Study Material
Prepared by V. Sridhar
Source : Philip Kotler’s Book, Internet and my own experiences
Marketing Management
Expectations from students-
· Punctuality (arrive on time).(if the defaulter arrives late he/she needs to write "i will never be late" 1000 times).
· Mobile phones should on silent mode and no diversion during the class.(if the mobile rings then the defaulter needs to come up and down the stairs 10 times).
· Respect your faculty and the staff that works in the Institute.
· Respect the ground rules set by the institution.
· During the class don't interrupt the person who is speaking.
· Don't do any thing that disrupts the rhythm or decorum of the class.
· Respect other students contribution.
· Conversations should be only with the mentor.
· Must take notes
· No two people should talk with each other.
Expectations From Faculty-
· Interactive and knowledgeable.
· Practical Examples.
· Simple (Complex topics made simpler).
· Break the myth that marketing is a dirty job.
· Basics of Marketing.
· Share Practical experiences.
· Case Studies.
· Education + Entertainment
· Tasks (Putting Knowledge into action).
· Punishment is to take us out.....
What is Self Discipline ?
Self-discipline endows with the stamina to persist in whatever one does. It bestows the ability to resist hardships and difficulties, whether physical, emotional or mental. It grants the ability to reject immediate satisfaction, in order to gain something better, but which requires effort and time.
Self-discipline is like a muscle. The more you train it, the stronger you become. The less you train it, the weaker you become. Just as everyone has different muscular strength, we all possess different levels of self-discipline.
The basic method to build self-discipline is to tackle challenges that you can successfully accomplish but which are near your limit. This doesn’t mean trying something and failing at it every day, nor does it mean staying within your comfort zone. You must start with challenges that are within your current ability to lift.
How is Self Discipline related to the subject Marketing ?
If one is not self disciplined, he/she cannot become a good Marketing person. In Marketing, one should possess Will Power, willing to work hard, put in the required time, must possess persistence and above all should be self disciplined and organized to be a successful marketing person. It is therefore necessary to first acquire the qualities of becoming self discipline before even understanding what is marketing all about.
What is Positive Attitude ?
Anita is a lady that many co-workers avoided as they thought she was a fake. Why ? Because she was seen always happy, laughing and joking. Every morning, when she arrived at work she always has a big smile on her face. She welcomed everyone she met with a genuine smile and she would greet everyone with this phrase ; “Today is a beautiful day, let’s make the best of it.”
When I first met Anita I had a hard time believing that she was indeed for real, particularly after many co-workers had warned me about her. So I decided to observe and watched her behavior to see for myself if what I was told about her was true or if they were wrong in their evaluation of her attitude. Our paths would cross atleast four or five times during the day. I observed her interacting with the caretaker, the secretary, the office boy, the lunch room supervisors, other teachers and many students during the day. She was always smiling, her attitude was always positive and she always had a kind word for even the most troublesome students we had at the time in the college.
So one day while I was alone in the faculty’s lounge, Anita came in and as usual welcomed me with her usual greeting; “Today is a beautiful day, let’s make the best of it.” I smiled back at her and said “Anita, I noticed that you are always happy and smiling.” She said “Indeed I like to smile and laugh, Do you see a problem with that?” “Of course not”. I replied. “I just found it strange that you are always positive, bubbly and happy all the time. Do you want to share your secret with me? “ I inquired. “With pleasure,” she said “My secret is no secret at all. When I wake up every morning, these are the questions, I ask myself. Anita do you have a roof over your head ? Do you get enough food to feed your family? Does your husband and your two children love you ? Is your family healthy? Are you healthy? Do you have a job to go to ? Do you have money in the bank to pay your bills? Do you live in a beautiful home? Do you have wonderful friends that truly care about you? Since the answer to all these questions are yes, I recognize that I am one of the most fortunate persons alive. So I thank God and I promise myself to give a smile and share a positive message with everyone I come in contact with during my day. As a result I always have a great day. That’s all there is to it.”
“Wow!” I said to Anita. “You have a winning attitude When did you start with this attitude of gratitude you possess”. She told me that when she was in her teens she would often come home in a terrible mood and would spend the whole evening without talking to her family. Her parents got so tired of her attitude that when the summer arrived they sent her to her maternal grand mother’s home.
