【正文】 s resources to their own accounts to the detriment of smaller, but still profitable customers. selling tasks to managers takes time away from their management activities.21 / 50 separate key account division.Advantage:a. Allows for the close integration of functional areas.Disadvantage:a. Duplication of effort.b. Tremendous additional expense.. separate sales force for major accounts.Advantages: managers can bee familiar with their customers needs and provide a high level of service to them. firm can select its most petent sales people to bee members of the national account sales force. an internal benefit to the selling pany (., motivation mechanism).Disadvantages: to those for customer type anization. 22 / 50CHAPTER 8 ALLOCATING SELLING EFFORT AND DESIGNING SALES TERRITORIESI. Sales Force SizeThree methods are widely used to calculate the size of the sales force: Breakdown Method Workload Method Incremental Method Method the simplest way to calculate the optimal sales force size.Assumes that all sales people have the potential to produce the same amount of sales in one year. The estimated productivity for one sales person is divided into the pany39。s various products.Weakness: of effort. selling expenses and administrative costs. among the firm39。 representatives (or sales) agentsB. When are outside agents appropriate?1. Economics criteria and strategic criteria18 / 501. ECONOMIC METHOD OF DETERMINING IF OUTSIDE AGENTS ARE APPROPRIATEIn a given selling situation, a pany sales force and independent agents are likely to produce different levels of costs and sales volume.The fixed costs of using external agents are lower than a pany sales force because there is less administrative overhead involved and also because manufacturers39。s sales effort across different types of potential customers.Account management policies than specify what individuals within each type of customer anization the sales person should attempt to contact, what kind of selling and service activities should be engaged in, and how these activities should be carried out.The formation of an effective account management policy requires an understanding of: anizational buying process activities sales people engage in when carrying out their jobs2. PARTICIPANTS IN THE ORGANIZATIONAL BUYING PROCESSInitiators perceive the problemUsers must work with the productInfluencers provide informationGatekeepers control information flowBuyers purchasing agentsDeciders people with final authority17 / 50CHAPTER 7 ORGANIZING THE ACTIVITIES OF SALES MANAGERS AND SALES PEOPLEI. Purposes of sales anizationAn anizational structure is an arrangement of activities involving a group of people. The goal in designing an anization is to divide and coordinate activities in such a way that the group can acplish its mon objectives better than they could by acting as individuals. An anizational structure should serve 3 purposes: should be divided and arranged in such a way that the firm can benefit from the specialization of labor. anization structure should provide for stability and continuity in the firms selling efforts. structure should provide for the coordination and integration of various activities assigned to different people in the sales force.II. Horizontal structure of the sales forceThe first issue to be decided concerning the anization of the sales force is whether the firm should hire its own sales people or use outside agents (., manufacturers39。s products or services are better on at least some 16 / 50dimensions than the similar offerings of petitors.The nature of the munication tasks faced by a firm depends on: pany39。s product by offering such things as quantity discounts, free goods, display material, and sales contests. Nonpersonal munication of information about a firm or its products is transmitted through a mass medium at no charge to the firm. Examples include magazine, newspaper, radio, or television news stores about new products, new stores or personnel, or policy changes in an anization.A. Advantages of Personal Selling as a Promotional ToolStem largely from the fact that it involves facetoface munication with the customer. sales messages are often more persuasive than advertising or publicity in the mass media. a facetoface setting, the potential buyer is more likely to feel obligated to pay attention to the sales reps message., since the sales person only municates with one potential customer at a time, he or she can tailor the message to fit the needs and interests of that specific customer., munication flows in both directions which allows the sales person to receive immediate feedback. Therefore, the representative knows immediately when a particular sales approach is not working and the approach can be adjusted. advantage of facetoface selling is that the sales rep can municate a larger amount of plex information that can be transmitted with other promotional tools.1. COMMUNICATION TASKS APPROPRIATE FOR PERSONAL SELLING large amounts of plex information about the firm39。s product or service, usually by drawing the customer39。t do anything proactive, they simply attempt to survive by reacting to environmental conditions.III. Environmental Impact on Marketing and Sales PlanningFactors both internal and external to the firm affect the feasibility of marketing strategies and programs. Environmental factors influence marketing strategies sand programs in four basic ways:13 / 50 factors can constrain the anizations ability to pursue certain marketing strategies or activities. variables, and changes in those variables over time, help determine the ultimate success or failure of marketing strategies. in the environment can create new marketing opportunities for an anization. va