In: Accounting
Explain the nature of personal selling and the objectives of the sales force.
Sales personnel serve as the company’s personal link to customers. The sales representative is the company to many customers and in turn brings back much needed customer intelligence. Personal selling is the most expensive contact and communication tool used by the company. Sales representatives perform one or more of the following tasks for their companies:
• Prospecting: Sales representatives find and cultivate new customers
• Targeting: Sales representatives decide how to allocate their scarce time among prospects and customers
• Communicating: Sales representatives communicate information about the company’s products and services
• Selling: Sales representatives know the art of salesmanship: approaching, presenting, answering objections, and closing sales
• Servicing: Sales representatives provide various services to the customers—consulting on their problems, rendering technical assistance, arranging financing, and expediting delivery
• Information gathering: Sales representatives conduct market research and intelligence work and fill in call reports
• Allocating: Sales representatives decide which customers to allocate scarce products to during product shortages
• Maintaining strategic partnerships: Senior salespeople including the sales manager provide valuable planning assistance to clients