Chapter 5

Global Selling
Process, II
Sales Management:
A Global Perspective
Introduction

 This chapter builds upon Chapter 4:

 Interpersonal communication process
 Sales negotiation process
 Initial steps of the global selling process
 Interpersonal communication and sales
negotiation processes interwoven into the
global selling process
Sales Process

 Finding customers
 Preparing
 Relationship building
 Product offering
 Offer clarification
 Securing the purchase
 Maintaining the relationship
Relationship Building
 Making a favorable impression and gaining
trust of potential customer
 Time required varies by culture
 Number of ways to meet client:
 Guaranteed introduction
 Referral introduction
 Personal introduction
 Benefit introduction
Relationship Building

 Should know appropriate greeting and

phrases in customer’s language
 Business cards in English and customer’s
language
 Business cards have taken the place of personal
introductions in Japan
What is a Buying Center?
 One or more people in the B2B customer
firm that play different, but important, roles
in the buying process. They include:
 Initiators
 Users
 Influencers
 Buyer
 Gatekeeper
 Salesperson must identify and interact
correctly with each group of clients playing
specific roles
Product Offering
 Salesperson must select an appropriate method to
offer the product to the client
 This step normally includes one or more of the
following styles:
 Stimulus response
 Mental States
 Need satisfaction
 Problem solving
 Consultative selling
Stimulus Response
 Salesperson provides appropriate stimulus
through words and actions that will derive
desired response
 Utilized with canned sales presentations
 Seen with low involvement products
 Purchaser involvement limited
 Often not flexible
 Used for one-time interactions
Mental States
 Salesperson attempts to move customer
through the purchase stages (attention,
interest, desire, action)
 Presentation must be well-planned
 Limited purchaser involvement
 Hard to know what stage customer is in
 Difficult when used across cultures
 Not well received by professional purchasers
Selling Approaches
 Need satisfaction – meets and asks questions in an
effort to identify and satisfy a customer need
 Focuses on customer’s need(s)
 Problem solving – extension of Need Satisfaction
that includes study or team of experts
 Consultative selling – salesperson functions as a
consultant and may even recommend a competitor’s
product that best satisfies customer need(s)
Buyer-Seller Meeting

 Meet with customer at appointed time

 Punctuality more important in some cultures
 Make favorable impression
 Sharing information through small talk
 Presenting gifts
 Begin meeting by restating last communication
as understood
 Insure customer’s goals understood
 No slick presentations
 Explain how the solution solves goals and needs
Offer Clarification

 Once presentation finished, expect questions

 Clarify offer or ask for price concessions
 Remember that negotiations take place during the
entire process
 May request test data or testimonials from
satisfied customer
 View this step as normal negotiations
Securing the Purchase

 Simply asking the customer to purchase

 Difficult to manipulate buyer into purchase
 This is especially true in B2B interactions
 Best approach is the direct one
 Since our product addresses your need(s), shall
we agree to the purchase?
 Some countries, like China, seller may await the
buyer to raise issue of purchase
Maintaining the Relationship
 Final, but very important step in sales
process
 Satisfied customers purchase again and again
 Customer wants supplier they can trust and who
will be there when problems arise
 Customer satisfaction very important in Japan
 B2B firms track customer satisfaction levels
 Salesperson must have authority to keep
customer satisfied
Ethical Considerations

 Personal selling generates buyer complaints

 Salespersons believed to have low ethical
standards
 Some firms operate from a selling orientation
 Most complaints attributable to management
 Setting unrealistic sales goals/quotas
 Rewarding for sale even when questionable behavior is
involved
Role of Salesperson

 That of a boundary spanner

 Must bring buyer and seller together
 Initial positions often far apart
 Seller wants: highest price, standard
product, longest delivery, and no service
 Buyer wants: lowest price, custom product,
shortest delivery, and service contract
 Salesperson must mediate
Role Conflict
 Salesperson experiences role conflict when
two or more parties want her to comply with
their expectations
 Each party can reward or punish salesperson
 Sales manager can give or withhold raise
 Customer can order or withhold purchase
 Family can give or withhold love, approval
 Salesperson must attempt to satisfy concerns
of all parties – not an easy task!
Chapter 5 Summary
 The sales process is completed
 Approach must be modified based upon culture of
buyer
 No “tricks” to selling; just hard work!
 Salesperson may be viewed as being less
than ethical because of role played
 Role conflict can occur in B2B sales
 Ethical behavior always the best approach
Discussion Questions

 What is the benefit of the global salesperson

making informal sales presentations?
 What kinds of questions might the
prospective buyer have for the global
salesperson after the presentation?
 What is role conflict and how might it affect
the global selling process?