Mert Çağlıaltuncu

EVALUATION OF A SALES PROCESS

AND DEVELOPMENT NEEDS

Master of Science Thesis

Faculty of Management and Business
Examiners: Jouni Lyly Yrjänäinen and
Prof. Teemu Laine

November 2020
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ABSTRACT

Mert Çağlıaltuncu: Evaluation of a Sales Process and Development Needs

Master of Science Thesis, 66 pages
Tampere University
Degree Programme in Industrial Engineering and Management
Major: International Sales and Sourcing
November 2020

Highly competitive markets make constant development a compulsory aspect for competing
businesses. Even though a high success rate is not the goal of the companies, to be able to hold
on to business and avoid bankruptcy, business development is an unquestionable must. Analysis
of internal and external actions, and states should be done to be able to declare the areas that
need development and coherent actions so that the development need can be filled. Additionally,
prioritizing development needs which are concerned for both present and future success is an
action that establishes sustainability and increment of business efficiency and goal capture.
The case company has the goals to optimize the sales success in terms of quality and quantity
and embed more systematic ways, tools, and methodologies to execute the actions taken in the
sales office methodically. Additionally, the case company wants to have more systematical ways,
tools and methodology to execute in all the departments in order to enhance the efficiency and
affectancy of the actions. The focus is to start the development from core sales activities which
are referred as sales processes, continuing with being a strategical organization while equipping
competitive advantage increasing attributes like utilization of neuromarketing knowledge on sales.
According to the primary problems, secondary problems and subsidiary development ideas
that have been obtained through interviews with the employees of the sales office, topics of de-
velopment are chosen for further discussions and adaptation. With the motivation and encour-
agement through discussion of development topics that covers the intended areas, the company
will begin to implement and adapt theory-based information, tools and methodology for more suc-
cess. Additionally, the organization will begin to be identified as a strategical organization by fol-
lowing systematic ways that will be accepted as the action mentality in all departments and units
of the company.

Keywords: Sales processes, value proposition, sales territory, neuromarketing, strategic sales
organization.

The originality of this thesis has been checked using the Turnitin Originality Check service
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PREFACE

I did not possess the proper attributes for applying, developing and expressing in quali-
tative sciences due to my mechanical engineering background. Thanks to Industrial En-
gineering and Management education, now I know more how to learn about learning in
the discipline and utilize. Though I possess lots of faults and lacking, my believe is that
the essence of the discipline is absorbed and is ready for utilization in the professional
life.

I would like to thank Jouni Lyly Yrjänäinen and Prof. Teemu Laine for their guidance,
help and understanding through my thesis and all given lectures. Additionally, I would
like to thank all my teachers, Tampere University and Finnish government for all the
provision given, which are privileges. I cannot wait to be an active member of the society
that provides value professionally and socially to Finland, Turkey and to all the world.
Thank you again, for everything.

Tampere, 10 November 2020

Mert Çağlıaltuncu
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CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1

1.1 Background ................................................................................................ 1

1.2 Objectives and scopes................................................................................ 2

1.3 Research process....................................................................................... 3

1.4 Research methods ..................................................................................... 4

1.5 Structure of the thesis ................................................................................. 6

2. SALES PROCESSES ........................................................................................... 7

2.1 Introduction to sales processes .................................................................. 7

2.2 Prospecting and qualifying ........................................................................ 10

2.3 Preparation ............................................................................................... 14

2.4 Approach .................................................................................................. 16

2.5 Presentation ............................................................................................. 18

2.6 Handling objections .................................................................................. 23

2.7 Closing ..................................................................................................... 26

2.8 Follow-up .................................................................................................. 27

3. DEVELOPING SALES ........................................................................................ 30

3.1 Strategic Sales Organization .................................................................... 30

3.2 Territory Management .............................................................................. 35

3.3 Neuromarketing ........................................................................................ 38

4. CASE COMPANY AND INTERVIEWS................................................................ 46

4.1 Case Company ......................................................................................... 46

4.2 Problems Identified ................................................................................... 52

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4.3 Subsidiary Development and Routine Actions .......................................... 55

4.4 Theory Linking .......................................................................................... 58

5. CONCLUSIONS.................................................................................................. 62

REFERENCES ........................................................................................................... 63
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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Strategical actions (Piercy & Lane, 2006). ..................................................... 2

Figure 2. Research process. ........................................................................................ 3

Figure 3. Sales processes (Kotler & Armstrong, 2018). ................................................ 7

Figure 4. Sales funnel (Ross & Tyler, 2012). .............................................................. 10

Figure 5. BANT framework. ........................................................................................ 13

Figure 6. Planning worksheet (Schmitz, 2012). .......................................................... 15

Figure 7. Total customer value (Khalifa, 2004). .......................................................... 20

Figure 8. Value activities in business models (Richardson, 2008). ............................. 21

Figure 9. Presentation checklist (Schmitz, 2012)........................................................ 22

Figure 10. Strategic organization imperatives (Piercy, 2006)...................................... 30

Figure 11. Customer portfolio (Piercy, 2006). ............................................................. 31

Figure 12. Integrated relationships for value processes defined (Piercy, 2006). ......... 33

Figure 13. Activities and states that effects sales outcomes. ...................................... 34

Figure 14. Right customer selection graph (Zoltners & Sinha, 2005). ......................... 37

Figure 15. Interpretation model (Genco et al., 2013). ................................................. 39

Figure 16. Eye accessing cues (Hutchinson, 2010).................................................... 41

Figure 17. The alignment model (Hutchinson, 2010). ................................................. 41

Figure 18. The basic implicit goal systems in human brain (Barden, 2013). ............... 44

Figure 19. Manufacturing plant schema. .................................................................... 47

Figure 20. Organization scheme. ............................................................................... 47

Figure 21. Painting unit actions. ................................................................................. 49

Figure 22. Coating unit actions................................................................................... 50

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Interviews with sales office employees. .......................................................... 4

Table 2. Conceptual sales failure model (Friend et al., 2014). .................................... 23

Table 3. How to approach objection types (Care & Bohlig, 2008). .............................. 25

Table 4. Sixteen closing keys (Roth and Alexander, 2004). ........................................ 27

Table 5. Follow-up objectives. .................................................................................... 29

Table 6. Advantages of territory management (Zoltners & Sinha, 2005). .................... 36

Table 7. An exemplary trade-off matrix for customer selection. .................................. 37

Table 8. Six principles of persuasion (Genco et al., 2013). ......................................... 45

Table 9. Production counts of 2020. ........................................................................... 48

Table 10. Traded products. ........................................................................................ 51

Table 11. Interviews on main problems. ..................................................................... 53

Table 12. Interviews on secondary problems. ............................................................. 55

Table 13. Interviews on subsidiary development. ....................................................... 56

Table 14. Interviews on routine actions. ..................................................................... 57

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LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS

B2B Business to business

B2C Business to customer
CRM Customer relationship management
NLP Neuro linguistic programming
PET Positron emission tomography
MEG Magnetoencephalography
EEG Electroencephalography
GSR Galvanic skin response
ODM Original design manufacturer
OEM Original equipment manufacturer
CKD Completely knocked down
SKD Semi knocked down
ISO International standards organization
EEA European economic area
EMC Electromagnetic compatibility
CO Carbon monoxide
CO2 Carbon dioxide
R&D Research and development
HR Human resources
IT Information technology
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1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

One of the fundamental industrial engineering methodologies is shown to be 5S. 5S is

constructed to decrease waste while enhancing productivity through maintaining an or-
derly workplace and using visual cues to obtain more consistent operational results
(Hirano, 1995). 5S refers to five steps which are sorting, setting in order, shining, stand-
ardizing and sustaining. These steps which are called five pillars of workplace can be
perceived as the fundamental manners thought in elementary education, because in es-
sence, 5S is about keeping the action space clean, putting items in the right place after
use, labeling where items should be as infants are thought. 5S a famous industrial meth-
odology because 5S is crafted in a systematical and science enforced way. Systematic
and science enforced methods tend to be useful even if simple.

Methodologies are used in all the qualitative and quantitative disciplines to enhance the
efficiency and effectance of the implication, including sales. Sales is a marketing disci-
pline that utilizes methodologies from other practices like psychology to increase the
success (Genco et al., 2013). Sales uses methodologies to optimize the core processes
and strategical activities. Sales processes are prospecting and qualifying, preparation,
approach, presentation, handling objections, closing and follow-up (Kotler and Arm-
strong, 2018). Sales processes are taken into further levels and success with strategical
actions. Strategical actions which are enabled to occur by the sales processes, aids and
collaborates with other business units than sales (Mathur, 2008). Consequently, strate-
gical actions with effectively implicated sales processes holds importance for sales and
general business development. Strategical actions that can be taken in sales which are
sales processes extensions, are shown in the following figure.
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Figure 1. Strategical actions (Piercy & Lane, 2006).

To increase the sales organizations’ success, defining the policy and methodology re-
lated to sales activities are crucial (Mathur, 2008). Along with the utilization of methodol-
ogy and policy declaration, the salespeople will be more trained, thus, motivated due to
the possession of tools that help close and sustain the sales successfully. Therefore,
salespeople must have elaborated knowledge and information on sales processes to
execute strategical sales activities which are related to market choices, market analysis,
value management and relationship management (Piercy & Lone, 2006).

1.2 Objectives and scopes

This thesis is a case study research that is based on increasing the case company’s
sales activities’ quality and volume, along with the other departments’ and units’ working
efficiency. The case company is in the phase of an overall development where the pri-
mary focus is on the sales office and manufacturing quality. This thesis focuses on de-
velopment of sales office activities mainly, thus, through interviews, collaboration with
the company has been done and a main goal has been appointed. According to the
decisions made with the company, the main objective of the research is…

“… to propose information, tools and methodology to increase the working efficiency

and encourage formation of well-defined systematic ways to operate.”

Through the interviews, the focal topics that the sales office needs to develop have been
declared and while selecting tools and methodologies to present for development, the
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most extensive topics that comprises as much as problematic situations in the sales of-
fice have been selected for maximum problem coverage. The information, tools and
methodologies that are in the thesis may be used to form or consolidate well defined
systematic action sets which may be used to encourage the manufacturing facility to
follow the same development mentality as well.

1.3 Research process

The author was an intern who worked in the sales office as an assistant for 3 months
and a R&D assistant for 6 months in the manufacturing plant. While the author was in
search of a project company for the industrial engineering and management master’s
thesis, in the beginning of May the case company was contacted for the proposition. The
proposition was approved and swiftly the project to develop sales office commenced.

Research started with the case company interviews on what may be done for the com-
pany in May 2020. After the first interviews in June, a general research has been done
to offer to the company as focal topics. In July, second interviews have been conducted
and the topics of development have been chosen by the sales manager. Until October
research and documentation was the major activity. In November, discussions on the
thesis context for utilization and further actions have been conducted. The illustration of
actions through time is shown in the following figure.

Figure 2. Research process.

In all the developments on the thesis from start to finish, consultation and feedback from
the thesis examiner have been received. Overall, thesis preparation could be perceived
as three parts which are preparation and research, research and writing, and finalization.

Interviews that were conducted comprised 9 employees from the sales office. Partici-
pants positions are sales director, operations director, marketing director, salesperson
and sales support. The objective specific interviews held with the declaration of the em-
ployees’ positions are shown in the following table.
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Table 1. Interviews with sales office employees.

First Interviews Goal Setting Interviews Implementation and De-
velopment Discussions

- Sales director. - Sales director. - Sales director.

- Operations director. - Marketing director.
- Marketing director.
- Salespeople (5)
- Sales support.

First interviews were conducted with 9 employees to be able to optimally gather and
analyse the primary problems, secondary problems, subsidiary development ideas along
with the routine processes that takes place in the sales office. After the research accord-
ing to the gathered information, to set the focal topics of development an interview with
the sales director was conducted. Sales director is the highest-ranking managerial posi-
tion in the sales office, thus, it is convenient to seek goal setting directions from the sales
director. Lastly, the implementation and development discussions were made with the
sales director and marketing director due to the relevancy of the thesis context with the
fields of development.

