10.

Promotion policy (II)

1. Advertising as a promotion tool.
2. Sales promotion as a promotion tool.
3. Public relations as a promotion tool.
4. Personal selling as a promotion tool.
 Kotler Ph., Armstrong G. - Marketing – an introduction, Prentice Hall, 1990 (324-349)
 Pride W. – Marketing concepts and strategies, Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1991
(306-398)
 Florescu C. – Marketing, Bucureşti, 1992, (355-380)

1. Advertising as a promotion tool.

Advertising is any paid form of nonpersonal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an
identified sponsor.
The top 100 USA national advertisers account for about one-fourth of all advertising. Philip Morris is the
leader with over $1.5 billion, or 8.5 percent of its total U.S. sales. The other major spenders are found in the auto,
food, retailing, and tobacco industries, Advertising as a percentage of sales is low in the auto industry and high in
food, drugs, toiletries, and cosmetics, followed by gum, candy, and soaps.
Organizations handle advertising in different ways. In small companies, advertising might be handled by
someone in the sales department. Large companies set up advertising departments whose job is to set the
advertising budget, work with the ad agency, and handle direct-mail advertising, dealer displays, and other
advertising not done by the agency. Most large companies use an outside advertising agencies
Marketing management must make five important decisions in developing an advertising program.These
decisions are listed in Figure 1 and discussed below.

Message decision
Message generation
Message evaluation
and selection
Message execution
Objectives setting Budget decisions
Communication Affordable approach Campaign evaluation
objectives Percent of sales Communication impact
Sales objectives Competitive parity Sales impact
Objective and task
Media decision
Reach, frequency, impact
Major media types
Specific media vehicles
Media timing

Setting Objectives
The first step in developing an advertising program is to set advertising objectives. These objectives should be
based on past decisions about the target market, positioning, and marketing mix. The marketing positioning and
mix strategy defines the job that advertising must do in the total marketing program.
An advertising objective is a specific communication task to be accomplished with a specific target
audience during a specific period of time. Advertising objectives can be classified as to whether their aim is to
inform, persuade, or remind. Informative advertising is used heavily when introducing a new product category
and when the objective is to build primary demand. Thus, producers of compact disc players first informed
consumers of the sound and convenience benefits of CDs. Persuasive advertising becomes more important as
competition increases and a company's objective is to build selective demand. For example, when compact disc
players became established and accepted, Sony began trying to persuade consumers that its brand offers the best
quality for their money.
Some persuasive advertising has become comparison advertising, which compares one brand directly or
indirectly with one or more other brands. For example, in its classic comparison campaign, Avis positioned itself
against market-leading Hertz by claiming, "We're number two, so we try harder."
Reminder advertising is important for mature products—it keeps consumers thinking about the product.
Expensive Coca-Cola ads on television are designed to remind people about Coca-Cola, not to inform or persuade
them.
Budget Decision
After determining its advertising objectives, the company can next set its advertising budget for each product.
The role of advertising is to affect demand for a product: The company wants to spend the amount needed to
achieve the sales goal Four commonly used methods for setting the advertising budget were discussed in the
question No 1.
Message Decision
A large advertising budget does not guarantee a successful advertising campaign. No matter how big the
budget, advertising can succeed only if messages gain attention and communicate well. Good advertising
messages are especially important in today's costly and cluttered advertising environment.
Thus, just to gain and hold attention, today's advertising messages must be better planned, more imaginative,
more entertaining, and more rewarding to ' consumers. Creative strategy will therefore play an increasingly
important role in advertising success. Advertisers go through three steps to develop a creative strategy: message
generation, message evaluation and selection, and message execution.
Message Generation
Creative people have different ways to find advertising message ideas. Many creative people start by talking to
consumers, dealers, experts, and competitors. Others try to imagine consumers using the product and figure out
the benefit consumers seek when buying and using it. Generally, although advertisers create many possible
messages, only a few will ultimately be used.
Message Evaluation and Selection
The advertiser must evaluate the possible messages. The appeals used in messages should have three
characteristics. First, they should be meaningful, pointing out benefits that make the product more desirable or
interesting to consumers. Second, appeals should be distinctive—they should tell how the product is better than
competing brands. Finally, they must be believable. It may be hard to make message appeals believable because
many consumers doubt the truth of advertising in general. One study found that, on average, consumers rate
advertising messages as "somewhat unbelievable."
Message Execution
The impact of the message depends not only on what is said but also on how it is said—its message execution.
The advertiser has to put the message across in a way that wins the target market's attention and interest.
The advertiser usually begins with a statement of the objective and approach of the desired ad. Here is such a
statement for a Pillsbury product called 1869 Brand Biscuits:

