Sales and Marketing

UNIT: I - SALESMANSHIP
‘Sales’ means to transfer or agree to transfer the ownership in the goods to the buyer for a
price. The words ‘Manship’ implies attaining a certain objective by making efforts. Thus,
salesmanship means all those efforts through which the seller sells his products or services.

Salesmanship is the ability to persuade people to want the things which they already
need. Salesmanship is the ability to convert human needs into wants. The work of salesman is
a service i.e., helping the consumer. The salesman gives a solution to the customer’s
problems. Salesmanship is the ability to handle the people and to handle the products.

Definitions

According to W.G Carter, “Salesmanship is in attempt to induce people to buy goods.”

According to the National Association of Marketing Teachers of America, “It is the

ability to persuade people to buy goods or services at a profit to the seller and benefit to the
buyer.”

Characteristics of Salesmanship
• Oral Presentation: As a specific method of communication, it is two-way as it involves
direct face to face contact between salesman and the prospect.

• The Ability to Persuade: Salesmanship believes in persuasion and not pressure.

Persuasion is the heart of personal selling, and, therefore, the art of persuading others is
the bug-gun at the command of any creative salesman.

• Creates and retains Customers: it creates and maintains a class of satisfied customers.
It is a matter of building long-term partnership for mutual gain. In other words, true sales
person sells not goods and services but the company or the firm he represents.

• Works for Mutual Gain: Salesmanship is founded on the basic idea of mutual gain to
the two parties of the exchange process. He is the link between the two-ends of exchange
namely, the buyers and sellers. In this game of exchange, it is the other man who gains
much than what he gets for his service. The employer expects him to create, maintain and
extends the sales with profits on one hands, and the customer with ever-increasing and
sustaining satisfaction on the other.

• An Educative Process: A true salesman is one who brings to the notice of the goods and
services that are meant for a particular life-style. Education is the process of making
people to learn and understand formally what they are expected to know as to how their
life can be made attractive.
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• Creative Process: Creativity is an aptitude-a state of mind-a fruit that distinguishes firm
from others. The psychological process of creativity is very complex so much so that it is
attributed to divine power.

Kinds of Salesmen
1. Wholesalers: The wholesalers’ salesmen are concerned with only wholesalers. A product
passes through several stages from after leaving the warehouse and final when it reaches the
hands of the final consumer. The wholesaler plays a central role in this supply chain. The
purpose of a wholesaler is to market the products only to wholesalers of the product. The
followings are the primary concern of a wholesaler salesman:

• The wholesaler salesman takes orders from the wholesalers of the product.
• He guides the wholesalers in the process of giving credit to the retailers.
• He helps wholesalers to improve their sales.
• He collects crucial information like current trends in the market.

2. Manufacturer’s salesperson: The following are the different types of manufacturer’s

salespersons.

a. Missionary salesperson: The role of a missionary salesperson is significant as they

perform all the essential works that are required to be done. For example, they collect
information about market trends, and they create goodwill about the product.
b. Technical salesman: The technical salesman is hired to sell electronic products such
as computers, machines, and other equipment. These salesmen have professional
training and are capable of helping their customers with the installation, use, and
problems related to the use of the products.
c. Merchandising salesman: The role of merchandising salesman is significant in the
present market conditions. A merchandising salesman not only sells the product but
will also help the retailers in the display and arrangement of the products in the store
by working alongside them.
d. Sale promotion salesmen: The sales promotion salesmen are also referred to as retail
salesmen. The main job of sales promotion salesmen is to create the demand for the
product. They don’t take orders immediately from the customers or sell products
directly, but they perform an essential role in convincing the customers to buy or use
their products.

3. Retail salesman: Retail salesmen are those salesmen who directly work with the final
consumer of the product. There are mainly two types of retail salesmen, such as indoor salesmen
and outdoor salesmen.

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The retail salesman that works inside a store is known as indoor salesmen. These
salesmen are hired by retailers to help shoppers to help in making purchasing decisions, locating
goods in the store, and keeping the store in order. On the other hand, the outdoor retail salesman
requires excellent salesmanship as they are needed to create leads to enhance the business and
take orders from the customers by visiting them.

Nature of salesmanship
Salesmanship is not just selling i.e., transferring the ownership of goods in exchange for
money. It is the process of persuading the prospective customers to buy the goods or services
which they really need.

