FOREWORD

High performance salespeople view the customer as the center of buying process. This attitude enables them to concentrate on the customer’s needs. By concentrating on the customer needs, the salesperson builds trust that establishes the salespersons’ right to advance.

People believe more what they say than what you say. Therefore, salespeople who give customers the opportunity to be convinced through involvement are most likely to be successful.

All SALESPEOPLE CAN SELL…

But in today’s competitive market, you have to sell better than ever before, not only do you face stiffer and more knowledgeable competitors, but like most professional sales people, you have less and less time to spend with your customers. This is real truth, whatever kinds of sales activity you are involved in.

In a recent sales survey, one company discovered that, its salespeople spent only two and a half hours in a day in front of customers. The balance of their time was involved in travelling, waiting, doing paper work, sitting with computer and other related tasks.

It is evident that, in today’s market place you have to make every minute count, the more skillful you are with your customer, the more sales you will make.

The Result……? More satisfied customers for your company and the more success for you.

Professional selling skill will help you make that sale by giving you the opportunity to learn new skills and improve techniques you are not using. Almost millions salespeople in more than a thousand companies have improved their performance by developing the skills learned in a similar type of sales techniques mentioned below posts. But to make this work, you have to invest time and effort. I am sure that you will find this to be one of the most useful experiences in your professional career.

In every industry the job of the professional salesperson has changed significantly in the past decade. No longer is he a simple seller of products and services, today’s professional is a marketing expert, a prospector, a time manager, an application expert and a consultant. No matter what products or services you services or products you sell, you are a company in the eyes of a customer. Similarly your customer represents his or her company to you.

But most important, both you and your customers can have needs that can be satisfied by a successful sales interaction. In other words, for a sale to be totally effective, both the buyer and the seller must have their needs satisfied.

But there is no formula for good solid need satisfaction. Perhaps the only rule is ‘flexibility’. Step-by-Step, techniques of selling fail to deal with customers as a human being with constantly changing needs, ideas and attitudes. Problem change daily as do schedules, finances and priorities. Therefore the successful salesperson must be flexible in using his or her Professional Selling Skills.

What are these professional selling skills? Generally during a sale interview the salesperson must,

Set a direction for the call at the beginning.

Ask questions to uncover customer needs.

Provide products benefits that satisfy these needs.

Handle ever-changing customer attitudes of acceptance, skepticism, indifference and objections as they occur.

Finally the close of sale by obtaining Customer Commitment

Here I will endeavor to cover all these areas in my posts and also briefly and clearly mentioned the essential and additional engineering requirements to salespeople at Engineers Portal in developing the skills in these areas to improve your sales effectiveness.

Moreover, all the posts written over here are based on field experience, coaching and training taught by my employer during my service. This is to provide grounding in to this Sales process, which would be followed up by field visits, and coaching on the field. Any process of change or transition requires a large amount of consistent effort to ensure that it takes place and change most often takes place by design rather than chance.

WHAT NEED TO SATISFY YOUR CONSUMERS?

Consumer goods are required for final consumption. The problems of marketing consumer goods are of the greatest variety and they are further the most difficult also. This is because of the special characteristics of the market for consumer goods. Consumer goods are sold to the people for direct consumption. In the case of domestic trade, all people in the country are consumers. But manufacturers do not know these consumers. The consumers make their purchases whenever they need the goods, but they purchase only in small quantities. Basically they are:

Large number of buyers and widespread market

Small unit of purchase

Unskilled and poorly informed buyers and

Personal consideration of the purchasers

LARGE NUMBER OF BUYERS AND WIDESPREAD MARKET

The consumers are spread over a very wide market. In fact, all the people living in the country become consumers. The manufacturer sells his products wherever there is a demand for his products. But demand is generally widespread. Some manufacturers may limit the area of their operations but potential buyers will rush in to the market in large numbers. In order to serve such a large numbers of consumers, the manufacturer has to select carefully different marketing channels. Many times, he utilizes the most important services of Wholesalers, Distributors and retailers.

UNIT OF PURCHASE IS SMALL

The consumers who are spread over a wide market make their purchase frequently in very small quantities. In order to satisfy the consumer’s requirements, it becomes necessary for the manufacturer to set that his products are stored throughout the market. Further, mass method of selling is necessary to reach a large numbers of consumers. Therefore, the manufacturer has to undertake effective advertising and publicity through various media such as Broadcast Media, Print Media, social Medias, Digital marketing, E marketing etc.

UNSKILLED AND POORLY INFORMED BUYERS

Generally consumers buy a variety of goods in small quantities but they depend upon the sellers for the supply of information about the products they purchase. The consumers usually do not try to compare the important characteristics of competing goods available in the market because they do not possess the necessary skill. Moreover, they have also no time to do so. That is why they depend upon the statement of the sellers. Further, the tastes, fashions, desires and needs of the consumers differ from time to time. The physical attributes of the products appeal differently to different consumers. Manufactures also introduce many new products in the market and these new products may satisfy the wants of consumers so far remaining unsatisfied. The manufacturer may also improve the quality of his products so as to confirm to the needs of the consumers. Therefore, the consumers are required to be informed about all these things by the manufacturer. In order to inform the consumers about the availability of new products or improved products, the manufacturer has to adopt new techniques of marketing.

PERSONAL CONSIDERATIONS OF THE PURCHASERS

Since consumer goods are purchased for final consumption, the purchasers are influenced by personal consideration. In other words, the consumers are always guided by their personal consideration which is subjective. Service rendered by the sellers at the time of sale and services to be rendered by him after the sale is very important elements influencing the consumer’s purchases. Consumers always prefer credit facilities, free home delivery of goods purchased, taking back of unwanted goods; repairs etc. price is also another important factor influencing their purchases. Price plays an important part in respect of staple goods like sugar, food grains, oil etc, but price is not important in respect of goods like clothes, furniture, luxury goods etc in the marketing of which style, suitability and quality play an important part. The importance of price also depends upon the income level of consumers. The price affects the purchases of consumers with different incomes differently.

CLASSIFICATION OF CONSUMER GOODS

Consumer goods which are required for final consumption can be classified on the basis of ways in which they are purchased made the services to be rendered by the sellers at the time of sale and after sale. Services include free home delivery, credit, instructions of using, installation etc. the consumer goods can be, therefore, classified on the following criteria:

The extent to which the consumer is aware of the exact nature of the products before he goes out for shopping and

The satisfaction derived from searching and comparing products as compared with the time and efforts on doing so. The general classification of consumer goods is:

Convenience goods

Shopping goods and

Specialty goods

HOW TO MAINTAIN THE STABLE PRICE LEVEL AND AVOID ANY GREAT FLUCTUATION IN THE PRICES?

Manufactured goods are the finished products which are meant for either consumption or production. Therefore, manufactured goods may be further divided into two kinds:

Goods which are destined for the use by the final consumers are called manufactured Consumer Goods.

Goods which are first purchased by the businessmen who use them in the process of production and then place them in the hands of final consumers are called Manufactured Industrial Goods.

