The sales function

and multi – sales channels

Sep 2016
 Learning outcomes
After completing this chapter, students should
be able to:
1. Explain what the sales function consists of
and how salespeople affect a firm’s supply
chain
2. Explain how effective sales management
efforts can align a firm’s sales strategy in a
multi – channel environment
 Contents
1. The sales function
2. Selling in a multi – channel environment
– To outsource and not to outsource the sales
function
– Types of outsourced salespeople
– Types of company – employed salespeople
3. Aligning the organization
“The most important characteristic to have a
sales representative is the understanding of
sales and how to create value for the customer
and company in a win – win situation”
 The sales function

• Locating potential buyers

• Persuading buyers
• Consummating the transaction
• Providing market information to the firm’s
strategic planner by capturing and sharing
information about potential customer as well
as information about competitors

• Creating the sales forecasts used to schedule

the firm’s manufacturing, inventory, and
shipping functions
• The supply chain: the complete process of
events and people needs to bring a company’s
product to customer

• Sales forecast: what the salesperson expects

to sell in a particular period of time
 Selling in
a multi – channel environment
• Multi – channel environment: using a number
of methods, or channels, to accomplish the
selling function
• A competitive advantage can be created by
selling the way a customer wants to buy.
The need for convenience: fulfilled by how
the product is bought
The key issue, then, for salespeople is to
provide value to customers (or the customer
will refuse to pay the premium needed to
cover the cost of the salesperson)
Two strategies to reduce costs without
sacrificing performance:
• To “purify” the sales job, or shift non - selling
activities to lower – cost alternatives.
• To outsource selling activities. Outsourcing
means hiring another company to carry out a
task or a set of tasks.
To outsource or
not to outsource the sales function?
Advantages to having company – employed
salesperson:
• The company can exert greater control over
their efforts, telling them what to sell and
enforcing requirement to carry out non –
selling activities.
• There is also greater control over who is hired
to represent the company.
• A company salesperson will focus on only the
company’s product
Advantages of having outsourced sales force:
• The firm’s selling cost can be shared with
other manufacturers => reducing the cost per
sales call.
• The outsourced sales force has established
relationship with customers from which the
manufacturer can benefit
• The question is whether outsourcing is right
for the company’s situation.

• Then, we should:
– Explore the different types of outsourcing
– Briefly examine the types of company sales
position
 Types of outsourced salespeople
• The manufacturer’s representative/agent: an
independent contractor who does not take the
ownership of the product and does not maintain
an inventory.
• Distributors: take the ownership of the products,
sell them or maintain an inventory
• Broker: represents either buyer or seller and
sometimes both. Broker can carry an inventory
but does not take the ownership of the products
• Another strategy is to break the sales process
down into parts and outsource only parts of
the process
 Types of
company – employed salespeople

• Inside vs. Outside/Field salesperson

– Inside salesperson: sells at a company’s facilities;
or works in a contact center or call center, or sells
in a distribution’s location
– Field salesperson: sells at the customer’s location
• Account manager: having the responsibility
for building sales within specific accounts
• A geographic rep: having the responsibility for
accounts within a specific area.
• Vertical market rep: responsible for accounts
operating in the same industry
Sales positions are also based on the product
being sold, how it is sold, and where it is sold.
• Retail sales representatives: sell to consumer
who come to the store
• Trade representatives: sell to organizations in
the supply chain, usually retailers
• Missionary salespeople: sell to people who
recommend or prescribe a product to others
but do not personally use it.
A firm could have a mix of inside, outside,
outsourced, and company’s salespeople.
 Aligning the Organization
• Seamless integration: occurs when a firm’s
customers can easily shift their transactions
across the company’s various channel.
• The goal is to allow customers to choose the
method of doing business that makes the most
sense for them.
• “Doing business”: not only buying the products
they want to buy but taking care of their billing,
service and shipping the way they want to.
Alignment: getting all the functional areas of the
firm to work together, including the company’s
various salespeople – its inside reps, geographic
reps, customer service reps…

• Technology and alignment

• Aligning a company’s processes and goals
• Sales and alignment
 Technology and alignment
• Technology can aid in aligning functional areas
and multiple sales organizations.
• Certain types of software can make customer
data, inventory information, financial data,
and other forms of information for serving the
customers.
 Aligning
a company’s processes and goals

• A firm’s objectives must be aligned so that its

processes result in the right outcomes.

• Alignment requires that people in various

areas work together and independently
toward the same goals
 Sales and alignment
• Alignment is more important to the
salesperson than anyone else in the
organization.
• A key functions od the sales executive is to
work with other areas of the firm to ensure
that the leader in those areas understands
how their metrics and budgets support or
sabotage the company’s larger goals of sales
and customer satisfaction.