The objective of the advertising is to convince biscuit users that now they can buy a canned biscuit that's as good as
homemade—Pillsbury's 1869 Brand Biscuits. The content of the advertising will emphasize that the biscuits look like
homemade biscuits, have the same texture as homemade, and taste like homemade biscuits. Support for the "good as
homemade" promise will be twofold: (1) 1869 Brand Biscuits are made from a special kind of flour (soft wheat flour)
used to make homemade biscuits but never before used in making canned biscuits, and (2) the use of traditional
American biscuit recipes. The tone of the advertising will be a news announcement, tempered by a warm, reflective
mood coming from a look back at traditional American baking quality.
 The creative people must find a style, tone, words, and format for executing the message. Any message can
be presented in different execution styles, such as the following:
1. Slice-of-life. This style shows one or more people using the product in a normal setting. A family seated at the
dinner table might talk about a new biscuit brand.
2. Life style. This style shows how a product fits in with a life style. For example, a National Dairy Board ad shows
women exercising and talks about how milk adds to a healthy, active life style.
3. Fantasy. This style creates a fantasy around the product or its use. For instance, Revlon's first ad for Jontue
showed a barefoot woman wearing a chiffon dress and coming out of an old French barn, crossing a meadow,
meeting a handsome young man on a white horse, and riding away with him.
4. Mood or image. This style builds a mood or image around the product, such as beauty, love, or serenity. No
claim is made about the product except through suggestion. Many coffee ads create moods.
5. Musical. This style shows one or more people or cartoon characters singing a bout the product. Many cola ads
have used this format.
6. Personality symbol. This style creates a character that represents the product. The character might be animated
(the Jolly Green Giant, Cap'n Crunch, Garfield the Cat) or real (the Marlboro man, Morris the 9-Lives Cat).
7. Technical expertise. This style shows the company's expertise in making the product. Thus, Hills Brothers
shows one of its buyers carefully selecting coffee beans, and Gallo tells about its many years of winemaking.
8. Scientific evidence. This style presents survey or scientific evidence that the brand is better or better liked than
one or more other brands. For years, Crest toothpaste has used scientific evidence to convince buyers that Crest
is better than other brands at fighting cavities.
9. Testimonial evidence. This style features a highly believable or likable source endorsing the product. It could
be a celebrity like Bill Cosby (Jell-O Pudding, Kodak film) or ordinary people saying how much they like a
given product.
The advertiser must also choose a tone for the ad. Procter & Gamble always uses a positive tone: Its ads say
something very positive about its own products. P&G also avoids humour that might take attention away from the
message. By contrast, ads for Bud Light beer use humour and poke fun at people who order "just any light."
Memorable and attention-getting words must also be found. For example, the themes listed below on the left
would have had much less impact without the creative phrasing on the right:

THEME CREATIVE COPY

 7-Up is not a cola.  "The Uncola."
 Ride in our bus instead of driving your car.  "Take the bus, and leave the driving to us".
 If you drink much beer, Schaefer is a good beer to  "The one to have when you're having more than
drink. one."
 We don't rent as many cars, so we have to do more  "We're number two, so we try harder" (Avis).
for our customers.
 Hanes socks last longer than less expensive ones.  "Buy cheap socks and you'll paythrough the toes."
 Nike shoes will help you jump higher and play  "Parachute not included."
better basketball.
Finally, format elements will make a difference in an ad's impact as well as its cost. A small change in the
way an ad is designed can make a big difference in its effect. The illustration is the first thing the reader notices,
and that illustration must be strong enough to draw attention. Then the headline must effectively entice the right
people to read the copy. The copy—the main block of text in the ad—must be simple but strong and convincing.
Moreover, these three elements must also work effectively together. Even then, a truly outstanding ad will be
noted by less than 50 percent of the exposed audience; about 30 percent of the exposed audience will recall the
main point of the headline; about 25 percent will remember the advertiser's name; and less than 10 percent will
have read most of the body copy. Less than outstanding ads, unfortunately, will not achieve even these results

Media Decision
The advertiser next chooses advertising media to carry the message. The major steps in media selection are (1)
deciding on reach, frequency, and impact; (2) choosing among major media types; (3) selecting specific media
vehicles; and (4) deciding on media timing.

Choosing among Major Media Types

The media planner has to know the reach, frequency, and impact of each of the major media types. The major
advertising media are summarized in Table -2
Medium Advantages Limitations

Newspapers Flexibility; timeliness; good local market coverage; broad Short life; poor reproduction quality; small "pass
acceptance; high believability along" audience

Television Combines sight, sound, and motion; appealing to the High absolute cost; high clutter; fleeting exposure;
senses; high attention; high reach less audience selectivity
Direct mail Audience selectivity; flexibility; no ad competition within the Relatively high cost:
same medium; personalization "junk mail" image
Radio Mass use; high geographic and demographic selectivity; low Audio presentation only; lower attention than
cost television; non-standardized rate structures; fleeting
exposure
Magazines High geographic and demographic selectivity; credibility and Long ad purchase lead time; some waste circulation;
prestige; high-quality reproduction; long life; good pass- no guarantee of position
along readership
Outdoor Flexibility; high repeat exposure; low cost; No audience selectivity; creative limitations
low competition

Media planners consider many factors when making their media choices. The media habits of target
consumers will affect media choice—for example, radio and television are the best media for reaching teen-
agers. So will the nature of the product—dresses are best shown in colour magazines, and Polaroid cameras are
best demonstrated on television. Different types of messages may require different media. A message announcing
a major sale tomorrow will require radio or newspapers; a message with a lot of technical data might require
magazines or direct mailings. Cost is also a major factor in media choice. While television is very expensive,
newspaper advertising costs much less. The media planner looks at both the total cost of using a medium and at
the cost per thousand exposures—the cost of reaching 1,000 people using the medium.
Given these and other media characteristics, the media planner must decide how much of each media type to
buy. For example, in launching its new biscuit, Pillsbury might decide to spend $3 million on daytime network
television, $2 million on women's magazines, and $1 million on daily newspapers in 20 major markets.
2. Sales promotion as a promotion tool.
Advertising is joined by two other mass-promotion tools—sales promotion and public relations. Sales promotion
consists of short-term incentives to encourage purchase or sales of a product or service. Sales promotion includes
a wide variety of promotion tools designed to stimulate earlier or stronger market response. It includes consumer
promotion—samples, coupons, rebates, prices-off, premiums, contests, trading stamps, demonstrations; trade
promotion—buying allowances, free goods, merchandise allowances, cooperative advertising, push money,
dealer sales contests; and salesforce promotion— bonuses; contests, sales rallies.
Sales promotion tools are used by most organizations, including manufacturers, distributors, retailers, trade
associations, and nonprofit institutions.
Sales promotions are usually used together with advertising or personal selling. Consumer promotions must
usually be advertised and can add excitement and pulling power to ads. Trade and salesforce promotions support
the firm's personal selling process.