MANUFACTURED CONSUMER GOODS

NATURAL RAW MATERIALS

They consist of those natural products which are mainly for industrial purposes. They are, therefore, the industrial goods supplied by mines, forests and sea. They undergo processing operations prior to final consumption.

AGRICULTURAL GOODS

They are the products supplied by agriculture which are divided into two groups:

Raw Materials: Such as cotton, jute, wool, grain et., which are used in industries, and….

Consumer Goods: Such as food-grains, fruits, vegetables etc., which are used in final consumption.

These three types of goods have got different characteristics and the method of marketing of each kind of goods also differs to some extent.

MAIN FEATURES OF MANUFACTURED CONSUMER AND INDUSTRIAL GOODS

There are three processes of marketing namely, Concentration, Equalization and Dispersion. In the case of marketing of manufactured goods, the first process of concentration is not important. Because the manufacturer exercises much more control over the marketing of his products. Therefore, the number of middlemen in the distribution of these manufactured goods is less. This makes the marketing structure of manufactured goods less complex, compared with the process of marketing agricultural goods. This is mainly due to two main characteristics of manufactured goods which are:

The manufacturer has a large degree of control over the quality and quantity of his products, and

The production is generally carried on a large scale.

CONTROL OF QUALITY AND QUANTITY

As I have mentioned above, the manufacturer enjoys control over the quality and quantity of his products. He can manufacture that quality and in that quantity as desired by the market. He is, therefore, able to plan in advance his production planning, marketing and financial operations.

By studying that market demand for his products, he can control the quantity to be produced. This advantage of controlling the quantity of production is not available to agriculturalists that have to demand upon the nature for the production. Therefore, a manufacturer can greatly influences the price of his products by adjusting the supply of his products with the demand. If the demand for the products increases, he can increase the supply and conversely if the demand for his products declines, he can reduce the supply. Thus he can maintain the stable price level and avoid any great fluctuations in the prices of his products. Though, it is not always possible for the manufacturer to maintain the price stability, yet it is true that the prices of manufactured goods tend to change less rapidly than those of agricultural goods. This is so because, in the case of agricultural goods, it is not possible for the farmers, to adjust their supply with the changing demand.

The quality of the manufactured goods is subject to close control and therefore, the manufactured goods are usually standardized. Marketing of standardized goods is easy since consumers have great belief in the standardized goods. Therefore the expenses of marketing of the standardized goods will be less. Consumers believe in the integrity of the manufacturers. The manufacturers also control the market by branding their products. Branded products can be readily identified and consumers will a custom themselves with the particular brand with which they are satisfied. Therefore, the manufacturer always attempts to produce goods of uniform quality and maintaining the constituent performance so as to maintain the demand of his products in the market.

LARGE SCALE PRODUCTION

Large scale production is another characteristic feature of the manufactured goods. Now days, most of the manufacturing activities are carried on a large scale in spite of the fact that the number of small units is also increasing. The large scale production helps the manufacturer to exercise control over the marketing methods and market their products efficiently prior to the beginning of dispersion process without a combining them with the products of other firms. Since production is carried on a large scale, concentration process does not take place. Therefore, the marketing of manufactured is concerned more with the dispersion process than with the concentration process.

The development of the large scale production has important effects upon marketing. It has led to mass marketing or selling, so that the whole output of the factories can be disposed of. The desire and efforts of the manufacturers to carry on their production as well as marketing on a large scale have brought important effects of which following three important like:

Effects upon Integration and Combination

Effects upon competition and product differentiation

Effects upon direct marketing

INTEGRATION AND CONCENTRATION

In order to carry on large scale production, the individual firms have tended to integrate and combine their operations. Such integration and combination may be vertical or horizontal in character.

VERTICAL INTEGRATION AND COMBINATION

Under vertical integration and combination, operations in successive stages of production or marketing or even both are undertaken under a single ownership. In the case of marketing, vertical integration means, a manufacturer open his own sales depot to sell his products directly to the retailers or even consumers. Multiple shops are the best examples of such integration. The multiple shops open a large number of selling or purchasing centers.

For example, an automobile manufacturing company may establish or acquire a type manufacturing concern. A steel company may acquire iron ore and coal mines. Multiple shops open a large number of selling points or purchasing or processing centers.

The integration of production and marketing leads to the economies, technical economies, economies in buying and selling, storage and warehousing, research and experiments, transportations etc. This helps the manufacturers to bring down the cost of marketing and strengthen his position by eliminating the marketing risks.

HORIZONTAL INTEGRATION AND COMBINATION

It refers to the combination of firms manufacturing and marketing similar products. The products may be identical or directly competing or complementary. For example, a single automobile company may manufacture different makes of cars which are competitive in price with one another, as well as other makes of cars which are complementary as to price line. Further, it may also manufacture spare parts so that they may also be offered along with cars. Recently, specialized manufacturers have tended to combine horizontally in order to offer a full line of products to distributors. This is found in the case of goods like toilet accessories, stationery articles, garments etc.

But horizontal combination does not offer all kind of economies. Economies in buying, research etc., in case of production are available only if the plant capacity utilized it fully. But, economies in marketing are available on a large scale due to horizontal combination. Costa of transport, storage, warehousing, finance, advertising, sales promotional activities etc will be spread over a large number of articles and therefore, the cost per unit will be very low. But specialized salesmanship is very difficult to obtain.

Thus, the main aims of integration and combination are to remove competition; to obtain economies of scale of production and marketing and to make more profits.

COMPETITION AND PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION

Competition always exists in the market in one form or the other. It may be directed towards the improvement of production and marketing methods, reduction of costs and lowering of prices. Further, competition is as directed towards the improvement of the products, and the use of selling methods to have a greater control over the market. These 2 types of competition are important for manufactured goods.

Due to the existence of competition in the market, attempts are always being made by the manufacturers to improve their products. Product differentiation is made by the manufacturers by branding their goods. This is so because competition makes more in respect of quality than in price.

DIRECT MARKETING

As there is always a competition to capture more and more market and market share, manufacturers always prefer to control their marketing activities and keep in close touch with the conditions affecting the demand for their products. Therefore, nowadays, there is a tendency for direct marketing of products and for elimination of the middle men in the channel of distribution. But the success of direct marketing depends upon several factors such as size of production, efficiency of personnel, nature of product etc. therefore only a large manufacturer can undertake efficiently direct marketing of his products. But even then, complete elimination of middle men is not feasible. Therefore, many large producers usually combine their marketing activities with those of a few indispensable middlemen. Thus, a big manufacturer may create a demand for his products trough advertisements, and publicity and other sales promotional activities either directly or with the help of a few middle men.

