CHAPTER 1:

DEVELOPMENT AND ROLE OF SELLING IN MARKETING

Learning Outcomes:
After studying this chapter, students should be able to:
•Describe the scope of selling and sales management.
•Map out the evolutionary path followed by the sales profession.
•Discuss the types of selling activities and the image of selling as a
career.
•Present the traditional selling process and relate how modern selling
augments the traditional framework.
•Distinguish between industrial (B2B) and consumer (B2C) marketing
and selling.
Roles of sales Strategic planning:

management • giving general direction of the salesforce in line with the

mission, vision and culture of the organisation.

• Reviewing the marketing plan.

• formulation of sales goals, objectives and strategies.

• Formulating sales policies and procedures.

• ensuring how the department contribute to the overall

organisational goals through allocation of resources.

• Overseeing the implementation of sales plans, monitoring,

evaluating and controlling.
Roles of sales Organising the sales force:

management • deciding on salesforce organisation design, i.e.

generalist vs specialists.

• determining the sales personnel compliment to

meet organisational targets

• assigning of sales quotas and territories

• ensuring team membership

Roles of sales Recruiting, Selection and Assimilation:

management • when more people are needed,

initiate the recruitment process

• collaborate with HR department to

select suitable candidates

• induction and assimilate new sales

personnel
 Training and Development:
Roles of sales
management • evaluating sales personnel to assess their
training needs

• in consultation with the HR department,

develop and arrange training programs for
those in need.

• conduct on-the-job training for the sales staff

• career guidance to support personnel individual

development in preparation for promotions or
more responsibilities
 Leadership, Motivation and Compensation:
Roles of sales
• regularly motivate the sales personnel to
management enhance their performance and reduce
staff turnover
• incentivise sales force, hence aligning
compensation to performance
• solves disputes among sales team
members
• provide fairness and equity to maintain
harmony within the sales team
Roles of sales Performance Evaluation
management • evaluating if performance is
aligned to achieving
organisational goals
• check if sales people are
meeting targets
• accounting for shortfalls and
taking corrective action
• evaluating to determine training
needs
BRIEF HISTORY OF SELLING

Click here to view an

infographic by Revegy Inc.
EVOLUTION OF SELLING
Should be understood from the evolution of marketing
perspective and per each phase, selling function must be
explained:
1.Production concept
2.Product concept
3.Sales concept
4.Marketing concept
5.Societal marketing concept
6.Relationship marketing concept
PRODUCTION CONCEPT
• Industrial revolution until early twentieth century (1890s – 1920s).
• Holds that consumers will favour products that are available and affordable.
• Characterised by focus on physical production and supply.
• Demand exceeded supply, there was little competition and range of products was
limited.
• Central notion was that products would sell themselves.
• Consumer interests ignored.
• Henry Ford was the proponent when selling his Model T car.
• Consumers were relatively poor and unsophisticated.
• Pilling of stocks
• Minimal selling effort
PRODUCT CONCEPT
• Holds that customers favour products which offer superior
quality, performance and innovative features.
• Focus is on continuous product improvement than on the need the
product fulfils.
• Customer needs are not incorporated in these improvements.
• Thrive on the strengths of their engineers.
• Marketing myopia and better mousetrap fallacy.
• Results in the ‘icarus paradox.’
• Minimal selling effort.
SALES CONCEPT
• Still in existence in most firms selling unsought products.
• Came about as a result of the need to clear stockpiles.
• Holds that consumers if left alone, will not buy enough of
organisation’s product, hence the need to adopt an
aggressive selling and promotional effort.
• Basic assumption is sales volume is key to profitability,
hence goal of maximising volumes.
• Characterised by supply exceeding demand.
• Birth of immense selling activity.
• Short-term focus.
MARKETING CONCEPT
• Success can be achieved only through customer
satisfaction.
• Holds that achieving organisational goals depends on
determining the needs and wants of the target market and
delivering the desired market offerings better than
competitors.
• Organisational activities revolves around customer needs.
• Customers are in a better financial position, more
sophisticated and there is wide variety of products.
• Integrative.
• Long term-focus.
• Anchored on four key elements; target market, customer
needs, market offering and profitability.
• Selling takes a facilitative role, matching product benefits to
customer needs in order to sell.
SOCIETAL MARKETING CONCEPT
• Strong focus on social and ethical concerns.
• Recognises that it may be irresponsible to
attempt to satisfy individual customer’s needs.
• Based on two arguments;
1.Good corporate citizenship as opposed to firms’
narrow interests.
2. An instrumental approach, where socially
responsible marketing is seen as a survival and a
competitive tool.
SALES TASKS
Can be classified either as order-getting or order-taking.
• Order-getters: people who spend most of their time on sales
development. They create sales through their creativity and
planning skills in presenting their products.

