Core Concepts of Marketing

SALESPROMOTIONANDPUBLICRELATIONS 219

thanhiringcollegegraduates,whotakethreetofiveyearstoreachthelevelofproductiv-
ityofmoreexperiencedsalespeople.Thesetwostaffingissueshavecausedhighturnover
inmanysalesforces.
Anotherweaknessofpersonalsellingismessageinconsistency.Manysalespeople
viewthemselvesasindependentfromtheorganization, sotheydesigntheirownsalestech-
niques,usetheirownmessagestrategies,andengageinquestionableploystocreatea sale.
Consequently,itisdifficulttofinda unifiedcompanyorproductmessagewithina sales
force,orbetweenthesalesforceandtherestofthe marketingcommunicationmix.
A finalweaknessisthatsalesforcemembershavedifferentlevelsofmotivation.Sales-
peoplemayvaryintheirwillingnesstomakethedesiredsalescallseachday;tomakeserv-
icecallsthatdonotleaddirectlytosales;ortousenewtechnology,suchasa laptop,e-mail,
orthecompany'sWebsite.Finally, overzealoussalesrepresentativesmaytreada thinline
betweenethicalandunethicalsalestechniques.Thedifferencebetweena friendlylunch
andcommercialbriberyis sometimesblurred.

TheSalesForceoftheFuture

Whatwillthesalesforceoftheyear 2020 looklike?Willit stillconsistofdependent
operatorswhoareassigneda territoryora quota?Willthehighcostofcompetingina
globalmarketplacechangethetraditionalsalesperson?Althoughwecanspeculateabout
dramaticchangesinthenatureofpersonalselling,thetraditionalsalespersonfigurewill
likelyremainintactforseveraldecades.Why?Manyproductswillstillneedtobesold
personallybya knowledgeable,trustworthypersonwhoiswillingtoresolveproblems
atanyhouroftheday.
Still,majorchangesinpersonalsellingwilloccur,inlargepartduetotechnology.
Thoughtechnologyhasincreasedsellingefficiency,Ithasalsoresultedinmorecomplex
products,sothatmoresalescallsarerequiredperorderinmanyindustries.Also,because
ofthetrendtowardbusinessdecentralization,salesrepresentativesnowhavemoresmall
ormid-sizedaccountstoservice.Currently,companiessuchasHewlett-PackardandFina
OilandChemicalaswellasmanysmallercompaniesprovidelaptopcomputerstoallsales-
people.Computer-basedsalestrackingandfollow-upsystemsallowsalespeopletotrack
customers.Thistechnologymeansthatsalespeoplecanassesscustomer-buyingpatterns,
profitability,andchangingneedsmorerapidly.Accessingthisjnformationviacomputersaves
thesalespersontimeandallowscustomizationofthesalespresentation
Salesteamswillcontinuetogaininpopularitybecausecustomersarelookingtobuy
morethana product.Theyarelookingforsophisticateddesign,sales,education,andserv-
icesupport.Asalesteamincludesseveralindividualswhopossessuniqueexpertiseand
cancoordinatetheireffortstohelpmeettheneedsoftheparticularprospectineveryway
possible. Thesalespersonactsasa teamquarterback, ensuringthattheaccountrelation-
shipismanagedproperlyandthatthecustomerhasaccesstothepropersupportpersonnel.
Procter&Gambleisonecompanythathasadoptedtheteamapproach.P&Ghas 22
salesexecutiveswhocoordinatethesaleseffortofvariousP&Gdivisionsintheirassigned
marketareas.Eachmanagercoordinateskeyaccountteamscomposedofsalesexecutives
fromP&G'sgrocerydivision.Asmanyasthreekeyaccountteamsmaysellineachmar-
ket.Themarketingmanagersupervisesa logisticsteamcomposedprimarilyofcomputer
systemsanddistIibutionexecutives.Theteamworkscloselywithretailerstodevelopmutu-
allycompatibleelectronicdataanddistributionsystems. P&Ghopestheteamapproachwill
reducethepressurefortradepromotionsbecausetheteamprovidesgreaterservicetoresellers.
Salespeopleofthefuturewillhavetoadjusttonewformsofcompetition.Withthe
increasedcapabilitiesandgreateruseofdirectmarketing,forexample,salespeoplemust