In other words, salesmanship is not just the act of satisfying the demand for a product that
exists already. It is the process of creating a demand by guiding the consumers in the proper
selection of goods.

Again, true salesmanship is not creating demand for a product by high-pressure tactics or
by playing on the ignorance or weakness of the customers. Such an act is not only unethical, but
also harmful to the concern in the long run. True salesmanship is the act of creating demand by
convincing the people, through factual arguments and making them buy what they really need.

• Salesmanship is personal service rendered by the seller to the buyer.

• Salesmanship is both art and science
• Salesmanship is quite distinct from advertisement
• Salesmanship is a profession
• Salesmanship is the art of solving the problems of the prospective customers.
• Salesmanship is universal

Evolution of Salesmanship
As time advanced and kingdoms established, coinage came into vogue. The need for a
convenient medium of exchange, which would not only retain its value over a period of time, but
would also possess general acceptability, was keenly felt.

Hence, beads, shells, skins and furs were introduced by different communities as a
medium of exchange in order to make transactions of goods and services easier. In the absence
of proper transport facilities, people used to face a lot of difficulties to go to the market for
making purchases and sales.

Local Peddler: As the settlements grew into villages, need for the exchange of surplus goods,
more particularly the agricultural surpluses, was keenly felt. Since farmers were producing more
than their personal requirements, they needed to dispose such surpluses with the help of some

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middlemen. The local peddler was the middleman who specialized in the transaction of
agricultural surpluses.

However, the area of operations by such peddlers was mostly confined because of lack of
adequate transport facilities. Despite all odds, the selling practices employed by the merchants
and peddlers in those days were the pioneer efforts for the development of modern salesmanship.

Chapman: With the progress of civilization handicrafts began to be manufactured on a small

scale. Simultaneously, a new peddler known as the Chapman came into existence. The Chapman
was a pack peddler coming from sea routes and riverside towns who specialized in dealing in
luxury articles. As compared to the peddler, Chapman had to use more elaborate selling skills in
order to sell high specialty articles to the upper and middle class people.

Chapman may, therefore, be described as a door-to-door specialty luxury salesman

similar to the modern day salesman. As a matter of fact, the Chapman rendered great commercial
service to the people, since travelling even a few miles was quite risky due to bad roads,
neglected bridges, robbers and highway-men. In spite of all these hurdles, chapmen were selling
a variety of specialty goods and handicrafts, covering great distances.

Shopkeeper: During the early days of self sufficiency, the need for exchange of goods and
services hardly arose. Human needs and wants, during those days, were limited; confined to
limited articles and services, which could be met from within the locality. The existence of caste
system in India was the main reason for such self-sufficiency at the local level, since persons
belonging to a particular caste specialized in producing certain articles and providing certain
services.

Commercial Adventurer: Despite best efforts, the area of operation of the Chapmen and
shopkeepers was very much limited. In due course, some merchants took on business through the
sea routes. These ocean-going merchants were known as ‘commercial adventurers’ because they
took high risk by taking the specialty goods to far and distant places, from one country to
another. These merchants experienced hardships while developing commerce through sea. The
shops used by such merchants in those days were usually small and lacked basic facilities. The
seas were ridden with pirates and exposed to tempests and typhoons.

Under those difficult and unfavorable conditions, they undertook trade and commerce,
which led to the earlier development of international trade and commerce. These commercial
adventurers may be described as travelling salesmen.

Merchant Adventurer: The commercial adventurers were responsible for selling domestically
produced commodities. Those domestic producers had established certain kind of monopoly
through the trade guilds. This led to the formation of monopoly by the producers, who produced

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only on orders, resulting in high price, low output and stifling of demand. However, the
merchant adventurers helped in breaking down the monopoly in trade, held by the merchant
guilds.

This led to the opening up of trading and commercial activities to a large section of the
society. This resulted in low price, high volume of output and expansion of demand. Thus, on a
large scale the merchant adventurers did a commendable job for the growth of trade and
manufacturing activities.

Commercial Craftsman:

These commercial craftsmen were originally working in various workshops, producing

different kinds of articles, strictly made to the order of the consumers. Therefore, they were in a
position to place a number of samples before the customers and accordingly orders were being
received by the craft guild. In the beginning, womenfolk handled the task of presenting samples
and receiving orders.

