Chapter seven: Sales

Responsibility and
Preparation
 Sales responsibilities
The primary responsibility of a salesperson is to
conclude a sale successfully.
This task will involve the identification of customer
needs, presentation and demonstration,
negotiation, handling objections, and closing the
sale.
In order to generate sales successfully, a number of
secondary functions are also carried by most
salespeople. Although termed secondary, they are
vital to long-term sales success. these are:
1- prospecting.
2- database and knowledge management.
3- self-management.
4- handling complaints.
Prospecting :
is the searching for and calling upon customers
who, hitherto, have not purchased from the
company.
-this activity is not of uniform importance across all
branches of selling. It is obviously more important in
industrial selling than retail selling. Why?
Read the example on page 228.
- There is a problem associated with salespeople who
have worked for the same company for many years
is that they rely on established customers to provide
repeat orders rather than seeking new customers.
- This could be due to the fact that working with old
customers is more comfortable than working with
new clients.
The nature of much industrial selling is that, because
product life is long, sustained sales growth depends
upon searching out and selling to new customers.
Sources of prospects:
1- existing customers:
A wealth of new prospects can be obtained simply by
asking satisfied customers if they know of anyone who
may have a need for this kind of products and services
being sold.
Having obtained the name of potential customers, the
salesperson, if appropriate, can ask the customer if he
can use his/her name as a reference. This is called
reference selling.
-reference selling reduces the perceived risk for potential
buyer. Why?
2- trade directories:
A reliable trade directory such as
tradejordan.com, and yellow pages can prove
useful in identifying potential industrial
buyers. Trade directories can be organized
according to different bases such as industry
and location, and they provide useful
information such as:
- name, address and telephone number of
companies.
- Names of board members.
- Size of firm, by turnover and number of
employees.
3-enquiries:
Enquires may arise as a natural consequence
of conducting business. Satisfied customers
may by word of mouth create enquiries from
“warm” prospects.
This source of prospects is an important one
and the salesperson should respond promptly.
The enquirer may have an urgent need
seeking a solution and may turn to
competition if faced with delay.
Even if the customer’s problem is not so
urgent, slow response may foster unfavorable
attitude toward the salesperson and his
The next priority is to screen out those
enquiries which are unlikely to result in a
sale.
A telephone call has the advantage of giving
a personalized response and yet is relatively
inexpensive and not time consuming. It can
be used to check how serious the enquiry is
and to arrange a personal visit.
The process of checking leads to establish
their potential is called qualifying.
4- the press and the internet:
-advertisement and articles can give clues to
potential new sources of businesses.
- articles may reveal diversification plans
which may mean a company suddenly
becomes a potential customer.
- also, advertisement may reveal plans for
expansion, which mean new potential
customers.
- the internet is also a vast resource for
identifying new potential customers.
5- cold canvassing:
-this method involves calling on every
prospect who might have a need for the
salesperson's product.
example: a brush salesperson may attempt to
call upon every house in a village.
- a variant of this method is cool canvass;
where only certain groups of people are
canvassed such as those more likely to buy
since they possess some qualification feature;
for example, only companies over a certain
size may be judged viable prospects.
Database and knowledge management:
- a systematic approach to customer record-
keeping is to be recommended to all repeat-
call salespeople.
-An industrial salesperson should record the
following information:
1- name and address of company.
2- name and position of contact(s)
3-nature of business.
4-data and time of interview.
5- assessment of potential
6- buyer needs, problems and buying habits.
7-past sales with dates.
8-problems/opportunities encountered.
9- future actions on the part of salesperson (and buyer).
-salesperson should also be encouraged to send back to
head office information which is relevant to the
marketing of company products, such as:
1- test market activity by competition.
2- news of imminent product launch.
3- rumors of policy change on the part of trade and
industrial customers and competitors.
4- feedback on company achievement regarding
product performance.
5- delivery and after-sales service.
These were just examples on useful information that a
salesperson can pass to the management.
Self management:
- this aspect of the sales job is of particular
importance since a salesperson is often
working alone with the minimum of personal
supervision.
-a salesperson may have to organize his or
her call plan, it involves:
a- dividing territory into sections to be
covered day by day, and
b- deciding the best route to follow between
calls.
Many salespeople believe that the most
efficient routing plan involves driving out to
- Another factor which may be the
responsibility of the salesperson is deciding
on call frequency.
- Here, the salesperson can grade customers
according to potential; read the example at
page 230.
- The danger of delegating this responsibility to
salesperson is that the criteria used to decide
frequency of visit are friendliness with the
buyer or ease of sale rather than sales
potential.
 Handling complaints:
it may seem at first to be time-consuming activity which diverts
a salesperson from his primary task which is generating sales.
Why a salesperson should handle customers’ complaints?

- complaints vary in their degree of seriousness and in the

authority which the salesperson holds in order to deal with
them.
- no matter how trivial the complaint may seem, the
complainant should be treated with respect and the matter
dealt with seriously.