1.4 Research methods

Due to the reason that the thesis is focused on developing the sales related activities of
the case company with theoretical information, tools and methodologies, the research
was enforced with collaboration. For the research to be coherent and collaborative,
Gummesson’s (1993) methods to gather empirical data were utilized. According to
Gummesson (1993), methods to gather empirical data are:

 Utilization of exiting material

 Quantitative surveys

 Qualitative interviews

 Observation

 Action science
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First, existing material indicates utilization of all the data and information available in
different formats like books, research reports, articles, online data and digital data. Utili-
zation of existing materials is known as secondary data usage due to the fact that the
focus is to serve someone else’s purpose.

Second, quantitative surveys are questionnaires and surveys, which present quantitative
data that can be used to provide statistical analysis. Utilization of quantitative surveys
enable data to be used for mathematical models. Quantitative surveys are helpful with
translating the answers of the questions; ‘How much?’, ‘How many?’, and ‘How often?’
into quantitative data and information.

Third, qualitative interviews are the most common method of data gathering in academic
research. Qualitative interviews usually have an agenda and set of questions to be di-
rected during the interview which can be informal and formal. On the other hand, informal
interviews are usually conversations where the interviewer actively engages, listens and
records observation which he/she considers important.

Fourth, observation refers to the data generated by observing the subject, either through
direct observation or through participative observation. Observation is obtained through
physical involvement, which is a form of experience, thus, experience utilization is a part
of observation method.

Fifth, action science happens when the researcher becomes an active participant who
directly influences the process of study. Action science can include all the other research
methods available.

The thesis is written with the help of utilization of all methods of data gathering. Existing
materials were used to write theoretical and case company information. Quantitative
questioners were used to obtain the manufactured goods’ count through time. Qualitative
interviews were utilized to understand and analyse the case company situation to pro-
pose development. Observation method was enabled through experience of the author
via the previous experience the author had as an intern in the company. Action science
method was used while contemplating on implementation and development issues about
the theory that the thesis proposes for the sales office with the sales and marketing di-
rectors.
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1.5 Structure of the thesis

The thesis consists of five chapters. The first chapter serves as the introduction and
comprises of the theoretical background, objectives and scope, research methods, re-
search process, and structure of the thesis.

Chapter 2 has eight subchapters. Chapter 2.1 introduces the seven sales processes
while the remaining seven subchapters are formed of information, tools, and methods
about the related sales processes. Chapter 2.2 prospecting and qualifying, is formed of
the following topics; importance of prospecting and qualifying, lead terminology, chan-
nels to find leads, qualifying leads, and CRM based qualification, respectively. Chapter
2.3 preparation, is formed of precall worksheet, advised queries for being ready for the
meeting, double checking and verifying information topics. Chapter 2.4 approach, is
formed of 6C’s for coherent introduction of oneself topic. Chapter 2.5 presentation, is
formed of importance of first impression, three parts of presentation, making presentation
more persuasive, identifying key players, value concept, business model, qualities of
compelling value proposition, and presentation checklist topics. Chapter 2.6 Handling
objections, is formed of opportunities that come with objections, reasons for failure,
states to be careful for prevention and mitigation, six step method to handle objections,
objection types topics. Chapter 2.7 closing, is formed of sixteen closing keys. Chapter
2.8 follow-up, is formed of follow-up activities.

Chapter 3 developing sales consists of three subchapters which are strategic sales or-
ganization, territory management and neuromarketing. Chapter 3.1 focuses on the fac-
tors that have to be met for becoming a strategical sales organization. Chapter 3.2 fo-
cuses on four steps of territory management. Chapter 3.3 focuses on neuromarketing
introduction and neuromarketing based sales focused tools and methods.

Chapter 4 consists of information on the case company, interviews held with the sales
department employees and interview elaboration and linking. Chapter 4.1 is formed of
case company’s history, department and unit structure, hierarchy, product count and
types, financial state and motives. Chapter 4.2 consists of the interviews on primary
problems, secondary problems. Chapter 4.3 is formed of subsidiary development ideas
and action sets taken in the sales office. Chapter 4.4 is formed of what has been done
in the thesis to fulfil the needs declared in the interviews with the background of the
needs. Chapter 5 is the conclusion which consists of background, objective, final out-
comes and further research statements.
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2. SALES PROCESSES

2.1 Introduction to sales processes

All kinds of sales regardless of the service or product offered, follows a specific sequence
of steps. The simple and logical framework that has been the accepted model is called
sales processes for around a hundred years according to Moncreif and Marshall (2005).
Sales professionals have adapted the particular aspects of the sales processes as the
natural way of how sales actions flow through time (Schmitz, 2012). The fact that the
conventional sales processes are still working proves the sales process’s integrity and
defines the sales process as the natural way that sales actions tend to follow.

Sales processes mostly focus on the goals of acquiring new customers and obtaining
orders from them. Investing time on the continuum of the existing customers and building
a long-lasting, fruitful relationship is not the focal purpose of the sales processes. Addi-
tionally, these processes are more convenient for B2B than B2C.

The sales processes consist of seven consecutive steps. These consecutive steps are
prospecting and qualifying, pre-approach which can be called preparation, approach,
presentation, handling objections, closing, and follow up (Kotler and Armstrong, 2018)
as shown in the following figure.

Figure 3. Sales processes (Kotler & Armstrong, 2018).

First process, prospecting and qualifying, is simply finding customers and identifying the
customers which are coherent with the provider. After finding the potential customer from
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sources like referrals, social media, with the execution of right actions, this step ends
with the result of the list of coherent customers targeted. The fundamental reasons that
this process exists are most sales organizations’ losing customers every year (Jolson
and Wotruba, 1992) and achieving better business while utilizing time and effort in the
optimum way by contacting the most likely customer that appreciates the value proposi-
tion presented (Kotler and Armstrong, 2018).

Second process, preparation, can be referred as “doing the homework” according to

Schmitz (2012). Researching the possible customer, knowing as much as there is to
know is one of the keys to sales. Information about the possible customer enables the
salesperson to create a win-win situation, to understand the customer’s needs better, to
conduct more than just a sales transaction and exploit more business opportunities.
However, it is not enough for the salesperson to know about the focal, potential customer
to be prepared. Salesperson should thoroughly know the product and/or service infor-
mation, company information and personal information. Overall, being tame about the
stakeholders in sales transactions enables success.

Third process, approach, consists of strategies and tactics which may include psycho-
logical knowledge according to Jolson and Wotruba (1992). This approach starts with
physical initiation and continues with the support of psychological back up. Listening to
the customer, which is crucial in each sales process (Kotler and Armstrong, 2018), and
knowing how to respond properly is the core of approach process.

Forth process, presentation, consists of what can be done for the potential customer and
understanding what actually will be done in the end. What is being offered and how the
provider will be delineated with the utilization of business model included in the presen-
tation. To achieve the goal of providing the potential customer with the needed product
and service solution, right proportion of speaking and listening is needed during the
presentation process according to Kotler and Armstrong (2018). An old sales proverb
states “You have two ears and one mouth. Use them proportionally.”. Additionally, having
proper presentation methods and materials serves to achieve better communication
while having good individual interpersonal communication skills to achieve success in
the presentation phase.

Fifth process, handling objections, is where salesperson handles questions, hesitancies,

and problems of the potential customer (Jolson and Wotruba, 1992). Analysis of the ob-
jections and methods to use to overcome the objections are the key arsenals that the
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salesperson can utilize in this phase. According to Moncreif and Marshall (2005), good
sales people should see the handling objection phase as an opportunity to further un-
derstand and respond better to customer’s needs.

Sixth process, closing, is the time that a potential customer becomes the customer and
a mutual business agreement between providing solutions and receiving solutions par-
ties is reached. Confidence to take the order is the most important, but skills and tech-
niques about closing are important elements that every salesperson should have for a
successful sale close.

Seventh and the last process is follow-up. Making the business sustainable and open for
development is the logic of follow-up. This process increases the customer satisfaction,
retention of customers and the chances of acquiring new customers according to
Schmitz (2012). Right after the closure, the salesperson should complete the details on
delivery, buying terms, and all the related matters. Follow-up activities will definitely help
solve after-sales problems and obtain a successful overall sales transaction (Kotler and
Armstrong, 2018).

Overall, the declared steps are transaction based and focused on closing a particular
sale. This is the way to acquire customers properly, one by one to reach more business
volume. Hence, the sales processes, especially in B2B should be understood thoroughly
(Kotler and Armstrong, 2018).

Lastly, organizing all the information gathered from all the sales processes in a system-
atical way is important. According to Lošťáková (2009), designing and applying market-
ing actions that enables customer behavior assessment, strategical decision-making op-
portunities, and making monetary decisions such as profitability assessment and finan-
cial forecasts are obtained with the utilization of CRM. Additionally, CRM serves in vari-
ous ways to organizations due to the difference in how organizations behave. In total,
philosophically, if the supplier is the subject and the customer is the object, the more
information flow between the object and the subject results with knowledge and wisdom.
If the supplier is the subject and the customer is the object, the more information flowing
between the object and the subject the more knowledge and wisdom it results in.
Knowledge and wisdom are the harbingers of success.
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2.2 Prospecting and qualifying

The importance of prospecting has various reasons. First one is the loss of customers
with time. According to research, approximate turnover of customers annually is around
15%. Additionally, the tendency of the customers to change the supplier is around 70%,
even though there is a positive relationship with the provider (Lazarus, 1992). Second
reason is that the competition tends to intensify as the focal market develops, thus, the
profitability and revenue may decrease due to supply and demand relation. That is why
more revenue with more profit from more customers is a constant need. Third reason is
that some customers may tend to be unprofitable to serve, have an inconvenient rela-
tionship with the supplier, and drain resources that could be used to achieve better out-
comes (Gombeski et al., 2002). Consequently, finding fitting customers is one of the
crucial means to profit more and provide the opportunity to execute developing and wid-
ened business opportunities.

Especially in prospecting and qualifying process, it is also helpful to know the terms that
define customer’s states to facilitate communication. Sales funnel term is used to identify
the customer’s state in prospecting and qualifying phase as shown in the following figure
(Ross & Tyler, 2012).

Leads

Prospects (Qualified leads)

Opportunities

Customers

Figure 4. Sales funnel (Ross & Tyler, 2012).

Sales funnel comprises the evolution steps of a customer. Starting with lead which is a
potential buyer of the product and/or service provided. Based on the information gath-
ered about the leads, if the lead is found fit, then the lead becomes a prospect that can
be called qualified lead as well. Prospects which are in the phase of working through a
solution with the supplier is called an opportunity. If the opportunity is crowned with a
deal, then it is formed to a customer (Ross & Tyler, 2012).
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The process of acquiring customers starts with finding the leads and using a prospecting
list is a helpful way in achieving this. The listing to find the leads, as Schmitz (2012)
suggests, consists of:

 Existing customers
 Referrals
 Networking
 Business directories in print
 Online databases and directories
 Trade events
 Direct mail advertising
 Cold calling
 Being a subject matter expert

First, existing customers means that the best new are the ones that are already existing.
According to Bressler (2009), attracting new customers costs tenfold compared to retain-
ing the existing ones. Thus, the main idea is to focus on the existing customers’ needs,
update the solutions provided and, look for new opportunities. Doing so, new business
opportunities will arise. Additionally, the sustained and advanced business relationships
can serve as the increment factor in reputation to attract more customers.

Second, referrals are one of the most common ways to find new leads. Individual and
corporate leads tend to get information to acquire business solutions from trusted and
close sources that are known. Referral based advertisement is considered to be one of
the highly economical and effective ways. In addition, referral resources are easy and
fast to access. Social media, for example, is one of them. Overall, making customers the
best salespeople is left to the imagination of the salesperson.

