Simulation: Personal Selling

This table shows the annual revenue of the top 8 retailers where Curtis cleaning kits for silver and jewelry will be sold. The Chief Executive Officer has suggested that you assign eight salespeople to Company A, two salespeople to any other retailer with over $50 billion in revenue, and one salesperson to any retailer with less than $50 billion in revenue. What should be the size of the sales force?

21 salespeople. You need flexibility in case not all salespeople perform at full capacity.

Choose the product line that your sales team will sell. After making this selection, you will assemble a sales team that is suited to this product. Keep in mind that there is no wrong answer. (You could choose a different product if you perform this simulation again.)

A kit for cleaning domestic metal, such as jewelry and silverware, and restoring its finish. Sold through a small number of national retailers, perhaps less than a dozen.

Now you need to decide how to distribute your sales force.

Assign all of your salespeople to calling on customers in the field.

What is the most compelling reason to use team selling for this product?

Because the sales relationship can involve complex and customer-specific shipping and billing relationships with retailers, team selling makes it possible to handle unexpected situations. FEEDBACK You cited the potential to handle the unexpected situations arising from complex and customer-specific shipping and billing requirements as the main advantage of team selling of Curtis jewelry/silver cleaning kits. This was the best choice for this product line, since national chain retailers may require necessary procedures and paperwork for large-scale purchases.

What sales force structure will you use to sell Curtis cleaning kits for silver and jewelry?

Customer sales force structure. Each salesperson sells to a specific retailer.

What additional strategies will you rely on?

Neither. Rely on face-to-face meetings to build business relationships. FEEDBACK You chose not to use cold calling or web selling as additional selling strategy. This was a good choice because there are limited customers in the market for this type of product and neither would have likely identified customers in the appropriate target market.

What is the best reason to use a customer sales force structure?

This sales force structure can help the company to build closer relationships with important customers. It is less about closing deals and more about working with customers to learn their needs. FEEDBACK You identified customer sales structure as helping to build closer relationships with and learning the needs of important customers. This was correct, as customer sales structure is focused on major customers rather than being location- or product-based.

You have the option of using team selling, which would mean assembling the Curtis sales team from multiple departments - marketing, engineering, tech support, upper management. These participants would be included in the overall sales representative count. Is it appropriate to use this strategy when selling the product you have selected?

Use team selling with some clients for this product. FEEDBACK You chose to use team selling with some clients for Curtis jewelry cleaning kits. This was a fair choice for salespeople to work together in servicing the large chain accounts. However, some accounts have only a single representative, and in those cases, a team is not possible.