Page 160 - Marketing the Basics 2nd

152 Marketing: the Basics
The salesperson plays a special role in the exchange process. In most cases, they are the sole link between seller and buyer, which in effect means they serve both parties. For the customer, the salesperson is the official company representative. He or she will find and develop new business opportunities, negotiate the terms of the sales and follow-up once the sale is completed. At the same time, the salesperson adopts the role of advocate, relaying customer concerns and wants to the relevant department. When Karl was a young salesperson at IBM, one day his boss, John Houlden, asked him to pull out his pay cheque. Somewhat mystified he complied, knowing a moral would shortly be delivered. He asked, ‘What is the name at the top?’. He replied, ‘IBM’. His boss said, ‘Don’t ever forget it’. End of lesson. Houlden was reminding Karl he was in danger of falling into one of the traps that face sales reps, that is, identifying with the customer so much so that they forget who they really work for.
In this chapter we look at three types of people involved in the exchange process between buyer and seller: salespeople, direct marketers and support staff.
SALES FORCE MANAGEMENT
Sales is a profession where individuals face high rejection rates, where they work in isolation and where they too often find themselves constantly travelling. As we stated in the first chapter, avoiding isolation and enhancing self-esteem are important determinants of human behaviour. Because the work conditions are antithetical to those activities there is an impression that successful salespeople must have an innate ability to sell. In other words, some are born to sell, others not. Selling is not genetic. Studies show that to succeed in sales, one must be a risk-taker, be resourceful, be able to empathize and be filled with a nearly unbounded reservoir of self-confidence. Every human possesses these qualities and traits, however, the degree to which they are developed varies from person to person. Managers must therefore develop strategies that enhance a person’s selling skills and reinforce a person’s sense of purpose. One of the most famous and well-read sales motivation writers is Zig Ziglar. One of his key points is that a salesperson must learn