DISTRIBUTORS CHANNEL (INDUSTRIAL GOODS)

This is very simple to understand about the distributors channel for manufactured industrial goods for salespeople. Few important of them are:

Manufacturer to Industrial user

Manufacturer to Merchant Wholesales to Industrial user

Manufacturer through Agent-Middlemen to Industrial user

Manufacturer through Agent-Middlemen to Merchant Wholesaler to Industrial user

MANUFACTURER TO INDUSTRIAL USER CHANNEL: This is the most direct channel of distribution, industrial goods like locomotives, generators, boilers and turbines, heavy machinery, blast furnaces etc., are usually sold directly by the sellers to the industrial users. There are certain reasons for such a direct sale or supply. Firstly, the volume and value of individual purchases are large enough. Secondly, the buyers are limited and are located in concentrated areas. Thirdly, provision of technical service makes it quite essential for the seller to sell or supply his goods directly to industrial users. Fourthly, the seller usually establishes certain service and repairs centers at different places. To get these service facilities, the industrial user has to purchase them directly from the producers of industrial goods. Fifthly, in case of reciprocal trading, direct selling becomes beneficial. Finally, industrial users prefer to purchase these goods directly from the producers, because they are able to keep constant touch and communication with them and able provide technical and commercial service frequently.

But there are certain difficulties in the direct sale method. For example, the producer of industrial goods has to open service and repair stations at different places convenient to users. For this purpose, he has employed large personnel, which may become expensive. Moreover, he has to control and supervise various salespeople working under him. This involves a great managerial capacity. Thus, direct selling requires huge amount of capital and high degree of managerial ability. Therefore direct selling is possible only for big manufacturers/producers with huge financial resources and managerial staff.

MANUFACTURER TO MERCHANT WHOLESALER TO INDUSTRIAL USER:

Marketing of industrial goods like operating supplies and small equipment such as building materials, labor saving devices, tools, small motors, stationary articles etc., is usually done through the middlemen. The most common middlemen are the wholesalers who are available to the industrial users quickly. Click here for more Why we need Distributors?

MANUFACTURER TO AGENT TO INDUSTRIAL USERS:

Sometime the manufacturer of industrial goods appoints his own agent to act as middlemen for marketing his products. This is the case the manufacturer feels his inability to undertake marketing activities or open branches or sales offices. An agent middleman is usually appointed by a manufacturer who has newly entered the market and who does not the marketing methods. The agent sells the goods on behalf of the manufacturer to the industrial users.

MANUFACTURER TO AGENT TO WHOLESALER TO INDUSTRIAL USER:

In this case, the agent sells the goods of his principal to the wholesalers and not to the industrial users directly. The wholesalers sell them directly to the industrial users. In this case, the wholesalers make provision for the storage of the goods so as to provide a regular supply.

It should be noted that the agent who will be appointed by the manufacturer may be a commission agent, selling agent or a broker. They differ in differ in dealings from one another.

In the marketing of the most of the manufacturer industrial goods, direct sale method is very common. In the case of some manufactured industrial goods, their sale is affected through the middlemen or distributors. This is the case when the industrial users are small businessmen and their purchases are usually in small quantities. Sometimes even large industrial users also prefer to purchase through the middlemen only those goods which they require in small quantities. Finally the producers of industrial goods use both the methods of sale viz., direct sale and sale through the middlemen. They tend to sell/supply directly when the order is sufficiently large or when the buyers are concentrated in a certain regions. They tend to sell through the middlemen when the orders are small and when the buyers are scattered over a wide region.

CLASSIFICATION OF INDUSTRIAL GOODS

Industrial goods may be divided as, fabricating materials and past, equipments, operating supplies and raw materials. The first three are manufactured industrial goods while the last one refers to natural and agricultural goods.

FABRICATING MATERIALS AND PARTS:
They are the industrial goods which have undergone some processes but which require further processing or which require to be combined with other materials or other parts to become consumer goods. Fabricating materials are further processed and they lose their identity to become part of the finished product while the fabricating parts have gone through complete processes and are directly used in the finished products for the ultimate consumer. For e.g., pig iron which becomes steel, yarn which becomes cloth, metal sheets, bars, etc are all fabricating materials while tires, tubes, batteries bearings, spark plugs, electric motors etc are fabricating parts.
CHARACTERISTICS:

They are uniform in size and standardized in quality.

Purchases are made on the basis of size and quality.

Supply of these goods must adequate and regular.

Buyers knew what exactly they want in respect of these goods.

MARKETING FEATURES:

They are purchased rationally on large.

Contracts for the purchase of these goods are made sufficiently in advance.

Sales are made directly to their users.

Branding is not important.

Decisions to buy are made by considering not only the prices but also after sales service.

Middlemen may enter when the buyers want to purchase a small scale and at a quick delivery.

EQUIPMENT

Equipment consists of both mechanical installations such as boilers, heavy machines, blast furnaces etc and accessory equipment such as transportation vehicles accounting machines and office instruments, computers etc.

CHARACTERISTICS OF INSTALLATIONS:

As stated above installations include, boilers, turbines, engines, cranes, lathes, locomotives, grinding machines, looms, generators, heavy machineries etc

They have the following charactestics:

They are very costly but long durable.

It’s not possible to test their suitability accurately.

They are likely to become obsolete or out of date due to the invention of new ones.

They are highly technical.

MARKETING FEATURES

Highly technical experts are required to effect sales.

The marketing of installations requires a great deal of selling efforts.

Service before and after sales is very important and it influences the sales

The price of the installation is very high.

The installation is made to certain specifications. Therefore, much time is spent in buying it.

Sellers usually sell them directly to the industrial users. Middlemen are used when the sales quantity are small and are made to several buyers scattered over a wide area.

ACCESSORY-EQUIPMENT

Accessories facilitate the manufacturing processes. They do not influence either the scale of production not do they become part of the finished products. They are less durable than installations. They include accounting machines, franking machines, calculating machines, office furniture, computers and other related consumables small tools etc.

CHARCTERSTICS

They are mostly standardized and branded goods.

Their prices are relatively less than those of installations.

They require extensive sales efforts since the market for them is wide.

They are purchased frequently.

Goodwill of the sellers plays an important role in their sales.

The buyers require assistance from the sellers in making selection of suitable type.

MARKETING FEATURES

They are sold through the manufacturer’s agent or other independent distributors.

Prompt and timely delivery is important.

Direct sale is possible where the order is sufficiently large or where the product is costly.

Sales promotional activities are very effective because the accessories usually standardized and branded.

OPERATING SUPPLIES

They are the material which are used in the operation of the plant or business which do not enter into the finished products. Their life is very short. Fuel, lubricating oil, and other office consumables and necessary tools and accessories with operating supplies etc comes under this category.

CHARACETERISTICS

They do not enter into finished products but they facilitate the operations of the business or the manufacturing processes.

They are short lived.

They are generally low priced.

They are purchased without efforts.

They are purchased frequently but in small quantities.

MARKETING FEATURES

Marketing features differs from products to products. Purchases are made mostly directly on the basis of uniformity, quality, low prices and adequate supply.

Since they are required by a large number of industrial users, the market for them is wide. Therefore, they are generally marketed through the middlemen.

There is keen competition in the marketing of goods because there are competitive products which are standardized and branded. Therefore, price competition plays an important part in the marketing of these goods.

Purchases of these goods are usually made on contract basis.

