Q.1 What is the major role of Sales Organization?

It is essential to develop a sales organization that will provide the most effective service in the
marketplace. Several types of organizational specialization could be considered by the sales
manager as illustrated below.

TYPES OF THE SALES ORGANIZATIONAL SPECIALIZATION

a) Geographic Specialization
b) Product Specialization
c) Customer Specialization
d) Functional Specialization

The role of sales organization:-

 To accomplished the goal and objective of organization
 To bring stability and continuity in sales
 Educating and training to different types of agent in organization
 Choice in sales force organization

The role of sales Organization and Processes in Effective Sales

Strategy
We know that the sales process can be improved by taking a more holistic
view of the sales function and applying some of the process re-engineering
techniques that have proven to be effective over the last decade. This includes
assessing and aligning all aspects of the sales operation in the context of the
overall sales process to derive maximum sales efficiency and effectiveness for
the enterprise.
Structure and process alignment are where most organizations fail in their
attempts to maximize go-to-market efforts. While they develop great
strategies, they often try to fit an existing structure and process to the new
strategy and ultimately fail to realize any benefits. The organization structure
and processes must be aligned to the strategy in order to achieve meaningful,
long-term benefits.
GEOGRAPHICALLY-SPECIALIZED SALES ORGANIZATION
Geographic Specialization is particularly suitable for an organization that operates in widespread
geographic markets.

In this type of organization, each sales person is assigned to sell all products to all customers within a
specified geographic location. A typical structure of a Geographically-Specialized Sales
Organization is illustrated below.
 

The main advantages and disadvantages of the geographically-specialized organization structure are
outlined below.
Advantages Disadvantages
One of the advantages of this structure is that it One of the disadvantages of this structure is that a
stimulates development of strong ties between particular sales person can handle only a limited
sales people and their customers. In addition, number of uncomplicated products or product
travel time and selling costs can be substantially lines.
reduced because each sales person covers a
limited sales territory.

PRODUCT-SPECIALIZED SALES ORGANIZATION

Product Specialization is generally used by industrial organizations that offer various lines of
products to the market.

This type of structure is effective in the distribution of different highly-technical products. In this
type of organization, each sales person is trained to handle a particular product or product line. Thus,
the number of sales people depends upon the variety of products handled by the organization.

A typical structure of a Product-Specialized Sales Organization is illustrated below.

 
The main advantages and disadvantages of the product-specialized sales organization are outlined
below.
Advantages Disadvantages
One of the advantages of this structure is that it One of the disadvantages of this structure is that
stimulates development of sound product each sales person must cover a much larger
knowledge by sales people. This, in turn, enables territory which increases traveling time and
the company to provide effective product and selling expenses.
technical support to their customers.

CUSTOMER-SPECIALIZED SALES ORGANIZATION

Customer Specialization is frequently used by organizations that offer their products to different
industries. In this type of an organization, each sales person is assigned to a particular industry or
individual customer.

A typical Customer-Specialized Sales Organization structure is illustrated below.

 

The main advantages and disadvantages of the customer-specialized sales organization are outlined
below.
 Advantages Disadvantages
One of the advantages of this structure is that it One of the disadvantages of this structure,
allows the sales person to become  an expert on similar to the disadvantages of product
the customers' operations and stimulates the specialization, are that each sales person must
development of strong company-customer cover a wide territory, spend more time on the
relations. road, and incur high selling expenses.

FUNCTION-SPECIALIZED SALES ORGANIZATION

Functional Specialization is most appropriate for organizations that offer relatively narrow product
lines to non-segmented and geographically concentrated markets. In this type of organization, each
sales person is assigned particular functional responsibilities for the entire range of customers. 

Two basic responsibilities that are usually assigned to sales people in Function-Specialized Sales
Organizations are outlined below.

Main responsibilities in a function-specialized sales organization

1. Developing new accounts.
2. Maintaining existing ones.
 

Understand Various Types Of Sales Specialization

In a Functional Sales Organization, new accounts are generally developed by sales executives and
existing accounts are maintained by specially trained sales personnel. Functional specialization has
limited application for small and medium-sized organizations and is used infrequently. 

It is essential that the sales manager understands the different types of specialization that can be used
in the sales organization development process. Companies with widespread markets usually use
geographic specialization, and those with diverse product lines find product specialization effective.
If customers have highly-specialized needs, customer specialization is frequently used, and
functional specialization is applied when team selling is more appropriate.
Q2. Describe the development of Sales activities over the centuries.
Ans:-

People say marketing is as old as the Mankind. Marketing came into existence when the first barter took
place. Barter later on evolved into the art of selling. According to some, Marketing first came into existence
in 17th century in Japan. Peter Ducker believes that marketing was invented in 1935 in Japan by the Mitsai
family who settled in Tokyo as merchant and opened the first departmental store offering a large
assortment of products to their customers. They had only a vague idea of quality, product category or
process of marketing.