- the ability of the salesperson to empathize with the customer
and his/her problem and to react sympathetically can create
considerable goodwill and help foster long-term relationship.
Dealing with complaints is one of the after-sale
services provided by suppliers. Therefore it is part
of the mix of benefits that a company offers to its
customers.
Companies give the customer the benefit of the
doubt when this does not involve high cost. This
creates a goodwill and help foster long-term
relationships.
When the complaint's solution is beyond the
salesperson authority, he should submit this
complaint with related information in written form
to head office so that the matter can be taken
further.
Providing services:
-since salespeople meet many customers on a
regular basis, they can become familiar with
solution to common problems. Thus, an industrial
salesperson may be able to advise customers on
improving productivity or cutting costs.
- the service element of industrial selling is often
incorporated into the selling process itself.
Example page 231
- the salesperson who learns solutions to common
problems and provide useful advice to his/her
customers build an effective barrier to competitive
attacks and strengthens buyer-seller relationship.
Read from the book page 231 ( the last paragraph ).
Implementing sales and marketing strategies:
- The salesforce also charged with responsibility of
implementing sales and marketing strategies designed by
management.
- Misunderstanding regarding strategy can have grave
implications. -For example, the credibility of a premium
price and high quality position in the marketplace can be
seriously undermined by a salesforce too eager to give
price discount.
- An effective method of gaining an account in the face of
entrenched competition is the diversion.
- The aim here is to distract a rival into concentrating its
efforts on defending one account.
 Preparation
The ability to think on one’s feet is of great benefit
to sales people, since they will be required to
modify their sales presentation to suit the particular
needs and problems of their various customers and
to respond quickly to unusual objections and
awkward questions.
Some customers will have similar problems; some
questions and objections will be raised repeatedly.
Therefore, a salesperson can usefully spend time
considering how best to respond to these repeated
questions.
In many selling situations, buyers and sellers may
negotiate price, timing of delivery, product extras,
payment and credit terms. Theses are termed as
Sales Negotiations.
In some selling situation, salespeople may
have no scope for such discussion; sometimes
the product may be offered on a take-it-or-
leave-it basis.
Thus, a salesperson of bicycles to dealers
may have a set price list and delivery
schedule with no authority to deviate from
them. This is called pure selling.
Preparation for pure selling and negotiations.
There is a number of factors can be examined
in order to increase the chance of sales
success in both sales negotiation and pure
selling.
1- product knowledge and benefits:
Successful sales people relate product
features to consumer benefits; product
features are the means by which benefits are
derived.
By analyzing the products they are selling in
this way, salespeople will communicate in
terms which are meaningful to buyers and
therefore be more convincing.
in industrial selling, the salesperson may be
called upon to be an adviser or consultant
who is required to provide solutions to
problems.
Moreover, the salesperson must not only know
his/her products benefits, he/she also knows
the types of situation in which each would be
appropriate.
Example on page 235.
2-Knowledge of competitors’ products and their
benefits.
Knowledge of competitive products offers several
advantages:
1- It allows a salesperson to offset the strengths of
competitors’ products, which may be mentioned by
potential buyers, against their weaknesses.
Example page 236.
2- In industrial selling, sales engineers may work with
buying organizations in order to solve a technical
problem. This may result in a product specification
being drawn up in which the sales engineers have an
influence. It is obviously to their benefits that the
specifications reflects the strengths and capabilities of
their products rather than competition. Thus,
knowledge of competitive strengths and weaknesses
will be an advantage.
3- sales presentation planning:
There are considerable advantages to presentation
planning.
1- the salesperson is likely to forget important consumer
benefit associated which each product within the range
he or she selling.
2- the use of visual aids and demonstrators can be
planned into the presentation at the most appropriate
time reinforce the benefits the salesperson is
communicating.
3- it builds confidence in the salesperson, particularly
the newer, less experienced, that he/she well equipped to
do the job efficiently and professionally.
4- possible objections and questions can be anticipated
and persuasive counterarguments prepared. Look at the
example on page 236.
4- setting sales objectives.
The essential skill in setting objectives is to
phrase them in terms of what the salesperson
wants the customer to do rather than what
the salesperson will do.
The type of objective may depend on the Sales
Cycle of the product and the stage reached in
that cycle with prospective customers.
The sales cycle refers to the time that can
reasonably be expected to pass before an
order is concluded.
With many retail sales this is short. Often,
unless a sale is concluded during the first
With capital goods, the cycle is vey long, it
can extend to years.
For product with longer sales cycle sensible
objectives may be:
1- for the customer to define clearly what is his
or her requirements are.
2- to have the customer visit the production
site.
3- to have the customer try the product. e.g. fly
on an aircraft.
4- to have the customer compare the product
versus competitive products in terms of
measurable performance criteria.
Skip this slide
5- understanding buyer behavior.
