Sales Force Management

Sales Force Management (SFM) is a sub-system of marketing management. It is

Sales Management that translates the marketing plan into marketing
performance. That is why sales force management is sometimes described as the
muscle behind the marketing management. Actually sales force management
does much more than serving as the muscle behind marketing management.
Sales managers in modern organization are required to be customer-oriented
and profit-directed and perform several tasks besides setting and achieving
personal selling goals of the firm. Let us understand briefly the sales force
management, tasks involved in the sales force management. Sales managers in
modern organization are required to be customer- oriented and profit-directed
and perform several tasks besides setting and achieving personal selling goals of
the firm.
Recruitment and Selection of Sales Personnel
Right salesmen can help company achieve marketing objectives. Recruitment
and selection are two important decisions in sales force management that
concern with ensuring the right type (right qualities, right qualifications, and
right experience) of sales personnel.
Recruitment:
Recruitment means searching for prospective candidates and inspiring them to
apply for the post. Recruitment ends on the last day/date of receiving
applications. Salesmen can be recruited through a number of sources.
Main sources, widely practiced in India, includes:
1. Advertisement
2. Other firms
3. Middlemen
4. Personal recommendations
5. Recommendation of existing staff
6. Special recruitment agencies
7. Private training institutes
8. Colleges and academic institutes, etc.
Types of sources to be used for recruiting the salesmen depend on certain
criteria, like type of products to be sold, types of customers to be served, paying
capacity of company and type of remuneration plans, and other relevant factors.
Selection:
Selection means selecting the fixed number of suitable candidates from those
who applied for the posts. Selection process starts as soon as recruitment ends.
Recruitment considers all applications received in a due date while selection
considers only the required number of most suitable candidates.
There is no ideal selection process that most companies can follow. Normally, for
selecting salesmen, the simple and short selection process is followed. However,
some companies, when more salesmen are to be selected at time, also follow
lengthy and systematic selection process. Selection process depends on types of
salesmen, cost and financial position of company, time available, company’s
objectives, and so forth.
Steps in Selection Process:
Systematic selection process consists of following steps:
1. Receiving applications
2. Screening applications
3. Preliminary interview
4. Written tests
5. Final interview
6. Medical examination
7. Final selection
8. Appointment and induction
Important Conditions:
At the time of final selection or appointment of salesmen, following conditions
must be made clear:
1. Time to resume the duty
2. Company’ marketing objectives, policies, and strategies
3. Duties and restrictions
4. Place of work
5. Reporting system or procedure
6. Bill collecting system
7. Remuneration and incentives
8. Training and expenses
9. Other relevant conditions, if any.
Motivate Sales-Force
1. Recognition and praise:
Salesmen, like any other human-beings, seek recognition for their achievements
and praise for the work done which they think is more than monetary gain for
them. The most common complaint of sales-force is that sales managers rarely
praise their work par excellence. Failure to compliment and praise is ignoring a
vital need in salesman’s nature having deeper impact on sales performance.
2. Fair pay-packet:
Though financial incentive is secondary to recognition and praise, it is dominant
motive because, every salesman is to earn a decent living for himself and his
dependents. It is but natural that he expects an assurance of the salary that is
comparable with his colleagues in his own organisation and the competitive
organizations with equal performance and responsibilities. Therefore, it should
be attractive and assumed one.
3. Good working conditions:
It is the working conditions both physical and psychological that influence his attitude
towards his work and performance. Thus, a salesman looks for a territory that gives
him adequate sales potential; he wants a protection against infiltration by other
salesman or salesmen in his territory; he expects a fair division of compensation on
all joint sales efforts.He is likely to expect an adequate and regular expense
allowance, conveyance facilities or the reimbursement that effect. The other such
conditions may be freedom from excessive paper work, cozy office facilities’ length of
time away from home and so on.
4. Opportunity for advancement:
Good many sales-people give top priority to promotion to higher ups than to the
attractive salary or even the job security. By nature, an employee does not want to
be tangent. It is the case with more ambitious, efficient and industrious salesmen.
Any company that fails to promote or provide such an opportunity for advancement
will be responsible for high sales-force turnover by depriving the basic need and
creating dissatisfaction and injecting frustration.
5. Good supervision and leadership:
The productivity of sales-force is dependent on the very nature of leadership
provided in company from sales manager down to sales-supervisors. Every manager
is a leader and not a boss.