Lot of water has flown down the Ganges since then and marketing has evolved as a major discipline over
the years. It all started with the production concept, evolved as the selling concept, graduated into the
marketing concept and post graduated into the social marketing concept. Each phase of evolution brought
along with it various marketing concepts and strategies befitting the dynamic needs environment and
market situations prevailing. The organization, which adapted to changes, survived strategies over the
years and which failed to do so succumb to the competition. The marketers have evolved various
strategies over the years essential for the survival and success of their organization.

The post liberalization world has become place where there is a cut throat competition between the
organizations and only the fittest is going to survive. This makes marketing more special & the Marketers
have the tough task ahead, they will have to workout strategies for marketing the offerings of their
company to much aware, more knowledgeable customer having so many alternative offers from the
competitors, thus marketing strategy has today become the lifeline of any & perhaps every business, it is
the ultimate battlefield for any company to prove their endurance in market. Eventually the companies
with-planned & strategically designed marketing strategies emerge as winners.

The following are the major trends, shifts & challenges that the marketer and business people will
need to take into consideration for formulating the Marketing strategy.

Operational Symbiosis of Marketing with other Functions:

At the operational level after a series of clashes with production and other functions, marketing is
gradually getting integrated with other Major function that are responsible of creating value for the
customers. In the current situation, R&D, Design, and production should work in collaboration with
marketing to assess. Customer needs and deliver products/services to satisfy the same. This simply means
that marketers will have to have a good understanding of the functioning of other departments as well.

Be Different/be what you are:

The future will belong to those who manage uniqueness in their projects by being different. There is no
point in trying to imitate others, in the past; avenues were limited for advancement in life. In the age of
the individual, it is enough to be what you are and bring out the best in you. In the same way, companies
that are different and innovative will be successful.

Discount Effect:

Promotions, discounts are now known as the basic workhorse of marketing programme. Price promotions
can increase sales in only three ways: Growing the category, switching & purchase acceleration. Price
promotion can indeed benefit total category sales through brining down prices & added visibility through
displays & other marketing activities. Consumers today seem to have a plethora of options to buy into,
amongst products and services of every kind. Choices so unlimited, that brand need to shout high above
the decibel levels of parity product advertising. Parity distribution and 'Just-There' display and
Merchandising. Price seems a key "P" to use. Using it innovatively makes it that much more of a creative
exercise to lure in the customers. The available price to discount is the same in the hands of every
competitor in the organized segment. How you get a better "bang for the buck" is the important issue to
consider. How you spend that money to create that much, more excitement in the heart of the consumer
to loosen his purse at your outlet instead of in the den of your competitor. Discount & offers plays a major
role to attracting customer throughout the year especially on festivals. The offers that worked well were
the offers that had the consumer drooling and itching to run out and make that necessary and
unnecessary purchase on festivals and occasions.

Profit from Complaints:

No one likes to hear complaints, but in this era of cut-throat competition effective handing of complaints
can be the life blood of any business. Complaints can be the educators of your business. Most dissatisfied
customers do not complain. Complaints are not made because people think it is not worth the time &
effort. They do not know how or where to complain or they believe the company would be indifferent to
them so a company needs to welcome complaints as a second chance to keep a customer. Keeping this in
mind most of companies are now searching for effective customer satisfaction performance program where
they area take opinion of customers, finding out what were the causes of the dissatisfaction, if any and
what it would take to put things right. 

Plethora of Ps:

As the four Ps (Price, Place, Product, Promotion) was found inadequate to meet the new developments in
the market place, a plethora of new Ps was added to the marketing strategy literature. Boomes and Bitner
added the following "3Ps" to the traditional "4Ps" of marketing to make them relevant specially for
making of services. There 3 Ps are

* Participants or People
* Physical Evidence
* Process

This fifth "P" People is also relevant to industrial products. Philip Kotler added the following "2Ps" for
entry into restricted markets.

In present scenario, multinational companies had to manage public opinion and local politics to enter
restricted market like China, Russia, India etc.

According to the opinion of some marketing strategist in this present era of globalization some
other 'P'sare also relevant, these are.

* Position
* Profit
* Plan
* Performance
* Pace & Passions
* Patience
Customer Satisfaction to Customer Value Management:

The word value too often means cheap. It should mean satisfaction .Value should always measure in terms
of total benefits & total cost. Value for money is cheap but added value is expensive. The meaning of term
Value Marketing is more than the price cutting, low margins, giving extra quantity & low budgets.
Increased international competition makes the market wider but tougher & marketers are continuously
trying for enhancing the customer value. Customer satisfaction typically used to be monitored by the
marketers and they used to take the credit when it wept up and had to accept the blame when it went
down. But the fact is that consumers will choose that company which offers better value for their money.
Providing better value to customers is the job of the whole organization. This is a function of strategic
importance, which cannot be left in the hands of a few marketing people. This has been managed by a
team of cross-functional experts and monitored the top management.