Setting Sales-Promotion Objectives

Sales-promotion objectives vary widely. Sellers may use consumer promotions to increase short-term sales or to
help build long-term market share. The objective may be to entice consumers to try a new product, lure
consumers away from competitors' products, get consumers to "load up" on a mature product, or hold and reward
loyal customers. Objectives for trade promotions include getting retailers to carry new items and more inventory,
getting them to advertise the product and give it more shelf space, and getting them to buy ahead. For the
salesforce, objectives include getting more salesforce support for current or new products or getting salespeople
to sign up new accounts.
Ideally, sales promotion objectives are to build long-run consumer demand rather than to prompt temporary
brand switching.

Selecting Sales-Promotion Tools

Consumer-Promotion Tools
The main consumer-promotion tools include samples, coupons, cash refunds, price packs, premiums, patronage
rewards, point-of-purchase displays and demonstrations, and contests, sweepstakes, and games.
Samples are offers of a trial amount of a product. Some samples are free; for others, the company charges a
small amount to offset its cost. The sample might be delivered door to door, sent in the mail, handed out in a
store, attached to another product, or featured in an ad. Sampling is the most effective—but most expensive—way
to introduce a new product. For example, Lever Brothers had so much confidence in its new Surf detergent that it
spent $43 million to distribute free samples to four out of every five American households.
Coupons are certificates that give buyers savings when they purchase specified products. Coupons can be
mailed, included with other products, or placed in ads. Several package goods companies are experimenting with
point-of-sale coupon dispensing machines and computerized printers that automatically print out coupons at the
cash register when certain products pass over the scanner. Coupons can stimulate sales of a mature brand and
promote early trial of a new brand.
Cash refund offers (or rebates) are like coupons except that the price reduction occurs after the purchase
rather than at the retail outlet. The consumer sends a "proof of purchase" to the manufacturer, who then refunds
part of the purchase price by mail. Cash refunds have been used for major products such as automobiles as well
as for small appliances and packaged goods.
Price packs (also called cents-off deals) offer consumers savings off the regular price of a product. The
reduced prices are marked by the producer directly on the label or package. Price packs can be single packages
sold at a reduced price (such as two for the price of one), or two related products banded together (such as a
toothbrush and toothpaste). Price packs are very effective— even more so than coupons—in stimulating short-
term sales.
Premiums are goods offered either free or at low cost as an incentive to buy a product. In its "Treasure Hunt"
promotion, for example, Quaker Oats inserted $5 million of gold and silver coins in Ken-L Ration dog food
packages. In its recent premium promotion. Cutty Sark scotch offered a brass tray with the purchase of one bottle
of Cutty and a desk lamp with the purchase of two. A premium may come inside (in-pack) or outside (on-pack)
the package. The package itself, if reusable (such as a decorative tin), may serve as a premium. Premiums are
sometimes mailed to consumers who have sent in a proof of purchase, such as a box top. A self-liquidating
premium is a premium sold below its normal retail price to consumers who request it. For example, manufacturers
now offer consumers all kinds of premiums bearing the company's name:
Budweiser fans can order T-shirts, hot-air balloons, and hundreds of other items with Bud's name on them at
unusually low prices.
Patronage rewards are cash or other awards for the regular use of a certain company's products or services.