A week after my arrival, my grand mother sat me down and gave me a lecture about the power of attitude. My first reaction was an angry one. Nana what is attitude anyway? Why do I have to change my attitude? I don’t see what is wrong with the way I behave ? She ignored my outburst completely. She said, “Anita, attitude is everything. Your attitude can make you or break you. So choose your attitude wisely. If you have a positive attitude you will attract positive outcomes. You should count your blessings every day when you wake up because you have many to be thankful for. Stop pushing away all the good things God has in store for you”.
I was still having some difficulty buying into her philosophy, but since I loved my grandmother a lot, I decided to give it a try, just to please her. By the end of summer I had made so many new friends, and I had been invited to so many parties, that I came to the conclusion that Nana was right.
When I came back home from Nana’s home that year, I was a new person. My grandmother’s words of wisdom became my new guiding light and I chose an attitude of gratitude as my new way of interacting with others.
What is Positive Attitude got to do with Marketing ?
Among all jobs, Marketing is perceived and considered to be a tough and challenging job to do. Because, it brings money / revenue to any organization or business enterprise. Getting money is not easy. It doesn’t fall like leaves from a tree. One must possess strong attitude and willing to accept number of failures. Look at the following example :
Nobody wearing shoes in
But another person thinks, nobody wearing shoes in
It is the same scenario to both the people, but one who has positive attitude goes out, sells and comes back successfully. The other guy who is negative in his attitude is not able to sell nor is he successful.
What is Marketing?
The term marketing has changed and evolved over a period of time, today marketing is
based around providing continual benefits to the customer, these benefits will be provided and a transactional exchange will take place.
The Chartered Institute of Marketing define marketing as ‘The management process responsible for identifying , anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitability’
If we look at this definition in more detail Marketing is a management responsibility and should not be solely left to junior members of staff. Marketing requires co-ordination, planning, implementation of campaigns and a competent manager(s) with the appropriate skills to ensure success.
Marketing objectives, goals and targets have to be monitored and met, competitor strategies analysed, anticipated and exceeded. Through effective use of market and marketing research an organisation should be able to identify the needs and wants of the customer and try to delivers benefits that will enhance or add to the customers lifestyle, while at the same time ensuring that the satisfaction of these needs results in a healthy turnover for the organisation.
Philip Kotler defines marketing as ‘satisfying needs and wants through an exchange process’ Within this exchange transaction customers will only exchange what they value (money) if they feel that their needs are being fully satisfied, clearly the greater the benefit provided the higher transactional value an organisation can charge.
P.Tailor of suggests that 'Marketing is not about providing products or services it is essentially about providing changing benefits to the changingneeds and demands of the customer’
Business Objectives
All businesses need to set objectives for themselves or for the products or services they are launching. What does your company, product or service hope to achieve?
Setting objectives are important., it focuses the company on specific aims over a period of time and can motivate staff to meet the objectives set.
A simple acronym used to set objectives is called SMART objectives. SMART stands for:
1. Specific – Objectives should specify what they want to achieve.
2. Measurable – You should be able to measure whether you are meeting the objectives or not.
3. Achievable - Are the objectives you set, achievable and attainable?
4. Realistic – Can you realistically achieve the objectives with the resources you have?
5. Time – When do you want to achieve the set objectives?
Some Business Objectives:
There are a number of business objectives, which an organisation can set:
Market share objectives: Objectives can be set to achieve a certain level of market share within a specified time. E.g. obtain 3% market share of the mobile phone industry by 2004.
To increase profit: An objective maybe to increase sales 10% from 2003 – 2004.
To survive: The hard times the business is currently in.
To grow: The business may set an objective to grow by 15% year on year for the next five years.
Activity – Ball and the Bucket Game
A bucket and a tennis ball is required to play this game. The bucket is placed near the wall. The objective of the game is to make players of the game to put the ball inside the bucket and it should stay there. Two groups to be formed. The group can be a minimum of 2 and maximum of 10 and every member of the group is given an opportunity to throw the ball choosing any of the 12 lines drawn in front of the bucket.
The player can choose either 1st line or 2nd line or 8th line or 12th line depending upon his comfort to throw the ball. The point here is that the player should use the SMART objectives principle to play this game.
Players choosing the first line to play – these players are those who want a very Cushy job. They are not keen to take up tough jobs. Marketing is not all that easy. It is interesting but at the same time a job which requires intelligence combined with hard work.
Players choosing the 12th line to play – these players are not bothered about the end result. Their objective is to show the rest of the team players that they have chosen the toughest and difficult line to throw the ball. This is nothing but showing off to the rest. But the activity here is to use SMART Objectives Principle to play the game.