Third, networking is simply obtaining new professional relationships that can serve to
find leads and forming solidarity. Networking part is creating or joining an environment
that serves as referrals and backs each other as a community. For example, joining a
trade association is a good way to build a network with the related fields of business and
acquire leads. According to Shih (2009), even though the transaction is B2B, decisions
are taken by individuals. That is why it is handy to socially connect with individuals.

Fourth, business directories in print is all about utilizing business lists, journals, business
directories, and newspapers. It is a powerful way of finding leads from area-specific prints
 12

since using printed directories can present the chance of finding various leads that can-
not be found online with detailed information or found at all. Due to reasons like small
volume business and uniqueness of the business, occurrence of leads can be hard with
the utilization of ways such as referrals. Overall, utilization of business directories in print
can be associated with fishing the unseen prey in the depths of the sea. Lastly, sales-
people should keep in mind that some prints are switching to online publishing. There-
fore, online prints should be valued as much as real prints.

Fifth, online databases and directories utilization is for having the advantage of search
variations and extensity. Provision of searching for leads with the specifics like financial
standing, industry rankings, names of executives, and company contact information is a
handy privilege. This searching utilization even facilitates the qualification of the leads.
Furthermore, online databases and directories allow finding leads according to the busi-
ness strategies of the supplier. For example, if the forecast of the focal market states
that the product offered will be restricted to some extent for public companies, then sales-
people could search for private company channels and resume increasing sales as a
strategy.

Sixth, trade shows and events are attractions for leads. The fact that the trade shows
and events are generally focused on a specific industry, the participants has the high
probability to be a convenient lead. Additionally, the environment enables chance of
demonstration of the service and/or product while giving the opportunity to talk face to
face with the possible lead which may continue with the next steps of sales processes.

Seventh, direct mail advertising is self-explanatory. Direct mails to companies with the
advertisement of what is being offered is the suggested way to find leads. However, this
way of acquiring leads has the least amount of returns. Hence, throughout the imple-
mentation, the selection of the company and the contacted individual is advised to be
the most relevant in order to save time and money.

Eighth, cold calling is contacting the possible lead by directly with an unannounced
phone call or unexpected visit. In cold calling not pressurizing the contact, being genuine
and focusing on helping or solving a problem is advised. Along with the prior research of
the contact, conducting cold calling is considered to be a successful way to obtain leads.
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Ninth, being a subject matter expert is used to make the leads find the supplier and
appeal with the utilization of the business competence and integrity. By forming and pre-
senting reputation with elements like publications, webinars, leads may be lured to seek
a solution for their business from the subject matter expert.

Even though the leads are analyzed to an extent while being selected, thorough analysis
to qualify the leads for labeling them as prospects is important because qualification of
the leads facilitates optimized utilization of time and resources to reach the desired prof-
itable and sustainable business goals.

Conventional and a popular method to qualify leads is utilizing BANT framework. Acro-
nym BANT comprises of budget, authority, need, and timing as illustrated in the following
figure. These four aspects can be stated as the core of qualifying leads because the
comparison between studies states that the analyzed topics to qualify leads generally
comprise BANT framework and focus on similar aspects. For example, according to Don-
ath (1999), topics that should be analyzed to qualify leads are need, resource, timing,
and authority in purchase decisions whereas according to Hornstein (2005), the topics
should be lead source, responsiveness, customer’s demand, timing, and budget.

B A N T
BUDGET AUTHORITY NEED TIMING

Figure 5. BANT framework.

Firstly, budget topic consists of analyzing the business transactions’ profitability and
checking the sufficiency of the lead’s budget to allow the sales transaction to satisfy the
salespersons strategic goals. Secondly, authority topic consists of making sure that the
decision makers of the intended trade are in reach and demonstrating positive behavior
on procurement while having complementary or acceptable business strategies. If the
strategies are contradicting with the sustainability, then, negotiation terms can be prob-
lematic. Thirdly, need topic focuses on the product and/or service to present a satisfac-
tory solution to problems of the lead. Fourthly, timing topic is about analyzing the lead’s
priorities and making sure that project timelines are coherent with the providers. For ex-
ample, if the supplier’s payment term policy is fixed with three months maturity, then a
 14

customer fixed with nine months maturity payment policy may create unsatisfactory fi-
nancial results. If the lead has acceptable results from BANT framework analysis, then
the lead may be called prospect.

Qualification of leads has several different methods coming that uses gathered lead in-
formation. A specific method may work for the supplier better than the others. For exam-
ple, if the company would like to have a standard lead qualification system to qualify high
numbers of leads, lead qualification with CRM system can be advised. According to Tirk-
konen (2015), information from the CRM system can be associated with points, and
based on the point thresholds, an algorithm of actions can be formed on how to manage
the leads and qualifying them. The algorithms levels built, and the points appointed can
be set according to standards and priorities of the supplying company.

2.3 Preparation

In the prospecting and qualifying step, the initial research is already achieved. Along with
the preparation process, the research must be taken to more advanced levels as much
as can be reached from all resources possible. According to Capon (2001), understand-
ing the prospect business mechanism and problems enables salespeople to provide par-
ticularly demanded solutions. While obtaining more and reliable information about the
target prospect, it is advised not to forget existing customers. Especially, regathering
information is important about the key accounts because they are considered to be the
most valuable and efficient prospect at hand due to already existing relationship, prac-
ticed transactions and business growth possibility. Prior to approaching to the prospect,
contemplating on objectives of the meeting while clearly mapping the information gath-
ered is advised. CRM system can be a good source to facilitate planning the prospect
meeting. An example to a planning precall or meeting worksheet is illustrated in the fol-
lowing figure (Schmitz, 2012).
 15

Precall Planning Worksheet

Company:

Contact:

Location:

Origin of the lead:

Key facts known about…

The company:

The contact:

Goals to achieve by the end of meeting

Information planned to be obtained

about the company:

Information planned to be obtained

about the contact:

Information that should be pro-

vided:

Agreements that should be

achieved:

How the company’s perception and

feelings be towards us:

Figure 6. Planning worksheet (Schmitz, 2012).

To develop and widen the scope of the planning worksheet, more quests can be added.
According to Cathcart (2007), utilization of a written guide with specific questions makes
the sales far more effective with each account. The advised queries that needs to be
answered are:

 What are the goals and objectives of the prospect? How can our goals and ob-
jectives be related?

 What are the probable problems that can occur?

 Overall, what are the total achievements?

 16

 If the contact does not have the power to make decisions, how can the contact
be led to influence the outcome?

 How could the contact be of assistance if they are not the decision makers?

 What potential gain that the prospect might be seeking?

 What proof is at hand to verify the information provided to the prospect?

 How the proposed solution can be better and more appealing than the other pos-
sible proposals from rivals?

 What are the probable concerns and objections can occur? How can the situation
be managed?

 Based on the goals of the meeting what particular commitment will be requested
from the prospect?

 Why should the prospect want to commit?

 Which criteria will the contact assess the solution and the company to make buy-
ing decisions?

 What methods, procedures or forms does the prospect utilize to purchase?

After planning and preparing for the transactional aspects to approach the prospect, it is
important to start thinking about how to diversify the provision way of the solution, how
to seek out new opportunities, and make a better assessment of what the organization
has.

Before proceeding with the approach process all the data and information gathered about
the prospects should be verified. According to Batini et al. (2011), information quality is
a requirement to assist the prospects. Additionally, the information at hand should not be
out of date which leads to inaccurate decisions about the sales (Wand & Wang, 1996),
thus, double-checking the overall prospect analysis at hand from multiple sources is ad-
vised in order to obtain up-to-date and accurate data and information.

2.4 Approach

Initial two steps of the sales processes are completely under control of the salesperson.
In approach process, the prospect joins the events actively. In approach, communication
 17

and interpersonal relationship aspects are built to ensure that the following sales pro-
cesses will take place as in the optimum way. According to Schmitz (2012), for a con-
venient introduction to open the way for the presentation sales process six C’s should be
kept in mind. Six C’s are six points to help anticipating, adapting customers responses
and implicating the approach process with success while giving a good impression and
consist of:

 Confidence

 Credibility

 Contact

 Communication

 Customization

 Collaboration

First, confidence point serves to endorse salesperson to perform well and even build
credibility. If the product and service is known thoroughly, information on prospect is
complete and objectives are ready, then the confidence should be expressed. To ex-
press confidence salesperson should be motivated and psychologically ready to ap-
proach.

Second, credibility is the point that should be provided to even have a chance of selling
(Freese, 2003). To build credibility, maintaining stable and accepted business stance like
maintaining eye contact, having a firm handshake and being direct while listing a proven
track record, satisfied customers and information of the provision is important. According
to Thull (2007), exceptional credibility is obtained when prospect information and pro-
spects situation are shown to be known in detail.

Third, contact point is about achieving the initiation of communication with the prospect.
Especially in B2B sales it might be hard to reach the decision makers. Additionally, in
B2B sales its crucial to achieve face to face communication. Until the face to face meet-
ing is fixed, being persistent to achieve the meeting with calls and email is advised.

Fourth, communication is the point which makes the communicating parties reach a clear
understanding of each other while ensuring trust. Salesperson should always empathize
with the prospect and try to understand the prospects point of view in terms of emotions
and thoughts through listening and observing. With empathy, how to communicate about
 18

what can be understood. Being specific about the elements and goals of topic discussed,
using concise statements, responding timely while thinking thoroughly the convenience
of conversation, will help ensure reach effective and reassuring communication. The dis-
cussed aspects are valid in nonverbal communication as well.

Fifth, customization point crafting the sales approach coherently with the customers to
achieve better and more positive response. Using intuition to find what prospect is lured
to and responds well in terms of behaviour and professional interest should be done.
Then, forming the approach style in the way that the prospect will appreciate in terms of
behaviour while emphasizing on the professional interests is advised to have a better
relationship and higher chance of selling.

Sixth, collaboration point is rendering the relationship with the contact as a constructive
teamwork state. While presenting solutions for the focal company, working together to
fulfil the contact’s goals will empower personal relationships. Quality of personal relation-
ships will increase the likelihood of the sales and the sustainability of the business. After
all, the decision-maker is an individual who will probably choose to work with a salesper-
son that provide comprehensive service and good personal relationship. Additionally,

Overall, approach processes’ fundamental logic lies with human endeavours. Therefore,
understanding the psychological and emotional reasons why and how the prospect acts
and responds is crucial.

2.5 Presentation

Value grasp and decision-making are not driven by only what is presented, but how is
presented as well (Barden, 2013). Prospects would like to do business with salespeople
who possesses clear understanding of their demands, goals and problems while provid-
ing unique and coherent value propositions (Hansen, 2015), thus, reflecting the acquired
data and information gathered and presenting them in a fitting way while working as a
team with the prospect to conduct the business is the presentation’s core. How it should
be presented and what the presentation should comprise are important elements that
salespeople should always develop themselves in because there is always new infor-
mation being generated to serve the changing mentality and perception of business at
all times.

Initiation of the presentation is one of the most critical states because the audience will
be assessing the performance of the salesperson from the start and will be forming a
 19

first impression (Hansen, 2015). First impressions happen quickly and are hard to
change, thus, salesperson should be at most coherent state in terms of presentation
topics and physical aspects. According to Schmitz (2012), looking sharp and fresh while
choosing to dress business casual or formal will be an advantage in terms of first impres-
sion. Of course, the dress logic is about choosing the most fitting one coherent with the
prospects.

Basis of the general presentations are formed of three parts which are the opening, the
body and the closing. While crafting the presentation in any form, using the three-part
structure is considered to be a powerful way that helps with communication, collaboration
and success (Hansen, 2015). The first part is the opening where the situation is estab-
lished. The identification of current state in terms of declaration of problems, opportuni-
ties and challenges that needs solving. The second part builds tension while addressing
the prospect’s problems and why they should select the salespersons organization for
aid. Using the loss and pain generating situations to motivate the prospect to seek the
solution more is the logic of the body. The third part is the closing where a clear resolution
for the prospect to easily acted upon. Value proposition communicated in the closing with
strong claims with the utilization of evidence, facts, figures, research studies and statis-
tics.