For example, airlines offer "frequent flyer plans," awarding points for miles travelled that can be turned in for
free airline trips. Marriott Hotels has adopted an "honoured guest" plan that awards points for users of their
hotels. Trading stamps are also patronage rewards in that customers receive stamps when buying from certain
merchants and can redeem them for goods either at redemption centres or through mail-order catalogs.
 Point-of-purchase (POP) promotions include displays and demonstrations that take place at the point of
purchase or sale. An example is a five-foot-high cardboard display of Cap'n Crunch next to Cap'n Crunch cereal
boxes. Unfortunately, many retailers do not like to handle the hundreds of displays, signs, and posters they
receive from manufacturers each year. Manufacturers have thus responded by offering better POP materials,
tying them in with television or print messages and offering to set them up. A good example is the award-
winning Pepsi "tipping can" display. From an ordinary display of Pepsi six-packs along a supermarket aisle, a
mechanically rigged six-pack begins to tip forward, grabbing the attention of passing shoppers who think the six-
pack is falling. A sign reminds shoppers, "Don't forget the Pepsi!" In test market stores, the display helped get
more trade support and greatly increased Pepsi sales.
Contests, sweepstakes, and games give consumers the chance to win something—such as cash, trips, or
goods—by luck or through extra effort. A contest calls for consumers to submit an entry—a jingle, guess,
suggestion—to be judged by a panel that will select the best entries. A sweepstakes calls for consumers to submit
their names for a drawing. A game presents consumers with something every time they buy—bingo numbers,
missing letters—that may or may not help them win a prize. A sales contest urges dealers or the salesforce to
increase their efforts, with prizes going to the top performers.
Trade-Promotion Tools
Trade promotion can persuade retailers or wholesalers to carry a brand, give it shelf space, promote it in
advertising, and push it to consumers. Shelf space is so scarce these days that manufacturers often have to offer
price-offs, allowances, buy-back guarantees, or free goods to get on the shelf and, once there, to stay on it.
Manufacturers use several trade-promotion tools. Many of the tools used for consumer promotions—
contests, premiums, displays—can also be used as trade promotions. Or the manufacturer may offer a straight
discount off the list price on each case purchased during a stated period of time (also called, price-off, off-
invoice, or off-list). The offer encourages dealers to buy in quantity or to carry a new item. Dealers can use the
discount for immediate profit, to advertising, or for price reductions to their customers.
Manufacturers may also offer an allowance (usually so much off per case) in return for the retailer's
agreement to feature the manufacturer's products in some way. An advertising allowance compensates retailers
for advertising the product. A display allowance compensates them for using special displays.
Manufacturers may offer free goods, which are extra cases of merchandise to middlemen who buy a certain
quantity or who feature a certain flavour or size. They may offer push money—cash or gifts to dealers or their
salesforce to "push" the manufacturer's goods. Manufacturers may give retailers free specialty advertising items
that carry the company's name, such as pens, pencils calendars, paperweights, matchbooks, memo pads, ashtrays,
and yardsticks.
Many companies and trade associations organize conventions and trade shows to promote their products. Firms
selling to the industry show their products at the trade show. Vendors get many benefits, such as finding new sales
leads, contacting customers, introducing new products, meeting new customers, and selling more to present
customers.