Players choosing the 4th, 5th or 6th line are those who are realistic. They have neither chosen the easiest line nor did they choose the 12th line to throw the ball. These are players who are realistic in nature and would become successful in marketing.
Is marketing just the following ?
• Selling ?
• Advertising ?
• Promotions ?
• Making products available in Stores ?
• Maintaining inventories ?
It is all the above plus more.
Marketing is the process of planning and executing the concept, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals
Marketing Management is the art and science of choosing target markets and getting, keeping, and growing customers through creating, delivering, and communicating superior customer value
Marketing is the sum of all activities that take you to a sales outlet. After that sales takes over.
Marketing is all about creating a pull, sales is all about push.
Marketing is all about managing the four P’s
– Product
– Price
– Place
– Promotion
Difference between Sales & Marketing
• Sales
– Trying to get the customer to want what the company produces.
– This means company produces a product without keeping in mind the customers need and expects the customer to buy the product whether it is useful or not. Example – Dress material for Tribals who prefer covering their body with tree leaves.
• Marketing
– Trying to get the company produce what the customer wants
– This means company understands the customers requirement and produces a product which is useful to them. Example – Winter wear for those who are living in cold climate.
Different Types of Marketing
• Direct Marketing - Direct marketing is a sub-discipline and type of marketing. There are two main definitional characteristics which distinguish it from other types of marketing. The first is that it attempts to send its messages directly to consumers, without the use of intervening media. This involves commercial communication (direct mail, e-mail, telemarketing) with consumers or businesses, usually unsolicited. The second characteristic is that it is focused on driving a specific "call-to-action." This aspect of direct marketing involves an emphasis on trackable, measurable positive (but not negative) responses from consumers (known simply as "response" in the industry) regardless of medium. If the advertisement asks the prospect to take a specific action, for instance call a free phone number or visit a website, then the effort is considered to be direct response advertising.
• Advertising – Advertising is a form of communication used to influence individuals to purchase products or services or support political candidates or ideas. Frequently it communicates a message that includes the name of the product or service and how that product or service could potentially benefit the consumer. Advertising often attempts to persuade potential customers to purchase or to consume a particular brand of product or service. Modern advertising developed with the rise of mass production in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. TV Channels, Print Media, Hoardings, Banners, Point of Purchase Promotion Material, etc. are some forms of advertising.
• Telemarketing – Telemarketing (known as telesales in the
• Email Marketing / Internet Marketing - E-mail marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses electronic mail as a means of communicating commercial or fundraising messages to an audience. In its broadest sense, every e-mail sent to a potential or current customer could be considered e-mail marketing. However, the term is usually used to refer to:
• sending e-mails with the purpose of enhancing the relationship of a merchant with its current or previous customers and to encourage customer loyalty and repeat business,
• sending e-mails with the purpose of acquiring new customers or convincing current customers to purchase something immediately,
• adding advertisements to e-mails sent by other companies to their customers, and
• sending e-mails over the Internet, as e-mail did and does exist outside the Internet (e.g., network e-mail and FIDO).
• Researchers estimate that
• Word of Mouth Marketing – Word of mouth is a reference to the passing of information from person to person. Originally the term referred specifically to oral communication (literally words from the mouth), but now includes any type of human communication, such as face to face, telephone, email, and text messaging.
• Buzz Marketing - Buzz marketing is a viral marketing technique that attempts to make each encounter with a consumer appear to be a unique, spontaneous personal exchange of information instead of a calculated marketing pitch choreographed by a professional advertiser. Historically, buzz marketing campaigns have been designed to be very theatrical in nature. The advertiser reveals information about the product or service to only a few "knowing" people in the target audience. By purposely seeking out one-on-one conversations with those who heavily influence their peers, buzz marketers create a sophisticated word-of-mouth campaign where consumers are flattered to be included in the elite group of those "in the know" and willingly spread the word to their friends and colleagues.
• Community Marketing - Community marketing is a strategy to engage an audience in an active, non-intrusive prospect and customer conversation. Whereas marketing communication strategies such as advertising, promotion, PR, and sales all focus on attaining customers, Community Marketing focuses on the needs of existing customers. This accomplishes four things for a business:
• Connects existing customers with prospects
• Connects prospects with each other
• Connects a company with customers/prospects to solidify loyalty
• Connects customers with customers to improve product adoption, satisfaction, etc.
