Standards of Sales Performance

Setting standards of performance requires consideration of the nature of the selling job. In other words, sales job analysis is necessary to determine job objectives, duties and responsibilities, and the like. These, in turn, depend upon selling strategy. In some companies, for example, the key problem is to obtain new customers. The selling of

1 Comments

Relation of Performance Standards to Personal-Selling Objectives

Standards of sales performance facilitate the measurement of progress made towards departmental objectives. Specific objectives vary with changes in the company’s marketing situation, but are reconcilable with the general objectives of volume, profit, and growth. For instance, a general objective might be to add $10 million to sales volume, a figure in itself of

1 Comments

Recording Actual Sales Performance

Sales management’s next task is to measure actual performance. Emphasis in this phase of control, in other words, shifts to gathering performance information. It is necessary to define information needs, determine the information sources, and collect the information. The choice of performance standards dictates the information needed. However, with increasingly sophisticated management information systems,

Evaluating – Comparing Actual Sales Performances with Standards Taking Action – the Dynamic Phase of Control in Sales Management

1. EVALUATING—COMPARING ACTUAL PERFORMANCES WITH STANDARDS The most difficult step in sales force control is the evaluation step—the com­paring of actual performances with standards. This is more than a mechanical comparison; this step is difficult because evaluation requires judgment. The same standards cannot be applied to all sales personnel—there are differences in individual territories,

1 Comments

Controlling Sales Personnel Through Supervision

Management also controls sales personnel through supervision. Regard­less of who does the supervising, the objective is to improve the job per­formances of sales personnel. Exercising supervisory responsibilities, the executive establishes working relations with sales personnel for pur­poses of observing, evaluating, and reporting on performance, correcting deficiencies, clarifying responsibilities and duties, providing motivation, informing sales

2 Comments

Norton Brothers, Inc.: Manufacturer of Men’s Furnishings – Attempt to Reduce Personnel Turnover

Norton Brothers, Inc., of Rochester, New York, was a manufacturer of men’s popular-priced neckwear sold under the brand name Snappy Cravats to small and large haberdashers and department stores. Joseph Norton, pres­ident and sales manager, was assisted by two people who were assigned primarily to office duties but who doubled as salespeople during the

1 Comments

Holden Electrical Supplies Company: Manufacturer of Electrical Equipment-Recruiting Sales Personnel

Holden Electrical Supplies Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, manufactured a wide line of electrical equipment used in both home and industry. The sales force called on both electrical wholesalers and industrial buyers with the greater part of their efforts concentrated on industry buyers. The indus­trial products required considerable technical expertise upon the part of salespeople. Sales

1 Comments

Arthur Tompkins – Shaklee Sales Distributor: A Sales Distributor – Problems in Recruiting Salespeople

When Arthur Tompkins became a Shaklee sales distributor, his number one priority was to recruit a sales force. He felt that with unemployment above 10 percent in the Athens, Georgia, area, he would not have problems finding salespeople. However, six frustrating months later, he had only recruited one salesperson. 1. TOMPKINS’S BACKGROUND Upon Tompkins’s

1 Comments

Belton Industries, Inc.: Manufacturer of Toys and Bicycles – Selecting Sales Personnel

Albert Thompson, general sales manager for Belton Industries, Inc., faced a problem of high turnover of sales personnel. He was led to believe that something was wrong with the selection process and that the selection procedure should be evaluated. Belton manufactured a wide line of children’s toys and bicycles. Its sales organization consisted of

2 Comments

American Machine and Foundry Company: Industrial Manufacturer – Proposed Establishment of Formal Training Program

R.R. Woodruff, vice-president of marketing of the Bowling Products Divi­sion of American Machine and Foundry Company, was faced with a deci­sion regarding a proposed new training program for bowling products sales personnel. American Machine and Foundry Company, an old estab­lished manufacturer of several lines of industrial products, had gotten into the bowling market early