RAW MATERIALS

Raw materials are industrial goods which have not undergone manufacturing processes. They are to be processed before they become ready for use. They enter into the final products. They may be natural raw materials such as minerals forests products and products of the seas or agricultural raw materials such as jute, cotton, tobacco, fruits etc.

CHARACTERISTICS OF NATURAL RAW MATERIALS

They are limited in their supply.

Their production is specialized and concentrated.

The production is carried out throughout the year.

It is possible to control the production.

They are bulky bur perishable.

They differ in quality and uniformity.

MARKETING FEATURES

Marketing problems: the marketing of natural raw materials is faced with certain problems like:

It becomes necessary to shorten the channel of distribution. May times the producer sells directly to the industrial users.

Cost of transportation them from the centers of production to the places where they are required for use becomes costly because of the bulky nature of these goods.

Natural raw materials are bulky but their price is low. Therefore, cost of transportation is large when compared to the price of these goods. Therefore, transportation cost determines whether these materials should be transported in their natural form or they should be processed nearly before such transportations.

Since the quality and uniformity of these raw materials differ, standardization and grading becomes quite essential so as to enable the manufacturer to get the materials of required quality by referring to the standards and grades. Standardization and grading will benefit both the seller and the manufacturer. The seller gets better price for the standardized and graded goods while the manufacturer ids assured of the required quality of the raw materials for his finished products.

Finally, adequate and regular supply will have to be made to the industrial users. Because of the limited supply, the manufacturers prefer to get these goods in adequate quantities and regularly so that their production is interrupted due to shortage in the supply of these goods. If production is interrupted due to non supply of these goods the manufacturer will be put to a great loss. In order to avoid this manufacturer may adopt the following measures:

He may enter into long term contracts with the suppliers of natural raw materials.

He may purchase when the supply is more in the market and keep a large stock.

He may establish a control over the supplier by affecting vertical integration. In this case, the manufacturer takes the ownership of the supplying concern, so that the entire production of the supplying concern will be at his disposal.

INDUSTRIAL GOODS

Industrial goods are those goods which are destined to be sold primarily for use in producing other goods or rendering services as contrasted with goods destined to be sold primarily to the ultimate consumers. In other words, industrial goods are those which are intended for making other products or for rendering services in the operations of business of private or public institutional enterprise. It should be noted that industrial goods are not meant for final consumption. They include some manufactured products and agricultural raw materials, bulk chemicals and natural raw materials.

BUYING

Buying Motives of an Industrial Goods

Industrial goods are purchased by the industrial users. Their buying motives are rational and their purchases are methodical and are based on certain objects and well planned thought.

INDUSTRIAL GOODS ARE PURCHASED FOR VARIOUS REASONS LIKE:

EFFECIENCY AND ECONOMY IN PRODUCTION: the use of machines in production increases the production, brings down the cost of production and improves the quality of the products. Therefore, the industrial users prefer to use machines in production so as to maintain efficiency and economy in production.

UNIFORM PRODUCTS: manufacturers want to buy such goods that will enable them to produce uniform and standardized goods. The standardized goods are branded goods which maintain the confidence of the buyers in respect of quality and durability. Therefore, the manufactures always desire to use such machines and raw materials which will help him to produce standardized and branded goods.

LOWER PRICE: industrial users always prefer to buy those goods which are offered at lower prices, quality, quantity and other service conditions remaining constant.

REGULAR AND ADEQUATE SUPPLY: the manufacturers desire to purchase their requirements only from those sources which supply goods of right quality regularly and adequately. This will avoid any interruptions in production, eliminates the risk of losing business and ensures production of quality and products.

PROTECTION: many industrial goods are purchased by the industrial users from the point of protection and safety. For example, steel cupboards and cabinets are purchased in preference to wooden cupboards because the wooden cupboards will be burned down by fire if it breaks opt and even the papers kept in the cupboards also become ashes but if steel cupboards are used they will be protected.

SALES PROMOTION: manufacturers sometimes use certain products in production because their use in the products promotes sales.

TECHNICAL CONDITIONS: manufacturers are tempted to go in for those goods which provide sales service and after sales service.

MARKETING OF INDUSTRIAL GOODS

The market for manufactured industrial goods is very large. It consists of large industrial users of various classes such as manufacturers, transport service, mining companies, public utilities, insurance and banking companies, government agencies, public and private institutions, health and safety, warehousing corporations, wholesale and retail firms etc.

CHARACTERISED FEATURES OF THE MARKET

Market is concentrated in some geographical areas.

The number of prospective buyers is limited.

The individual purchase is relatively large.

Technical considerations play an important role.

The demand for industrial goods is a derived demand.

GEOGRAPHICAL CONCENTRATION OF THE MARKET:

The manufactured industrial goods are purchased by the manufactures. The manufacturers are generally concentrated in certain localities. Therefore, the market for industrial good, that are demanded by the manufacturers is also concentrated n those localities. Thus the market for industrial goods is geographically concentrated whereas the market for manufactured consumer goods is wide-spread. For example, the jute industry is concentrated in Kolkata and round about. The manufacturers of machinery, equipment, spare parts and service centers must also concentrate their only to meet the demands of the jute manufacturers.

Limited Number of Buyers: The number of buyers of industrial goods is very much limited as compared to the number of buyers of consumer goods. Moreover, the market for industrial goods is not actually a single market but it consists of various types of buyers. Problems of marketing different types of industrial goods are different. Moreover, a large numbers of sell their goods only to a small part of the market. Further the buyers of the industrial goods are well informed regarding the products they purchase as compared with those of consumer goods. The task of buying of industrial goods is generally entrusted to the experts who are well trained and competent, and who have full knowledge of the products and market conditions. They always try to purchase right quality goods from right place at right time and at right prices and in right quantities.

Large Individual Purchases: Since the industrial goods are purchased by the industrial users, they usually place big orders. Every order placed with the suppliers will be large orders. Even the small order of the smallest manufacturer is also relatively large when compared with the order of consumers. Moreover, the purchases are made at long intervals. Therefore, the suppliers of industrial goods cannot afford to lose sales or disappointment their customers. They should avoid poor salesmanship, uncertainty in delivering the goods, delivery of defective goods etc. Therefore they should always supply standardized and branded goods so as to maintain uniformity in respect of quality, durability etc. Further, since the buyers are concentrated in a place, the seller of industrial goods in an advantageous position to sell his goods directly to them.

Technical Consideration: Since industrial goods are required for use in production, their supply in adequate quantity and uniform quality is quite essential. The raw materials, machinery, spare parts etc. should be of highly standardized quality so as enable the manufacturers to maintain the high quality of the finished products and avoid any variations in their quality. Sometimes, goods have to be produced according to the specifications of the buyers. Therefore the manufacturers insist upon the quality of raw materials, spare parts, machines etc. The marketing of such special products necessitates the following sales efforts on the part of the manufacturer. For example, he should make an appeal to the rational buying motives of the buyer. In other words, he should appeal to the technical and business sense of the buyers. He must impress upon the buyers as how his goods are superior to others and how they meet the particular needs of the buyers. Therefore, he must utilize the services of highly trained salesman to see all his products. They should visit the buyers concerns, demonstrate the use of the products and convince them of the superiority, quality and durability of these products.