• Cause Marketing - Cause marketing or cause-related marketing refers to a type of marketing involving the cooperative efforts of a "for profit" business and a non-profit organization for mutual benefit. The term is sometimes used more broadly and generally to refer to any type of marketing effort for social and other charitable causes, including in-house marketing efforts by non-profit organizations. Cause marketing differs from corporate giving (philanthropy) as the latter generally involves a specific donation that is tax deductible, while cause marketing is a marketing relationship generally not based on a donation.
• Brand Blogging - a marketing and branding information blog. Providing a daily dose of news and features from the world of the brand experience, media, and advertising industry for both the consumer and branding professional.
• Influencer Marketing - Opinion Leaders - Influencer marketing is a form of marketing that has emerged from a variety of recent practices and studies, in which focus is placed on specific key individuals (or types of individual) rather than the target market as a whole. It identifies the individuals that have influence over potential buyers, and orients marketing activities around these influencers. Influencers may be potential buyers themselves, or they may be third parties. These third parties exist either in the supply chain (retailers, manufacturers, etc) or may be so-called value-added influencers (such as journalists, academics, industry analysts, professional advisers, and so on)
• Referral Marketing - Referral marketing is a structured and systematic process that maximizes word of mouth potential. Referral marketing does this by encouraging, informing, promoting and rewarding customers and contacts to think and talk as much as possible about their supplier, their company, product and service and the value and benefit the supplier brings to them and people they know.
Referral marketing takes word of mouth from the spontaneous situation to a proactive and highly productive solution, where maximum referrals are generated due to professional customer-focused strategies.
The above are few examples. There are many more types of marketing such as marketing through dealer network, franchise network, wholesaler, retailer and so on which we will be studying during later part of the course.
Scope – What do we market ?
Goods
Services
Events
Experiences
Personalities
Place
Organizations
Properties
Information
Ideas and Concepts
Activity
• Think of a recent purchase you made. How did the company provide you with the following concepts :
– Needs, Wants, Desires / Demand
– Products, Utility, Value & Satisfaction
– Exchange, Transactions & Relationships
– Markets, Marketing & Marketers
Importance of Marketing
The importance of marketing can be illustrated by considering the contrasting responses of the American car industry and the Swiss watch industry to changes in market conditions.
The decline of the American car industry For decades, motor cars manufactured by American companies were built on the principle that the American consumer preferred a long, roomy vehicle with large engine capacity. During the 1960s large heavy vehicles with names like Chevrolet and Buick, produced by American manufacturers, dominated the market. Roads were seldom graced by the sight of a foreign motor car and the American manufacturers tended to ignore trends taking place in the rest of the world where small, economical vehicles with lower engine capacities we re capturing an ever-increasing share of the market. American manufacturers believed that small cars would never sell in the US market. Japanese car manufactures, on the other hand, disagreed and recognised a major opportunity for market growth in the US. Marketing strategies were developed, research and development programmes carried out, factories built, and a workforce was trained in order that Japan could enter the American motor vehicle market.
During the 1970s world oil prices quadrupled, making fuel much more expensive. Increasing labour and raw material costs also combined to make large American cars expensive to buy and to run. American consumers rapidly switched their preference to smaller, economical cars, and sales of Japanese vehicles such as Datsun and Toyota rocketed because American manufacturers offered no alternative.
Even while this process was taking place, American car manufacturers decided against changing to small car production believing that the trend was only temporary and that their market share would recover when world oil prices fell. This never happened, and by the time American manufacturers finally changed to small car production, the Japanese manufacturers had a powerful grip on the market. They also faced severe competition from West Germany, Italy, France and Korea where technological advances in car production enabled competitors such as Volkswagen, Fiat and Renault to secure a market share. Several American car producers went out of business and thousands of manufacturing jobs were lost. This led to the United States having a large balance of payments deficit with Japan due to the high volume of imported Japanese motor vehicles. The domestic American industry failed to anticipate the changes in consumer needs and never recovered.
The Swatch story
In contrast, the outstanding success of a Swiss watch manufacturer during the 1980s was the result of a careful and well-executed marketing plan, brought on by necessity.
For years the Swiss were world leaders in the watch industry. In 1974 their worldwide market share was 30%. Then the Japanese actively began to produce and market quartz watches, which the Swiss viewed as a passing fashion. Quartz digital watches were, however, no fad and by 1983 the Swiss share of world markets for watches had fallen dramatically to 9%.