While performing the presentation it is critical to gain attention and engage with prospect
to have a persuasive presentation (Hansen, 2015). To be persuasive in a presentation
emphasizing on novelty, senses, emotions, responsiveness and repetition elements act
as one to form a more effective presentation. Novelty is the attention gathering concept.
People’s attention is easily focused in novelty. The five senses stimulation while com-
municating and contemplating enhances remembrance and understanding. Triggering
of emotions may result in having better rapport and precepting the value more pro-
foundly. Responsiveness to the actions taking place in the meeting will provide a unity
focused environment. Repetition concept is about repeating the important information to
enhance the learning process because according to research, repetition of information
at various intervals, increases the effectiveness of learning up to 50 percent (Hansen,
2015).

In high volume purchases, various stakeholders may tend to be involved. It is advised to

identify the roles of the stakeholders receiving the presentation and act communicate
with them accordingly. Decision making process can be influenced by addressing the
 20

unique needs of the stakeholders. Three categories of individuals can be listed as stake-
holders in a presentation (Hansen, 2015). Stakeholders in a presentation are problem
owner, problem solver and decision maker. While identifying the roles of stakeholders
and addressing them in lieu of their objectives, the information gathered in the process
of qualifying and prospecting will be helpful.

Utilizing stories that comprises emotional factors while discussing with the prospect will
help the discussed topic to be catchy and appealing (Hansen, 2015). However, in es-
sence, what story is being presented to the prospect? The essence presented is what
value will be gained in return of the prospect’s cost. Elaboration of the value concept
gives the salesperson further tools reach to prospect’s buy button. To do so, examining
what the total customer value consists of will serve as a navigator. According to Khalifa
(2004), total customer value is the sum of perceived customer value and total customer
cost as illustrated in the following figure.

Figure 7. Total customer value (Khalifa, 2004).

Total customer cost consists of all the cost relevant to the procurement. Perceived cus-
tomer value consists of all the problem solving and benefit promising service and/or prod-
uct propositions. According to Kottler & Keller (2008), organizations can enhance the
perceived customer value by increasing economic, functional and emotional benefits
while decreasing the total customer cost. This state makes the proposition much more
appealing and presents the potential of more profit both for supplying and procuring par-
ties. Examples of perceived customer value can be quality of the product, profitability,
ease of use and compatibility (Parolini, 1999). Examples of costs may be purchase, in-
formation, learning, updating and maintenance (Parolini, 1999). To present the whole
value proposition business model concept is used.

Business model is a system of actions that serves to craft a product and/or service offer-
ing and deliver it to customer (Spencer, 2013). Utilization of a fine business model in
presentation process can provide a clear understanding of the value that the prospect
might be willing to pay. Business model which is used to communicate value proposition,
value creation, value capture, value delivery while presenting formation of business strat-
 21

egies (Zott et al., 2011). By forming a business model coherent to the prospect, strategi-
cal decision-making opportunity rises due to cause and effect relationship clearance that
comes with business model (Shafer et al., 2005). Additionally, it is important to keep in
mind that business model is the logic of how the value should be communicated with the
prospect, not the set frame to use while communicating value. The value activities taking
place in the business model that will be presented to the prospect is illustrated in the
following figure (Richardson, 2008).

Figure 8. Value activities in business models (Richardson, 2008).

Value proposition is the clear and concise explanation of what benefits are intended to
be provided through product and/or service (Johnson & Christensen, 2008). Value crea-
tion activity is declaring how the value is created through the resources and capabilities
of the provider. Value delivery activity is elaboration of how the offering will reach to
prospects grasp for disposal with the emphasis of easement factors of delivery. Value
capture activity is about the presentation of profit formula that discusses how the pro-
spect can utilize the proposition (Johnson & Christensen, 2008). Utilization of the value
might be monetary, assistive, strategic or any kind of state that the prospect wants to
reach and is willing to pay for.

Presentation of the business model requires all the analysis of the value system from
formation to delivery. By analysing the processes, resources, capabilities, cost struc-
tures, profit formulas and delivery systems, salesperson will have the whole value system
at hand which enables strategical development activities (Spencer, 2013). Questions
asked to the whole value system like ‘Can the cost be reduced more than competitors?’,
‘What crafting processes are there that others can’t imitate?’, ‘What are the overhead
costs?’ can result in strategical development decisions both in sales and manufacturing
side.

In business model, value proposition is the most important element (Johnson & Chris-
tensen, 2008). To make the value proposition more compelling and better, relevancy,
specificity, uniqueness and believability factors should be emphasized in making (Han-
sen, 2015).
 22

Relevancy factor is about making the proposition relevant and coherent to fit the needs
of the prospect. Specificity factor is about the value proposition having straight answers
to purpose related aspects and core expectation questions in B2B like ‘How much money
will the proposition save for the prospect in what time?’. Uniqueness factor is about value
proposition having better outcomes, being hard to imitate and novel compared to other
propositions available in market. Believability factor is about value proposition compris-
ing proof in terms of testimonials and tangible results that will give trust to the prospect.

After defining a business model coherent with the prospect, salesperson can craft the
presentation of any kind that is found fit. After the presentation is ready, it is important
for salesperson to be ready as well (Schmitz, 2012). Knowing how to get to the meeting
place, planning the journey based on punctuality and readiness related factors are im-
portant for the presentation to be overall successful. That is why having a presentation
checklist is important. An exemplary presentation list according to Schmitz (2012), is
illustrated in the following figure.

Figure 9. Presentation checklist (Schmitz, 2012).

 23

Presentation checklist can involve any aspect that the salesperson finds fit, important
and helpful for the meeting and the presentation. Especially the rehearsal of the whole
presentation in detail is important (Schmitz, 2012). Rehearsal increases the presentation
performance due to the fact that it increasing the mental readiness and information
grasp.

2.6 Handling objections

After the presentation process, the prospect can be considered as an opportunity to be-
come customer according to Ross & Tyler’s (2012) sales funnel theorem. However, after
the presentation, objections tend to arise. According to Farber (2005), objections are
opportunities to understand the opportunity, value proposition and development of inad-
equate qualities.

Preventing the objections before occurrence is better than finding the cure (Denny,
2013). Prevention can be done best by executing the previous sales processes as thor-
ough, detailed and fitting as possible. Salesperson should keep in mind the core reasons
of objections and rejections for mitigation and prevention. Three core reasons for objec-
tions and rejections are related to adaptiveness, relational and cost considerations which
are elaborated in the following table (Friend et al., 2014).

Table 2. Conceptual sales failure model (Friend et al., 2014).

 24

Salespeople should keep in mind to mitigate and prevent objections and rejections stated
in the study of Friends et al. (2014). The major factors of failure are related to adaptive-
ness, relations and cost considerations. Adaptive factor is formed of lack of understand-
ing, lack of adaptive capabilities and lack of adaptive attitude. Relation factor is formed
of inadequate collaboration, broken trust and relational entry barriers. Cost considera-
tions factor is formed of greater costs, lack of cost justification and negative cost impli-
cations. The formation states of the major factors related to objection and rejection
should be the primary focus of salespeople to be careful of.

Lack of understanding state accumulates from not understanding the need correctly and
not listening to requests enough. Lack of adaptive capabilities state accumulates from
the salespersons lack of adaptive abilities and formed solutions. Lack of adaptive attitude
accumulates from salespersons arrogance, inability to change with the prospect and un-
responsiveness. Inadequate collaboration state accumulates from lack of commitment
and limited information sharing. Broken trust state accumulates from dishonesty and un-
met expectations. Relational barrier state accumulates from lack of rapport and commu-
nication. Greater cost state is accumulated by the existence of unacceptable price and
supplementary cost. Lack of cost justification state accumulates from unfavourable cost-
benefit ratio and downstream cost constraints. Negative cost implications state accumu-
lates from unfitting cost structure like payment terms.

After being preventive and mitigative against possible objections and rejections, sales-
person should focus on how to handle the objections that occur anyways. To handle
objections, six step method can be used (Farber, 2005).

First step is listening to the objection entirely. The inability to communicate is an outcome
of not listening effectively, skilfully and with understanding (Rogers & Farson, 1987).
Salespeople should be expressive of course. However, when to listen should be known.
Sales begins with empathy and communication. Seeing prospects point of view, looking
in the eye, actively listening, nodding to show the prospect being understood is essential
(Farber, 2005).

Second step is defining the objection. Categorizing and asking for more details on the
objection is done in this step (Farber, 2005). According to Care & Bohlig (2008), the types
of objections are valid, competitive, seymour, coaching, hostile and generic. Valid objec-
tions are the ones which seek to overcome the problems blocking the value system.
 25

Competitive objections are when a statement of competition factor is presented to de-

mand more from the salesperson. Seymour objection occurs when excessive amount of
qualitative information is demanded. Coaching objection occurs when prospect wants to
change and make an aspect better with the salesperson. Hostile objection occurs when
unexpected rude and hostile behaviour is experienced with no logical reason. Generic
objection occurs when prospect directs a question having little relevance to the solution
proposed. Every objection type should be approached with a suitable manner which is
shown in the following table Care & Bohlig (2008).

Table 3. How to approach objection types (Care & Bohlig, 2008).

Thirds step is about rephrasing the objection into a question. Once the objection is de-
fined and the manner of approach is declared, questions that show that the prospect is
understood should be directed. Additionally, questions should be used to understand the
underlying reason of the objective (Truter, 2009). Underlying reasons objections can be
states like not having the money, restriction of credits or any untold reason.

Fourth step is the isolation of objection. The logic about the fourth step is reaching to a
consensus with the prospect on the objected matter while discussing on how the solution
can be reached while being beneficial for both sides. However, while isolating the objec-
tion, salesperson should not be limited to it only. The sub reasons and relevant features
of the objection should not be neglected. This negligence can lead to unsuccessful solu-
tion state.

Fifth step is the presentation of the solution. To present the solution salesperson should
revaluate how the business model is going to be. Additionally, about the feasibility, stake-
holders of the related solution should be consulted and approval should be taken. Be-
cause, adjustments and new solutions cannot be decided and implicated by thought and
will.
 26

Sixth step is closing. After the solution to the objection is presented the deal must be
closed. Closing step requires courage. Courage is obtained by being an expert on all the
aspects on related sales, having the will to improve and commit to the after sales activi-
ties.

2.7 Closing

After all the previous sales processes successfully executed and all is agreed with the
opportunity, it is time to close the deal. According to Keith (2007), the most important
aspect of the closing process is courage. Without procrastination, after the negotiations
are finished, salesperson should take the opportunities signature and make the oppor-
tunity an official customer. To aid with the closing process 16 closing keys which are
shown in the following table can be utilized (Roth & Alexander, 2004).
 27

Table 4. Sixteen closing keys (Roth and Alexander, 2004).

Closing keys are dependent on the assumption that the purchase is going to be positive.
Salesperson should take the initiative to ask not ‘If?’ but ‘How much and when?’ with
courage.

2.8 Follow-up

After closing, it is salespersons duty to make sure that value promised is delivered in the
agreed conditions (Schmitz, 2012). After closing the agreement being actively in com-
munication till the whole value transfer is done is a must. After the sales is completely
done, feedback collection and follow-up actions should be taken. With feedback, faults
of provision and salesperson can be detected to be atoned and made better.
 28

After getting the feedback, salesperson should be consistently in touch with the customer
in interwall of times seen fit. Show of care and attention while persistently being in touch
with the customer builds trust, rapport and positive emotional attitude (Shore, 2020). The
states of positive rapport, emotional attitude and trust helps ensure the sustainability of
the business opportunities.

Even if the customer does not want to conduct business after the last deal, persistently
reaching to the ex-customer and trying to seek opportunities until salesperson declares
the ex-customer not servable (Shore, 2020). Passively following ex-customers and keep-
ing up with the state of needs is an aiding action while contacting ex-customers.