3. Public relations as a promotion tool.

Another major mass-promotion tool is public relations—building good relations with the company's various
publics by obtaining favourable publicity, building up a good "corporate image," and handling or heading off
unfavourable rumours, stories, and events. The old name for marketing public relations was publicity, which was
seen simply as activities to promote a company or its products by planting news about it in media not paid for by
the sponsor. Public relations is a much broader concept that includes publicity and many other activities. Public
relations departments use many different tools:
 Press relations: Placing newsworthy information into the news media to attract attention to a person,
product, or service.
 Product publicity: Publicizing specific products.
  Corporate communications: Creating internal and external communications to promote understanding of
the firm or institution.
 Lobbying: Dealing with legislators and government officials to promote or defeat legislation and
regulation
 Counselling: Advising management about public issues and company positions and image.

Public relations is used to promote products, people, places, ideas, activities, organizations, and even nations.
Trade associations have used public relations to rebuild interest in declining commodities such as eggs, apples,
milk, and potatoes. New York City's image turned around when its "I Love New York" campaign took root,
bringing millions more tourists to the city. Johnson & Johnson's masterly use of public relations played a major
role in saving Tylenol from extinction after its product-tampering scares. Lee Iaccoca's speeches and
autobiography helped create a new winning image for Chrysler. Nations have used public relations to attract
more tourists, foreign investment, and international support.
Public relations can have a strong impact on public awareness at a much lower cost than advertising. The
company does not pay for the space or time in the media. It pays for a staff to develop and circulate information
and manage events. If the company develops an interesting story, it could be picked up by several different media,
having the same effect as advertising that would cost millions of dollars. And it would have more credibility than
advertising.
Despite its potential strengths, public relations is often described as a marketing stepchild because of its
limited and scattered use. The public relations department is usually located at corporate headquarters. Its staff is
so busy dealing with various publics—stockholders, employees, legislators, city officials—that public relations to
support product-marketing objectives may be ignored. And marketing managers and public relations practitioners
do not always talk the same language. Many public relations practitioners see their job as simply communicating.
Marketing managers, on the other hand, tend to be much more interested in how advertising and public relations
affect sales and profits.
Major Public Relations Tools
Public relations professionals use several tools. One of the major tools is news. PR professionals find or create
favourable news about a company and its products or people. Sometimes news stories occur naturally, and
sometimes the PR person can suggest events or activities that will create news. Speeches can also create product
and company publicity. Lee Iaccoca's charismatic talks to large audiences helped to sell Chrysler cars to
consumers and stock to investors. Increasingly, company executives must field questions from the media or give
talks at trade associations or sales meetings, and these events can build or hurt the company's image. Another
common PR tool is special events, ranging from news conferences, press tours, grand openings, and fireworks
displays to laser shows, hot-air balloon releases, multimedia presentations, and star-studded spectaculars that will
reach and interest target publics.
Public relations people also prepare written materials to reach and influence their target markets. These
materials include annual reports, brochures, articles, and company newsletters and magazines. Audio-visual mat-
erials such as films, slide-and-sound programs, and video and audio cassettes are increasingly being used as
communication tools. Corporate identity materials can also help to create a corporate identity that the public
immediately recognizes. Logos, stationery, brochures, signs, business forms, business cards, buildings, uniforms,
and company cars and trucks—all become marketing tools when they are attractive, distinctive, and memorable.
Companies can also improve public goodwill by contributing money and time to public service activities. For
example, Procter & Gamble and Publishers' Clearing House held a joint promotion to aid the Special Olympics.
The Publishers' Clearing House mailing included product coupons, and Procter & Gamble donated ten cents per
redeemed coupon to the Special Olympics. In another example, B. Dalton Booksellers earmarked $3 million over
a four-year period for the fight against illiteracy.

4. Personal selling as a promotion tool.

Robert Louis Stevenson once noted that "everyone lives by selling something." Salesforces are found in
nonprofit as well as profit organizations. Recruiters are a college's salesforce for attracting students. Churches use
membership committees to attract new members. The U.S. Agricultural Extension Service sends agricultural
specialists to sell farmers on new farming methods. Hospitals and museums use fund-raisers to contact donors
and raise money.
The people who do the selling go by many names: salespeople, sales representatives, account executives,
sales consultants, sales engineers, field representatives, agents, district managers, and marketing representatives.
Selling is one of the oldest professions in the world. Salespeople are typically pictured as outgoing and sociable—
although many salespeople actually dislike unnecessary socializing. They are blamed for forcing goods on people
—although buyers often search out sales people.

Salesforce management is the analysis, planning, implementation, and control of salesforce activities. It
includes setting salesforce objectives, designing salesforce strategy, and recruiting, selecting, training,
supervising, and evaluating the firm's salespeople. The major salesforce management decisions are shown in
Figure -3.

Establishing Designing salesforce Recruiting and Training

salesforce strategy, structure, size selecting salespeople
objectives and compensation salespeople