Careful preparation may be necessary for industrial
salespeople, either when selling to new companies or
when selling to existing customers where the nature of
the product is different.
Enough time should given to the task of identifying the
key influencers and decision makers. The salesperson
needs to be aware of the real needs to treat each
organization individually.
Collecting information such as name and position of each
key influencer, the times most suitable for interview, the
types of competitive products previously purchased by the
buying organization, and any threat to a successful sale or
special opportunities afforded by the situation
Read from the book page 237.
Preparation for sales negotiations
In addition to the factors outlined in the
previous section negotiator will benefit by
paying attention to the following additional
factors during preparation.
1- Assessment of balance of power:
Seller and buyer will each be expecting to
conclude a deal which is favorable to
themselves. The extent to which each is
successful will depend upon their negotiating
skills and the balance of power between the
parties.
This balance of power will determined by four
key factors:
A- The number of options available to each
party:
IF a buyer has only one option-to buy from the
seller in question- then that seller is in a
powerful position.
If the seller, in turn, is not dependent on the
buyer but has many attractive potential
customers for the product, then he/she is in a
strong position.
Conversely, when a buyer has many potential
sources of supply and a seller has few
potential customers, the buyer should be able
to extract a good deal.
B- the quality and quantity of information held by
each party.
(Knowledge is power).
If a buyer has access to a seller’s cost structure
then he/she is in a powerful position to
negotiate a cheaper price, or at least to avoid
paying too high price. If a seller knows how
much a buyer is willing to pay, then his or her
power position is improved.
C- need recognition and satisfaction:
The greater the salesperson’s understanding of
the needs of the buyer and more capable she/he
is of satisfying those needs, the stronger will be
The more the buyer believes that his or her
needs can be satisfied by only one company, the
weaker is the buyer’s negotiating chance.
D-The pressure on the parties:
Where a technical problem is of great
importance to a buying organization, its
visibility high and solution difficult, any supplier
who can solve it will gain immense bargaining
power.
If on the other hand, there are pressure on
salesperson, perhaps because of low sales
return, then a buyer should be able to extract
extremely favorable terms during negotiations
 Implications
1- before negotiations ( and indeed during them)
salespeople will benefit by assessing the
relative strength of their power base. This
implies that they need information such as:.
- The number of companies who are competing
for the order.
- Their likely stances,
- The criteria used by the buying organization
when deciding between them,
- The degree of pressure on key member of the
decision making unit,
- Any formula they might use for assessing price
acceptability.
2- This process should lessen the chance of
pricing too low or of needlessly giving away
other concessions like favorable payment
terms.
3- at this stage judicious negotiator will look to
the future to assess likely changes in the
balance of power; perhaps power lies with
the supplier now, but overpowering or trying
to extract too much from the buyer might
provoke retribution later when the buyer has
more suppliers from which to choose.
2- determination of negotiating objectives:
It is prudent for negotiators to set objectives
during the preparation stage. This reduces the
likelihood of being swayed by the heat of
negotiations battle and of accepting a deal
which, with hindsight, should have been
rejected.
When negotiation is conducted by a team,
discussion of objectives helps co-ordination and
unity.
It is useful to consider two types of objectives:
A- must have objectives. The “must have”
objectives define a bargainer’s minimum
requirement; for example, the minimum price at
which a seller is willing to trade. This
B- “would like“ objectives: these are the maximum a
negotiator can reasonably expect to get; for example, the
highest price a seller feels he/she can realistically obtain.
This determines the opening position of buyers and
sellers.
- When considering “must have” objectives it is useful to
consider the Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement
(BATNA). This involves the identification of one’s
alternative if agreement cannot be reached. It sets a
standard against which any offer can be assessed and
guards against accepting unfavorable terms when
pressured by a more powerful buyer. Also, during the
negotiations themselves, its identification allows a
comparison with each possible proposal that emerges
with the BATNA to assess weather a negotiated
agreement is better than the alternative.
- Read the example on page 239.
Moreover, the notion of BATNA encourages people without a
strong alternative to create one. For example, before entering
pay negotiations, the seller of services (employee) can
strengthen his or her position by improving his her BATANA by
seeking and getting favorable job offer elsewhere.
3- Concession analysis:
Since negotiation implies movement in order to achieve
agreement, it is likely that concession will be made by at least
one party during the bargaining process.
Preparation can aid negotiator by analyzing the kinds of
concessions which might be offered to other side. The key is to
value concessions the seller might be prepared to make
through the eyes of the buyer. By doing this it may be possible
to identify concessions which cost the seller very little and yet
are highly valued by the buyer.
There is an example on page 240.
The aim of the concession analysis is to ensure
that nothing which has value to the buyer is
given away freely during negotiations.
We should trade concessions for concessions
4- Proposal analysis:
A further sensible activity during the
preparation stage is to estimate the proposals
and demands the buyer is likely to make during
the course of negotiation, and the seller’s
reaction to them, it helps when quick decision
have to be made in the heat of the negotiations.