Lastly, according to Schmitz (2012), salespeople should form a list consisting of fixed
follow-up procedures of the organization and customer specific follow-up activities. An
exemplary follow-up list which should be pursued after the agreement about the sales is
shown in the following table.
 29

Table 5. Follow-up objectives.

Follow-up Objectives
- Making sure that the contracts are signed thoroughly.
- Checking if the delivery was made correctly and on time.
- Checking if the installation of the product is done right.
- Adding detailed customer and sales related information to the CRM
program.
- Generating the commercial invoice.
- Sending welcome package to the new customer.
- Introducing key people to the customer.
- Scheduling a status call with the customer.
- Scheduling a meeting for development ideas.

Along with the routine and fixed follow-up objectives, customer specific follow-up objec-
tives should be added to the customer follow-up list after every sale (Schmitz, 2012).
Customer specific follow-up objectives can be about the unique product and/or service
propositions state, keeping the promises and any specification that has been agreed on.
 30

3. DEVELOPING SALES

3.1 Strategic Sales Organization

To adapt and prosper in the changing business market, sales organizations has two ac-
tions to implicate (Mathur, 2008). The first action is to react and adapt to present changes
like utilization of new ways to communicate with the clients and promoting the products
with a contemporary business model. The second action is being a strategical, proactive
organization which focuses on long range views instead of focusing on firefighting plans.
Being a strategical sales organization forms the competency to make the right decisions
about the market and sales actions, networks and relationships, business models (Piercy
& Lone, 2006). Swift and right decisions made for the present and the future incorporates
advantages like being the first mover, exploiting supply deficiency and being unique (Ma-
thur, 2008).

Being a strategical sales organization helps with external activities like introducing right
products at the right time to the right market with the utilization of right distribution chan-
nels with the right pricing and promotions. Additional to the external success, being a
strategical sales organization helps sustain and build strong and efficient internal quali-
ties (Mathur, 2008). Internal qualities consist of firm’s performance, policy plans and re-
source optimization. According to Piercy (2006), there are five factors that must be ful-
filled to become a strategic sales organization which are illustrated in the following figure.

Figure 10. Strategic organization imperatives (Piercy, 2006).

Involvement factor focuses to build strategical customer decisions. However, for

involvement factor to be effective, the sales department should be set as the driver of
the organization because provision of the organization is set due to the demand of the
customers and the customers are analysed, served and dealt by the sales department
first (Piercy, 2006). Conventional sales organizations manage customers for short term
which in intensively competitive markets leads to declining revenues (Lombardi, 2005).
 31

Involvement factor consists of two aspects which focuses on long term high revenue
customer relationships.

First purpose of the involvement factor is concerned with various relationships that can
be formed with various types of customers for long-term business development (Olson
et al., 2001). For accomplishing the first purpose of involvement factor, reforming and
developing of activities and processes that sustains and develops value delivery to
customers should be focused (Piercy, 2006). Additionally, major customers tend to
require highly specific value propositions built around unique value received. Lastly,
examples on value proposition that might be demanded in the future can be focused on
consultative selling for extrinsic customers and can be venture focused selling for
strategic buyers. Making the business model according to customers future states is
crucial (Rackham & Vincentis, 1999).

Second purpose of the involvement factor is concerned with the role of sales and account
management in terms of analysing the customer environment for strategical decision-
making. Allocation of right resources to right customers is crucial in terms of efficient and
effective continuum of sales (Piercy, 2006). The customer portfolio graph can be utilized
while prioritizing future resource allocations over customers by comparing sales or sales
potential with service and relationship requirements. The customer portfolio is illustrated
in the following figure.

Figure 11. Customer portfolio (Piercy, 2006).

Key accounts are considered to be partners or collaborators which should receive the
high service actions along with relationship benefits. Major accounts are customers with
 32

high volume business transactions which in general should receive the resources for
rapport and service requirements. Middle-market accounts have middle to low range vol-
ume business transactions compared to major and key accounts. Middle market ac-
counts can be analysed in two classes which are developers and over demanders
(Piercy, 2006). Developers are the middle-market accounts which requires less re-
sources to manage while having high sales or sales potential. Over-demanders are the
middle-market accounts that requires high resource utilization while receiving low sales
or sales potential. While strategically aligning resource allocation over-demanders come
at last due to the inefficient business provided.

Intelligence factor focuses to use customer knowledge as a strategical resource for more
opportunity formation and have more added value to the provision (Piercy, 2006). Sales-
people demonstrating profound knowledge about the customer’s business is demanded
by the customers (H. R. Challey Report, 2002). Customers highly value suppliers that
can utilize the provision related knowledge for creating new opportunities and adding
competitive advantage to the provision. If continuum of new opportunities and added
competitive advantage provisions is sustained, customers tend to be more collaborative
and be more loyal (Piercy, 2006).

Integration factor focuses to establish cross-functional relationships required for leading

actions that define, develop and deliver value propositions to customers. According to
Seidenschwartz (2005), converging strategic management, change management and
process management is critical for sales for today’s customer needs. Same convergence
logic complies with the company’s entire set of attributes to meet the customers’ needs.
The integrated, marketing focused cross-functional relationships to present better value
propositions is illustrated in the following figure.
 33

Figure 12. Integrated relationships for value processes defined (Piercy, 2006).

Acting as a cross-functional team as the hole organization while defining, developing and
developing the value with the suppliers, customers and partner organizations is crucial.
Integrated relationships help form accurate, long lasting and superior value processes
compared to the value processes crafted by only the sales department.

Internal marketing factor focuses on utilizing the sales resources to communicate the
customers importance and the advantages that the customer can bring for the future
(Piercy, 2006). For example, if a customer writes an inappropriate email that upsets an
employee from the quality department, this situation may cause decrement of the quality
of the product that the customer receives due to the efficiency drop of the employee. For
another instance, R&D department may not perceive the customer as an important one
and decide to postpone the modelling of the technical drawings for another job that
emerged in between, the customer rapport can be damaged. Communicating the im-
portance of a customer to all internal departments is a strategic managerial tool to avoid
problems with important customers.

Infrastructure factor focuses on salesforce management and processes that reinforces

salespeople. According to Shapiro et al. (1998), in general, the establishment of
salesforce is fit for more pleasant times and needs development. Change for develop-
ment is likely to be accomplished by performance measurement systems, competency
creation systems and motivation systems (Shapiro et al., 1998). Sales organization’s
 34

structure of enhancing the effectiveness through salespeople performance is illustrated

in the following figure.

Figure 13. Activities and states that effects sales outcomes.

Salesforce performance relate to two areas which are performance and behaviour
(Piercy & Lane, 2009). In general outcome performance, which is high sales volume is
the focus in sales organizations (Piercy, 2006). However, with evaluation of positive be-
haviour on salespeople’s activities and if evaluated poor, motivating salespeople to have
better behavioural tendencies on work is an important element of a successful sales
organization (Piercy, 2006). Sales managers can evaluate the behaviour by just obser-
vation and observation is an action that is not always accurate, thus, sales managers
need to build systems and perform actions to motivate behavioural performance.

In terms of systems in sales organization, building a sales and sales support team that
operates smoothly and cross-functionally to focus on making the work easier and more
effective (Piercy, 2006). A firm team that work collaboratively that has easy systems to
operate is motivated to have positive behaviour. Additional to the transactional activities
to raise positive behaviour, sales managers can focus on relationship-based activities.
According to Tracy (2015), there are four keys for sales managers to build good relation-
ship with the salespeople to raise positive behaviour that leads to performance enhance-
ment which are:

 Unconditional positive regard.

 Physical contact.

 Eye contact.

 Focused attention.
 35

First, unconditional positive regard is about being supportive and accepting even in high
impact mistakes done by the salespeople. Without salespeople proving themselves in
relationship and professional focused matters, demonstrating unconditional trust and
satisfaction helps cope and resolve salespeople’s fear of failure, fear of rejection and
self-doubt which leads to positive behaviour.

Second, physical contact like a warm handshake or a gentle pat on the shoulder is a
greatly effective way to raise positive behaviour. According to sales psychology, proper
physical contact builds trust and commitment. Of course, physical contact is a delicate
action. that should be executed with profound consideration to not to offend salespeople.

Third, eye contact is the way to build respect, convey salespeople’s importance and
manage emotions. Maintaining eye contact in relationships with the salespeople as man-
agers is a way to understand the emotions and act accordingly.

Fourth, focused attention is good for making salespeople feel valued and important. For
right implementation of focused behaviour consecutive actions while in contact with the
salespeople that should be followed are listening without interrupting and attentively,
pausing and thinking before reacting, asking questions to verify what has been under-
stood and giving feedback to the communication.

3.2 Territory Management

Territory management’s core function is the alignment of the accounts with the associ-
ated salespeople and teams in the most optimal way possible (Zoltners & Sinha, 2005).
With the right decisions taken for the sales territory salespeople, customers and the sup-
plying company benefits from the situation. The benefits that can be obtained for sales-
people, customers and the supplying company is shown in the following table.
 36

Table 6. Advantages of territory management (Zoltners & Sinha, 2005).

Salespeople Customers Company
- Opportunity of more suc- - Minimal disruption. - Motivated salespeople.
cess.
- Keep favourite salesper- - High salesforce retention.
- Opportunity of sufficient son.
- High sales.
income.
- Receive appropriate
- Low expenses.
- Keep favourite accounts. salesperson attention.
- High profits.
- Reasonable workload.

Right salespeople dealing with the right accounts with good planning raises the behav-
iour-based performance which leads to satisfactory outcomes (Piercy et al., 1999). The
customers who receive coherent and sustaining attention from the right salespeople has
more rapport and commits more efficient transactions. Efficient business transactions
which leads to development will become more fruitful, thus, the sales revenues and prof-
itability will raise for the providing company (Zoltners & Sinha, 2005). Overall, all stake-
holders of the territory alignment will be in benefiting position.

Territory alignment has four steps (Zoltners & Sinha, 2005). First step is the selection of
salespeople. Second step is selection of right accounts. Third step is alignment of sales
teams and salespeople with the accounts. Fourth step is monitoring and interference.

In the first step, salespeople who are particularly competent with the accounts in terms
of accounts demands and salespeople who has rapport with the customers should be
put to consideration for alignment. In the second step, choosing of right accounts accord-
ing to coherent proportion of sales volume, sales potential and business development
potential with the workload, the customers that will have priority is selected. Workload
comprises of any time, money and effort consuming aspects like travel time, communi-
cation time and high service demand. The graph to help customer selection in the se-
lected territory is illustrated in the following figure.
 37

Figure 14. Right customer selection graph (Zoltners & Sinha, 2005).

Overall assessment of the customers can be done through customer selection graph
however, exceptional cases in which the future outcome of the business with a customer
may present desired reward or any exceptional case that might hold importance to the
company, utilization of other ways of assessment is needed (Zoltners & Sinha, 2005).
There are no de facto ways to assess the exceptional customers situations due to the
value and strategical goal differences between organizations. However, in average situ-
ations trade-off matrix in which the values are compared according to the order of im-
portance assigned by the company’s values can be utilized (Johnson, 1974). An exem-
plary trade-off matrix is shown in the following table.

Table 7. An exemplary trade-off matrix for customer selection.

Workload Sales potential Sales volume Value indexes Value
Company High High Low 3+1 4
X
Company High Low High 1+5 6
Z

According to the sum of value points that the company assigns to the states of the com-
pared situations the overall value point is obtained and the high point company is the
one who should be selected. While workload is high for both companies, in the exemplary
trade-off matrix high and low sales potential has 3 and 1 points assigned respectively
while low and high sales volume was appointed 1 and 5 points respectively. High points
of present sales volume compared to the high sales potential indicates that the company
values existing sales volume more than sales potential. Overall, companies can choose
 38

to utilize any method like trade-off matrix to choose the customers which will be priori-
tized in alignment with the salesforce according to the strategical sales decisions of the
company.

In the third step, chosen customers are aligned with the convenient salespeople who
were considered for alignment in the first step. In the fourth step the monitoring the per-
formance and related development decisions are made.

