Interdepartmental Relations and Coordination of Sales Department

Coordinating the activities of all departments so that maximum prog­ress is made towards overall company objectives is top management’s responsibility. Department heads, in addition to implementing top man­agement’s directives, harmonize their activities so that the tasks of all departments are accomplished effectively. Each understands the functions of other departments, and each is responsible for

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Coordination of Personal Selling with Other Marketing Activities

1. Sales and Advertising The sales and advertising departments work toward the same objective— the stimulation of demand—but they use different approaches. Personal selling techniques are the province of the sales department and nonper­sonal selling techniques that of the advertising department. The two types of selling effort need skillful blending to achieve an “optimum

Coordination of Personal-Selling with Other Departments

1. Sales and Production Coordination of sales and production activities is essential. Whereas at one time production was started only after orders were on hand, today most production is in anticipation of future sales. Similarly, although some products, such as defense materials for the armed forces, are man­ufactured to specifications established by buyers, most

Sales Departments External Relations

The sales department has important contact with six main external publics. In the remainder of this chapter, relations with five of these publics are analyzed: final buyers, industry and trade associations, governmental agen­cies, educational institutions, and the press. Because of the uniqueness of the sales department’s relations with intermediaries, discussion of distribu­tive network relations

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Donaldson Manufacturing Company: Electrical Products Manufacturer – Selecting a Top Sales Executive

The president of the Donaldson Manufacturing Company of Chicago faced the problem of selecting a new general sales manager. The company had annual sales in excess of $75 million and more than forty years of experi­ence in manufacturing electrical safety switches, circuit breakers, regula­tors, manual and magnetic starters, and related products. These products, which

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Frito-Lay, Inc.: Manufacturer of Corn Chips – Reorganization of Executive Structure

Frito-Lay, Inc., had recently undergone an extensive reorganization of marketing-related activities to provide more effective control in regional and district offices. Arch C. West, the vice-president of marketing, found it neces­sary to reevaluate his role and responsibilities under the new organizational structure, which had redefined his formal relationships with other executives. Frito-Lay, Inc., with

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Monrovia Oil Company: Petroleum Company – Decentralization of the National Account Department

Monrovia Oil Company, with head offices in New York City, was one of the largest producers of petroleum products in the United States. In his monthly meeting with Frank Spriegel, marketing vice-president, Jeff Gasden, vice-president of sales, recommended a reorganization to decen­tralize the national account department and bring its salespeople under the regional sales

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Liberal Software Solutions: Salvaging Jeopardized Deal

Cassandra Anderson works as a sales training manager in Liberal Software Solutions, a renowned provider of accounting softwares. Amber Smith, a new sales representative, is taking support from Cassandra during on-the- job training phase. An important client meeting is scheduled with Judy Investment Company, one of Liberal’s key customers. On stake is a poten-

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Lindsay Sportswear: Manufacturer of Sportswear – Sales Department Reorganization

Although the current sales organization of Lindsay Sportswear had been effective for a number of years, recent changes in the marketing and distribution of sportswear, as well as changes in Lindsay policies and practices, indicated that a revision of the present sales organization was required. Arthur Lindsay, president of Lindsay Sportswear, was con­cerned with

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Allen Specialty Company: Manufacturer of Writing Supplies – Coordination of Advertising, Sales Promotion, and Selling

Allen Specialty Company, located in Detroit, Michigan, manufactured a line of ballpoint pens, and mechanical pencils and, in the past five years, had added a line of stationery. Allen products were sold to stationery and office supply wholesalers and retailers, as well as to department stores, discount houses, drugstores, variety stores, and supermarkets. A

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Morris Machine Works: Manufacturer of Centrifugal Pumps – Relations with Dealers

Morris Machine Works, Baldwinsville, New York, was established in 1864 and was the first American company to manufacture centrifugal pumps. Morris pumps were sold to industrial users throughout the United States by thirty-two manufacturers representatives, each of whom operated in an exclusive territory. Three representatives in Canada handled sales in that country, but all

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Vibpure Water Purifiers: The sales demonstration

Vibpure Private Limited (Vibpure) is a growing organization with a wide range of water purifiers, air purifiers, vacuum cleaners, and water dispensers. The company was facing acute competition and had achieved 91 percent of its sales target for the first 6 months of 2017. July-December is going to be a crucial period for the

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Sales Personnel Management

Sales force management is a specialized type of personnel management. It is not possible to exercise close and constant supervision over sales personnel—at least not in the sense that one can supervise production and office workers. Furthermore, sales personnel work away from their cowork­ers and immediate superiors, so it is difficult to develop a

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Sales Job Analysis

Job analysis—assembling and analyzing factual information on specific jobs—is the basis for professional personnel management. Job analyses provide the data required for preparing written job descriptions, which, in turn, are used to derive job specifications (the qualifications and characteristics individuals need to perform given jobs). The job analysis, then, and its two derivatives, the

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Organization for Recruitment and Selection of Sales Force

The organization for recruiting and selection of sales personnel varies from company to company. Company size, executives’ personalities, and depart­mental structure all influence the organization used. Companies with small sales forces sometimes assign sole responsibility for recruiting and selec­tion of sales personnel to the company personnel manager, but this is unusual. It is more

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The Prerecruiting Reservoir Sources of Sales Force Recruits

1. THE PRERECRUITING RESERVOIR Because of uncertainties as to when new sales personnel will be needed, many companies have a pre-recruiting reservoir. This is a file of individuals who might be recruited when the need arises. The names of individuals added to the reservoir come from diverse sources like resumes submitted online, list of

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Sales Force Recruitment Process

The sales personnel recruiting effort differs from one company to another, mainly as to the sources of recruits and recruiting methods, and stem from management’s sizeup of the appropriate combination of selling styles. Different selling styles call for individuals with varying qualifications as to type and amount of education, other training, and experience. If

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Sales Force Selection Process

Selection systems for sales personnel range from simple one-step systems, consisting of nothing more than an informal personal interview, to com­plex multiple-step systems incorporating diverse mechanisms designed to gather information about applicants for sales jobs. A selection system is a set of successive ‘‘screens,’’ at any of which an applicant may be dropped from

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Pre-interview Screening and Preliminary Interview of Sales Force Recruits

Pre-interview screening is for the purpose of eliminating obviously unqual­ified applicants, thus saving the time of interviewers and applicants. The applicant is provided information about the company and general details about selling positions in it—a well-prepared recruiting brochure does this effectively and does not require an employee’s time for anything other than to hand

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Formal Application of Sales Force Recruits

Most of the companies ask candidates to fill the application form. This can be an online application available on the company’s website. The formal appli­cation form serves as a central record for all pertinent information collected during the selection process. The application forms are usually filled out by the applicant and by an interviewer

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