1. Business English Upper Intermediate U2W09 John Silberstein johnsilb@aol.com

2. Agenda Sales

3. Marketing Why is sales an important marketing Activity? Sooner or later down the chain of commercial activity, somebody has to do something which others are prepared to pay for. More concisely, something has to be sold. Sales

4. We have spoken about the Marketing process and Consumer and Buying behavior. The ultimate goal of all marketing activities is to instigate the sale of a companies product and to have the person who purchases that product to purchase that product again.

5. Sales If you doubt the importance of an active sales culture, you might reflect on what happens to a country when selling is prohibited. In the late 1970’s, the government of Viet Nam instituted strict communist collective systems. Store shelves were empty of goods. People in the cities were starving for lack of food. People who lived on the farms did not want to work and not get paid. After several years, the government started allowing more free market activities and very quickly, store shelves filled and people stopped starving.

6. Sales What are the basic types of Sales Channels in use by Businesses? Retail – Store fronts Personal selling Telesales/Telemarketing Internet sales Catalog sales Each type of sales has advantages and disadvantage.

7. Sales What are the two basic types of Sales? B2C Retail Telesales Internet Sales Catalog Sales B2B Personal Sales Telesales Internet Sales Catalog Sales

8. Sales Advantages: Customer can: ‘touch’ the product. Easily compare products – there may be a variety of choices to compare in one place. Opportunity for personal service. Retailer has the opportunity to “Upsell” customer. Retailer can increase chances of completing the sale through the use of persuasion. Retail Sales

9. Sales Disadvantages: High cost of maintaining a physical space (store). Cost of maintaining retail staff – sales/admin/cleaning/stocking/warehousing, etc. Additional inventory costs. Retailers with multiple locations have duplicate inventories and must maintain warehouses. Logistical cost – shipping from the warehouse to store locations increase cost of goods sold, warehousing etc. Retail Sales

10. Sales Advantages: Personal relationships developed between sales rep and customer helps to ensure repeat sales. “Eyes” in the field allow the sales rep to make intelligent product suggestions. Sales Rep can become “trusted” advisor. Centralized distribution. Personal Selling

11. Sales Disadvantages: The chemistry between the sales rep and customer may not work. Ongoing costs of training. Costs of maintaining the sales rep in the field: Vehicle costs Phone Materials Missed opportunities – the sales rep may not be in the right place at the right time. Increased costs of managing sales force. Greater difficulty in maintaining customer data. Personal Selling

12. Sales Advantages: Ease of ongoing training – sales staff is all in one place. Lower cost of managing sales staff. Ability to have staff work from home: decreases facilities costs. No vehicle to maintain in the field. Ability to contact many customers in a short period of time. No need to be in the right place at the right time. Can respond to customer’s needs quickly. Ease of maintaining customer data. Centralized and more flexible order fulfillment (distribution). Centralized distribution of products. Telesales/Telemarketing

13. Sales Disadvantages: No Eyes in the field to evaluate customer needs. Completely reliant on customer’s understanding of their operations. Can be difficult to develop “Trusted Advisor” status. Telesales/Telemarketing

14. Sales Advantages: Low transaction cost Ability to have a wide range of products. Easy to compare product specifications. Ability to suggest companion products. Internet Sales

15. Sales Advantages: Need to maintain Customer Service staff Wide range of products can be confusing to the customer and cause frustration. Easy for customer to price shop. Limited ability to “Upsell” companion products. Need to maintain customer service staff. Internet Sales

16. Sales Advantages: Customer can browse catalog at their leisure. Centralized distribution of products. Catalog Sales

17. Sales Disadvantages: Customer can throw catalog in the trash without looking at it. Limited ability to show full product range to do costs of distributing catalog. One dimensional sales format. Need to maintain customer service staff. Catalog Sales

18. Sales Movie Scene: Boiler Room – Chapter6 - Chapter 13 Article: How not to do a sales call Selling