Salesman looks their superiors as outstanding in terms of industry and knowledge.
Salesmen respect those who are fair and impartial, determined, keep words, and
accommodate the personal dignity of salesmen; they expect that their leader should
understand them, their problems and solve them.
6. Opportunity for self expression:
Salesmen have their own views, attitudes, suggestions and ideas which they want to
express, assert their personalities and exploit their latent talents and abilities. A
salesman is sure to increase his sales efforts if he has the opportunity to assert
himself, express his personality.
Absence and suppression of salesman’s expression and assertion will kill his initiative,
drive and enthusiasm. Management stands benefitted by such rich reserve of
untapped source of new ideas of increasing sales, cutting costs and improving
profitability.
7. Social acceptance:
Every human-being, a social and rational animal has the strong feeling of ‘belonging’
to a group of salesmen. Naturally, salesmen desire the acceptance and goodwill of
their association in business.
It is the sales manager’s task to develop a sense of ‘belongingness’ in case of every
salesman. He wants to have the satisfaction of being accepted as a member of sales
team, sales organisation, having his active participation, voice in its affairs,
cooperating in matters of mutual interest.
8. Job security:
Every salesman expects that he has job security; that is, he will be able to retain his
job so long as his work is quite satisfactory and the prevailing economic and social
conditions permit. Job security does not mean absolute permanence of job tenure.
It means protection from arbitrary discharge or dismissal or transfer. Salary is not the
only factor that determines such security. He looks to future social security. When he
gets old, he should have the opportunity of reasonable earnings to pull on longer
with respect and dignity.
9. Desire to excel:
One finds the strong urge of excelling others in performance and the
achievements. It speaks of aggressiveness of many successful salesmen. Desire
to excel others implies increasing sales, cutting costs, improving profitability. It is
a motive that helps both the parties in that the management can prosper and
that the prosperity is made to share by the sales-force.
10. Pride in selling:
In addition to job security, job satisfaction is one of the strongest motives of
every salesman. This job satisfaction is dependent upon pride in selling as a
vocation. When one has accepted a sales career, it should not be looked down
upon. The salesman should have a feeling that he is doing some worthless job to
hang on or as a matter of last resort or as a means of livelihood.
Therefore, the significance of selling must be emphasized in preparing and
training the salesmen. They should be given an understanding that they are
doing creative, gainful, socially acceptable and respected job.
Compensating Sales Personnel
Sales-force compensation is number one problem confronting every sales
management. Compensation, here, stands for the monetary and non-monetary
reward given by the firm to, its sales-force in return for the services rendered.
Though, compensation stands for contractual payments, there can be non-
contractual and ad-hoc payments.
If sales-force recruitment and the training create and develop the manpower
needs, the compensation aspect cares for its maintenance in the organisation for
longer period.
Significance of sound compensation:
Sales-force compensation is very important because, it directly affects not only
the sales costs and the profits but, more significantly, the attitude, interest and
the behaviour of salesmen and the nature of their task.
Perhaps, the most difficult task is how to reconcile the conflicting objectives of
low sales costs and higher profits on one hand and adequate, attractive earnings
with security, on the other.
In that sense, no compensation plan is perfect that meets the needs of
management in all respect satisfactorily and sales-force wholeheartedly. At the
best, it is the compromise between the two extremes. However; we cannot
underestimate a compensation plan that pays well its sales-force.
In fact, the importance of paying well lies in the following points:
1. To attract best salesmen:
Gifted, talented and high caliber salesmen are available only at higher rewards,
both monetary and non-monetary. Pay more and get the best. In fact, cheap is
costlier. Therefore, costlier is qualitative.
2. To keep sales-force contented:
There is direct link between the payment made to the salesmen and their
satisfaction. A person is supposed to perform his duties, look at his job well
when he is contented or satisfied. Satisfaction being a state of mind depends on
what he gets in monetary and non-monetary forms for his job or the efforts put
in.
3. To have longing loyalty:
The aim of personnel management is not just to build competent sales-force but
have a pool of selected persons expected to serve life-time for the nourishment
and nourishment of the selling house.
Loyal and trust-worthy staff makes the organisation rich, dependable and
successful. Good pay-masters can expect this.
4. To have sound employer-employee relations:
Bickering, misunderstandings and drags arise mostly due to money matter
partial or ill- treatment. The wheels of sales organisation must not squeak. One
such wheel is sales-force that can be kept in kilt if paid well and treated well. It is
the sound compensation plan that greases the squeaking wheel for frictionless
working.
