Q1. What should the salesperson’s role and objectives be under the new concept?
According to a new concept, salespersons were not only responsible for the product sales, but also liable for the management of the system and, therefore, for the management of profits at the retail level. The system aims to improve the profit of customers and increase company’s revenues. For this purpose, the company must have a thorough knowledge of customers’ operations and product groups. These salespersons are the key persons who can collect this information while selling the products and services. They can analyze customers’ operations and the evaluate demands of particular products and services. Previously, the salespersons were selling individual product lines related to customers, but soon after the company adopted a new system, salespersons were held responsibly also for selling the system.
Q2. Are existing sales personnel capable of implementing the systems selling concept? Explain. At Johnson Drug Company, the sales personnel were mainly recruited based on experience in sales in the wholesale drug industry. The level of education was never considered as the imperative criterion. Moreover, there were also not any set policies in terms of qualifications. Considering the new concept of selling, in which the sales personnel must have the knowledge of customers’ operations, sales groups, and the inventory management system, it would be difficult for the older staff to understand this new system of selling. They must have knowledge of the latest trends and advance technological terms. However, these sales personnel may be given training for developing their skills as according to the new system of selling .
Q3. What changes in supervision and compensation are added to better motivate salespeople under the new concept?
After the adaptation of the new concept of selling, further duties were added to the role of sales manager. These include being a people relations person, sales force field supervisor, a troubleshooter, a field intelligence person, and serves as the vital means of communication between the top management and the marketplace. The sales manager is also responsible for guiding the new hiring regarding company policies. These roles of the sales manager help motivate the sales personnel towards increasing the company sales and customer profits. Changes were also introduced in the salesperson job policies to motivate them. They were offered a straight commission on makeup higher gross profit in a particular territory. The more goods they deliver more will be the gross profit. The sales personnel can earn 1 to 2 percent bonus, depending on the volume of sales .
Q4. Should a training program be developed to assist salespeople in learning how to fulfil their new responsibilities?
Yes, for the purpose of training the old as well as the new staff to understand a new policies and company’s system of selling, sales managers should conduct training programs. Salespersons should be directed, how they can earn maximum income by selling or distributing large volumes of goods and services, what areas they should focus on and what skills they need to develop. Furthermore, they should also be given knowledge of new technical systems that would are used in implementing the new system of selling. Q5. To what extent should the sales manager's role and responsibilities be revised to correspond to the new selling strategy?
Currently, the sales manager only source of information is the monthly sales account reports that are submitted by each salesperson. There are chances of wrong information through this process. For this reason, the roles and responsibilities of sales manager should again be revised. The sales manager should be given access to other company systems as well, so to ensure the right amount of sales and devise promotional drives accordingly. The new system selling strategy demands that marketing strategy and the behavior of sales force must support each other. The behavior of the sales force is controlled by the sales manager. Therefore, he/she should also be given authorities to take part in planning the marketing strategies and policies of the company. Q6. What changes should be made in the company's salesperson recruiting procedure?
The process of salesperson recruitment is not satisfactory at Johnson. First, the eligibility criterion for the salesperson job should be revised. There are no set policies in terms of qualifications. The level of education gives less importance while choosing the right candidate for the position of salesperson. However, experience sales in the wholesale drug industry are counted as the plus point of hiring a new salesperson. This criterion is no more applicable in the new system of selling. Education must give due importance in addition to the experience for the post of salesperson. The new system demands that the salesperson should be capable enough to understand the company’s policies, warehouse management, product groups, and knowledge of equipment used in drug service system. Therefore, the salesperson must have at least a little knowledge about the basic terms and language of the industry.
Second, the major tool that is for the selection of sales personnel is an interview. Operation’s manager or the credit manager conducts an initial interview. However, an interview is not the right tool for the assessment of candidates for the position of salesperson. The assessment criterion should be based on an activity so to rightly evaluate the skills of the candidate. Moreover, these assessments should be made by one who works in the field and has experience of this job as a field sales manager, but operations manager is not the right choice for this position .
References
Company-Histories. (n.d.). S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. Retrieved from Company-Histories.coom: http://www.company-histories.com/SC-Johnson-Son-Inc-Company-History.html
Damnjanovic, V., & Krulj, D. (2005). Important Factors For Salesperson Evaluation. The 7th Balkan Conference on Operational Research. Romania: BACOR.
Spiro. (2003). Management of a Sales Force . Tata McGraw-Hill Education .
