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15.Sales

1. overview 2. planning 3. swot 4. marketing plan 5. marketing mix 6. product
7. price 8. promotion 9. place 10. literature 11. public relations 12. promos
13. advertising 14. sponsorship 15. sales

 

It bothers me enormously the amount of times I have had conversations with senior managers who seem to think that sales is the same as marketing.

  

I started my commercial career many years ago as a salesman working in the pharmaceutical industry. I was very privileged to have received a great deal of training from my employers and in particular I remember a slide which spoke a great deal to me. It went something like this ......................

  • Who is your company?

  • How long has your company been around?

  • What is your company good at?

  • How big is your company?

  • What is your company's product range?

  • What sort of reputation does your company have?

  • Why should I be interested in your products?

  • Who are you?

  • Can I believe what you tell me?

  • What sort of training have you had?

Now what did you say you wanted? You want me to buy a product from you?

The point is that the customer needs to be satisfied on a very wide range of questions before he is in the position to talk seriously with a salesman about the purchase of product. Usually, if these questions have not been answered then it is impossible for a sale to be made. If the salesman himself needs to attempt to answer all these questions, it will probably take him an enormous amount of time and probably over a prolonged period of time and many visits - not an efficient approach.

Conversely a marketing campaign employing a wide range of weapons in the marketing armoury can answer many of these questions before the salesman even enters the office of the customer. Thus, marketing has set the back-drop for the salesman to make the sale.

Selling material?

Do your sales force have all the selling material they require to do a professional job? In a competitive market place if your salesmen do not have well rehearsed and logical arguments for why your product or service is better, then the customer will drive the conversation onto the subject he knows will put the salesman on his back foot - price. However, if the salesman can control the conversation by discussing other positive aspects then the probability of sales success at a more profitable price is vastly increased.

If you have adopted some of the other weapons in the marketing armoury then has this been put together as part of the sales literature? Not only is this an effectve way of making sure your customer is aware of the professionalism of your company, but it is also another opportunity to ensure the conversation is within your control and hence away from the subject of price.




 


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