The technical services are also important both before and after sales. Because many manufacturers prefer to get such technical services before and after the sales made. Therefore the sellers of such industrial goods which are highly technical have to maintain the skilled engineers or trained technicians who should personally go the buyers, concerns, install them, demonstrate, their working and carry out any technical troubleshooting, faults or adjustments. The sellers of new labor saving devices like accounting machines, franking machines, computers, automated machines or any other such devices used in factories etc., must arrange for services before and after the sale. Everything should be systematically updated following companies software applications. The provision of such technical services is sure to promote sales and business growth. But the cost of maintaining the engineers and the technical hands and providing their services before and after sales is likely to be considerable to the seller of such technical goods and such cost will add to the usual marketing expenses. But the seller of such goods has to incur these expenses so as to maintain an assured market for his products. However such expenses are likely to be offset by single orders of large volume and the certainty and continuity of an assured market. Therefore, the percentage of such expenses to total sales will be low in the long run.

DERIVED DEMAND FOR INDUSTRIAL GOODS: The demand for industrial goods is derived from the demand for consumer goods for the manufacture of which industrial goods are used. If the demand for the consumer goods increases, the demand for industrial goods also increases. The demand for cements depends upon the demand for buildings. If the demands for buildings of houses increase, the demand for cement also increases. Thus the demand for industrial goods changes more or less closely according to the changes in the demand for consumer goods.

Moreover, if the demand for consumer goods is seasonal, then the demand for industrial goods required will also be seasonal. For example, the demand for rain coat is seasonal. And the demand for woolen goods is also seasonal. Therefore the demands for industrial goods required for manufacture of either rain-coats or woolen goods is also seasonal, similarly, fluctuations in the demand for industrial goods. But since the industrial goods like equipment (i.e., plant machineries, turbine, boiler, valves, pumps etc.) have long life, any decrease in the demand for consumer goods manufactured by the equipments affects he demand for that equipment immediately while any increase in the demand for consumer goods influences the demand for equipment only after a long period. Therefore, equipment industries suffer greatly during bad years but have to work overtime during good years.

Therefore, the marketing of industrial goods has special problems. The characteristic of derived demand for industrial good influences in a great extent the marketing policies of the producers of industrial goods. For e.g., the producer of wool may have to undertake the advertisement for the use of woolen clothes etc. Only by increasing the demand for woolen goods, he can increase the demand for wool. But, he cannot increase the demand for his products only by reducing the prices. But if the prices of industrial goods rise, they add to the cost of production of consumer goods and this will raise their prices and reduce demand also. Thus, a rise in the prices of industrial goods leads to rise in the prices of consumer goods and a fall in the demand for them, while a fall in the prices of industrial goods may or may not increase the demand for consumer’s goods. That is why the sellers of industrial goods help the manufacturers of consumer goods in their advertisement and sales promotion activities.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES OF INDUSTRIAL GOODS

INFREQUENT PURCHASES: Industrial goods are not purchased frequently like the consumer goods. They are purchased after long interval and that too in very big quantities. Costly machines, machinery parts for plants, or extension of new plants, erecting and commissioning of new turbine or boiler are purchased once in many years.

LONG PERIOD OF NEGOTIATIONS: Industrial goods are purchased only after negotiating for a longer period since the quantity to be purchased is usually large or decisions are to be taken after considering the specification, future requirements etc.

RECIPROCAL TRADING: Reciprocal trading means the seller of industrial goods sells his goods to the manufacturer and buys from him some other goods required by him. Thus it is an exchange of goods for goods between the seller and the buyer.

LEASING: The buyer of industrial goods must get them on lease basis instead of buying them completely. The buyer becomes the lease and the seller becomes leaser. Large capital equipment like textile machinery, heavy constructions machinery, automobiles, machines, tools, pumps etc are now sold on lease basis by the seller to the buyers. Such leasing is beneficial to both leaser as well as the lease. (This depends upon the type and policy of the manufacturer)

It is needless to emphasize that every salesperson must have such basic knowledge before entering into Manufacturing Plants for contacts and building up relations and preparing for selling goods according to the needs of the buyers to retain long term business with Industrial Manufacturers...

SALES TRAINING

Training has become the most essential part of an organization and every salesman must undergo training to become more efficient and reliable. Training is quite essential for a newly appointed salesman as well as an old employee of an organization. It helps the new salesperson to get the full knowledge of the products that he has to sell, the selling technique and selling skills to different customers depends upon the customer segment.

IMPORTANCE OF "TRAINING" TO SALESPEOPLE, WHY?

It has helps the old salesmen to acquaint themselves with the new product of the company, to understand the new techniques of selling and improve or increase their ability and efficiency.

Therefore the company arranges for the training of new as well as old salesperson.

The extent of training depends upon several factors such as the nature of the job, the educational qualifications of the salesperson, their past experience, the nature of the products to be handled and the types of customers with whom the salesperson have to deal. The aims and objects of giving training are various. The following are the common aims and objects of providing training or coaching to salesperson.

AIMS AND OBJECTS OF TRAINING

To acquaint the new salesperson with the principles and techniques of selling.

To increase or improve the efficiency of an old employee.

To enable the salesperson to get full knowledge of the products and selling skills of the organization where they are employed.

To enable the salesperson to be familiar with the business practices of the company and to render better services to the customers.To keep the salesperson well informed about the laws regulating the sales company policy, about the types of customers, about the position of the competing firms and about the ways of promoting sales.To find in the course of training inefficient persons and weed them out.

Thus, training is very important in producing effective, efficient and strong sales force. It is often said that a good salesperson can sell anything and therefore a trained salesperson affects the sales of any products and under any circumstances. This is so because a trained salesperson has thorough understanding of the task entrusted to him.

ADVANTAGES OF TRAINING!!!

I have given below few examples of advantages of training available to a company which possesses well trained sales people.

A well planned training program increases the total value and volume of sales and consequently the profit of the organization.It reduces the cost of management and control of salesperson.

It reduces the turnover of sales force. Trained salesperson do not usually leave the employer and therefore the company will not be unconvinced since there will be no frequent in the selling personnel.

It helps the company to maintain good relations with its clients. Because the trained salesperson who are usually contented always try to satisfy the customers by their good behavior.

It reduces the selling efforts so that loss of time is the least in effecting sales.

It reduces the number of complaints from the customers.

It enables the company to sell products of high unit cost.

It increases the goodwill of the company.

METHODS OF TRAINING

Following are the common methods of training the salespersons:

Giving speech on sales techniques.

Sales conferences

Seminars and presentations

Visual training

Field training

Induction training

Admitting to private training organizations

Arranging for apprenticeships

All these benefits add to the sales career and also the personal career for a salesperson. The training motivates or pushes forward the salesperson toward the goals. It also avails him the maximum benefits of the company plus the revenue of the company.

