Basic Marketing: A Global Managerial Approach

Perreault−McCarthy: Basic

Marketing: A

Global−Managerial

Approach, 14/e

15. Personal Selling Text © The McGraw−Hill
    Companies, 2002

430 Chapter 15

Three tasks may have
to be blended

The Clorox sales team
responsible for the launch of
liquid bleach in the Brazilian
market drew on people from
R&D, marketing, and sales.

The Right Structure Helps Assign Responsibility

A sales manager must organize the sales force so that all the necessary tasks are

done well. A large organization might have different salespeople specializing by dif-

ferent selling tasks andby the target markets they serve.

Sales managers often divide sales force responsibilities based on the type of cus-

tomer involved. For example, Bigelow—a company that makes quality carpet for

homes and office buildings—divided its sales force into two groups of specialists.

Some Bigelow salespeople call only on architects to help them choose the best type

it. Before the specialist’s visit, an order getter probably has stimulated interest.

The technical specialist provides the details. The order getter usually completes

the sale—but only after the customer’s technical people give their approval.

We have described three sales tasks—order-getting, order-taking, and support-

ing. However, a particular salesperson might be given two, or all three, of these

tasks. Ten percent of a particular job may be order-getting, 80 percent order-

taking, and the additional 10 percent supporting. Another company might have

many different people handling the different sales tasks. This can lead to team

selling—when different sales reps work together on a specific account. Sometimes

one or more of the sales reps on a team may not be from the sales department at

all. If improving the relationship with the customer calls for technical support

from the quality control manager, then that person becomes a part of the team,

at least temporarily.

Producers of high-ticket items often use team selling. AT&T uses team selling to

sell office communications systems for a whole business. Different specialists handle

different parts of the job—but the whole team coordinates its efforts to achieve the

desired result.^7

Strategy planners need to specify what types of selling tasks the sales force will

handle. Once the tasks are specified, the sales manager needs to assign responsibil-

ity for individual sales jobs so that the tasks are completed and the personal selling

objectives achieved.

Different target
markets need different
selling tasks