Page 527 - Foundations of Marketing

494 Part 6 | Promotion Decisions

Emerging Trends

Global Bribery Laws Change the Personal Selling Industry

Bribery is a major temptation in personal selling, par- occur within the country. The law initially did not allow for
ticularly for global businesses. Although bribery is illegal facilitation payments, although this is being reconsidered.
in the United States, it is sometimes an acceptable part While small gifts of hospitality are allowed, the lines between
of business in other countries. IBM was forced to pay hospitality and gift-giving have changed. For instance, while
$ 10 million for allegedly bribing Asian officials with it is common in personal selling to send Christmas gifts to
cash, entertainment expenses, laptops, and cameras in top buyers, more “lavish” Christmas gifts like champagne
exchange for sales contracts. The U.S. Foreign Corrupt and sporting events could be seen as bribes.
Practices Act (FCPA) forbids businesses from offer- In response, many multinational businesses are
ing such bribes to foreign officials, although facilitation changing their gift and entertainment policies and are
payments of small monetary value are generally allowed. training salespeople about these laws. HP, for instance,
However, this could change as a result of the U.K. Bribery changed its policy so that its sales force can no longer
Act, passed in 2010. offer anything of value to obtain business contracts.
The U.K. Bribery Act applies to all companies that do Similarly, other multinationals operating in the United
c
business in the United Kingdom, even if the bribe doesn’t Kingdom are adapting to comply with the law.

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Sales managers, as well as other salespeople, often engage in sales training, whether daily
on the job or periodically during sales meetings. In addition, a number of outside companies
specialize in providing sales training programs. Materials for sales training programs range
from videos, texts, online materials, manuals, and cases to programmed learning devices
and digital media. Lectures, demonstrations, simulation exercises, role-plays, and on-the-job
training can all be effective training methods. Self-directed learning to supplement traditional
sales training has the potential to improve sales performance. The choice of methods and
materials for a particular sales training program depends on type and number of trainees,
program content and complexity, length and location, size of the training budget, number of
trainers, and a trainer’s expertise.

Compensating Salespeople
To develop and maintain a highly productive sales force, an organization must formulate and
administer a compensation plan that attracts, motivates, and retains the most effective indi-
viduals. The plan should give sales management the desired level of control and provide sales
personnel with acceptable levels of income, freedom, and incentive. It should be flexible,
equitable, easy to administer, and easy to understand. Good compensation programs facilitate
and encourage proper treatment of customers. Obviously, it is quite difficult to incorporate all
of these requirements into a single program. Figure 17.2 shows the average salaries for sales
representatives.
Developers of compensation programs must determine the general level of compensation
required and the most desirable method of calculating it. In analyzing the required compen-
sation plan, sales management must ascertain a salesperson’s value to the company on the
basis of the tasks and responsibilities associated with the sales position. Sales managers may
consider a number of factors, including salaries of other types of personnel in the firm, com-
petitors’ compensation plans, costs of sales force turnover, and non-salary selling expenses.
The average low-level salesperson earns $ 50,000 to $ 75,000 annually (including commis-
sions and bonuses), whereas a high-level, high-performing salesperson can make hundreds
of thousands a year.

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