CHAPTER 1

SELLING AND
SALESPEOPLE

Stephen B. Castleberry | John F. Tanner Jr.

Copyright © 2014 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• What is selling?
• Why should you learn selling even if you do not plan to
be a salesperson?
• What is the role of personal selling in a firm?
• What are the different types of salespeople?
• What are the rewards of a selling career?

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 PERSONAL SELLING

• Human-driven interaction between and within

individuals/organizations
• No sequential steps
• Involves many people
• Creates value
• Customer value proposition: Collection of buyer-specific
benefits

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 PERSONAL SELLING

• Creates economic exchange

• Involves profits for both parties
• Personal Value Equation = Benefits received - (Selling price
+ Time and effort to purchase)

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EXAMPLES OF WAYS THAT SALESPEOPLE CAN
ADD VALUE IN A SELLING SITUATION
• Provide interface between the buying and selling
companies
• Identify networks of key players and help activate them
to the task of cocreating value
• Encourage two-way communication and help to create
effective bonds between people
• Help to create a climate of coleadership with seller

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EXAMPLES OF WAYS THAT SALESPEOPLE CAN
ADD VALUE IN A SELLING SITUATION
• Encourage both sides to learn and understand each other
• Facilitate truly useful meetings and conversations
between all parties
• Help to manage situations that arise to bring everyone
back to a value-adding perspective
• Help to foster trust and commitment

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EXAMPLES OF WAYS THAT SALESPEOPLE CAN
ADD VALUE IN A SELLING SITUATION
• Be attuned to activities that increase value adding and
help facilitate more of them
• Help key players understand the perception of value
• Create meaning out of situations that arise and
conversations that occur
• Help to provide closure on solutions that provide value
to all parties

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 SELLING FROM NON-SALE PERSPECTIVE

• Industrial relations executives use selling approaches

when negotiating with unions
• Aspiring management trainees sell themselves to
superiors to get raises and promotions
• Leaders are skilled at:
• Selling value
• Influencing others
• Developing long-term relationships

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 CREATING VALUE: THE ROLE OF
SALESPEOPLE IN A BUSINESS
• Go-to-market strategies: Approaches used to add
customer while adding value
• Selling through the:
• Internet
• Field sales representatives
• Business partners
• Resellers
• Manufacturer agents
• Franchises
• Telemarketers
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 CREATING VALUE: THE ROLE OF
SALESPEOPLE IN A BUSINESS
Customer lifetime value
• Estimated value of the customer over the lifetime of the relationship

Sales force-intensive organizations

• Organizations whose that rely heavily on salespeople

Multichannel strategy
• Using several strategies at the same time

Integrated marketing communications

• Communication programs that coordinate the use of various vehicles

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EXHIBIT 1.2 - COMMUNICATION
METHODS

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 CLIENT RELATIONSHIP MANAGER

• Customercentric: Making the customer the center of

everything the salesperson does
• Six sigma selling programs: Designed to reduce errors
introduced by the selling system to practically zero
• 24/7 service: Selling firm to be available for 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week

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 ACCOUNT TEAM MANAGER

• Salespeople coordinate activities within firms to solve

customer problems
• Team selling better as selling alone leads to:
• Poor performance
• Lower job satisfaction
• Higher turnover intentions

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 SUPPLY CHAIN LOGISTICS AND CHANNEL
MANAGER
• Supply chain logistics: Management of the supply
chain
• Necessary to interact with other partners and vendors to
meet a customer’s needs

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INFORMATION PROVIDER TO THEIR FIRM

• Salespeople are:
• Eyes and ears of the company
• Skillful at disseminating knowledge acquired from
customers to other people in their companies
• Customer relationship management system:
Information transmitted electronically to the company,
its salespeople, and its customers and is contained in
this system

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 SELLING AND DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS

• Distribution channel: Set of people and organizations

responsible for the flow of products and services from
the producer to the ultimate user
• Business-to-business channels
• Direct sales to a business customer
• Sales through distributors
• Trade salespeople: Employed by manufacturer to sell to
distributors

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SELLING AND DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS

• Missionary salespeople: Work for manufacturer and promote

their products to other firms
• Customer channels
• Manufacturers’ agents: Independent businesspeople paid a
commission by manufacturer for products and services sold

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EXHIBIT 1.3 - SALES JOBS AND THE
DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL

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EXHIBIT 1.3 - SALES JOBS AND THE
DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL

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 DESCRIBING SALES JOBS

Stage of the buyer–seller relationship

• Selling to prospects requires different skills than does selling to

existing customers

Salesperson’s role

• Taking orders or creating new solutions

Importance of the customer’s purchase decision

• Sales jobs involving important decisions for customers differ greatly

from sales jobs involving minor decisions
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 DESCRIBING SALES JOBS

Field salespeople
• Communicate with the customer face to face, at the customers location

Inside salespeople
• Communicate with customers by telephone or computer, at employer’s location

Nature of the offering sold by the salesperson

• Types of benefits provided by products and services affects the nature of the sales job

Salesperson’s role in securing customer commitment:

• Sales jobs differ by the types of commitments sought and the manner in which they are
obtained

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EXHIBIT 1.4 - CREATIVITY LEVEL OF SALES
JOBS

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 CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCCESSFUL
SALESPEOPLE

Self - motivated

Dependable and trustworthy

Ethical sales behavior

Customer and product knowledge

Analytical skills

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 CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCCESSFUL
SALESPEOPLE

Ability to use information technology

Communication skills

Flexibility and agility

Creativity

Confidence and optimism

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 STEPS IN SELLING

Prospecting

Planning for the sales call

Making the sales call

Strengthening the presentation

Responding to objections

Obtaining commitment

Building partnering relationships after the sale

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