3.3 Neuromarketing

Neuromarketing is a relatively new in the science of marketing which should be adapted

by salespeople for increasing future sales success. Neuromarketing applies neurosci-
ence, psychology and economics to marketing. It is precisely because of this interdisci-
plinarity that there are several different perspectives on neuromarketing like NLP and, in
part, it has not previously progressed more systematically in the science of marketing.
Neuroscience methods that track human brain reactions to research topics are com-
monly used to implement neuromarketing. Neuromarketing therefore always requires
technical equipment as well as an understanding of how the data obtained should be
analysed. In addition, the interpretation of the results and the conclusions drawn from
them also require a new kind of expertise in order to obtain the desired benefits from the
results.

NLP which stands for neuro linguistic programming. Neuro linguistic programming pre-
sents how the brain and nervous system corresponds the thoughts and emotions through
non-verbal and verbal expressions. According to Hutchinson (2010), NLP gives the
means to understand, tune into buying patterns and interact with prospects in a highly
persuasive way. Neuromarketing is a science which assesses the cognitive and emo-
tional outputs of the marketing related inputs to the consumer. Analysis of outputs to
marketing related inputs are captured in terms of brain signal, gesticulation, mimic and
somatic response through the utilization instruments like PET, MEG, fMRI, EEG, GSR
and observation (Lee et al., 2006). Neuromarketing can be used in sales to understand
the prospects behaviour and how the sales related inputs are perceived to steer the sales
related endeavours in favour of the salesperson (Genco et al., 2013)

Utilization of sales promoting knowledge, from NLP, neuromarketing and other psychol-
ogy related disciplines has competitive advantage enhancing benefits. Benefits can in-
 39

clude but not limited to crafting environment, communication and ways to get to the pro-
spect’s buy button. Lastly, according to Shiv and Fedorikhin (1999), prospect has a two-
process choice making mechanism when it comes to electing. The initial process is an
automatic one involving emotional components that influences decision-making and val-
orisation. The second process is formed of calculated, cognitive, optimization-oriented
analysis. The second process can be steered into the salespersons benefiting area with
cognition influencing factors.

Insight of how human mind thinks, decides and acts in the contemporary world, is pre-
sented with complex and realistic manner with the help of neuroscience, communal psy-
chology and behavioural economics (Genco et al., 2013). However, utilization of a sim-
plified version that does not contain all the academic level information to provide a clear
approach to understand how the prospect thinks and behaves is advised. According to
Genco et al. (2013), simplified interpretation model that guides the how conscious and
nonconscious brain mechanism works is illustrated in the following figure.

Figure 15. Interpretation model (Genco et al., 2013).

Forming impressions is the initial reaction due to exposure of input received through
senses. Forming impressions in terms of mimics and gesticulation is a nonconscious
reaction expressed while perceiving the sensual inputs. Forming of impressions is im-
portant in neuromarketing due to influence availability. Analysing and influencing the im-
pressions gives the upper hand of steering the mind of the prospect while providing the
communicational elements that are not expressed consciously which leads to better un-
derstanding of the situation. Lastly, the impression is not expressed through, thorough
brain analysis, it is just the first reflexive reaction to the input which can occur even mo-
mentarily.

Determining meaning and value process occurs automatically in the brain where non-
conscious analysis of the sensual input is processed through mind and a result is pre-
sented. This internal process connects the input with memories, ideas and assesses the
 40

logic of input in terms of meaning and value. Determining meaning and value process
can be defined as a learning process that conceptualizes products, organizations, con-
tent and objectives. How the elements are perceived is important to select a coherent
way to communicate. That is why the initial internal process holds importance in sales.

Deliberate and analyse process is the internally run process where the inner mental con-
versations form and make better the meaning and value. The mental conversations con-
sist of consciously run mentally internal activities like computing, planning, memorizing
and remembering. Habits hold a critical role in deliberate and analyse process because
prospect behaviour while mental conversations are pursuing is steered by habits. Habits
are obtained through use and experience. So, analysing use and experience of the pro-
spect on the communicated matter and focusing to communicate through them will aid
the probability of consensus.

Speak and act process consist of the conscious expressions and behaviours that can be
comprehended by others as a response to the initial input. The most important expres-
sions that matters in marketing are verbal communication and behaviour. Scientists in-
dicate that the verbal communication has poor reflection on internal mental states. Even
in some incidents verbal communication contradicts the actual mental processes (Nisbet
& Wilson, 1977), thus, focusing on behaviour while listening as a salesperson is im-
portant because conceptually, what is said is less credible and communicative that how
is said.

While the prospect is interpreting and acting on the input, it is possible to assess what
the prospect is processing moment to moment. Though the accuracy of the assessment
might not be 100%, benefiting from it is a certain. The assessment is called eye access-
ing cues. In terms of NLP, calibrating the situation and responding accordingly eye ac-
cessing cues can be used (Hutchinson, 2010). According to eye assessment cue, every
direction that the eyes look while internally contemplating about the current situation de-
clares a mental processing state as illustrated in the following figure.
 41

Figure 16. Eye accessing cues (Hutchinson, 2010).

As shown in the following previous figure, states of contemplating constructed images,

constructed sounds, feelings, remembered images, remembered sounds and internal
dialog can be assessed with observing the eye directions of the prospect. However, the
salesperson should keep in mind that for left-handed prospects, the states in the left
change places with the right ones. Lastly, this NLP technique can be stated as the com-
plementary element of communication point of 6C’s from approach sales process.

Another NLP proposition that helps with reaching sales success is about alignment con-
cept with the prospect that can be associated with the collaboration, customization and
credibility from 6C’s. This NLP proposition is based on the alignment model which is
used in sales to receive positive behaviour and commitment from the prospect through
alignment of particular aspects (Hutchinson, 2010). Alignment, in terms of purpose, iden-
tity, behaviour, capability, values and beliefs that shape environment in a developing
manner, in which we function. The alignment model which was first researched and con-
ducted by Gregory Bateson is illustrated in the following figure.

Figure 17. The alignment model (Hutchinson, 2010).

Purpose is the alignment factor achieved by perceiving whichever purpose that the sales-
person has, as the prospect’s purpose as well. Sales related purpose can be about
 42

achievements like breaking a sales record and increasing the profitability. Focusing on
how to achieve the goal for both oneself and the prospect is the essence of purpose
alignment.

Identity alignment starts with identification oneself. Answer to ‘What does the salesper-
son’s role in the organization?’ question should be sought. The answer might be a facil-
itator, supporter, front-line person or any dominant role that the salesperson demon-
strates. Whatever the role is, by acting the role for the prospect and prospect’s organi-
zation, the identity alignment is achieved with the logic of collaboration.

Value and belief alignment is achieved by providing the customer and oneself same
standards that salesperson possess or seeks. For example, in terms of salespersons
ethics, if receiving a fair deal holds importance, then, salesperson should make sure that
the prospect is getting a fair deal as well. Another example is that if the salesperson
wants to receive all the information available from the prospect, then, should present all
available information to the prospect.

Capability alignment is simply keeping up with the expectations and having sufficiency
to reach the set goals. These capability factors may be rapport-building skills, organiza-
tional skills, patience, product knowledge or any other factor that the salesperson sees
the need of development. To increase awareness on development areas receiving feed-
back from prospects and co-workers is important.

Behaviour is a naturally expressed alignment factor. While developing capabilities and

aligning with prospect, the behaviour on the matter can change automatically. However,
if it does not change and the behaviour is not fit to serve the prospect coherently, actions
must be taken to generate new and fitting behaviour. To generate new behaviour, iden-
tification of the focal behaviour must be done. Then, thinking of how and why behaviour
must be gained should be kept in mind. Lastly, practising to administer the behaviour in
daily routines while thinking of the probable gains is an aiding action.

Environment is the factor that will be influenced with all the alignment factor deeds. The
environment will be overall more productive and opened for opportunities with the align-
ment achievements. The impact of constructive deeds will trigger the stakeholders to a
state of reciprocity, increase the benefit potential of the business and build integrity.
Lastly, an environment which is already productive, collaborative and positive eases
alignment factors to be implemented as well.
 43

NLP science presents psychical alignment factors as well as conceptual ones. According
to Hutchinson (2010), to build rapport matching and mirroring the prospect in terms of
body positioning, body movement and speed, pitch, tone of the voice. However, match-
ing and mirroring should not be confused with straight imitation. Physical matching and
mirroring actions should be executed in a close and smooth way. The logic is for the non-
verbal and verbal communication to be smoothly similar which automatically reflects pos-
itively on rapport. Lastly, if the prospect has any kind of disability, the disability state must
be excluded in matching and mirroring (Misner & Morgan, 2007).

Alignment concept helps to achieve sales success while forming a more beneficial envi-
ronment. Alignment concept builds the way to closing sales, however, does not focus on
closing. It is advised to start to understand and utilize closing related cognitive states to
build the way of closing from the approach state. To do so, brain’s reward centre behav-
iour that estimates the purchase decisions should be targeted (Knutson et al., 2007).

Reward centre valorises the reward state in terms of goals achieved (Plassmann, 2008).
There are two kinds of goals that should be examined that the prospect possesses which
are explicit and implicit goals which determines willingness to pay (Barden, 2013). Ex-
plicit goals are more common professional business goals like receiving a decent product
having a reasonable price delivered with logistic aid. Implicit goals are more psychology
and inner thought related which is identified as the focal topic of approach process.

Psychological implicit goals present the opportunity to have more various propositions
than explicit goals because implicit goals have more motivational factors (Barden, 2013).
Implicit goals consist of promotion and prevention actions. Promotion is about change,
development and gain while prevention is about avoidance, protection and mitigation.
Salespeople should keep in mind and be in search of the factors that will trigger motiva-
tional goals that can lead the formation of the status “Willing to pay”. Implicit goals are
driven by motivators called ‘Big 3’ as illustrated in the following figure.
 44

Figure 18. The basic implicit goal systems in human brain (Barden, 2013).

Security motivation is linked to panic and fear system of the brain. Security goals exist
to avoid panic and fear while seeking care and being sociable. The main objectives in
terms of business is to evade change, seek for status, avert uncertainty, seek stability
and use energy efficiently.

Autonomy motivation is linked to rage system of the brain. Autonomy goals are to avert
failure and rage by being superior to others in terms of concepts like position and perfor-
mance. Salesperson should keep in mind that due to testosterone; autonomy motivators
are more triggering and affective in men than women.

Excitement motivation is linked to seeking system of the brain. Excitement goals exist to
avert boredom by searching for stimulation, diversity, change, development and similar
factors. The seeking system is based on the happiness hormone dopamine. So, even a
promise of a unique Turkish coffee might considered to be a motivating factor while
keeping in mind that focusing on business related motivational factors is the main objec-
tive.

Along with the goal-based sales success enhancing methodology the six principles of
persuasion can be used as a consolidating element. According to Genco et al. (2013),
there the six principles that can be used to enhance persuasiveness in discussions are
reciprocity, commitment and consistency, social proof, authority, liking and scarcity. The
six principles and their meaning are shown in the following table.
 45

Table 8. Six principles of persuasion (Genco et al., 2013).

Reciprocity If an individual accepts a gift, despite the insignificance of the gift
or any presented element, the individual becomes more likely to
give something in return.

Commitment If an individual makes a public commitment, the individual tends

and consistency to act more likely to act in a way consistent with the commitment
whether the commitment is inconsequential and insignificant or
not.
Social proof If the surrounding people are acting the same way and focusing
on same activities, individuals who are exposed to this environ-
ment tend to act in the same manner as others.
Authority If an individual believes that someone has authority, that individ-
ual becomes more likely to follow the advice of the authority fig-
ure.
Liking If an individual likes the influencing person in a personal level, that
individual tends to comply with the influencing persons requests.
Scarcity If an individual believes that something is insufficient or short in
supply, the individual finds the element more tempting.