Compensation Level:
Level of sales-force compensation stands for what should be the reasonable
compensation for the efforts of the sales-force. Level of compensation is
significant to both the employers and the employees.
It is but natural that sales-force expects higher rewards for its efforts and the
management is intended to pay lesser amount. The actual level of compensation
lies between what the companies intends to pay and the sales- force expects to
receive.
Whether the level of compensation is going to be high or low is dependent on
certain factors. In practice, the actual level of compensation is the compromise
of the interacting forces which are outlined below:
1. Sales competence:
The compensation level is bound to be higher in case of salesmen with calibre,
competence or the sales acumen. It is the sales personality experience and other
attributes that decide the compensation payable.
2. Extent of advertising:
Sales efforts of sales-force are geared by promotional efforts too. Naturally,
higher the level of advertising in the sales organisation, lesser will be the input
by the sales-force and hence, lower will be the level of compensation.
3. Degree of training:
A highly trained salesman is quite capable of handling the sales job with ease,
confidence and grip. However, the company has invested in him to make him
worthy of the sales profession. Hence, more the training intensity, lower will be
the compensation level.
4. Financial viability:
It is the financial strength and viability of a sales organisation that puts limits on
the levels of compensation. Normally, a company which is well to do will not
hesitate to pay higher compensation than the one with moderate means.
5. Bargaining power:
Leaving aside the quality, caliber of salesmen, it is the bargaining capacity that
plays a decisive role in putting higher limits. Thus, stronger bargaining capacity of
the salesmen fetches them higher compensation level.
6. Method of compensation:
Much depends on the method of compensation plan or the method. We have
pure salary and pure commission plan and the combination of the two. The
commission plan and salary and commission plan normally work higher
compensation level than mere salary scheme.
Managing expenses of sales personnel
Managing a sales force requires more than just setting quotas and tracking
progress to determine success. An increase in sales isn’t necessarily a positive
thing for a business if the expense to generate those sales result in a lower
profit. Breaking down your sales costs, including those expenses related to your
sales force, will help you set a budget, choose distribution channels and set
prices.
Sales Force
Businesses use different types of sale forces, with individual companies relying
on one or a combination. A sales force might consist of contract outbound and
inbound telemarketers, in-house salespeople who sell over the phone, a contract
sales firm that represents you in the field or a group of employees who travel to
customers. You might use a wholesaler or distributor that gets you into brick-
and-mortar retailers, catalogs or online shopping websites.
Direct Expenses
Direct sales force expenses include the costs of the people who sell for you. If
you use contractors, these expenses might be limited to commissions. If you
have in-house staff, their expenses would include salaries, commissions,
bonuses, payroll taxes and benefits. You would also include the constant
expenses necessary for your staff, such as phones, software, office equipment
and space and computers.
Indirect Expenses
The support you offer your sales force might vary, resulting in indirect expenses.
This can include brochures, media kits, meals and entertainment, gifts, travel,
lodging, trade show and conference expenses and training. These are expenses
you would not have if you did not have a sales force, but they are discretionary
and not regular expenses of maintaining a sales force. In addition, handling sales
in house might result in customer service costs you don’t have with a distributor
or wholesaler.
Expense Comparisons
Knowing that using an in-house or contract sales force will result in higher sales
is not enough to make the decision as to which one to use. You must calculate
the total expenses associated with each type of sales force to determine your
profit margins and gross profits. Taking the time to review your spending and
calculating accurate sales force expenses will help you make the right
determination for your business.
Staff Meeting and Sales Contests
Staff Meeting
A staff meeting is when the members of a staff assemble
together. This assembly takes place to discuss subjects which will help in the
smooth functioning of the institute. Staff Meetings are particularly significant in
the success of any institute. In short, these should be held at every institute so as
to ensure effective operation.
Need for a Staff Meeting
Staff meetings are a really productive method of deciding vital
things. They also help motivate the staff to do more. In addition, it is also a place
where the staff exchange ideas and notions. This exchange underlines the
importance of the involvement of the staff. Staff meetings are the perfect place
to inform and update the staff about changes. For instance, administrators
convey new goals to the staff through these meetings. They discuss the methods
chosen to achieve those goals.