At a later stage, with increase in the number of customers, craftsmen from the workshops
were deputed to handle the same. Thus, they became craftsmen-cum-salesmen. Such craftsman
in charge of the sales was known as the commercial craftsman.

Bagman: The bagman was the first modern traveling salesman, in the strict sense of the term.
Bagman was a commercial traveler going from place to place on horseback carrying samples of
merchandise in the saddle-pouch on behalf of his employer. In their mission of keeping touch
with old customers as well as locating new ones, bagmen covered wide distances. As a result,
they played a significant role in creating and extending demand for the goods and services of the
manufacturer and acted as missionaries of goodwill for their employer.

Importance of Salesmanship
In the present day, salesmanship plays an important part. Salesman is the connecting link
between sellers and buyers at every step i.e. from the collection of raw materials to the finished
products. , Of all, customers are the most benefited by salesmen. Present era is of large-scale
production, which is in anticipation of demand. The market expands along with competition.
This makes distribution a difficult and a complex factor in the face of still competition. The
expansion of the market, growing competition etc., invites a better salesmanship.

1. Important to Producers: Salesmanship is important to producers and manufacturers.

For pushing products into the competitive market, salesmanship is necessary. To capture
new markets also salesmanship is very important. Salesmen increase the sales volume. It
brings larger profits to the manufacturers. Salesmen work as the ―eye and ear‖ for the
manufacturers. They improve their products according to the taste of the consumers.

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They improve their sales policies by keeping in mind the suggestions, impressions
and complaints of the consumers. He is the creator of demand. Hence it leads to increased
production and increased business activity. As such it increases employment opportunity
as well as personal incomes.

2. Important to Consumers: Salesman educates and guides the consumers. He gives

them more satisfaction. Consumers are right in the marketing. As such, he gives more
importance to them. Salesman helps the consumers in making the right decision and
proper selection of the products which they want to buy. Salesmanship increases the rate
of turnover, and hence reduces unsold stock. As such it minimizes the economic
stagnation. Consumers can select the best products according to their requirements, taste
and money.

SALES MANAGEMENT

The word sales management is a combination of two words- sales and management. Sales
is the art of planning in the mind of another a motive which will induce favourable action. Sales
management can be seen as a segment of the organization’s marketing mix. It deals with the
formation of sales strategies; product merchandising and pricing; sales promotion activities;
distribution function; and planning, staffing, supervising, motivating and controlling of sales
personnel to attain the desired sales objectives.

Definition

According to American Marketing Association - “Selling is the personal or impersonal process

of assisting and or persuading a prospective customer to buy a commodity or a service or to act
favorably upon an idea that has commercial significance to the seller.”

Characteristics of Sales Management

To understand the concept of sales management clearly, we must go through its following
characteristics:

• Goal-Oriented: Similar to other management activities, sales management also have a

specific purpose and intended for the achievement of specified goals or objectives.

• Continuous Process: The sales manager needs to perform sales management functions
regularly, and this process is never-ending.

• Systematic Approach: It is an organized way of handling the sales function of the

company where every problem has a defined and proven solution.

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• Relationship Selling: The salespeople make efforts to build a strong customer

relationship to sell the products or services effectively.

• Marketing Management Integration: Marketing is a broader concept; marketing

management includes all the activities related to sales management.

• Different Sales or Job Position: It is the combined efforts of the whole sales team,
including salesperson, sales executive, sales head, sales manager and after-sales service
personnel.

• Pervasive Function: It is a universally applicable concept which has been adopted and
tested by every kind of business organizations.

Functions of Sales Management

Sales management is a field which has emerged from marketing management; however,
the latter is a broader concept.

• Sales Planning or Forecasting: The sales-related activities need to be planned well in

advance through anticipation of future sales prospectives.

• Sales Budgeting: The sales manager needs to determine or estimate the sales budget, i.e., the
expenses which will be incurred in carrying out the sales activities.

• Determining Structure and Size of Sales Organization: The department of a company

which is solely responsible for all the sales-related functions is termed as a sales
organization.

• Sales management provides for determining the size, composition and structure of a sales
organization.