Salespeople can benefit from the situations natural existence that were discussed in the
six principles of persuasion. Additionally, salespeople can align the situation on purpose
to make the communication more fruitful. Lastly, persuasive discussions can help with
the handling objections of prospects and customers.
 46

4. CASE COMPANY AND INTERVIEWS

4.1 Case Company

The case company was found in 1974 and had been manufacturing and trading home
appliances like electrical heaters, water heaters, cookers, free-standing ovens, built-in
ovens. The family owned company is an ODM with their own brand and an OEM under
the customers. The mission of the company is to operate ethically, reliably, innovatively
while looking out for sustainable environment and support youth for a better future. The
vision of the company is to become one of the biggest companies in the cooking appli-
ances market that brings flexibility and easement to operations of the customers and
serves the most quality products.

The case company consists of two main premises which are the manufacturing plant and
the sales office. Manufacturing plant’s core competency is to produce ovens, thus, now
is solely producing ovens to benefit from the expertise held. The sales office exports the
manufactured ovens along with the traded goods which are mainly hobs, built-in cookers,
built-in hobs, ovens and microwaves.

The manufacturing plant resides in Çorlu/Tekirdağ/Turkey and operates in 15.000 m^2

area. Around 365 employees work in the premises. It is hard to give a precise number of
workers due to the workers’ tendency to change the workplace frequently. Manufacturing
plant is formed of two floors. The first floor consists of press unit, molding unit, painting
unit, coating unit, quality department, CKD preparing area, assembly lines, welding unit,
maintenance unit, human resources and warehouse. The second floor is formed of re-
search and development department, procurement department, management, show-
room, finance department and dining hall. Both floors are illustrated in the following fig-
ure.
 47

Figure 19. Manufacturing plant schema.

The second premises which is the sales office resides in Bahçeşehir/İstanbul. Sales of-
fice comprises four units which are sales department, marketing department, logistics
department and showroom. There are in total 23 employees. 15 employees work in the
sales department, 3 employees work in the marketing department, 3 employees work in
the logistics department along with a driver and a retainer. Though two premises are far
from each other, they can operate as one as can be seen in the company organization
scheme illustrated in the following figure.

Figure 20. Organization scheme.

 48

The manufacturing plant started to produce built-in and 60x90 cm ovens along with the
conventional free-standing ovens and tabletop cookers that were being produced since
1974. Free standing ovens’ height are 80 cm’s and the cooking top area has the options
of being 50x50 cm, 50x60 cm, 60x60 cm and 60x90 cm. Additionally, the products man-
ufactured can be delivered in forms of CKD, SKD and CBU. CKD which is the acronym
for completely knocked down form means that all the components of the product are
delivered without assembly, SKD which is the acronym for semi knocked down form
means that some convenient parts are assembled and delivered with the remaining dis-
assembled parts. CBU which is the acronym for completely built up form means that the
product is fully assembled and having its final form. CKD and SKD products are mostly
important to customers due to the tax discount that the governments provide to encour-
age the increment of production activities in their country because CKD and SKD prod-
ucts are assembled in the customers’ premises by themselves. Additionally, CKD and
SKD products cover much less space compared to CBU products which is a logistic
advantage that decreases the overall delivery costs. The numbers of monthly manufac-
tured goods of 2020 are shown with the types of goods in the following table. Lastly, in
May the production was stopped due to the precautions taken against the Corona pan-
demic.

Table 9. Production counts of 2020.

The cooking appliances manufactured in the premises come in as sheet metal along with
outsourced parts and come out as packaged products delivered in the desired form like
CBU and desired packaging type. First the sheet metal rolls are brought to the press unit.
In the press unit, the sheet metal goes through cutting, piercing, bending, deep drawing
processes with the help of the presses. The parts that are obtained in the press unit are
the parts like the frame, top, cavity, linkage parts of the oven. Then, the components that
need to be combined like the frame parts and the cavity parts are sent to the welding unit
to be welded and fixed to obtain the main infrastructure of the cooking product.
 49

Parts from the press unit and welding unit are either sent to the painting or coating unit.
The parts like the cavity and the top which will be exposed to high temperatures due to
the cooking, are sent to enamel coating unit. The parts that will not be exposed to high
temperatures while the cooking appliance is utilised are sent to the painting unit. The
painting unit uses automated nozzles to apply the electrostatic powder paint to the parts,
then the hanging conveyor delivers the painted parts to the heating machine. After the
heating process the hanging conveyor delivers the parts to the washing machine. The
washed parts are ready to be used, thus, are put near the assembly lines to be used as
shown in the following figure.

Figure 21. Painting unit actions.

Parts that are sent to enamel coating unit go through almost the same processes as the
parts that are processed in the painting unit. The components sent to enamel coating
unit are moved with hanging conveyor belts and exposed to enamel dust with automated
nozzles, then taken to the heating unit. Enamel dust is a mixture of materials like sand
and paint which gives the coated material corrosion durability, heat resistance and phys-
ical strength when is exposed to heat around 800 degrees. Enamel coated components
do not need to be washed. After the heating process, the components are ready to be
used and are sent to the assembly lines to be assembled. Lastly, the cooking appliances
can be ordered in any colour. However, in some specific colours, difference error may
occur between the enamel coated parts and painted parts due to the colour pigment
proportion changes while the units are covered with enamel or paint. Coating, heating
and sorting actions in the enamel coating unit is shown in the following figure.
 50

Figure 22. Coating unit actions.

Processed parts in the premises are combined with the outsourced parts like buttons,
wires, hot plates, burners in the assembly lines. The cooking appliances are assembled,
tested and packaged on the assembly lines. There are two assembly lines which are 18
meters long and next to it there is CKD preparation unit. CKD parts does not need as-
sembly, thus, are straight sent to packaging.

Every phase of the assembly is controlled by the employees of quality department ac-
cording to the standards that are demanded by the customers and government regula-
tions. Quality department also conducts CO and CO2, mechanical strength, gas power
and consumption, surface heat and thermostat scale tests to make sure that the products
manufactured are regardful with the standards and regulations. Additionally, quality de-
partment handles the certificate purchases and sustains the standards necessary for the
products. Some of the certificates that the company has are ISO 9001, EMC and EEA.

After the overall approval of the products granted by the quality department, products
are sent to the warehouse. While the products are being manufactured and made ready
for shipping, if any machine needs maintenance, the maintenance unit swiftly goes for
repair. Additionally, if any mold from the presses needs to be changed, reshaped or
made, molding department handles the materials with lathes, milling machines, drill and
a grinding machine.

Research and development department works with the quality department to make sure
that the manufacturing processes are run optimally. Additionally, research and develop-
ment department takes care of design, accurate operating of machines and technical
developments. Other departments in the manufacturing plant which are finance and pro-
curement deals with all the sourcing and monetary transactions for all units and depart-
ments.

Sales office which exports the manufactured products along with traded white goods,
now conducts business with 108 countries. Sales office’s primary expertise is the trade
 51

of cooking appliances and the secondary expertise is trade of white goods. The products
that the sales office trades are shown in the following table.

Table 10. Traded products.

Sales department consists of 9 salespeople, 3 salespeople assistants and 3 sales sup-

port employees along with the sales director. Salespeople’s and assistants’ main objec-
tives are developing and sustaining rapport with the existing customers and acquiring
new customers to increase the sales volume. Sales support’s main duties are conducting
the coordination and collaboration with the manufacturing plant. Additionally, sales sup-
port helps with the follow-up process to raise satisfaction rate of the customers and report
the problems for mitigation and resolving.

Marketing department which consists of 3 employees comprising operations director.

First objective of marketing department is to make ready all the elements that will be
used to promote the products and communicate with the customers. Some of marketing
elements that the department takes on are catalogues, brochures, e-mail content, social
media content, promotion videos. Secondary objective is product management which is
analyzation of the feedback from the customers about the products and working with
R&D and quality departments to make the product better. Third objective is to analyse
the rivals and the market to help develop the products’ competitive advantage features

Operations department which consists of 3 employees including operations director. Op-

erations departments executes all the transportation related aspects. Actions taken by
the operations department are agiotage transactions, customs clearance, benefiting from
government incentives and negotiation with the logistic firms.
 52

Case company is now in a position to develop and be more successful at business than
before with the consolidated manufacturing applications and committed employees
which are experts in their fields. However, in the year of 2000 and between the years of
2006-2018 the company dealt with major problems that eventually lead to bankruptcy. In
the year of 2000 the manufacturing plant was caught on fire and the delay of the shift of
the facility and the 20% insurance coverage of the damage was the first major problem
that slowed down the development of the business. In the year of 2006 a bigger manu-
facturing plant was purchased due to the need of growth. However, in the years between
2007 and first half of 2008 dollar lost value while the sheet metal prices was triple times
more expensive at some points. Due to the company being an export company only and
trading with dollar in general, these financial situations lead the company in great debt.
Lastly, the goods manufactured had around 5% profit margin which is considered to be
low and this state did not help for coverage for the debts.

Company’s employees and the management were known to be trustworthy, hardworking

and experts, thus, other companies were willing to be partners due to the chance of
reaching profitable business state together in a short time. The company needed urgent
cash to be able to pay the debts to stop delinquency rate that the banks were applying
on the debts which were in a short time increasing the debts so much more. Consecu-
tively, the company agreed to partner up with two firms which were going to solve the
debt problem however both firms declared unexpected bankruptcy. The unfulfilled part-
nership deals and preparations impact along with the existing debts lead the company
to bankruptcy.

Before declaring bankruptcy, if the company is still active and shows promise for the
future, with the postponement of bankruptcy law, the government stops confiscation pro-
cesses and protects the firm while the debts are covered with time. Unofficially, the rate
of the firms that cover from the postponed bankruptcy state is between 1-2%. In the year
of 2018, the case company covered all the debts and postponed bankruptcy state was
lifted. The company has still some unsolved problematic cases with the banks, however,
now shows promise of development and success in business, nevertheless.

4.2 Problems Identified

Now the case company can focus on the development of all units and departments along
with the product and service offered. Prioritized development focus is now concentrated
 53

on sales office and manufacturing quality. In order to develop sales office qualities a
series of interviews were conducted with the employees of sales office. Interviews had
four main topics which are main problems, secondary problems, routine actions in the
sales office and individuals’ ideas of subsidiary development. Additionally, interviews are
made more concise to avoid off topic conversations. Main problems of the sales office
are shown in the following table.

Table 11. Interviews on main problems.

Position Comments
Sales Director - Handling objections of the customers and prospects is one of
the most crucial problems we face amongst the sales processes
we conduct.
- Equipping the salespeople with more qualities that they can
utilize to enhance their successful sales rate.
- Conducting more in quality territory management.
- Being more of a strategical organization.

Marketing Director - Formation of a coherent CRM program designed exclusively

for the sales office is one of the most needed actions that must
be taken.

Operations Director - If we had more well-defined systems of actions to execute daily

activities, to deal with problems and to follow for development
the sales office would be much more efficient working.
Salesperson - Verification of information gathered from the market, rivals and
customers.

First main problem that the sales director indicated is handling objections. The most trou-
bling customer related problems are objections and product quality related demands. As
the quality problems are being handled by the manufacturing plant, the focus of the sales
office is to develop defence mechanisms on objections. The focal objections to be han-
dled are the ones that exploit the trade transaction for the sake of just benefiting from it
in terms of price, promotion or any short-term benefit which endangers the integrity and
sustainability of the business. Lastly, handling inconvenient objections are important for
optimal resource utilization and fair trade.

Second main problem according to the sales director is about salesforce management.
After the new recruits’ training in the manufacturing plant about the product related pro-
cesses, sales director continuously trains the salesforce. According to the sales director,
 54

novel and various tools are important to develop on, to be able to keep up with fierce and
swiftly changing market needs and actions.

Third main problem according to the sales director is territory management. Along with
the sales volume increasing, account and salespeople count has risen as well. This state
has pushed the sales office to focus on territory management because of the enhanced
importance of resource and compatibility alignment among the accounts and salespeo-
ple. Territory management need is declared to sustain the business more and benefit
from the potential held in the most optimal way while dealing with high numbers of cus-
tomers with high numbers of salespeople.