Types of Staff Meetings
There are different types of staff meetings that take place. Each holds different
purposes and are held at different times. We can divide them into three types:
Formal
These types of meetings are planned beforehand and take place at fixed
intervals. They are carried out in an organized manner. They have firm agendas
and are completed within a particular time. These meetings are structured
strictly to follow the time limit. For example- preparing timetables, rules, and
regulations, construction of curriculum and more.
Informal
Informal meetings are not as rigid as formal meetings. They are more likely to
happen when discussing an issue and not a whole subject. It is not necessary for
the whole staff to be present. They are done in small groups as well. Time is not
an issue here. For example, these usually take place to plan an official meeting.
Emergency
The administrators summon an emergency meeting when they face unpredicted
circumstances. They are held immediately, at not much notice. These take place
to tackle the situation currently at hand. For instance, when a disaster happens
like a fire breakout, cases of indiscipline, a visit by a scrutinizing expert and
more.
Process of Staff Meeting
Sometimes it happens that staff meetings fail to create an impact. They do not
meet their set goals due to various reasons. That is to say, the correct process
must be chosen. When a meeting will be held following the correct process, the
results will be more efficient. The process includes-
Preparation
Before the meeting takes place, make sure to be prepared thoroughly. Always set
an agenda for the meeting. Otherwise, the staff meeting will be pointless.
Convey the set agenda beforehand to the members. This allows the staff
members to prepare in advance. It also makes them more involved.
Execution
The preparation beforehand makes it easier to execute the meeting. During the
meeting, it is necessary to not lose track. Keep the focus on the agenda as well as on
the time. Cover up all the crucial topics. Summarize everything discussed at the end
to clear any queries.
Follow-up
The most important part is the follow-up. Simply fixing an agenda will not do it.
Following-up about the progress of the task is crucial. Remind the staff about the
goals set at the meeting. This way they will be on their toes and will achieve fruitful
results.
Sales Contests
A sales contest is a motivational program in which rewards are offered
to sales people based upon their sales and/or results. There are three types:
• Direct competition — the sales people compete against each other and there is
one winner
• Team competition — there are teams which are rewarded collectively for winning.
• Goal — rewards are given for achieving goals which may be won by more than one
person
 Sales Organization Structure
Companies can have many organization structures, but the most typical sales
organizational structure consists of the shareholder, board of directors, the sales
supervisor, distribution manager, business manager, promoting supervisor,
logistics supervisor and employees.
Structure of the Sales Organisation:
The following factors are to be taken into consideration while designing the
structure of a sales organisation:
1. Nature of the market
2. Sales policies of the enterprise
3. Nature of the product
4. Number of products
5. Availability of financial resources
6. Level of distribution system
7. Size of the company
8. Price of the product
9. Ability of the professionals
10. Position of competitors’ Products.
This following image represents a basic sales organization structure for an
enterprise.
Types of Sales Organization Structure
Organization structures can be described viz. – formal and informal
organizations, horizontal and vertical organizations, centralized and
decentralized organizations, line and staff organizations. Formal organizations
have rigid structures and reporting relationships which often result in poor flow
of communication.
Informal organizations do not have a rigid hierarchical structure, set
communication channels or reporting relationships. Vertical organization
structure is a traditional management structure with authority being the basis of
control.
They have more hierarchical levels. Horizontal organization is one in which both
management levels and departmental boundaries are reduced greatly.
Decentralized sales organization is one in which each division within the
organization has its own sales force to sell the products of that division alone.
Sales organizations can be classified into four basic types:
Type # 1. Line Organizations:
Line organizations are the oldest and simplest form of sales organization
structure. Generally these kinds of structures are observed in smaller sales
organizations who have small number of sales executives. The companies have
been found to cover limited geographical areas or the sales executives are found
to sell a narrow product line.
The orders as such pass from top down. It is the top executives who exercise line
authority and each lower level executive is supposed to report to one top boss.
All managers have line authority to direct and control their subordinates.
The line sales organization structures are extensively used in companies where
all sales personnel report directly to the sales manager. In such companies, the
top boss is occupied with the responsibility of active supervision and has very
little time as such to work on plans in tandem with the other top executives in
the company.
2. Line and Staff Sales Organizations:
These kind of structures are generally observed in large and medium sized companies
that employ large number of people as sales executives and they are found to sell
diversified product lines across wide geographical areas. Specialist staff managers are
available for sales managers. It is the staff manager who assists as well as advises the
line managers.
