Increasing Selling Efficiency

Sales Effectiveness & Efficiency

• Sales Effectiveness
– Output measure of a sales person’s selling efforts
– What you should be doing in terms of selling effort
– Doing the right things
• Sales Efficiency
– Input measure of a sales person’s assigned sales tasks
– How well you carry out your selling duties
– Doing the things right
 The Self-Management Concept
• Self-Management: - is a combination of
– Time Management
– Self Motivation
• Importance of Self-Management
 Importance to the Salesperson
• Salesperson’s success & growth
• Salespeople work on their own
• Basis for self-discipline & self-motivation
 Importance to the Salesperson’s Employer
• Up-gradation of overall sales performance of company
• Decrease cost of supporting salespeople in the field
• Opportunities for other than traditional incentives
 Time Management
• Sales Calls & Sales Expenses
• The Value of Time
• Analysis of Selling Activities
• Varying Potential of Time
• Account Classification
• Routing
• Reducing Travelling Cost
• Handling Paper Work
 Time Management Contd.
• Sales Calls & Sales Expense
It depends on
• Nature of job
• Geographical area
• Individual productivity
• The Value of Time
• Time management is the study & effective use of time
• Time = money
 Time Management Contd.
• Analysis of Selling Activities
– Productive Activities – Nonproductive Activities
• Making sales presentations • Driving an auto mobile
• Handling customer complaints • Waiting to see a customer
& Problems
• Engaging in general
• Taking inventory of the
customer’s stock conversation
• Setting up promotional • Completing paper work
displays • Conducting a broken interview
• Preparing for demonstrations • Calling on customers who are
• Studying product literature unavailable
• Maintaining contact with • Calling on someone who is not
existing customers a customer
• Making telephone calls
• Making collections &
adjustment of customer’s
accounts
 Time Management Contd.
• How Effective and Efficient Salespeople Spend
their Time?
 Time Management Contd.
• Varying Potential of Time
– Not all hours of the day have sales potential
– Important tasks are allocated to valuable time period
– Less important tasks to nonproductive time
• Account Classification
– Categorization of accounts by their relative sales potential
• Two way classification scheme (Good/Poor, Major/Minor)
• Three way classification scheme (A account, B account, C account)
– Selective Selling
– National Accounts (Firm’s biggest customers)
 Time Management Contd.
• Routing
– Process of minimizing travel time for sales
personnel
– Sales call patterns
• Routine or Regular
• Variable or Irregular
• Reducing Traveling cost
– Substituting phone contacts for personal visits
 Time Management Contd.
• Handling Paper Work
– Two Categories
• Required by the company (Call Reports)
• Needed by sales people for effective management of
their territories (Time Management Records)
– Call Reports (Summary of salesperson’s daily or weekly activities)
– Time Management Records (Information on the card include
best time for seeing customer, customer’s restricted time, length of
sales interviews and delays experienced in calling on customers)
– Other Reports (Reports on account status, dealer inventory, new
accounts and dealer termination)
 Time Management Contd.
• Efficiency in Paper Work
– Think positively about paper work
– Do paper work now
– Set aside a block of unproductive time for working
on reports & records
– Set priorities on paper work
 Self-Motivation
• Salesperson must concentrate on personal
characteristics such as attitude, appearance,
health and selling skills.
• The Truly self-motivated salesperson develops
the
– Proper Attitude
– Good Listening Habit
– Sound Mind & Body
 Self-Motivation Contd.
• Proper Attitude
– Hard working
– Self-confident
– Self-disciplined
– Preserving
– Flexible
– Goals other than money
– Respect for buyer’s good sense
– Willingness to learn from others
– Ability to handle big money
– Perfectionist
 Self-Motivation Contd.
• Good Listening Habit
Ten Keys to Effective Listening
Keys to Effective Listening
Find areas of interest
Judge content, not delivery
Hold your fire
Listen for ideas
Be flexible
Work at listening
Resist distractions
Exercise your mind
Keep your mind open
Capitalize on the fact that
thought is faster than speech
The Bad Listener
Tunes out dry subjects
Tunes out if delivery is poor
Trends to enter into
arguments
Listen for facts
Take intensive notes
Shows no energy output
Distracted easily
Resist difficult material
Reacts to emotional words
Trends to daydream with slow
speakers
The Good Listener
Looks for opportunities
Judges content
Doesn’t judge until
comprehension is complete
Listen for central themes
Takes fewer notes
Exhibits active body state
Fight or avoids distractions
Uses heavier material
Interprets color words
Challenges, anticipates,
mentally summarizes
 Self-Motivation Contd.
• Sound Mind & Body
– Ancient Greeks praised sound mind & body
– Americans realized the importance of good health
not only the physical exertion
– Physical fitness results in
• Better appearance
• Higher energy levels
• Better attitude

Note: - Being physically fit allows salespeople to accomplish more than they
would otherwise.