Chapter 13

Inside sales force

Inside salespeople who conduct business from their offices via telephone, the Internet, or visits from prospective buyers

Territorial sales force structure

A sales force organization that assigns each salesperson to an exclusive geographic territory in which that salesperson sells the company's full line

Product sales force structure

A sales force organization under which salespeople specialize in selling only a portion of the company's products or lines

Customer (market) sales force structure

A sales force organization under which salespeople specialize in selling only to certain customers or industries

Sales quota

A standard that states the amount a salesperson should sell and how sales should be divided among the company's products

Salesperson

An individual representing a company to customers by performing one or more of the following activities: prospecting, communicating, selling, servicing, information gathering, and relationship building

Event marketing

Creating a brand-marketing event or serving as a sole or participating sponsor of events created by others

Outside sales force (field sales force)

Outside salespeople who travel to call on customers in the field

Personal selling

Personal presentation by the firm's sales force for the purpose of making sales and building customer relationships

Consumer promotions

Sales promotion tools used to boost short-term buying and involvement or to enhance long-term customer relationships

Business promotions

Sales promotion tools used to generate business leads, stimulate purchases, reward customers, and motivate salespeople

Trade promotions

Sales promotion tools used to persuade resellers to carry a brand, give it shelf space, promote it in advertising, and push it to consumers

Closing

Selling process: The salesperson asks the customer for an order

Follow-up

Selling process: The salesperson follows up after the sales to ensure customer satisfaction and repeat business

Preapproach

Selling process: The salesperson learns as much as possible about a prospective customer before making a sales call

Approach

Selling process: The salesperson meets the customer for the first time

Prospecting

Selling process: The salesperson or company identifies qualified potential customers

Handling objections

Selling process: The salesperson seeks out, clarifies, and overcomes customer objections to buying

Presentation

Selling process: The salesperson tells the "value story" to the buyer, showing how the company's offer solves the customer's problems

Sales promotion

Short-term incentives to encourage the purchase or sale of a product or service

Sales force management

The analysis, planning, implementation, and control of sales force activities. It includes designing sales force strategy and structure and recruiting, selecting, training, supervising, compensating, and evaluating the firm's salespeople.

Sales 2.0

The merging of innovative sales practices with internet 2.0 technologies to improve sales force effectiveness and efficiency

Selling process

The steps that salespeople follow when selling

Team selling

Using teams of people from sales, marketing, engineering, finance, technical support, and even upper management to service large, complex accounts