Supervising Evaluating
salespeople salespeople

SETTING SALESFORCE OBJECTIVES

Companies set different objectives for their salesforces. IBM's salespeople are to "sell, install, and upgrade"
customer computer equipment; AT&T salespeople should "develop, sell, and protect" accounts. Salespeople
usually perform one or more of many tasks. They find and develop new customers and communicate information
about the company's products and services. They sell products by approaching customers, presenting their
products, answering objections, and closing sales with customers. In addition, salespeople provide services to
customers, carry out market research and intelligence work, and fill out sales call reports.
Some companies are very specific about their salesforce objectives and activities. One company advises its
salespeople to spend 80 percent of their time with current customers and 20 percent with prospects, and 85
percent on current products and 15 percent on new products. This company believes that if such norms are not
set, salespeople tend to spend almost all of their time selling current products to current accounts and neglect new
products and new prospects.
The old view is that salespeople should worry about sales and the company should worry about profit.
However, a newer view holds that salespeople should be concerned with more than just producing sales—they
must also know how to produce customer satisfaction and company profit. They should know how to look at sales
data, measure market potential, gather market intelligence, and develop marketing strategies and plans.
Salespeople need marketing-analysis skills, especially at higher levels of sales management. A market-oriented
rather than a sales-oriented salesforce will be more effective in the long run.
DESIGNING SALESFORCE STRATEGY
Salesforce Strategy
Every company competes with other firms to get orders from customers. Thus, it must base its strategy on an
understanding of the customer-buying process. A company can use one or more of several sales approaches to
contact customers. An individual salesperson can talk to a prospect or customer in person or over the phone. Or a
salesperson can make a sales presentation to a buying group. A sales team (such as a company executive, a
salesperson, and a sales engineer) can make a sales presentation to a buying group. In conference selling, a
salesperson brings resource people from the company to meet with one or more buyers to discuss problems and
opportunities. In seminar selling, a company team conducts an educational seminar for technical people in a
customer company about state-of-the-art developments.
Thus, the salesperson often acts as an "account manager" who arranges contacts between people in the buying
and selling companies. Because salespeople need help from others in the company, selling calls for teamwork.
Others who might assist salespeople include top management, especially when major sales are at stake; technical
people who provide technical information to customers; customer service representatives who provide
installation, maintenance, and other services to customers; and office staff such as sales analysts, order
processors, arid secretaries.
Salesforce Structure
The company must also decide how to structure its salesforce. This decision is simple if the company sells one
product line to one industry with customers in many locations; here, the company would use a territorial
salesforce structure. If the company sells many products to many types of customers, it might need a product
salesforce structure or a customer salesforce structure.
Salesforce Size
Once the company has set its strategy and structure, it is ready to consider salesforce size. Salespeople constitute
one of the company's most productive— and most expensive—assets. Therefore, increasing their number will
increase both sales and costs.
Many companies use the workload approach to set salesforce size. Under this approach, a company groups
accounts into different size classes and then figures out how many salespeople are needed to call on them the
desired number of times. The company might think as follows: Suppose we have 1,000 Type-A accounts and
2,000 Type-B accounts. Type-A accounts require 36 calls a year and Type-B accounts 12 calls a year. In this case,
the salesforce's workload—the number of calls it must make per year—is 60,000 calls [(1,000 x 36) + (2,000 x
12) = 36,000 + 24,000 = 60,000)]. Suppose our average salesperson can make 1,000 calls a year. The company
thus needs 60 salespeople (60,000/1,000).
Salesforce Compensation
To attract needed salespeople, a company must have an attractive compensation plan. These plans vary greatly,
both by industry and by companies within the same industry. The level of compensation must be close to the
"going rate" for the type of sales job and needed skills. For example, the average earnings of an experienced,
middle-level salesperson in 1988 in the USA amounted to $38,900. To pay less than the going rate would attract
too few quality salespeople; to pay more would be unnecessary.
Compensation is made up of several elements—a fixed amount, a variable amount, expenses, and fringe
benefits. The fixed amount, usually a salary, gives the salesperson some stable income. The variable amount,
which might be commissions or bonuses based on sales performance, rewards the salesperson for greater effort.
Expense allowances, which repay salespeople for job-related expenses, let salespeople undertake needed and
desirable selling efforts. Fringe benefits, such as paid vacations, sickness or accident benefits, pensions, and life
insurance, provide job security and satisfaction.
Management must decide what mix of these compensation elements makes the most sense for each sales job.
Different combinations of fixed and variable compensation give rise to four basic types of compensation plans—
straight salary, straight commission, salary plus bonus, and salary plus commissions. A recent study of salesforce
compensation plans showed that about 14 percent paid straight salary, 19 percent paid straight commission, 37
percent paid salary plus commission, 26 percent paid salary plus bonus, and 10 percent paid salary plus
commission plus bonus.
RECRUITING AND SELECTING SALESPEOPLE
Having set the strategy, structure, size, and compensation for the salesforce, the company now must set up
systems for recruiting and selecting, training, supervising, and evaluating salespeople.
What Makes a Good Salesperson?
Selecting salespeople would not be a problem if the company knew what traits to look for. If it knew that
good salespeople were outgoing, aggressive, and energetic, these characteristics could simply be checked among
applicants. But many successful salespeople are also bashful, mild-mannered, and very relaxed. Successful
salespeople include some men and women who are tall and short, some who speak well and some who speak
poorly, some who dress well and some who dress shabbily.
Still, the search continues for the magic list of traits that spells sure-fire sales ability. Many such lists have
been drawn up. One survey suggests that good salespeople have lots of enthusiasm, persistence, initiative, self-
confidence, and job commitment. They are committed to sales as a way of life and have a strong customer
orientation.
How can a company find out what traits salespeople in its industry should have? Job duties suggest some of the
traits to look for. Is there a lot of paperwork? Does the job call for much travel? Will the salesperson face a lot of
rejections? The successful salesperson should be suited to these duties. The company should also look at the
characteristics of its most successful salespeople for clues to needed traits.