The Swiss manufacturer SMH carried out extensive research in its watch markets and carefully analysed patterns of consumer behaviour. Marketing experts advised the company that a turnaround was possible if an inexpensive, good-quality quartz analog watch could be developed, since the market was saturated with digitals. Gradually, a marketing plan was devised and implemented resulting in the introduction of the Swatch in 1984, which has since revolutionised the world watch industry. Based on their extensive analysis of consumer behaviour and lifestyle, SMH adopted a strategy that completely changed the concept of a wrist watch.
Watches were to be a fashion accessory first and a watch second. They would also be analog rather than digital. Product planning developed a distinctive quartz analog watch in a wide range of fashionable colours and designs. New models were introduced rapidly and older ones quickly dropped. Because Swatches were sold as fashion accessories, consumers were encouraged to buy more than one (to match different sets of clothes or lifestyles). The average Swatch customer in Britain today owns three different models.
In Britain, Swatch watches were distributed mainly through department stores and speciality shops. They were not sold in high-street jewellery stores, which the company believed were an inferior point of sale for the product. The marketing strategy was based on carefully controlling distribution to avoid flooding the market, which would have resulted in consumers losing their desire to own a Swatch.
Today, Swatch watches sell for a relatively low price which appeals to a large number of consumers and encourages multiple purchases. The watches are highly distinctive. Extensive product promotion, which includes advertising on TV and in magazines, together with sponsorship of various concerts and sporting events, generates further sales.
Successful marketing has greatly increased market share and enabled the company to introduce new product lines, such as clothing and telephones, using the Swatch name.
The marketing function
In the case of Swatch, the strategic function of marketing was to attract and retain a loyal group of consumers through a unique combination of market research, product design, distribution, promotion and price factors. Since many markets for goods and services have evolved to the point where the consumer has become of prime importance, businesses have responded by attempting to ensure that their products are produced to an appropriate standard, at an acceptable price, and distributed in a convenient manner.
Marketing decisions, therefore, centre on four functional activities:
• product
• pricing
• distribution or place
• promotion (including advertising).
These decision areas, when combined, are known as the marketing mix.
Nature of Personal Selling
Most Sales people are well educated, well trained professionals who work to build and maintain long-term relationships with customers.
The term sales person covers a wide spectrum of positions from :
Order taker (department store salesperson)
Order getter (someone engaged in creative selling)
Missionary sales person (building goodwill or educating buyers)
What is Personal Selling ?
Involves 2 way personal communication between sales people and individual customers whether :
- Face to face
- By telephone
- Through video conferencing
- Or by other means
Role of Sales Force
- Personal selling is effective because sales people can :
- Probe customers to learn more about the problems,
- Adjust the marketing offer to fit the special needs of each customer
- Negotiate terms of sale and
- Build long term personal relationships with decision makers.
Role of Sales Force
Characteristics of Personal Selling
• Flexibility
– Identify best prospects
– Adapt to situations
– Engage in dialogue
• Builds Relationship
– Long Term
– Assure buyers receive appropriate services
– Solves customer’s problems
Personal Selling Limitations
• Cannot reach mass audience
• Expensive per contact
• Numerous calls needed to generate sale
• Labour intensive
Personal Selling Tasks
• Order taking
• Routine
– Writing up orders
– Checking invoices
– Assuring prompt order processing
• Suggestive selling
• Order getting
– Seeking out customers
– Creative Selling
– Pioneering
– Account Management
Some Traits of Good Sales People
· Enthusiasm
· Persistence
· Initiative
· Self Confidence
· Job Commitment
Steps in the Sales Process
A sales process is a systematic approach to selling a product or service. A growing body of published literature approaches the sales process from the point of view of an engineering discipline.
Reasons for having a well thought-out sales process include seller and buyer risk management, standardized customer interaction in sales, and scalable revenue generation. A major advantage of approaching the subject of sales from a "process point of view" is that it offers a host of well-tested design and improvement tools from other successful disciplines and process oriented industries. In turn, this offers potential for quicker progress. Quality expert Joseph Juran observed, "There should be no reason our familiar principles of quality and process enginnering would not work in the sales process”. A sales team's fundamental job is to move a greater number of larger deals through the sales process in less time.
Specific steps or stages in a sales process vary from company to company but generally include the following elements:
Step 1 – Prospecting & Qualifying – Identifying and Screening of Qualified Potential Customers
A customer, also called client, buyer, or purchaser, is usually used to refer to a current or potential buyer or user of the products of an individual or organization, called the supplier, seller, or vendor. This is typically through purchasing or renting goods or services. However, in certain contexts, the term customer also includes by extension anyone who uses or experiences the services of another. A customer may also be a viewer of the product or service that is being sold despite deciding to not buy them.
