CHAPTER 14
Selling and sales management
BILL DONALDSON
Introduction
The role of selling is continuing to change and
evolve in response to dramatic moves in the
way buyers and sellers interact. Individual
knowledge, skills and abilities are still required,
perhaps more than ever, but teamwork and
technology are also vital ingredients in an
effective organizational response to the needs
and demands of customers. The salesforce have
always been ambassadors for their firm, but in
a turbulent business environment the informa-
tion and persuasion role of salespeople is being
absorbed into their relationship role. Sales-
people must take responsibility for creating,
developing and maintaining profitable relation-
ships with their customers. This being so, the
need is paramount to focus on how to win,
develop and retain customers to achieve the
marketing and sales objectives of the firm. This
puts the spotlight once again on the role of
selling in the marketing mix and on the
management of sales operations. Sales opera-
tions are the revenue generation engine of the
organization and thus have a direct impact on
the success of the firm. In this chapter, we
consider how selling is changing and evolving.
We examine the new role of salespeople and
redefine the sales encounter in different
exchange situations. We then address some of
the key issues in managing the salesforce as
they relate to marketing.The changing role of salespeople
Consider the following statistics. In 1970, 80 per
cent of grocery products were sold to 1656
buying points, the remaining 20 per cent to
thousands of smaller units. By 1980, 80 per cent
of grocery products were purchased from only
656 buying points. Today, 80 per cent is bought
from only five major buying points (Keynote,
1998). Less dramatic but similar trends can be
found across industries, and the effects on
salespeople and on the efficiency of sales
operations has been radical. These changes
imply a new perspective for integrating sales
and other forms of communication with the
operational side of the business. Driven by an
urgency arising from more complex supply
chains, fewer and larger purchase points, the
availability and use of IT in customer contact
operations, relative increased costs of labour,
and the continuing internationalization of busi-
ness, sales operations are now different. These
factors contribute positively to the need for
more efficient exchange and communication