Due Date: 15th NOV 2010

Submission Date: 15th NOV 2010

MARKETING MANAGEMENT-II

Case 7
What They Didn’t Teach in Sales Class at My
Business School
Submitted by:
Group 4
Name Roll No Batch Phone No Foreian id
Arpan Senggupta 43013 IMG 4 7827196515 043013@foreian.com
Chetan Sharma 43017 IMG 4 9811868332 043017@foreian.com
Irshad Ali 43027 IMG 4 9560035670 043027@foreian.com
Puneet Jain 43039 IMG 4 9582408730 043039@foreian.com
Sudhir Mishra 43055 IMG 4 9868070988 043055@foreian.com

Fore School of Management

B-18, Qutab Institutional Area,
New Delhi, India
Case MM- II

What They Didn’t Teach in Sales Class at My Business School

_______________________________________

SUMMARY:-The case deals mostly with the lifestyle of a person named

Rick, who is a sales manager, and his dissatisfaction with his current job. When
Rick was in High school he was more into athletics and cheer leading. He was into
sales field because he doesn’t like Algebra.Rick is more or less an average person
who is employed as a salesperson with Nabisco after his B.S degree in marketing
from University of Alabama at Birmingham Due to his inability to deal with
Mathematics he chose marketing as his specialization.

Rick expected his job to be on the easier side. This misconception of his deepened
during the one month training period which was mostly spent reviewing sales
training manuals ,completing employment paperwork and observing his superior
Mr. Brown making all the calls. But the same work seemed difficult on his own.
Coupled with that is the physically demanding nature of the job and lack of any
family time. Furthermore ‘salesperson’ tag was viewed as a low profile job by his
wife and few retailers which build on his emotional pressure. He himself began
questioning the status of his job.

Rick found out that the sales education he received deals mainly with the
advantages of selling but the job is teaching him all these disadvantages. He felt
helpless by factors such as competiton which is not under his direct control but
severely affects his reports. All these factors had driven Rick to think of quitting
his present job and searching for new options.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

1. Should Rick Lester “turn in his keys”? Is selling “for everybody &
anybody” ? What are key success factors that may ensure success in a sales
job ?

Ans:-© No Rick Lester should not “turn in his keys”.

Reasons:
1. Rick Lester had a habit of running away from problems. He had
done it earlier in case of his study. He is going to tha same thing
 again. With this kind of attitude even if he find a new job he will
again have very hard time there. Rather he should face the
problem.
2. Rick had a tendency to take matters lightly. He is someone who
runs after easy jobs instead of establishing himself by tackling
difficult ones. If he gives up this attitude of his there is no reason
that he can’t succeed. He is smart enough to recognize that a
course in Marketing only markets the subject. He had to learn the
disadvantages through practical experience and develop measures
to counter these.
3. The problems like heavy workload, less time for family,
uncontrollable factors like competition are there in every jobs.
Everyone is expected to perform with these circumstances. He
might discuss the balancing of professional and personal live with
other colleagues. Competition factor can be tackled by being more
competitive such as reporting this matters to higher management,
inducing higher management to pay incentives to retailers or
following the same strategy as the competitors.
4. The last problem is the “problem of recognition”. Rick is obsessed
with the idea that ‘salesman’ is a low profile job. His wife and
retailers seemed to have deepened this conception. In this regard
the biggest example is of Mr. Brown. Since he had trained Rick it
can be safely assumed that he was in the same position himself yet
he rose to the position of eminence. Rick can draw motivation
from Mr. Brown that even salesman can make it big.

© Selling is always never for everybody or anybody. Choosing sales person and
preparing them for sales requires a variety of criteria:-
 Recruiting and Selecting representatives:- Studies indicates that the top
27% of the sales force brought in 52% of the sales. Conversely it’s a great
waste to hire wrong people as the average annual turnover rate is 20%.
However studies indicates that sales performance does not depends on
background, experience, current lifestyle, attitude, personality etc. Thus
choosing appropriate sales people is a major concern because studies
indicates most of the time firms are afraid of quality of sales people of the
competitive firm rather than the quality of its products.
 Training and supervising sales representatives: Consumers of today
expects sales people to have product knowledge. Thus different innovative
techniques for training the sales force are emerging such as use od CDs,
Programmed learning, Distance learning. Studies show that training period
 in medical is 28 weeks, in service companies 12 weeks, in consumer
companies 4 weeks. Thus only devoted personnel are able to take on selling.
 Meeting sales objective: Many companies set annual sales quotas. The
sales manager distributes his area among his representatives. Sometimes a
rep’s quota are fixed higher , to spur extra effort or may be to build
confidence. One general view is that salesperson’s quota should be at least
equal to the person’s last year sales , plus some fraction of the territory’s
potential to last year sales. Thus a salesperson is under constant pressure and
hence only competent persons are suitable for effective selling
 Evaluation of sales representatives: Sales rep’s are required to submit
report called sales report. These are of two types:- (1)Activity Plans (2)Call
reports. Activity plans delas with the planning and scheduling of the
activities and their whereabouts. This report is to be submitted before a week
or month.
The call report is submitted after the sale period. It consists of the following:
1. Average number of calls made per day by salesman
2. Average sell call time per conbtact
3. Average revenue per sales call
4. Average cost per sales call
5. Percentage of orders per hundred calls
6. Number of new customers per selling period
7. Number of lost customers per selling period
A salesperson is evaluated on his or her reports. Apart from these factors
firms also take into account customer feedbacks. Thus incompetent people
cannot become good sales person.