The Rise of Sports Marketing:

With television broadcasting and savvy sports agents as allies, sport has become an important vehicle for
marketers to hawk their products. The sports marketing industry that includes broadcasting, endorsement,
sponsorship, merchandising and ideas is growing in stature and relevance. Sport marketing is a sub-
section of advertising, assimilating the use or association of sports with brands to promote the brand. It
includes creatively using sports to promote recall, use or brand attributes, as per Pitch – Group
M estimate, the annual size of sports marketing business in the country is Rs. 900 crore. Sportspersons
display attributes that people & brand would love to stand for. Determination, humor, style and
flamboyance and attributed that marketers covet in order to establish a connect with consumers.

A Shift Towards One-On-One Marketing:

While the earlier paradigm aimed at meeting the needs of segments of consumers, the new paradigm
treats every customer as unique. The development of technology has made it possible to address the
needs of individual customers, the day may not be very far off when a customer wanting to buy a toilet
soap may have to put his/her hand into a scanner which will sense the skin complexion and pop out a
pouch of liquid soap that is ideally formulated to suit his/her skin.

Virtual Marketing:

Everything can be sold on the Net. With visionaries we will soon find villages connected to computer
networks. No marketer can afford to ignore this medium. Most of the people who surf the net for fun are
not computer literate.

Standard of Living to Quality of Living:

There was a time when people felt it very important to acquire a car, TV, fridge, mobile and a washing
machine for the house. A number of people may be planning to add an air-conditioner and a PC to their
house-hold items. All these add to the physical comforts. But after getting all these people look for
improvements in the quality of their living. Spiritual pursuit, environmental protection and universal
brotherhood are things that really interest that really interest people who have attained a standard of
living.

Innovation is central to Marketing:

Innovation is more than creativity; it is the commercial realization of creativity. Consumers like what they
have but also crave change. The word "New, Improved, Better" can influence the customer preference.
Innovation is the life blood of Marketing. Creative ideas are valuable but the greater part is harnessing
them to profitable productive change.

Emphasis on Personal Selling:

Now personal selling is an organic part of the business fuelling not only customer relationships but
stimulating the marketing functions with feedback from the market. Network marketing firms such as
Amway, Tupperware etc. are using organized personal selling efforts in very innovative manner.

Retailing: The new marketing Mantra:

Call it by any name; it's the last point of return for any marketer. The modern trade calls it the last & the
most vital leg of the value chain. You guessed it right; I am talking about retailing as an arm of marketing,
which is the final point of fruition for all marketing activities. The strength and potential of the sector is
evident from its sheer size, which is pegged at a whopping      Rs. 9.0 lakh crore. The modern trade has
now six types of retail formats like supermarkets, department stores, discount stores, and convenience
store, hypermarket & health / pharma chains.

Get closer to the customers:

Getting close to the consumers is no longer a management jargon but a reality and a survival strategy in
the times of tough competition. All the touch points with customer i.e. pre purchase, during the purchase
and post purchase need to be carefully handled to satisfy customer expectations.

Emancipation of Women:

Women are now gaining their rightful place in society. This is going to lead to greater demand for products
like beauty-aids, heat-and-eat stuff, healthcare and fitness for women, which could be exploited by
marketers in the new millennium. Now women are more net-savvy than men.

E – Business Center:

Education is one big business that cannot be ignored by marketers; it is not just the primary education,
but the life-long education that has become necessary for survival in the modern ever-changing world. It is
getting delivered more and more through the net which allows the learner to plan his course at his pace
and have a one-to-one interaction with instructors through e-mail. Eventually education will become guru
centric from the current institute-centric mode.

Soul selling:

Even with all the material comforts, people have a sense of loneliness and certain hollowness inside; this is
where soul selling comes to play. There are powerful preachers who come on the Radio, TV and Internet
and appeal to your soul, of course in return for a donation. Religion as big business and is expected to
grow further in future. If you can't be a preacher, sponsor a preacher to sell your products.

Rural Migration:

With comforts, communication and connectivity made available in the rural areas why would anyone
want to live in the congested, unhygienic and polluted big cities. Companies selling farmhouses and
plantations exploit this desire for the green rural environment, with connectivity established through
satellites; rural area will become attractive locales for ever setting up of business organizations.

Eminent management thinker Peter Druker has once said, "Business is the creation of its customers" but in
the present business scenario creating customers in not the end point, but more & more companies are
striving for retaining them & convert them as their advocates, marketing strategies play an important role
in this regard.

