals.
Your company will gain better insight into sales effectiveness and performance by territory
Easy set up and assignment of territories
Simplifying territory realignments after sales reorganizations
Eliminating lag time in lead assignment
Stretching your selling day and spending more time with your customers
Planning effectively and avoiding losing sales to better organized competitors
Selling more, earning more and accomplishing more
Setting goals and priorities to maximize your selling effectiveness
Increasing selling time by minimizing distractions and procrastination
Maintaining contact with key prospects and accounts
Making more productive use of travel time
Improving your return on investment (ROI) and reducing turnover
Territory Management enables organizations to automatically route opportunities, accounts, contacts, and
activities to exactly the right sales team members, based on a set of flexible and configurable business rules.
Sales team members can include your employees as well as your channel partners' employees, for leverage of
partnerships and corporate relationships across sales organizations. Assignment rules can be based on
geography, industry, product interest or virtually any other criteria you choose.
Territory Management allows you to manage your various sales territories by setting up a customized company
position chart that maps your reps into territories. Regional managers can easily access critical pipeline
information and monitor all the deals active within their territory. As the organization changes, territory
management allows you to very quickly and easily transfer accounts from one rep to another, build cross-
functional teams, share reports, dashboards and documents, and run reports segmented by the territories you
define.
Some manufacturers want their brands to capture the power of the internet but do not want to create
conflict with their other distribution channels, as these partners are necessary and viable for any
manufacturer to maintain and gain success. The Census Bureau of the U.S. Department of
Commerce reported that online sales in 2005 grew 24.6 percent over 2004 to reach 86.3
billion dollars[1]. By comparison, total retail sales in 2005 grew 7.2 percent from 2004 [1]. These
impressive numbers are attractive to manufacturers, however they have not been able to participate in
these sales without harming their channel relationships.
Channel conflict can also occur when there has been over production. This results in a surplus of
products in the market place. Newer versions of products, changes in trends, insolvency of
wholesalers and retailers and the distribution of damages goods also affect channel conflict. In this
connection, a company's stock clearance strategy is of importance. To avoid a channel conflict in a
click-and-mortar, it is of great importance that both channels are fully integrated from all points of
view. Herewith, possible confusion with customers is excluded and an extra channel can create
business advantages
Channel conflict is an integral part of your channel strategy, so you must examine your market
position and channel strategy before attempting to manage it. Taking a closer look at the problem
often reveals that the perceived channel conflict issue masks a larger channel strategy issue. So prior
to executing solutions to address channel conflict, the manufacturer is encouraged to examine all
elements of its overall channel strategy, including pricing, end user segmentation, channel support
programs, company policies, etc. Have you created a conflict situation through the design or
implementation of these other components of channel strategy?
Destructive channel conflict is managed through economics and structural controls. Economics
motivate the channels to avoid conflict. Structural controls lay the ground rules within which conflict is
managed. With each tactic, communication before conflict arises is critical.
The right economic solution is dictated by the type of conflict being faced, the manufacturer's market
and channel position, and the company's strategic goals. Economic approaches include;
Dual compensation—applied when conflict exists between direct and indirect channels. The
goal is to move the indirect channel from a position of potential adversary for the direct sales force to
one of "partner" for the direct sales force
Shared costs—the key difference between this concept and functional discounts is that
functional discounts compensate the channel for incremental tasks via a discount on product sold,
while shared costs pay directly for the task
Compensation for market share—usually applied to direct versus indirect conflict, the direct
sales rep is compensated based on total market share in a territory. The goals of the sales rep are
based on direct and indirect volume, thus motivating the direct rep to "partner" with indirect channels
to maximize territory volume.
Structural controls are only as effective as their enforcement. There is no value unless you are willing
to clearly spell out the controls at the outset of the channel agreement and enforce the stated
penalties to all channel members. The structural controls are typically applied to:
Accounts—you specify "named" or "house" accounts where indirect channels can expect to
compete with your direct channels. Named accounts are usually specified based on end-user
sourcing capabilities, channel ability to meet end-user buying requirements, and volume and strategic
value
Products—channels can qualify for franchising by product line/category across your company's
offering. Product qualification is usually based on end-user product support needs, channel support
capabilities, "fit" or positioning of the product category in the channel's overall business, and strategic
considerations
Geography—as a manufacturer, you can specify those geographies/account types in which you
will provide sales support to the channel. These geographies are usually defined by granting the
channel a primary area of responsibility
The successful marketer combines the elements of economic and control-related solutions that best
address conflict challenges —framing them in an understanding of market position, channel
position, and strategic goals.