• Human Resource Planning: The sales management ensures a proper estimation of sales
personnel requirement in the organization.

• Hiring Sales Personnel: It initiates the recruitment and selection of efficient and suitable
candidates for various vacant sales positions.

• Training and Development of Salespeople: It also includes providing training and

orientation to the selected candidates to develop their skills and knowledge to match those
required for the job position.

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• Developing Salesperson’s Objectives: The sales manager set up achievable objectives or

goals for the salespeople appointed under him/her.

• Fixing Sales Quotas: Also, the sales quota (monthly, quarterly or yearly) is fixed, either in
terms of volume or value of sales to set targets for the sales team.

• Determining Sales Territories: Every sales team or salesperson is given a particular region
or area as a target market, where they need to penetrate for selling products or services.

• Motivating Sales Personnel: It also emphasizes on reviewing the work of salespeople and
driving them frequently to perform better.

• Compensation and Remuneration of Salespeople: It ascertains appropriate salary,

remuneration, allowance, commission and other benefits to the salespeople.

• Controlling Sales force: Exercising sufficient control by monitoring the performance of the
sales personnel is also a crucial function of sales management.

• Branding, Labeling and Packaging: The sales personnel gather customer feedback on the
acceptability of the product packaging, presentation, branding and labeling.

• Managing Distribution Channel: It also ensures keeping track of the marketing

channels and filling the loopholes if any.

• Sales Promotion: The product advertisements and other promotional tactics are also
determined through sales management functions.

• Organizing and Support Service: It includes handling of queries and solving problems of
the sales personnel through proper guidance and support service.
• After-Sale Services: The customer recognizes a company mostly through the effectiveness
and efficiency of the after-sale services it provides, which is the concern of sales
management.

Importance of Sales Management

• Realizes Organizational Objectives: Sales management is practiced to attain the pre-
defined organizational goals or objectives which can be increasing profitability, customer
satisfaction, market acquisition, and so on.

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• Manages Sales Force: The sales team includes personnel performing various sales-
related tasks; the activities of the sales force are hence monitored and regulated through
sales management.

• Better Planning: Planning is an essential function of sales management; it includes the

formulation of goals, strategies, programmes and budget.

• Sales Maximization: It also helps the management in setting sales target, which are
though higher than the previous goals but are possibly attainable.

• Builds Strong Relationship: The sales personnel emphasizes on building up strong

interpersonal relations with the customers, as their primary motive. Since it ultimately
drives the sales and profit maximization.

• Optimizes Distribution: It provides for maximum utilization of the marketing channels

by identifying the key problem areas and finding a solution to these issues.

• Aids Top Management Decision Making: It comprises of the comparison between the
desired and actual result and thus, supports the top-level management or directors to
make crucial decisions (such as business expansion and closure).

• Improves Profitability: The most critical concerns of top-level management is profit

maximization, which is, therefore, passed on as a primary objective of the sales
management.

• Develops Personnel: In the process of sales management, the sales personnel is provided
sufficient training, growth opportunities and support to ensure their overall development.

• Product Development: The sales team is in constant touch with the clients or customers,
which helps the management to know about their preference and taste.

Difference between Sales Management and Marketing Management

Marketing management is concerned with the ultimate execution of these plans with the
ultimate aim of achieving the organization’s goals. It essentially revolves around planning,
implementation, and control of marketing campaigns or programs.

Sales management is the process of evolving a sales force, synchronizing sales

operations, and executing sales techniques that assist a business to consistently achieve its sales
targets.

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Sales Management Marketing Management

Definition

The selling theory believes that if companies
and customers are dropped detached, then the
customers are not going to purchase enough
commodities produced by the enterprise. The
notion can be employed argumentatively, in the
case of commodities are not solicited.
The marketing theory is a business plan,
which affirms that the enterprise’s profit lies in
growing more efficient than the opponents, in
manufacturing, producing and imparting
exceptional consumer value to the target
marketplace.

Related to

Constraining customer’s perception of Leading commodities and services towards

commodities and services. the consumer’s perception.

Beginning point

Factory Marketplace

Concentrates on

Product Consumer needs

Perspective

Inside out Outside in

Business Planning

Short term Long term

Orientation

Volume Profit

Cost Price

Cost of Production Market ascertained

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