Jim Blythe
9781844800230
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Chapter overviews
Please select a chapter:
Chapter
1 Selling and its strategic role
This chapter puts personal selling into the context of its relationship
with both corporate strategy (competitive advantage) and marketing.
It also describes the characteristics of sales people and sales
managers, and explains the role of selling as a problem-solving
exercise rather than as a communications exercise.
Chapter
2 Buyer behaviour
This chapter is about buyer behaviour. It covers basic consumer
behaviour issues, but also covers industrial buyer behaviour
and in both cases relates buyer behaviour to the sales function.
Chapter
3 Preparing to sell
This chapter is about preparing physically and mentally for
the sale, as well as ensuring that all the necessary groundwork
for the sales visit has been laid. The chapter also looks
at journey planning and time management.
Chapter
4 The sales presentation
This chapter is about structuring and delivering an effective
sales presentation. It explains how to open the presentation,
how to keep control of it, and how to close the presentation
by obtaining a decision from the prospective customer.
Chapter
5 Selling to major accounts
This chapter looks at the management of major accounts, and
the management of major account salespeople. It is about the
differences between major-account and small-account selling,
and explains why techniques which work in small accounts do
not work in major accounts, and vice-versa.
Chapter
6 Recruitment
This chapter explains theories of recruitment as they apply
to sales management. It describes how to draw up person and
job specifications for sales jobs, discusses the merits of
different sources of recruits, and describes how to conduct
an interview for a salesperson.
Chapter
7 Training
This chapter explores the main issues in designing training
courses for salespeople. The chapter explains how people learn,
and offers approaches to designing and running training programmes,
including evaluating and assessing trainees and the programme
itself.
Chapter
8 Motivation and remuneration
This chapter discusses theories of motivation, and shows how
these apply in the sales context. Motivation is distinguished
from remuneration, and the role of commission in remuneration
is outlined.
Chapter
9 Forecasting and budgeting
This chapter looks at ways of forecasting future sales, and
consequently at the use of computers in selling. It explains
the role of forecasting and budgeting in the planning process,
and some of the main forecasting methods used by sales managers.
Chapter
10 Monitoring and feedback
This chapter is about setting sales objectives, checking whether
or not they have been met, and feeding back deviations to
the sales force. It covers management information systems,
and running sales meetings.
Chapter
11 Internationalization
This chapter is about managing the salesforce in an international
context. It explains cultural difficulties in managing overseas,
and discusses the merits of various ways of setting up an
overseas salesforce. It also describes the main forms of selling
organisation used in overseas markets.
Chapter
12 Exhibitions and trade fairs
This chapter is about the sales manager’s role in running
trade fair and exhibition stands. It explains how exhibitions
can be used in key account management, and how exhibitions
and trade fairs have many more possibilities beyond simply
generating leads. The chapter also describes ways of assessing
the effectiveness of trade fairs, and describes some of the
pitfalls in managing exhibitions.
Chapter
13 Ethics, consumer protection and the law
This chapter covers the legal and ethical issues surrounding
selling. It explains the difference between civil and criminal
law, and shows how each has applications to selling. The chapter
also describes how to draw up a code of ethics.
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