Sales Management Quiz

Session 1: Chapter 1. Development and Role of Selling in Marketing

• The session covers the development and role of selling in marketing
• The objectives of the learning session are to:
  • Understand implications of production, sales, and marketing orientation
  • Understand why selling generally has a negative image
  • Know how selling fits into the marketing mix
  • Identify the responsibilities of sales management
  • Recognize the role of selling as a career

Nature and Role of Selling

• Selling is a complex process
• It involves principles, techniques, and substantial personal skills
• Sales personnel are crucial as the primary link to customers
• Selling roles vary significantly
  • Selling capital equipment to industrial customers
  • Exporting to diverse markets
  • Selling directly to consumers
  • Periodic or customized sales
  • Personalized selling methods

Strengths of Personal Selling

• Interactive: questions and objections can be addressed
• Adaptive: Presentations can be tailored to customer needs
• Complex arguments can be developed
• Relationships can be fostered due to personal interaction
• Provides the opportunity to close sales successfully

Weaknesses of Personal Selling

• Expensive
• Variable
• Inconsistent

Characteristics of Modern Selling

• Customer retention and deletion: Pareto principle (80/20 rule), small customers cost more
• Database and knowledge management: Zoom meetings, video conferences, electronic catalogs, price lists, company profiles, CRM systems
• Customer relationship management: Focus on long-term relationships, win-win situations
• Marketing the product: Participating in marketing activities, focusing on problem solving
• Modern selling (B2B): Salespeople act as consultants rather than traditional salespeople
• Satisfying needs and adding value: Customers may not be aware of their needs

Top Ten Success Factors in Selling

• Top skills for success include: following up, adapting to different sales situations, persistence, organizational skills, verbal communication, effective interaction with people in an organization, overcoming objections, closing skills, and time management.

Types of Selling

• Selling function includes order takers, order creators, and order getters
• Sub-categories are: inside order takers, delivery salespeople, outside order takers, missionary salespeople, new business salespeople, organizational salespeople, consumer salespeople, technical support salespeople, and merchandisers.

B2B and B2C Markets

• B2C Markets: Customers buy for personal use.
  • Sub-markets include fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), semi-durable goods (e.g., clothing, shoes), and durable goods (e.g., cars, computers).
• B2B Markets: Deals involve skilled negotiators, and the buying/selling process can extend over months or years.
  • Sub-markets include supplies/consumables, capital equipment, and business services.

Selling as a Career

• Essential qualities for salespeople include empathy for understanding customer needs, communication skills to convey messages and listen effectively, determination to overcome rejections, and resilience during unsupervised work.

Image of Selling

• Misconceptions about selling: It's not a worthwhile career, good products will sell themselves, and selling is immoral.
• Demotivational elements in sales include rejection, "foreign territory" (B2B situations), and loneliness/isolation.
• Selling offers a valuable exchange mechanism and is a valuable career path; good products don't sell themselves.

Skills Succeed in Selling

• Skills to succeed in selling include listening without an agenda, being sincere, asking questions to assist customers, having the skills to succeed in selling, and having ethical behavior.

The Nature and Role of Sales Management

• Key characteristics of effective sales managers, ranked by managers and salespeople. Characteristics include communication, human relations, organizational skills, knowledge, coaching, motivation, ethics, selling ability, leadership, adaptability.

Sale Manager Duties and Responsibilities

• Duties include determining sales objectives and goals; forecasting and budgeting; sales force organization, design, and planning; sales force selection, recruitment, and training; motivating the sales force; sales force evaluation and control.

The Marketing Concept

• Four major business philosophies:
  • Selling orientation (1920s-1960s): Consumers need extensive sales efforts.
  • Production orientation (early 1900s with Ford): Focus on affordable production and efficient distribution.
  • Product orientation: Focus on developing superior products, features, and continuous quality improvement. -Marketing orientation: Focus on determining customer needs and delivering desired satisfaction.

The Marketing Mix

• The evolution of the marketing mix including the 4Ps (Product, Price, Promotion, Place) and extensions including 5Ps, 6Ps, 7Ps, 15Ps.

The Product Life Cycle

• The product life cycle stages (Introduction, Growth, Maturity, Decline) and their impact on sales and profits.

Product Adoption and Diffusion

• Product adoption by different customer segments (Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, Laggards). Graph showing the percentage of first-time adopters over time.

Relationship Between Sales and Marketing

• Different company organizational charts illustrating sales-oriented and marketing-oriented structures
• Relationship between marketing strategy and sales management (objectives, recruitment, training, evaluation).
• Marketing strategy and corresponding sales strategies for build, hold, harvest, and divest phases.
• Sales buy-in of marketing strategies. Key aspects include objectivity, persuasion, positioning, and involvement.

Test your knowledge on key concepts in sales management, including essential skills, challenges faced by salespeople, and common misconceptions about selling. This quiz covers various aspects of the sales profession and its strategies.