THE PROCESS OF SELLING AND BUYING

1. THE PROCESS OF SELLING AND BUYING www.AssignmentPoint.com

2. In the old world of selling, a salesperson departed the office in the morning and hopefully returned in the afternoon with newly signed contracts in his or her briefcase. Although this mode of selling was once an acceptable way of life, it has fallen out of favor with sales management for at least two good reasons:1. This is not a teachable, repeatable way to sell. Consequently, it cannot be leveraged across a sales force or used to train new salespeople when they come on board. If sales management has no definition of how they want their salespeople to sell, then their only means of improvement is to fire the least productive salespeople and roll the dice on the next. Formal sales processes allow a company to scale its sales force by teaching its salespeople how to succeed. 2. With no process steps or milestones, it is impossible to measure and manage the improvement of the sales force. If all a sales manager knows is the number of people who departed in the morning and the number of contracts that returned in the afternoon, there is no way to identify opportunities for improvement. Formal sales processes are required to measure and manage a sales force. World-class sales organizations understand this and strive to develop standard operating procedures for their people to follow. THE CASE FOR A FOCUS ON THE SALES PROCESS www.AssignmentPoint.com

3. The nature of selling has changed. Sales organizations are being reinvented to better address the needs of the changing marketplace. Six critical drivers of change have been identified in reinventing sales organizations so they can compete successfully in today's selling environment:1. Building long-term relationships with customers. This includes assessing customer value and focusing on high-priority customers. 2. Creating sales organizational structures that are more nimble and adaptable to the needs of different customer groups. 3. Gaining greater job ownership and commitment from salespeople. This can be accomplished by removing functional barriers within the organization and by leveraging the team experience. DRIVERS OF CHANGE IN SELLING AND SALES MANAGEMENT www.AssignmentPoint.com

4. 4. Shifting sales management style from commanding to coaching. Or, put another way, today's sales managers must create an environment that allows salespeople to use their talents and abilities to successfully secure, build, and maintain relationships with profitable customers. 5. Leveraging available technology for sales success. Clearly, salespeople today have more types of technological tools at their disposal than ever before. The sales organizations that make the best use of technology will have a strong competitive edge over others. 6. Better integrating salesperson performance evaluation. A real weakness of many sales organizations in the past was in how they evaluated and ultimately rewarded their salespeople. The move from transactional selling to relationship selling, coupled with the use of selling teams and a more coaching style of management, necessitates rethinking the performance evaluation and reward process for sales organizations. DRIVERS OF CHANGE IN SELLING AND SALES MANAGEMENT/Cont…. www.AssignmentPoint.com

5. WHY SALES JOBS ARE SO REWARDING • Autonomy, or the freedom of action and opportunities for personal initiative. • Multifaceted and challenging activities as part of the job, sales activities that will be addressed later in this chapter. • Financial rewards-salespeople hired right out of college, for example, tend to start at higher salaries the most other professions and also tend to keep up well during their careers with the compensation of their peers outside of sales (due to the nature of sales compensation being linked directly to performance). • Favorable working conditions, often via telecommuting with a virtual office, and with less minute-to-minute direct supervision than most other careers. • Excellent opportunities for career development and advancement. www.AssignmentPoint.com

6. SALES PERSON TO CEO With companies increasingly focusing on customer satisfaction and building long-term relationships with customers, they are tapping the sales and marketing ranks to fill CEO positions. Here are five steps you can take to place yourself in that swanky corner office: • Understand the whole business. Sales and marketing people can become quite focused on just sales and marketing. Customer relationships are vital, but make sure to gain knowledge of how the rest of a company works. No executive can be CEO without being able to talk the talk about every aspect of a company. • Take on extra responsibilities. In an effort to understand other parts of your business, spend time with other departments. Learn what it's like to be a factory worker or a researcher. Not only will this give you overall insight, but it will undoubtedly get you respect throughout the organization. www.AssignmentPoint.com

