SALES MANAGEMENT

Session 7: Motivation and training

Sales Management
 MOTIVATION OF SALES
FORCE
• Definition?
– Motivation is the inner force that guides behavior and is concerned
with the causation of specific actions
• If do not motivate your sales force:
– Lack of Faith in Themselves
– Lack of Faith in Their Brands
• How to motivate a sale person?
– Motivation is a key aspect for management of the sales force.
– Motivation is associated with:
• Achievement
• Recognition
• Challenging Work
• Advancement

Sales Management
 BEFORE MOTIVATION
• Dissatisfaction must be removed before
motivation
• Perceived Inequity in Pay, Company Policy,
Working Conditions or Relationships kill
motivation
• Removing Dissatisfaction Motivation

Sales Management
 MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF
NEEDS

Sales Management
 HERZBURG

5
Sales Management
 VROOM’S EXPECTANCY
THEORY

6
Sales Management
 VROOM’S EXPECTANCY
THEORY
• Expectancy: this refers to a person’s perceived
relationship between effort and performance
• Instrumentality: this reflects the person’s
perception of the relationship between
performance and reward
• Valence: this represents the value placed upon
a particular reward by a person

7
Sales Management
 MOTIVATING FACTORS FOR
SALESPEOPLE

Sales Management
 POTENTIAL FACTORS TO
MOTIVATE
1.Financial incentives:
-Commission base
-Commission rate
-Starting point for commission
2. Setting sales targets or quotas: should be fair and attainable yet
challenging
3. Meeting between managers and salespeople
4. Promotion: Salesperson → Senior Salesperson → National Account
Executive
5. Sales contests

Sales Management
 TRAINING OF SALES FORCE
• Sales training consumes substantial time, budget and support resources
• Relationship between sales training and revenue is difficult to measure
• Training is essential to remain ahead of the competition.
Sales force needs training before
entering the market as well as
training at different stage of the
product life cycle.

Sales Management
 TRAINING BENEFITS
• Enhance skill levels
• Improve motivation
• Improve self-confidence
• Reduce costs
• Fewer complaints
• Lower staff turnover
• Reduce management support
• Higher job satisfaction
• Higher sales and profit

Sales Management
 TRAINING INVESTMENT

Sales Management
 SALES TRAINING ISSUES
• Who should be trained?
• What should be the primary emphasis in the training
program?
• How should the training process be structured?
– on-the-job training and experience?
– formal and more consistent centralized program?
– web-based?
– instructor-based?

Sales Management
 SALES TRAINING TOPICS
• Product or service knowledge
• Market/Industry orientation
• Company orientation
• Selling skills
• Time and territory management
• Legal and ethical issues
• Technology
• Specialized topics

Sales Management
 SALES FORCE TRAINING
Knowledge
 Company  Customers
 Product  Business environment
 Competitors

Skills
 Common skills:  Specific skills:
 Communication  Making friends  Making question skills
 Solving problems Speech opening  Negotiation skills
 Management Sales presentation  Closing sales skills
 …..  …..

Sales Management
 Product Knowledge
• Enables a salesperson to provide prospects and customers with the critical
information for rational decision-making
• Involves
– Knowing how the product is made
– How the product is commonly used, and
– How it should not be used.
• Customers often want to know how competitive products compare on
– price
– construction
– performance
– compatibility with each other
• Companies that produce technical products spend a greater amount of time
on product knowledge

Sales Management
 Market/Industry Orientation
Topics
• How a particular industry fits into the overall economy
• Knowledge of the industry and the economy
• Economic fluctuations that affect buying behavior and require
adaptive selling techniques
• Customers' buying policies, patterns and preferences in light of
competition
• Customers' customers and what satisfies them
• Needs of both wholesalers and retailers

Sales Management
 Company Orientation Topics
• Company polices that affect their selling activities
• How to handle customer requests for price
adjustments, product modifications, faster delivery
and different credit terms
• Sales manuals that cover product line information and
company polices
• A well-prepared sales manual gives a sales
representative quick answers to a customer's
questions

Sales Management
 Time and Territory Management
• Sales trainees need to learn to manage time
and territories
• 80/20 rule applies:
– 20% of the customers account for
– 80% of the business and
– Require a direct proportion of time and attention

Sales Management
 Legal/Ethical Issues
• Sales personnel need to understand the federal, state
and local laws that constrain their selling activities
• Statements made by salespeople carry both legal and
ethical implications
• Lapses in ethical conduct often lead to legal problems

Sales Management
 Technology
• Notebook computers
– Presentations
– connecting to company intranet or extranet
– delivering documentation quickly and accurately
• Home offices eliminate the need to go to another office
• Salesperson can be almost totally self-sufficient with
– high-speed network connection
– computer
– printer
– cell phone
• Effective computer use affords sales personnel more face-to-face customer
contact time

Sales Management
 Specialized Training Topics
• Overcoming price objections
• Holding the line on price
• Working the trade show
• Problem solving

Sales Management
 TRAINING METHODS -HOW

Sales Management