Principles of Selling
One of the major objectives of training programs is to teach salespeople the "art" of selling. Companies spend
hundreds of millions of dollars on seminars, books, cassettes, and other materials.
All the training approaches try to convert a salesperson from a passive order taker to an active order getter.
Order takers assume that customers know their own needs, that they would resent any attempt at influence, and
that they prefer salespeople who are polite and reserved. An example of an order taker is a salesperson who calls
on a dozen customers each day, simply asking if the customer needs anything.
There are two approaches to training salespeople to be order getters—a sales-oriented approach and a
customer-oriented approach. The sales-oriented approach trains the salesperson in high-pressure selling
techniques, such as those used in selling encyclopedias or automobiles. This form of selling assumes that the
customers will not buy except under pressure, that they are influenced by a slick presentation, and that they will
not be sorry after signing the order (and that, if they are, it no longer matters).
The customer-oriented approach—the one most often used in today's professional selling—trains salespeople in
customer problem solving. The salesperson learns how to identify customer needs and find solutions. This
approach assumes that customer needs provide sales opportunities, that customers appreciate good suggestions,
and that they will be loyal to salespeople who have their long-term interests at heart. In one survey, purchasing
agents described the following qualities as the ones they most disliked in salespeople: pushy, arrogant, unreliable,
too talkative, fails to ask about needs. The qualities they valued most included reliability and credibility, integrity,
innovativeness in solving problems, and product knowledge. The problem-solver salesperson fits better with the
marketing concept than the hard seller or order taker.
The Selling Process
Most training programs view the selling process as consisting of several steps that the salesperson must master.
These steps are shown in Figure -4.
Prospecting and Qualifying
The first step in the selling process is prospecting—identifying qualified potential customers. The salesperson
must approach many prospects to get a few sales. In the insurance industry, only one out of nine prospects
becomes a customer. In the computer business, 125 phone calls result in 25 interviews leading to five
demonstrations and one sale. Although the company supplies some leads, salespeople need skill in finding their
own. They can ask current customers for the names of prospects. They can build referral sources, such as
suppliers, dealers, noncompeting salespeople, and bankers. They can join organizations to which prospects belong
or can engage in speaking and writing activities that will draw attention. They can search for names in
newspapers or directories and use the telephone and mail to track down leads. Or they can drop in unannounced
on various offices (a practice known as "cold calling").