The Sales Execution Model: Pre-Sales Activities, Sales Activities, and

Post Sales Activities
I have heard it called Sales Execution Model, Sales Strategy Model, or just the Sales Model but
whatever you call it, it’s a process, or discipline, sales reps should follow to analyze, diagnose,
prepare, execute and evaluate in their territories or on their calls.  There is a flow or strategy to
selling that falls into three phases:  `Pre-Sales Activities, Sales Activities, and Post Sales
Activities.  We will review the three phases and look at how they apply to all sales rolls.

Pre-Sales Activities

The Pre-Sales Activities can be broken into two areas, planning and preparing for the call. 
Planning, by definition, is action based and is a scheme or method, developed in advance, for
doing, proceeding or making something.  Planning, in the Pre-Sales Activities, can include
Prospect/Customer identification, Product/research/customer analysis review,
competitor/industry research, creating a call strategy, evaluation of your products and services
relative to the competition.  This not an inclusive list but a good start in planning for the call. 
How many of us do that much research?  Come on, be honest, we don’t spend that much time. 
Some of us may engage in the research but we do not do so thinking ahead how we will use this
data in our sales calls; we should.

To prepare is to put together or make by combining various elements or ingredients.  So how do

you prepare for the sales call?  It’s time to transfer your plan to a written document.  How do you
use the information gathered in the planning phase?  You will use that information when you
write a clear objective for each sales call.  Write an objective, determine the processes you will
use to achieve those objectives, set quantifiable goals for each objective and practice for the call. 
Pre-Sales Activities around preparation will look like creation of meeting presentation material,
proposal/pricing creation, contract generation, determining use of marketing material, identifying
customer objections, and planning to address those in the presentation or meeting, and defining
the quantifiable return you expect to see after the meeting.  After you have set the objective and
determined how to meet the objective, you must practice for the call; that practice is integral in
preparing for the sell.
Wow, seems like we are spending a significant amount of time in Pre-Sales Activities.  Well, we
are.  Analysis indicates most sales reps do not spend enough time in pre-sales.  The reps that do
more planning and preparing see a higher return on the time investment and tend to be less
frustrated after sales calls.

Sales Activities

We all know what Sales Activities look like right?  Probably but let’s make sure we are all on the
same page.  Sales Activities are the execution of all your hard work planning and preparing. 
These activities may include the sales call/meeting, negotiation or follow-up, closing the
deal/order taking, and relationship building and networking.  Easy?  Easier when you are
prepared and carry out your plan.  In another article we will dive deeper into how to execute.

Post Sales Activities

How many sales reps live for, or even like, Post Sales Activities?  Be honest, not many of us. 
That’s because Post Sales Activities such as product/service implementation, customer service
and support, gathering customer feedback, continued customer relationship building, future sales
forecasting, and evaluation of the sales call are not what we want to do.  None of these activities
are highlights of the sales reps day but they are all integral.  I would point out that of all Post
Sales Activities, the one that should be of most interest to the sales rep is evaluation after a call. 
Given open and honest diagnosis of your sales call, this activity will set you up better for your
next call and will, in and of itself, lend to more productive sales in the future.  Why you ask?  If
you truly evaluate and determine what went well/what could have gone better on the last call and
make changes based on this data, future calls will go more smoothly.

So, no matter what you call the Sales Execution Model it should consist of three phases, Pre-
Sales Activities, Sales Activities and Post Sales Activities.  Remember to spend more time, do
your due diligence, in the Pre-Sales Activities phase.  This will garner you better results.

Over the years, substantial changes have taken place in the selling environment, sparking a
change in the sales function too. The various trends that have shaped the sales function
include shorter product life cycle, longer, more complex sales cycle, reduced customer
loyalty, intense competition among manufacturing firms, rising customer expectations,
increasing buyer expertise, electronic revolution in communications, and the entry of
women into the sales force.
Q3. What are the recent innovations in the
Sales techniques?
Answer:

Sales Techniques

The foundations of most modern sales techniques lie in five stages of action. These began in the
1950's and include:

1. Attention: You have to get the attention of your prospect through some advertising or
prospecting method.

2. Interest: Build their interest by using an emotional appeal such as how good they will
look to their boss when they make this deal that will save the company thousands of
dollars!

3. Desire: Build their desire for your product by showing them its features and letting
them sample or test-drive it.

4. Conviction: Increase their desire for your product by statistically proving the worth of
your product. Compare it to its competitors. Use testimonials from happy customers.

5. Action: Encourage the prospect to act. This is your closing. Ask for the order. If they
object, address their objections. There are then many variations of closing techniques that
can help get the business.

New techniques are:-

1)sales force automations

2)use of software as services

3)analyst and reporting of sales team

4) mobility

5)enhance communication

6)social networking
7)use of girls

8) use of cold calls

9) on line sales.