Forth main problem according to the sales director is being more of a strategical organ-
ization. Sales director states that as the company grows, the success rate will not be the
same if the company cannot act according to the future and just focus on fire fighting.
Being more of a strategical sales organization is the key to the future success.

According to the marketing director, the main problem is having a convenient CRM pro-
gram. The existing CRM program lacks the attributes of showing the detailed information
about the sales. These detailed information needed to be observed easily are the status
of the sales transaction, product number and types, feedbacks and any resourceful in-
formation that the salespeople see fit. Knowledge on previous sales are the success for
the future of sales.

According to operations director the main problem is having well defined systems to ex-
ecute. Operations director likes to work with well-defined action sets that are crafted
specifically to deal with daily routines and problems that may occur. Operation director
states that this is the main success generator of the operations department and all the
units and departments should be strict to have a well-defined action set for daily routines
and possible problems. This arsenal makes work efficient and makes people ready for
dealing problems which occur frequently.

According to a leading salesperson the main problem is the verification of information

gathered. The actions taken related to sales are contemplated according to the infor-
mation gathered from customers, allies, rivals and market. However, if the information is
wrong and/or deceiving, the actions taken accordingly will not be the right ones. To take
the perfectly right actions the integrity of the information is crucial.
 55

Secondary problems which are identified as sub problems of the main problems or other
problems that is considered to have low impact on business. Secondary problems iden-
tified by the employees are shown in the following table.

Table 12. Interviews on secondary problems.

Position Comments
Salesperson - Finding more and convenient customers.
- Conducting more easy-going negotiations especially in terms
of price.
Salesperson - Presenting the product and service better.
Sales Support - Having better communication between quality department to
decrease the response time to customers and increase the qual-
ity of the response as well.

According to general statement of salespeople finding convenient customers, presenting

the value and having easy-going negotiations are the mutual secondary problems. Over-
all, salespeople want to conduct all the sales processes in a better way while focusing
on the prospecting and qualifying, presentation and handling objections processes more
due to the reason that these three sales processes are the ones which contain the most
problems.

According to a sales support employee, communication between quality department and

sales office is a secondary problem. It is stated that the feedbacks and requests of the
customers on product quality cannot be communicated swiftly and thoroughly enough to
please the customer and act towards dealing the quality problem.

4.3 Subsidiary Development and Routine Actions

Individuals’ ideas for subsidiary development of sales related actions are about the ap-
plications that is not yet being implicated. Subsidiary development ideas are shown in
the following table.
 56

Table 13. Interviews on subsidiary development.

Position Comments

Sales Director - Utilization of neuroscience in sales.

Salesperson - As an export firm and OEM, we con not offer maintenance ser-
vices abroad. Forming a service to fill the maintenance service
gap would be an advantage.

According to the sales director while equipping the salesforce with tools the facilitate
success, human transaction focused tools are the most interesting ones. In human trans-
action tools, the topic of neuroscience is considered to be the superior and novel one.
Utilizing the neuromarketing knowledge which is the subtopic of neuroscience, the facil-
itation and development of human transactions can be reached in the most successful
way. Therefore, as a subsidiary development field neuromarketing was chosen.

According to a salesperson offering maintenance services abroad is a subsidiary devel-

opment idea which has lots of demand. Whether the company is OEM or ODM some
kind of maintenance service to help the customers and end users would make the com-
pany gain lots of profit.

Interviews on routine actions of sales office was conducted to be able to understand the
actions thoroughly and to be able to analyse the actions for better development. The
interviews on routine actions which are mainly about executing sales are shown in the
following table.
 57

Table 14. Interviews on routine actions.

Position Comments
Marketing Director - First, the customers are reached and presented with the prod-
uct and service proposal. If the negotiations on the proposal is
going positive, a proforma is formed with the client which con-
sists of the product type, number and price. After the proforma
is approved, the sales support transmits the order information to
the manufacturing plant. Manufacturing plant updates the orders
status to sales office until the product is shipped. While the prod-
uct is being manufactured packing list and commercial invoice
is formed while the logistic arrangements are being managed.
When products are manufactured and sent to the customer, if
everything is okay, the payment is rendered by the customer.
Lastly, the feedback is received from the customer for future de-
velopment.

Salesperson - Firstly, we find the right customer for us. Second, we present
our products and services. Thirdly, if the lead is interested, we
approach with a price proposal and begin to negotiate the pay-
ment and delivery terms. Fourthly, after the deal is closed we
give the information to the sales support and move on to the next
customer.

Operations Director - As an abstract, according to the type of logistics in terms of the

Incoterms the customer chooses, we plan the steps of docu-
mentation and negotiations with the logistic firms. In terms of
documentation, firstly, we check the legislations about the cus-
toms and the proper way of transportation declared by the target
country to act coherently. Secondly, we form the packing list
which consists of product information such as weight, number
and type. Finally, we form a waybill like bill of lading used for
seaway transportation channels which serves as the compul-
sory product identification for traded items. Negotiations with the
logistics firms are done through exploitation of sustainable busi-
ness promises with the logistic firms and frame agreements in
general.
 58

In all the interviews, the situations which cannot be developed or controlled by any
means has been excluded. Excluded situations comprises logistic accidents, delays due
to random customs search, banks’ transaction problems. Lastly, the statements used in
the explanations are the employees’ thoughts and ideas.

4.4 Theory Linking

All simplified interview quotations possess detailed reasons. In this chapter detailed rea-
soning of the quotations and linkage with the proposed development suggestion is done.
Starting with the quotations about the main problems which are:

 Handling objections of customers

 Equipping the salespeople with more tools for sales

 Territory management

 Being a strategical organization

 Formation of a coherent CRM program

 Possession of more well defines systematic action sets

 Verification of information gathered from the market, rivals and customers

First, the sales manager declared that the most long lasting and compromise demanding
process held with the customers and the prospects is handling objections. Especially
handling of price objections which are the most common objections being directed to
salespeople is the most troubling ones, thus, any assistive information will be beneficial.
For mitigating and eliminating objections, methods and information were provided in the
handling objections chapter. Lastly, ways to be persuasive in the neuromarketing chapter
were presented as a supplementary tool.

Second, the sales manager declared that the performance of the salespeople should be
increased through possession of more qualities and knowledge on sales. Through sales
processes and neuromarketing chapters, the reinforcement of tools and methods that
can be utilized with all the processes held with the prospects and customers were pre-
sented for disposal and adapting.
 59

Third, the sales manager declared that with the increasing sales volumes and sales per-
sonnel recruitment, the alignment of right prospect and customers for the optimal re-
source utilization and optimal transactions, territory management is the field that needs
more attention. To help with the territory management, four steps of territory alignment
and a customer scoring tool proposition were presented in the Chapter 3.2.

Fourth, the sales manager declared that the focus of the sales office is to attend all the
present business transactions in an optimum way, however, to be more successful in the
future and make the sales office a continuously developing one, transforming the sales
office into a strategical organization is crucial. Along with the strategical tools that help
with the daily activities of the salespeople, the ways of becoming a strategic sales organ-
ization were presented in the Chapter 3.1.

Fifth, the marketing manager declared that the need of a CRM program designed to fit
the sales office actions is crucial due to the fact that the CRM program in use cannot be
utilized to view the detailed information about the customers. Detailed information which
should be easily reachable by the employees are the status of the sales, problems ex-
perienced, what types of products sold and all the information that can assist with the
sales processes for increasing the efficiency of work. However, in the thesis, few remarks
on CRM formation has been made because recently the order of a suitable CRM pro-
gram has been given to an IT company.

Sixth, the operations manager declared that in the operations department, utilization of
well-defined actions is one of the core mentalities that comes with better and successful
actions, thus, all the company departments should focus on utilizing more of well-defined
action sets to deal with various situations. Additionally, with the efficient work, there is
more time left to focus on work related developments like government incentives as op-
erations department does. The whole sales processes chapter is about implementation
of the well-defined actions about sales focused deeds as an example of a wide-scoped
action set for all departments to form.

Seventh, a salesperson declared that the verification of information gathered from rivals,
markets, prospects and customers are crucial due to the fact that the wrong information
may be given for manipulating the situation or the information can be just wrong that can
lead to making wrong decisions about it. In the prospecting and qualifying, and prepara-
tion chapters, ways to gather information from various resources were presented for
 60

double checking the information at hand for verification. However, theory on identifying
deceiving information that cannot be reached officially was not found.

Interviews on the problems that employees see as secondary problems were included in
minor scales in the thesis. The reasoning and linking of the theory with the secondary
problems are stated, which are:

 Finding more and convenient customers

 Conducting more easy-going negotiations

 Presenting product and service better

 Having better communication between quality department and sales department

for increment of response quality and decrement of response time

First, finding more and convenient customers was the second most common problem
about the sales processes stated by the salespeople. In the chapter prospecting and
qualifying, relevant information and methodology were discussed.

Second, conducting more easy-going negotiations was one of the most common prob-
lems salespeople declared. The chapters presentation, handling objections and closing
were dedicated for increasing the easiness of the negotiations and increasing the trans-
actional success. Additionally, utilization of methodology and information from neuromar-
keting chapter was dedicated to help with the human based communicational actions
which are a part of negotiations.

Third, presenting the product and service better was a marketing-based problem that is
declared by the salespeople as a weakness. To help with the presenting the product and
the service better, value concept and business model were proposed.

Fourth, communication between quality department and sales department for increment
of response quality and decrement of response time is a problem declared by a sales
support employee, which focuses on making the follow-up process and order status in-
forming action better. However, a theoretical fitting system that links the departments
according to the unique working mentalities was not found.

Subsidiary development ideas that were proposed which are utilization of neuromarket-
ing in sales and offering maintenance services abroad. Sales directors mentality is to
always develop the salesforce with new attributes and recently he was reading books
about neuromarketing and wanted to introduce neuromarketing elements to the
 61

salesforce, thus, a chapter just dedicated to neuromarketing was made comprising infor-
mation from various books. About offering maintenance services abroad is a service that
never has been offered before by the company. However, according to the sales director,
there are no resources for offering maintenance services abroad, thus, the idea was not
enforced with a coherent theory.

Lastly, the routine actions that the departments in sales office commits were used while
building the coherency of the proposed elements in the thesis. However, only the sales-
oriented action sets were used due to the focus of sales development, thus, operations
departments’ set of actions were not used.
 62

5. CONCLUSIONS

Competitive markets make constant development a compulsory action for competing

businesses. Analysis of internal and external actions and states to declare the areas that
need the development and coherent actions to fill the development need should be done.
Methodologies and tools used in all the qualitative and quantitative disciplines to en-
hance the efficiency and effectiveness of the implications are important elements to be
equipped with. Additional to the development’s focus on the present business, imple-
mentations and infrastructure having a mindset that strategically executes business, im-
plementations and infrastructures is crucial for future success.

The case company has the goal to optimize the sales success in terms of quality and
quantity and embed more systematic ways, tools and methodologies to execute the ac-
tions taken in the sales office. Additionally, the case company plans to widen the scope
of development mentality to all departments of the company to enhance the efficiency
and efficiency of the actions. The focus is to start the development of the core sales
activities which are referred as sales processes, continuing with being a strategical or-
ganization while equipping competitive advantage, and increasing attributes like utiliza-
tion of neuromarketing knowledge on sales.

With the selected topics being declared as the development areas, namely sales pro-
cesses, territory management, being a strategical sales organization and neuromarket-
ing, the initiation of development on the problems and improvement ideas have been
majorly covered. All the information, tools, and methodology on the matters will be
adapted or will be used as a reference while developing on the field by the company.

Initiation of the establishment of the systematic ways to take actions which are consoli-
dated with theoretical information, tools, and methodologies in the sales office will serve
as an example and motivator for the manufacturing plant to follow the same logic. Over-
all, the whole company will be in a development phase in pursue of more success for the
future.
 63

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