Giving speech on sales techniques: The Company may arrange for Sale Management professionals or experts on salesperson every now and then and enable the salesperson to know much about the skill of sales. Soon after the speech is over, group discussion, seminars and written tests should be organized. But such speeches have to be held only in holidays when the sales team wants to enjoy and take rest. Moreover company has to spend money for this. The budget depends upon the type of company.

SALES CONFERENCES:

The Company may hold periodical conferences and ask the salesperson to attend them. The manager sales or HR department in charge of such conferences arrange for the discussion of subject like, selling policies of the company, attitude of the customers forwards the products of company, complaints or grievances of the customers, methods of carrying on sales promotional activities and advertisement improvement to be made in products or in the selling techniques and the difficulties faced by the salesperson in their tasks or projects.

The advantages of these methods are various. It creates a logical thinking in the salesperson. It helps the salesperson to take better decision. Exchange and sharing of ideas and opinions broadens the knowledge of the salesperson. Several problems can be solved by group discussions.

Seminars and presentation: Such training's are boosting the thinking level of the salesperson broadly. In this training, salespeople from different region of the company arriving and discuss on various subjects like, selling techniques, product requirements, new product launching, competitors activities, sales promotional activities etc in details. During this period of time any salesperson can exchange his ideas and share his comments of his own. They are also discussing on new application and new customer base which is expected to be establishing in future. Each salesperson has to give presentation on his achievements, success stories, plan of action etc. This is a good training tool where salesperson can gain more knowledge and skills within a short period of time. The time period for such training would be four days to one week.

VISUAL TRAINING

The company may arrange for the visual education of its salesperson in salesmanship and publicity. The salespeople are given training by the use of motion pictures, films, recorded voices and video demonstration of actual selling methods. Visual training includes different aids such as Visual aids, Audio visual aids and Audio aids. Such training improves salespersons selling appearance.

FIELD TRAINING

This method involves the actual demonstration of the work of salesperson. The trainer and the trainees actually call on the potential customers with products, catalogs and other selling tools. The Trainees observe the selling efforts of the trainer explains the various stages in his discussion including sales call to taking commitment and closing the call and then asks the trainees to do their job with other customer. Once the call is over trainer and trainees will both sit together and discuss about the call in detail. This training is very useful for any salesperson in selling field. Moreover he will come to know more about how objections can be handled?

INDUCTION TRAINING

This training generally gives idea about the company and its policies, terms and conditions, knowledge about different type of products, staff introduction, basic requirements of salespersons in selling, customer knowledge, territory knowledge, improve communication skills and as a whole details of company.

Admitting to private training organizations.

Under this method, the company may arrange for admission of its salesperson to specialized training organizations or Management Consultant where training in salesmanship and publicity is imparted. But during the training period, the company has to pay their remuneration as well as the training fees. Therefore this training method is costly. But it depends upon company policy and budgets.

Arranging for Apprenticeship: The Company arranges to send its salesperson to work as apprentices for industries of other distribution centers for limited period of time.

SALESPERSON v/s SALES MANAGER

Most important duty of salesperson is communication with his Sales Manager. He should keep in touch with his manager regularly and update the business report without fail. If the communication is strong among them, no doubt, business growth is assured. Because Sales Manager is playing an important role in any organization in sales team. He is the head of the sales organization. He is the chief executive of the sales department. He is to guide and control the activities of the sales force. He is also known as Director Sales or the Chief Sales Executive (this may vary from company to company). In a small business concern, the sales manager performs most of the functions of marketing but in case of a medium or big organization concern, the functions are distributed among the several sections of the sales departments. Each section is an in charge of Assistant Sales Manager. There may also be branch managers, division wise or region wise. But the sales manager plays a very important role in the marketing activities of the company. He will guide his assistants in their work, direct their selling activities, see that goods flow continuously through the various distributors or dealers and reach the end users and take necessary steps to increase the sales of the goods. Thus his job is concerned with the many functions of marketing. He should appoint the salesperson wisely, train them, improve their selling skills, determine their sales areas and targets set by him, supervise and evaluate their performance, and finally stimulate and compensate them.

Apart from this sales manager should possess the skills of various things such as factors affecting the operation of the company, business practices prevailing in the market and future trends, business policies and terms and conditions, distributor’s policy of the firm, the type of the product manufactured by the company, monitoring inventory level and market research and analysis, good qualities and drawbacks of the sales force.

He must also possess capability to work successfully with other departments like purchase, stores, production, customer logistic, human resources department, quality and assurance, and extract work from them. He must also be capable of communicating ideas to others, inspire confidence, select right type of salesperson, evaluate their performance appraisal monthly or quarterly, analysis and respond to the management periodically. Hence, salesperson must co-operate with his manager so as to keep the growth of the company consistently.

RANK YOUR CUSTOMERS PERIODICALLY

If you are working several customers (or thousands customers) at once, it’s helpful to rank them in order of urgency. You might have an ‘X list’, ‘Y list’. Or an ‘X, Y and Z list’. You might have ‘long term prospects’ and maybe ‘suspects’. And of course ‘Network’.

‘Xs’ are the people who you are working on right now, and who are most likely to give you business in the next few days or weeks. People who you have pitched to and who have to get back to you. People who you’ll pitch to this week. They will either become customers very soon or they will slip into another prospect category.

‘Y’s are those who you are working on, and for whom you have not yet structured a preposition. May be they will become ‘X’s or maybe they will become ‘Z’s.

Long term prospects and ‘Z’s are similar. The difference to me is that long term prospects may only receive your attention at irregular intervals- they may be people to whom you have pitched and lost or others who have become inactive. ‘Z’s you have not lost yet; they are just lower priority.

Suspects are ideas. May be you have heard of someone who does something in which you could be involved. You need to research the background. They are merely suspicious of a prospect. You are objective is to convert them to one of the other categories.

Network is that category of people who don’t give you business directly but who know people who cn give you business- you might think of them as influencers or referrers. They may be competitors, or former business colleagues. They may be former clients who have moved on or former employees. Whoever they are, they are critically important, and should be treated with the same sense of importance as your business prospectus.

This is how your frequency of contact or consideration of contact should work out:

category		Frequency of contact or review for contract	objective
1.       X list		Daily	Make a customer
2.       Y list		Weekly to monthly	Move to X list
3.       Z list		Monthly	Move to X or Y list
4.       Long term prospects		Once in Two Months	Move to X, Y or  Z list
5.       Suspects	As it happens		Move to X, Y or Z list
6.       Network	Monthly		Strategic Skills

GET TO KNOW YOUR PROSPECTUS

The more you know about your prospects; the better will be your opportunities to do business. I am talking about personal information, such as their hobbies, interests, family facts and so on.

THE CUSTOMER OF YOUR VISION

Imagine that in tomorrow’s post you receive a letter offering you your absolutely best, most magnificent, ideal, superb, appropriate project, assignment or piece of business. You could not ask anything better!

Who is the letter from?