The difference between line organizations and line and staff organizations is that this
kind of structure provides the top level executive with a group of specialists who are
experts in various areas of sales and marketing like dealer and distribution relations,
sales analysis, sales planning, sales promotion etc.
It is these experts who help the top boss to concentrate on various planning and
policy related matters and not just focus on daily discipline and control. The staff
sales executives do not however have the authority to issue orders or directives. It is
only after the approval of top executive that necessary recommendations made by
the staff executives are executed through line organization.
Some of the advantages related to line and staff organizations are better marketing
decisions and superior sales performance. Specialization is another advantage of
these organizations.
3. Functional Sales Organizations:
These organizations are based on the principle that each individual in an
organization should have as few responsibilities as possible. The principle of
specialization is utilized in these cases to the fullest extent. Assignments of duty
and delegation of authority are made according to function. Each functional
specialist has line responsibility over sales people. These structures are used by
large companies with a number of products or market segments.
Irrespective of where a particular function appears in the organization, it is in the
jurisdiction of the same executive. In these structures, sales people receive
instructions from several executives but that is on different aspects of their job.
The provision for coordinating the functional executives is made at the top of
organization hierarchy. Unlike line and staff organizations, in functional
organizations all specialists have some kind of line authority. As the exhibit
shows, a sales people over here receives directions from a number of members
who are above him in the hierarchy of the organization.
4. Horizontal Organizations:
Horizontal organizations are found to remove management levels and departmental
boundaries.
It is generally used by firms who have partnership relationships with customers.
Some of the major advantages of horizontal organizations are reduction in
supervision, cutting on unnecessary tasks and costs and enhancing the efficiency to
customer queries and complaints.
Relationship of sales department with other department
Sales and Production
In the earlier times it was make and sell philosophy, the companies would make or
manufacturer product and then sell it in the market. So, as we all know the seller was
the king, also production unit would start their work only after orders was secured,
specially in the case of a b to b scenario, where it was purely and purely that once
orders was secured and half payments were accepted, only and only then would the
production and operations department begin manufacturing the same.
Today the times have change, today it is the sales are forecasted and production
is based according to sales forecast and sales potential. So, the sales team
provides inputs into production planning and unitary management.
Sales team understand the product better, and when they have to explain you
know the technicalities of the product during sales presentations to the their
customers or to their clients when they have to explain the product technicalities
to the channel partners and who will for the push it down to the end customer in
the case of b to c in all these cases technical information provided by the
production operation department is of immense help to the sales people.
The sales team provides information to the production team or the operation
team about customer needs wants preferences, customers complaints or
feedback with respect to existing products and product line. So, the operations
team gets an idea about what is required or if there are complaints, where are
complaints, what can what can be done to minimize such complaints of such
customer grievances with the product and so this gives vital clues to them for
product design as well.
sales department and R & D department
Sales department also works and close coordination with the R and D and this is
extremely important. Sales as always been regarded as a line function in the staff
has been dedicated as, sales is always been considered as a line function and the
sales department and the marketing department have performed the line role.
The R and D has always been regarded as a staff function in most cases.
However, in companies which deal with biotechnology or which deal with
pharmaceutical drugs etcetera there of course, R and D also is used the role of a
line function.
But, in most cases the production and operations, the sales, they are regarded as
the line function for an organization and the R and D is regarded as a staff
function. But the role of the R and D cannot be under mind because any kind of
changes which have been made through the product have to be made in the
design first and this has to be done by the R and D team.
Sales Department and HR department
Again the HR function also in most organizations is a staff function, but the sales
department needs the HR function all the time. Because the when the sales in case
of sales force management whether it is to do with recruitment selection, training,
motivation, compensation etcetera in all of these cases the broad structure is
uniform for every employee in the organization and that is decided by the HR
department. But because the sales team is different the sales job is different, certain
changes are required with respect to you know job analysis, recruitment selection,
training, performance, appraisal, compensations, systems etcetera. And to suit the
unique nature of the sales job such changes need to be made in you know in the HR
policies which are which are then more customized for the sales function only.
So, while the HR policies will be uniform for everybody certain changes need to be
made in the HR policies to suit the needs and interest of the people in the sales
force. That is why there is always a requirement of customizing them or changing the
nature of these policies as HR policies to suit the needs and wants of the sales
function. The various HR policies are actually revised or redesigned to suit the sales
job.