7. SALES PERSON TO CEO/Cont…. • Show you want it. Knowledge and experience are important for attaining the top spot, but proving your desire is vital. Let the people above you know your aspirations and constantly prove to them why you're qualified. • Gain self-awareness. No CEO can be good at leading without fully understanding his or her strengths and weaknesses. Ask for honest assessments from your employees your bosses, and your customers. Process that knowledge and improve on it. • Network, network, network, you have to know the top people to become one of them. It may feel like a game at some point, but no executive can get the head job unless he or she continuously has meaningful conversations with to brass. www.AssignmentPoint.com

8. Sales Director or Vice President Sales Manager Sales Trainee Sales Person CEO Brand Manager Marketing Director or Vice President POSSIBLE CAREER TRACKS FOR SALESPEOPLE www.AssignmentPoint.com

9. SALES JOB FACTORS AND SELECTED ASSOCIATED ACTIVITIES www.AssignmentPoint.com

10. TYPE OF SESSING JOBS • Selling in Business to Consumer versus Business to Business Markets: • In terms of sheer numbers, most salespeople are employed in various kinds of retail selling. These jobs in terms of sheer numbers, most salespeople are employed in various kinds of retail selling. These jobs involve selling goods and services to end-user consumers for their own personal use. Thus salespeople here are referred to as selling in the business-to-consumer (B2C) market. A much greater amount of relationship selling is accounted for by the business-to-business (B2B) market, which used to be called industrial selling-the sale of goods and services to non-end-user consumers. • Selling in business-to-business markets involves three types of customers: • Sales to resellers, as when a salesperson for Hanes sells underwear to a retail store, which in turn resells the goods to its customers. • Sales to business users, as when a salesperson for general Electric sells materials or parts to Boeing, which users them to produce another product; or when a Xerox sales person sells a law firm a copier o be used in conducting the firm's business. • Sales to institutions, as when Dell sells a computer to a not-for-profit hospital or a government agency. www.AssignmentPoint.com

11. TYPE OF SESSING JOBS/Cont… Classifying of B2B Sales Jobs 1. Trade servicer: The sales force's primary responsibility is to increase business from current and potential customers by providing them with merchandising and promotional assistance. The "trade" referred to in the label is the group of resellers such as retailers or distributors with whom this sales force does business. A Procter & Gamble salesperson selling soap and laundry products to chain-store personnel is an example of trade selling. 2. Missionary seller. The sales force's primary job is to increase business from current and potential customers by providing them with product information and other personal selling assistance. Missionary salespeople often do not take orders from customers directly but persuade customers to buy their firm's product from distributors or other wholesale suppliers. 3. Technical seller. The sales force's primary responsibility is to increase business form current customers and potential customers by providing them with technical and engineering information and assistance. A sales engineer from the General Electric jet engine company calling on Boeing is engaged in technical selling. The trend nowadays is for most technical selling to be accomplished through cross-functional selling teams. This is because the complexity of many of the products and associated services involved in technical selling make it difficult of any one salesperson to master all aspects of this sale. 4. New business seller. The sales force's primary responsibility is to identify and obtain business from new customers. In relationship selling, this is analogous to a focus on securing and building the customer relationship. www.AssignmentPoint.com

12. 6 Servicing the account 5 Closing the sale 4 Presenting the sales message 3 Qualification prospect 2 Opening the relationship 1 Prospecting for Customers STAGES OF THE SELLING PROCESS www.AssignmentPoint.com

13. ORGANIZATIONAL BUYING DECISION STAGES STAGE ONE Anticipation or recognition of a problem or need STAGE TWO Determination and description of the traits and quality of the needed item(s) STAGE THREE Search for and qualification of potential suppliers STAGE FOUR Acquisition and analysis of proposal or bids STAGE FIVE Evaluation of proposals and selection of suppliers STAGE SIX Selection of an order routine STAGE SEVEN Performance evaluation and feedback www.AssignmentPoint.com