• Order-takers: entails accepting customer orders. More reactive

than proactive, ranging from asking for customer’s specific needs
to waiting for customer to order.
CHANGING FACE OF
SELLING
Another paradigm shift.
• Advent of information age and globalization.
• Intense competition
• Stronger consumerism.
• Relationship selling.
Digital-age and Globalisation

• Better informed consumers.

• Increased variety of product choice.
• Growth of digital marcomms for easy
reach (transaction facilitation).
• Alteration of the macro environment
(economic and socio-cultural).
Competition

• Opening of trade floodgates.

• Cultural relativism (effect of global
brands).
• Global/local brands alliances.
• Marketing information precision.
Consumerism

• Individualised customer as a result of

market fragmentation.
• Sophisticated and powerful consumer.
• Customer is king.
Relationship Selling
• Selling no longer an ad-hoc process.
• Based on the belief that building long lasting
relationships with customers leads to future sales.
• Stems from the relationship marketing concept.
• based on the positivity and pull principles.
TRADITIONAL VS MODERN
SELLING
• Product standardisation no longer a winning
formula.
• From selling to buying facilitation.
• Customer knowledge important than product
knowledge.
• Understand customer value systems or customer
firm’s value chain.
• Selling no longer a departmental task
Cont…….

• Open communications.
• Ability to identify customer needs and
facilitate buying.
• Tailor make your offering to suit
customer needs not vice versa.
THE MODERN SALES
METHODOLOGY
1. Creating relationships
2. Building relationships
3. Sustaining relationships
CONSULTATIVE SELLING & SPIN
• A more involving method than the one-way
Seven steps methodology.
• Deeper probing to understand issues beyond the
product itself.
• Identify and then ‘enlarge’ customer needs.
• Match this information to seller’s offering.
• Example, Rackham’s SPIN (Situation, Problem,
Implication and Need pay-off) model.
COLLABORATIVE AND
FACILITATIVE SELLING
• Propounded by Sharon Morgen Drew.
• Seller’s job is to assist the customer to
understand their needs.
• Salespeople to be within customer's’ culture or
system.
• Seller positioned to help buyer discover how to
solve problems.
• Only the buyer not the seller, can be able to work
their way through decision making.
Cont….
• Seller can be an advisor.
• Not about creating interest in order to sell, but a
decision-based system that helps the customer
discover;
• 1)All the elements of the decision making
process.
• 2)Consequences of their decisions viz-a-viz
their systems.
• “People don’t want to be sold to but they want to
buy”
TYPES OF MARKETS
• There are two market categories that make selling thereto distinct.
These are:
• Consumer markets- the seller targets only end-users (consumers).
Also known as B2C.
• Business markets- where one business sells to another business.
Also known as B2B or industrial selling.
• However, of late we have seen many businesses embracing both,
for example, Ford South Africa serve both the consumer and
business markets and more clothing labels now have their own
stores selling directly to end-users that to retailers.
B2B VERSUS B2C MARKETING
• B2C: businesses sell products and services to
consumers for household or personal use

• B2B: businesses sell products and services to

other businesses for use in their daily operations
or for making other products and services
SECTORS OF THE B2B
MARKET
Producers – includes all manufacturers and service
providers; buy goods to use in making other goods or
services
Middlemen – buy goods for resale; includes all
retailers and wholesalers (distributors, vendors)
Government – includes all state, and local
governments and govt. agencies
Nonprofit – includes charities, schools and
universities, museums, etc.
What implications does
the differences pose for
marketers?