Sales and Finance
The sales and finance team also work together. The sales department has the finance
function or the finance department by sharing a with them information with respect
to sales estimates, sales potential, sales forecast, and this helps the company decide
on its budget.
So, the finance department helps the sales department also by giving them
information about credit checks of the clients, giving them information about
customer credit order to payment cycles.
Sales and Accounting
Sales and accounting. Now, earlier the accounting department was immensely relied
upon, hugely relied upon by the sales team for several things. Like billing of
customers or computation of wages and salaries for the sales team, computation of
incentives for the sales team, the sales and cost analysis, also you know receivables
working capital etcetera. However, with the development of the marketing
information systems these activities and now taken care by the information system
departments.
Sale and Purchase
Sales and purchase department. The sales department provides information the
sales estimates, forecasting, sales forecast, sales potential and sales estimate.
So, this course these estimates go to the purchase department and it assists
them in procuring, stocks of raw material and other items. So, that production
can go on unhampered and information about the sales department needs helps
the purchase department to procure the right kind of product, in the right time
at the right place and in the right quality.
Organization Challenges in Sales Team
Here are five specific challenges that today’s sales teams face
1. Communicating value
Salespeople need to be experts at highlighting product features and benefits, but
they often fail to communicate the value, which is equally, if not more,
important.
Here's where the sales department needs marketing’s help; salespeople need to
put themselves in the position of their prospect and be able to answer their
crucial questions: Why should this product or service matter? How will it help
prospects do their jobs better? If salespeople can’t distill complex, competitive
product and solution information into concise and articulate value propositions,
they will not be effective.
2. Showing instead of telling
A Chinese proverb states: “If you tell me, I will forget; If you show me, I will
remember; If you involve me, I will understand.”
This is especially true in the sales industry. A verbal explanation of a product
or service is likely to fall on deaf ears. However, by showing and taking things one
step further, where you involve a prospect, you are likely to see rates of
retention and action (a sale) increase.
Technological innovations, like augmented and virtual reality, for example, do
just that -- these advancements are inviting a prospect to experience a product
or service. Of course, visualizing a digital solution is one thing, but interacting
with it to solve a real business or technical challenge is something different
entirely.
3. Understanding multi-buyers’ needs
Consumers, whether B2C or B2B, are the target of myriad advertisements and sales
tactics. So, if you're in sales, understanding exactly who your buyers are, what their
needs are and how your offering can allow you to tailor a personalized pitch to
multiple buyers, all in the same room.
Listing product details is never going to close the sale; rather, you need to have an
authentic conversation -- listening and adjusting your pitch according to the varying
decision-makers in the room. This is what communicates your value, builds your
credibility and inevitably closes deals.
4. Accessing the latest technology
In today's technology-driven world, there are an overwhelming number of tools to
help salespeople close deals. Cloud technology, CRM systems, data analytics tools,
web content management and sales software exist to make the job easier.
Machine learning, artificial intelligence, content distribution systems, augmented
reality and virtual reality are also out there and becoming more widespread because
of their accessibility, interactivity and effectiveness.
5. Connecting on an emotional level
Establishing and building emotional connections with prospects transcends
traditional sales and marketing relationships. When prospects have the ability to
immerse themselves in a solution and fully explore a product themselves, they
develop deeper understanding and retention, creating an emotional connection.
Building engaging, educational and interactive experiences has been proven to
create 2x more conversations than passive content. And while enhancing
conversations around specific personas falls under marketing’s purview, the
ability to successfully deliver those experiences to prospects is the job of the
sales team.
Recent Trends in Sales Organization
# Customer Relationship Management(CRM)
# Team Selling Approach
# Technological revolution
# e-selling
# Managing Multi-Channels
# Sales Force Diversity
# Ethical and Social Issues
Customer relationship management
Team Selling Approach
• Used when company wants to build long term relationship with customers.
• Used to sell a technically complex product/service
Technological Revolution
• Digital revolution & MIS increased the capabilities of consumer & organization.
• To compete, the company has to adopt latest technology.
E-Selling
• Buying & selling online by using internet.
• Promotion & selling are done through internet.
• Build relationships with the target audience.
Managing Multi Channels
• Uses 2 or more marketing channels.
• Increased market coverage.
• Customized selling.
Sales Force Diversity
• Demographic characteristics of sales force is changing & becoming more
varied.
Ethical and Social Issues
• Sales managers have ethical & social responsibilities.
• Sales people face ethical issues such as bribery, misleading & high pressure
sales tactics