Modern Sales Management

319 Pages·1987·23.016 MB·English

by  Alan West (auth.)

Modern Sales
Management
Also by Alan West
Spreadsheet Marketing
MODERN SALES
MANAGEMENT
Alan West
M
MACMILLAN
EDUCATION
© Alan West 1987
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission
of this publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied
or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance
with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended).
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to
this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and
civil claims for damages.
First published 1987
Published by
MACMILLAN EDUCATION LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
West, Alan
Modern sales management.
1. Sales management
I. Title
658.8'1 HF5438.4
ISBN 978-0-333-42146-8 ISBN 978-1-349-18570-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-18570-2
Contents
List of Illustrations xii
The Links between the Discussion Topics and Case
Studies xiii
Preface xv
Perceptions of Selling I
1
1.1 The Salesman in Society I
1.2 Buyers and Sellers 4
1.3 The Role of Organisations and Buyer
Behaviour 10
1.4 Company Expectations II
1.5 Expectations of the Salesforce and the Case
Study 13
Case Studies 15
Arctic Frozen Foods Monthly Salesforce Meeting 15
Wizard Computers and Blyth 21
2 Recruitment 27
2.1 The Seven Point Recruitment Plan 27
2.2 The Job Description 28
2.3 Defining the Personnel Responsibility 34
2.4 Selection 34
Reaching Likely Applicants 39
Interviewing 40
2.5 Finalising the Appointment 43
Case Studies 45
The Candidate 45
QR 51
vi Contents
3 Preparation for Selling 58
3.1 Prospecting 58
3.2 Discussion 59
Summary 64
3.3 Preparatory Work 64
3.4 Time Organisation 68
Case Study 71
Industrial Cleaners/A eroflex 71
4 Achieving the Sale and Keeping the Customer 77
4.1 Attention 78
4.2 Interest 79
4.3 Demand 79
4.4 Action 81
4.5 Keeping the Customer 84
Complaints 85
Case Studies 86
Quick Snack Case Study 86
Further Exercises 91
5 Supporting the Salesman 1: Training and Support
Systems 95
5.1 Training- Its Relevance 95
5.2 The Need for Information 98
5.3 Direct Mail and Advertising 99
5.4 Customer Follow-up 101
Case Study 107
Uppers Ltd 107
Supporting the Salesman ll: Motivation and
6
Compensation 113
6.1 Job Content 116
6.2 The Nature of the Individual 118
6.3 Management 120
6.4 Motivational Input 121
Salary, commission and bonus 122
Fringe benefits 124
Expenses 125
Competitions 126
Awards 126
Contents vii
Case Study 128
Maxim Ltd 128
Controlling the Salesforce:Analysing Sales
7
Productivity 134
7.1 The Problem 134
7.2 Measuring Output 134
Sales volume 135
Sales value 135
Gross margin analysis 136
Callage rate 136
Repeat business 136
New business development 137
Credit control 137
Advertising activities: merchandising, exhibitions,
test markets 137
Public relations 138
Record keeping 138
Distribution problems 138
Providing information 138
Anomalies in output criteria 138
7.3 Input Factors - External and Industrial 139
Industry potential 139
Atarketshare 140
Total number of accounts 140
Regional price position 140
Company advertising 141
Competitive advertising 141
Company promotional expenditure 141
Competitive promotional expenditure 141
7.4 Input Factors - The Salesforce 142
Training 142
Days in field 143
Total account base at analysis period 143
Customers lost in the accounting period 143
Customers gained 143
Total value of orders obtained 144
Expense levels 144
Salary level/commission 144
viii Contents
8 Appraisal and Discipline 145
8.1 The Case for Standardisation 146
Promotion 146
Salaries and benefits 147
8.2 Standardisation and Appraisal 148
8.3 Appraisal Problems 149
8.4 Personnel Appraisal Techniques 150
Employee comparison 151
Critical incident or attainment 151
Check-list system 152
Rating scales 152
The group approach 152
8.5 The Job Description and Appraisal 153
8.6 Implementation of the Appraisal 154
8. 7 The Background to Discipline 155
Minimising conflict 156
8.8 Disciplinary Problems 156
8.9 Grievance Procedure 158
8.10 The Disciplinary Process 158
Counselling 158
Verbal warnings 158
Written warnings 159
Dismissal 159
Case Studies 160
Channel 160
Burrow's Toys 166
9 Defining Sales Structures 172
9.1 Reconciling Tasks and Objectives 172
9.2 Effective Organisation 173
Organisational considerations and the
salesforce 174
9.3 Work-load Factors 175
Geographical divisions 177
Product divisions 177
Customer divisions 178
National account division 179
9.4 Approaches to Estimating Work-load 179
Intuitive approach 180
Sales productivity approach 180
Contents ix
Contribution to operating margin (COM) 180
Evaluating work-load 182
Sales effort 182
Simulation systems 183
'Callplan' 183
Return on time invested (ROT!) 185
Case Study 187
HandyMan Ltd 187
10 Sales Budgets and Forecasting 194
10.1 Two Key Issues 195
10.2 The Need for a Structured Approach 195
10.3 Handling the Less Predictable 197
Political 197
Economic 198
Technology 198
10.4 Forecasting Techniques 200
Historical analysis 200
Visionary statement 200
Panel consensus 200
Delphi method 201
Cross-impact analysis 201
Exponential smoothing 202
Box-Jenkins 202
X-11 202
Index systems 203
Life-cycle analysis 203
Econometric analysis 203
Regression analysis 204
10.5 Integrating the Forecast with Budgetary
Control 204
Case Study 206
Pilgrim Paper 206
11 Sales Strategy and the Marketing Mix 210
11.1 The Development of a Sales Strategy 210
11.2 The Impact of Product Strategy Factors 211
Abandonment 212
Market penetration 212
Product development 213