© Key success factors that may ensure success in a sales job:-

o Prospecting and Qualifying:- Salesperson needs to qualify leads by

contacting them through mails, phone, social networking sites to assess
their level of interest and financial capacity.
o Preapproach:- The saleson person needs to learn as much as possible about
the prospects and buyers. Another task is to choose the best contact
approach, whether a personal visit, a phone call, or a letter.
o Presntation and Demonstration: The salesperson need to tell about the
product using a features, advantages, benefits and value approach.
o Overcoming Objections:- Customers pose two type of objections
1. Psychological:- Includes resistance to interference, preference for
established supply sources or brands
 2. Logical:-might be objections to the price, delivery schedule or product or
company characteristics
To handle these objections, the salesperson maintains a positive approach,
asks the buyer to clarify the objection, questions in such a way that the buyer
answer his own objection.
o Closing:- Closing signs from the buyer include physical actions, statements
or comments and questions. Reps can ask for the order,recapitualate the
points of agreement, offer help to write up the order or indicate what the
buyer will loose by not purchasing the product.
o Follow up and maintenance: Follow up and maintenance are necessary for
customer satisfaction and repeat business.

2.How should Mr. Brown handle this situation? What should he say to Rick? What
would you do if you were the boss at Nabisco Sales Div?
Ans:- Mr. Brown should do his best to motivate Rick. The probable actions that
could be taken by Mr. Brown
1. Highlighting his own carrier and motivating Rick that he can also reach the
pinnacle of success.
2. By removing the psychological effect associated with the term salesperson.
3. By giving him some more training time.
4. By keeping Rick under his supervision for a month or so and allowing him
to do the selling.
5. By providing him incentives and mental support after sales.
6. By evaluating his performance showing that he can do better.
Possible steps taken by the boss:-
1. Evaluating the performance of Rick
2. Motivating him through incentives, encouragement
3. Making him work under Mr. Brown with whom Rick is comfortable.
4. Showing more confidence in him by giving him one of the better
potential area.

2.How can firms reduce high turnover among new sales professionals ?
Ans:- Sales executives cannot—and should not—attempt to prevent all turnover.
Companies will always need to promote some salespeople and dismiss others. But
there are three avenues to pursue in trying to keep your turnover rate down: Firms
can reduce turnover by following the given steps:-

The 70% Solution

Quota levels should be set where salespeople can hit them. Driving off salespeople
by setting quotas too high makes consistent hitting of any number difficult—
perhaps impossible. Studies show that when quotas are set so that 70% or more of
the sales force can achieve them, the termination rate is only 18%. But if less than
70% of the sales force can reach quota, one-third of the sales force may be lost
through termination. Not coincidentally, 70% sales force attainment is the number
IBM uses to set its quotas. High termination rates can make it even tougher for
firms to hit next year's numbers. When less than 70% of a firm's salespeople make
quota, and substantial numbers quit or are terminated, the remaining sales veterans
may feel demoralized. And a greater portion of the sales burden falls on new, less
productive salespeople.

Better hiring and training. Although the average cost to hire and train a new
salesperson is high, it is considerably less than the cost of losing an established
salesperson.

Money spent to more effectively screen and recruit new salespeople can yield
higher caliber employees who more closely fit the company's corporate culture and
sales success profile. Better training is a solid investment in getting new
salespeople up to full productivity sooner, thus reducing turnover.

Of course, it's a good idea to hire the right person in the first place. Refer back to
Section Two for advice on making sure the person you hire will perform on the
job.

Competitive comp plans. Reviewing of sales compensation plan. Does it provide

earnings that are competitive with other companies and the industry at large?

4.What can firms do to increase salesperson status and self esteem ?

Ans:- Possible steps taken by firms:-
Removing Of the term Salesperson:- The term ‘salesperson’ somehow
carries a very negative effect with it. The term somehow shows a low profile
job where employees have no respect. Company can coin term like company
representatives or product introducer to denote salesperson. This somehow
brands the salesperson with new identity that does not carry the negative
effect.
Providing high salary and incentives: Very often sales job are taken as a
low salary job where people have to work like animals. Company can
provide high salary to the sales employees leading to a lucrative lifestyle as a
result the myth will be broken.
 Showing the importance of salesperson: Traditional view about
salespersons hols it as an irresponsible post. Companies can allow
experience sales person to take part in meeting concerning strategies and
product development. Companies can also provide the sales people with
awards or incetives or company paid holidays to showcase their importance.
This step will also motivate the employees to perform better.
Advertising about the effective sales forece team:- A company can
advertise about the targets achive by its sales representatives in a given area
over a given period of time. This method not only will refurbish the image of
the sales person but also make the customers more awar about the product
and instill fear among the competitors.

5.What can professors do to better prepare students in sales classes?

Ans:-Possible steps that can be taken are given below:
1. Selling is not a theoretical subject. Its an extremely practical subject and
hence the class should be designed with solving real life problems.
2. In addition to the benefits of selling it is also very important to clearly
teach the students about its demerits. This will help the students to better
cope with difficult conditions.
3. Students should be given project with deadlines.
4. Students should be given thorough coaching on communication and
presentation skills and made aware of the FABV approach.
5. Students should be given instructions to develop their listening skills and
patience
6. Students should be made aware of the related IT developments and
social networking sites and how to zero in on a prospective customer.
7. Students should be kept under constant evaluation.

MARKETING CONCEPTS USED

1. Principles of personal selling.
2. THE six steps of personal selling
3. Managing the sales force
4. Turnover issues management
5. Maslow’s model
6. Consumer realationship management