1 Comments

Holmes Business Forms Company: Distributor of Office Supplies – Centralized versus Decentralized Training

Holmes Business Forms Company was founded in Chicago, Illinois, in 1923 by Arthur K. Holmes to sell bookkeeping forms and office stationery. Gradually, the line of products was broadened and the market was expanded to the entire American market. The company distributed an extensive line of business office products such as various types and

1 Comments

Grady Tire Company: Tire Manufacturer – Motivating Sales Personnel

James Bruce, sales vice-president of the Grady Tire Company, wanted to improve personnel attitudes to increase productive sales efforts. The Grady Tire Company was a manufacturer of auto, truck, and other tires, plus a number of other rubber products. Executive offices were in New York City, with manufacturing plants in Cleveland, Newark, and Los

1 Comments

Hammacher Company: Manufacturer – Use of Sales Incentives

Wallace Bain, sales manager of the Hammacher Company, was considering whether or not to make some basic changes in the annual end-of-the-year travel incentive campaign. Many companies used travel incentives; Hammacher Company had used this incentive for almost twenty-five years. The method of operation had been polished and perfected so that sales personnel were

1 Comments

Office Supplies and Services Company: A Business Products Distributor – Stimulating Sales Personnel

The Office Supplies and Services (OSSCO) Company distributed business products including office furniture and supplies, drafting and engineering supplies, and business forms. It also offered drafting, engineering design, and printing services. Sales were $260 million. While OSSCO’s sales manager, Bob Brown, had been pleased with the performance of the sales force in terms of

1 Comments

Universal Automotive, Inc. : Manufacturer of Automotive Parts and Accessories – Motivating Sales Personnel with a Sales Contest

Joseph Mahoney, general manager of Universal Automotive, Inc., Chicago, recommended a sales contest to improve declining sales performance. This was his response to first-quarter results that saw sales fall substantially below quota. Mahoney believed that a sales contest would, among other things, provide the incentive to get sales up to or beyond territorial quotas.

2 Comments

PF.V., Inc. : A Plumbing Supplies Distributor – Sales Meetings

Grady Dethridge, assistant sales manager of inside sales personnel, of P.F.V., Inc., was concerned with the effectiveness of his staff sales meetings in motivating the internal sales force. He had just returned from a half day conference on Personal Communication Within the Sales Organization put on by the Atlanta Chapter of Sales/Marketing Executives International.

1 Comments

Bristol Laboratories: Pharmaceutical Company – Sales Contests

Bristol Laboratories, a division of Bristol-Myers, was one of the world’s largest manufacturers of antibiotics and pharmaceuticals. It had 725 sales­people deployed throughout the United States. With a sales organization of this magnitude, Bristol faced managerial problems in motivation and in balancing the selling emphasis given its product lines. Sales force manage­ment used sales

2 Comments

Kroeger Company: Manufacturer of Industrial Products – Proposed Compensation Plan

The Kroeger Company was a manufacturer of glass-lined steel tanks and alloy steel equipment sold directly to the industrial market. The chief consuming companies were engaged in brewing, distilling, and chemical manufacture. Sales in the United States and Canada were obtained through a fifteen-person sales force working out of the home office in Milwaukee,

2 Comments

Midwestern Westbrook Elevator Company: A Manufacturer of Elevators – Compensating Sales Personnel

Rex Davis, president of Midwestern Westbrook Elevator Company, told his sales manager, Jim Joines, he was disappointed in the lack of growth of sales in recent years. Sales had leveled off at slightly more than $50 million, even though the elevator industry had received a considerable boost from the enforcement of federal requirements for

2 Comments

Dewey Dressing Company: Food Products Manufacture – Role of Sales Supervisors

Gary Graydon, general sales manager of the Dewey Dressing Company, was reevaluating the role of district sales managers. The Dewey Dressing Company produced a brpad line of salad dressings and related products, sold in forty states under the Dewey name. The company was founded in Los Angeles when Lawrence Dewey, a successful restaurant operator,

1 Comments