Name

Organization

What is the deal?

What do you have to do to make it happen?

What are the Roadblocks?

You’re Plan of Action?

This exercise can produce some amazing results for you. If you give yourself permission to get the ideal kind of project or piece of business, you can find new opportunities opening up that you may have pooh – poohed as being unachievable. All you have to do is, identifying the goal, establish what you have to do to get there, and do it.

This is one of the most popular exercises and some of the realizations that surface are a delight to behold.

An awful lot of what gets done because somebody said ‘Let’s do it’. You might have seen and experienced that many great people, businessmen, Prime Ministers, Presidents, Journalists, Scientists set the goal of putting big tasks and it was done. Nothing is coming easy without effort, planning and craving desire. So identify the result you want to achieve, ask the magic question ‘What do we have to do to get there?’ and do it.

VISIT OFTEN YOUR BUSINESS CARD FOLDER

Who do you know? Have you gone to the trouble of analyzing your contacts lately? Do you go out of your way to meet new people? Haven’t met anyone new lately? Well, what do you do with all those business cards people keep giving you? Would it be worth your while going through them again? I will bet 100 cards, you find ten people to call whom you’d forgotten about. What about your personal telephone directories (saved contact list in your smart phone/iPod/tab) and diaries? Go through them. One of those calls could be very productive.

MAKE ONE EXTRA CALL A DAY

You will increase your new business by increasing your customer – contact rate. Every contact with a potential customer is an opportunity to obtain an order. Every non – contact is a lost opportunity that can never be recovered. So look at the number of contacts you are making each day, and make one more than you have been. Since it is a number game, you will surely do more business.

APPROPRIATE DIRECT MAIL CAN BE SPECIAL MOMENT

Keep on sending relevant mails to your customers on each and every subject you discussed in the sales call. Whenever you receive a phone call from your customer, just send a reply by mail even if you made conversation on telephone/mobile. Such mails to your customer create interest more in your product and can understand better about the quality of the services you offered. You can also attach related files, document, design etc while sending the mails. You will surely make company awareness on customers. The list is all-important. And so is the relevance of the message to the audience. Think off your dearest hobby or past time. Now imagine a really interesting piece of news that was mailed to you cold – would you feel responsive? Probably. It’s that type of impact you should be striving for in any mailing you do. The easier it is for addressees to reply, the better reply rate you will have.

READ THE INDUSTRIAL/TRADE MAGEZINES AND LOOK FOR INFURIATING INFORMATION

Every industry has its literature – the trade press. If you have been in business, a while, you unquestionably receive some publications free. (Subscribing to industrial news letter by mail) On the principle of you get what you pay for, quite a few people I know never even open these publications, or give them only the most cursory of glances. I am suggesting that, since some people have gone to the trouble to put together publications for you, the least you can do is return the favour and look at it. You may be amazed at the ideas you get.

Better still; read the news magazines, journals of other industries. Like those of your customers. If you sell computer, and you are trying to reach accountants’ magazines, read the accountants magazines. A good business library will have scores of these available for perusal. When you make a sales call on someone who’s in an industry away from your own, ask for some back numbers of his or her industry’s literature that you see lying around the office: ‘I’d like to know more about the business. Have you any back numbers of this magazine I could have? What do you think is the best magazine for your subject?’

BECOMING AN AUTHOR FOR TRADE MAGEZINES OF YOUR BUSINESS

Make a point of getting to know the editors of the trade journals in your industry. Then suggest articles for their publications that you could write. If you cannot write, hire a freelance writer to ghost it for you. What you want is your name on the byline of a story relevant to your business, so that you will become associated with the subject as an expert. You will be quoted. And you can use reprints of the article in your own promotion.

CUSTOMER DEVELOPMENT WORKSHEET

Use this to help you manage your prospecting initiatives.

What I am going to concentrate on today? Date

Which clients/prospects will I target?

What action shall I take?

What barriers will I encounter?

What kind of help will I need?

GET MORE BUSINESS

You have got to retain the customer. No matter how secure you feel, you will continually lose customers. How?

Your principal contact leaves and goes somewhere else, or is sacked, or left the company to be replaced by a person who does not know you and for whom you are not invented here. This means you have to sell yourself in all over again. Of course, the customer may become a useful contact at his or her new place of work. The objective is to ensure a steady flow of new business. The strategic way is to structure a method of developing business and stick to it, even in good times. Make developing new business one of your main goals. Considering Goals start behaviors; consequences maintain them where a Goal is dream with deadline.

MAKE THE CONTACTS

You have to see the right people – a lot of organizations or potential customers. Not everyone will buy, so you must see many in order to increase your odds of doing business. The objective is to identify the right people to contact – aim as high as possible- decision makers, buyers, users and influencers... The strategy is use trade directories, read the business magazines, news and look for opportunities and taking best advantage of effective usage Electronic media. Further developing your own mailing list of key people, their personal assistants, phone numbers, E mail address etc are more useful. Get listed yourself – people do phone. You can also make at least ten prospecting phone calls a day. But most important is, be nice to people, especially secretaries and PAs and key decision makers. The factoid is you don’t have to be nice to people on the way up if you know you are not coming back down again.

RISE ABOVE THE NOISE

The object is to communicate in a memorable and effective way – have something unique selling proposition. The strategy you are using relevant and original communications. Further be there when your customers need you; anticipate needs. The factoid is according research; consumers are exposed to 1023 advertising impressions everyday, of which they only remember twelve favorably one day later. That means 85 out of 90 messages are wasted.

GET TO KNOW PEOPLE

Here the objective is to make an appointment with the right person (aim high) to show your work, to identify opportunities and to leave a positive impression. The strategy is here use simple actionable device like, reply back cover with stamp, giving your E mail id with all details of contacts, small appropriate gift that demands a note of thanks, or any company recommended suitable gift etc. Next keep follow ups with phone calls, set a date and confirm by mail or fax whichever is convenient. Avoid reconfirming an appointment on the same day – it’s too easy for people to cancel!

SHOW THEM WHAT YOU OFFER

The object is to show work that could prompt a deal and show your USP. Here the strategy is using real examples and present them in person. Show them the most relevant order; don’t show everything. Further, highlight aspect relevant to the audience in the room also use examples to prompt questions that drive needs. Be loaded with application/case histories to demonstrate knowledge and experience with controlling the meeting.

You are only as good as your last screw up.

SHOW YOU ARE A GOOD BUSINESS PARTNER

The object is eliminating the fear of unknown and to show your cooperative nature, but that you are not a yes person. Use strategy to seek earliest possible involvement, at the pitch level, if possible. Offer to work on speculative approaches for them, ideally for a fee – leading to the job. Describe how you like to work, ask questions, show interest and take notes. Asking smart questions shows you are smart more than saying you are smart.

FOLLOW UP OBJECTIVES OF THE CALL

The object is to thank your contacts for their time, leave a good taste, to confirm points discussed, to reinforce key selling points that surfaced and to fatten your file. The strategy using here is to send letter next day and send something else in two months or so. Help people to get the good feelings they want about what they saw and heard.