The word derives from "custom," meaning "habit"; a customer was someone who frequented a particular shop, who made it a habit to purchase goods of the sort the shop sold there rather than elsewhere, and with whom the shopkeeper had to maintain a relationship to keep his or her "custom," meaning expected purchases in the future.
The slogans "the customer is king" or "the customer is god" or "the customer is always right" indicate the importance of customers to businesses - although the last expression is sometimes used ironically.
However, "customer" also has a more generalized meaning as in customer service and a less commercialized meaning in not-for-profit areas. To avoid unwanted implications in some areas such as government services, community services, and education, the term "customer" is sometimes substituted by words such as "constituent" or "stakeholder". This is done to address concerns that the word "customer" implies a narrowly commercial relationship involving the purchase of products and services. However, some managers in this environment, in which the emphasis is on being helpful to the people one is dealing with rather than on commercial sales, comfortably use the word "customer" to both internal and external customers.
Step 2 - Pre approach – Learning as much as possible about a prospective customer before making a sales call. A sales person wanting to sell perfume to NIME should first do a research whether NIME is a company or an educational institution. In his research if he discovers that NIME is an educational institution, then his target customers are Faculty and Students. A further research will make him understand how many faculty are there and how many students are there in NIME. Further research will make him understand male / female ratio. Accordingly he can pitch in “Perfume” sales to female. Female are best prospects and Male are just prospects for this sales person.
Step 3 – Approach – Knowing how to meet the prospective buyer. A warm hand shake with warm greetings of the day and seek permission before the sales person begins to talk about the product.
Step 4 – Presentation / Demonstration – This is the time to present the product / service giving as much details as possible which will benefit the customer. Product and Service features have to be explained in detail so that there are very minimum objections raised by the buyer.
Step 5 – Handling objections – While the presentation of the product / service is going on, the prospective customer will always have some queries or the other. These are called objections. Even price negotiation begins during this step and the sales person should handle the objections reasonably well in order to close the deal.
Step 6 – Closing – This is the step to close the sale. The sales person must be ready to write the order and take the customer’s signature.
Step 7 – Follow up – After giving considerable time after sales, the sales person is expected to follow up with the customer in order to find out how good or bad the product / service has been. This process will enable you to retain the customer and get good word of mouth and reference of new customers. The customer then becomes the Ambassador of the Sales persons product and will start promoting the product without any fee.
Initial Contact
Application of Initial Fit Criteria
Sales lead
Need identification
Qualified Prospect
Proposal
Negotiation
Closing
Deal Transaction
Mapping a process provides a starting point for further careful analysis and continuous improvement[5]. Diagramming a process flow is considered to be one of the seven basic quality improvement toolsf. Elements in the list above (among many others) have been described and/or flowcharted in the published literature. Some examples have primarily focused on functions performed by a sales "department". At least one cross-functional approach depicts and integrates a variety of interdependent areas, such as sales, marketing, customer service, and information systems.
From a seller's point of view, a sales process mediates risk by stage-gating deals based on collection of information or execution of procedures that gate movement to the next step. This controls seller resource expenditure on non-performing deals. Ideally this also prevents buyers from purchasing products they don't need though such a benefit requires ethical intentions by the seller. Because of the uncertainty of this assurance, buyers often have a buying or purchasing process.
A formalized sales process is generally more common for companies that either have complex sales cycles, large revenue risks that require systematic assurance of revenue generation, and/or those that choose to use a more consultative sales approach (e.g. Saturn, IBM, Hewlett-Packard).
An effective sales process can be described through steps that walk a salesperson from meeting the prospect all the way through closing the sale. Often a bad sales experience can be analyzed and shown to have skipped key steps. This is where a good sales process mediates risk for both buyer and seller. A solid sales process also has the dramatic impact of forecasting accuracy and predictability in revenue results.
Many companies develop their own sales process; however, off the shelf versions are available from companies such as the Improved Performance Group, Huthwaite International, and Miller Heiman. A large number of these methods have been described by their promoters in books available to the public, primarily addressing tactics employed by an individual sales representative. These provide a customizable process and a set of electronic tools that can be freestanding or can be integrated if required with the company's SFA, CRM, or other opportunity management system.