KEEP IN TOUCH WITH DECISION MAKERS

The object is to keep in touch without being a nuisance, to talk to the decision maker, not the PA, to probe for opportunities, and to develop something that requires follow – up. The strategy using here is to develop a reason to phone, and a reason to phone back. Send notes, clippings, mails or faxes. Make them want to talk to you and socialize. It’s not the third call that wins the business. It’s more like the twenty – third! 67 percent of business deals are concluded out of the office.

STAY TOP OF YOUR CUSTOMER’S MIND.

The objectives to be the first person your prospects think of, to be accessible, and to be knowledgeable. The strategy using here is to develop ways to keep in front of them like speeches, turn the speeches into magazine articles, and conduct research; involve them in it. Further it is more important to build a network of journalists who write about your success- phone them with ideas; they need them. Here the cross –pollinate is network in related areas, phone with ideas that are not related to your selling something. Be the second best informed person on their business. The factoid is if you say something with enough authority, in a few months it’s going to be quoted back to you.

DO IT ALL THE TIME

The objectives never to let day go by without some prospecting activity. The strategy is making even a quick phone call while you are waiting to meet someone else. Remember it’s a numbers game-

Keep making the calls and you will develop the business.

And never forget to ask for at least three referrals. The fact is I know it works in practice, so let us see if it works in theory.

KNOW YOUR SALES ORGANIZATION

Sales organization is part of business organization which is mainly concerned with the effective and efficient co ordination and integration of different selling and marketing activities to make ultimate benefits to the organization. It is responsible for setting up an economical administration, for allocating authority, for fixing responsibility and for securing co ordination and integration of the activities to promote sales.

Therefore the aim of the sales organization is not only to sell to distributors but see that the goods move from the company to end users or customers on satisfactory terms. It should carefully watch the distribution of the goods and strive to put them in the hands of the customers. In order to achieve these tasks or objectives, proper and well planning and organizations of the different functions of the department will have to be undertaken.

For the purpose of putting the goods or products on the hands of the customers, the manufacturer can sell his goods to customers either directly or indirectly through the distributor. In any case he requires selling department which is entrusted with the selling and marketing functions. The salesperson employed in the sales department must operate efficiently because the success of the company depends upon the successful working of this department. Therefore they should perform their functions efficiently, effectively and economically.

That is why it is said that ‘Sales are the life oxygen of businesses.' If the business is a small scale, the proprietor can sell directly to the customers, or he may sometime take the help of one or two assistants. In such cases, the need for a sales organization is not much. But if the business is on large scale, and the market to be covered is wide, then individual proprietor cannot perform all the selling activities alone. He requires several sales persons to assist him. The larger the size of the business, the more complex will be the sales organization which consists of large number of salesperson, Sales Managers, General Managers and National Sales Managers etc.

Now a day’s goods are produced on a large scale in anticipation of demand. These goods have to be sold in an increasingly competitive market. Therefore a separate department various selling and marketing activities become quite essential especially for a growing business concern. Sometimes some big business concern prefers to entrust the work of their marketing their products to specialized dealer, distributors, Agents etc. The need for a separate department arises on account of the following factors.

The company has to create demands for its products through its sales team with the support of other main departments of the organization.

The company has to undertake wide advertising campaign and sales promotional activities, seminars in order to inform the customers about the availability of the products, about its quality, reliability, durability and life of the products etc.

Company should make necessary arrangements for the prompt execution of the order received from its customers in order to keep up the word.

Company has to attend to the complaints or grievances of its customers and resolve the issues quickly to maintain good relation and business on long term. This is the most important factor for a sales team as it has to be solved by them only. The contribution of sales team is more in resolving the problem as he is directly concerned to the customer and company.

Therefore, a modern business concern requires a separate selling organization in order to distribute effectively the products and promote the sale so as to put the products at customer door steps.

Therefore, now a day’s customer’s satisfaction survey is being conducted by different companies in order to improve the structure of the company as a whole. Thus, such companies are focusing more on its end users, to get their prompt, open and frank feedback on the products, service, quality, reliability, design etc periodically. Here the role of a salesperson is very important and essential requirement for the organization.

TYPES OF SALES ORGANIZATION

Sales organization of every business concern has the same functions to perform irrespective of the nature of the business of the concern. Because, the aim of every business concern is the same that is to maximum profits by making maximum sales. But the type of sales organization actually depends upon the nature of the business of the company, the product handled method of selling adopted by the company etc. For instance, the type of sales organization required for a firm dealing in manufactured consumer goods will have to be different from that required for a firm dealing in agricultural goods. Similarly, the type of sales organization required for a company producing industrial goods will have to be different from that required for a company producing consumer goods. The method of marketing goods however plays an important part in determining the type of sales organization of business concern. They are mainly two types of sales organization:

ORGANIZATION FOR DIRECT SELLING

ORGANIZATION FOR SELLING THROUGH MIDDLEMAN

DIRECT SELLING

In this case the company performs all the marketing function by eliminating the middle men. The company directly comes in contact with the customer for industrial users through its own sales force. Therefore, the sales organization of such a company will have to be elaborate. The sales manager or any concerned person of the sales organization act as administrative cum operating sales manager. He is entirely responsible to the management of the company. In order to carry on his activities efficiently, effectively, economically, and successfully he divides the sales organization in to several sub departments, allots work to each sub department on the principle of division of labor and thus, fixes the responsibility on each sub department. In addition to those sub departments, he may have under him divisional managers, district mangers and regional managers. The managers keep direct contact with the customers through their sales people. These managers along with their sales people directly sell goods to the consumers and work under the direct supervision of the sales manager.

SELLING THROUGH MIDDLEMEN

Under this plan, the company sells its goods through the various types of middlemen. The sales manager is free to make use of any group of middlemen and adopt any challenge of distribution convenient to the business of the company. Therefore, depending upon the groups of middlemen used and the channel of distribution selected, the sales organization varies from company to company. The terms and conditions according to which the company deals with the middlemen also determine the nature of the sales organization.

When sales are affected through the middlemen, the sales person of the company do not come in direct contact with the customer or industrial users, but they deal directly with the middlemen such as Distributors, dealers, retailers etc. therefore, the success of the sales organization depends upon the interest and initiative taken by these middle men in pushing up the sales.

Therefore, the sales manager of such a company selling goods through the various middlemen has to undertake a big responsibility of selecting the excellent middlemen who are ultimately responsible of increasing the sales of the products of the company. Such middlemen must be excellent, financially sound; result oriented and has good reputation with customers. The company bifurcates the customers to its middlemen according to the geographical needs. Sometimes, company may allocate key potential customers to the one middleman who has had good relationships with those customers and also he must be capable of bringing good business. This usually occurs at situations where there is more than one middleman in a particular geographical area or a region. Whereas, in some cases the company may appoint more than one middleman where the sales network is scattered over a wide range and as also one salesperson is not in a position of handling more middleman at a time. Hence, company will appoint more number of sales persons according to the needs.