Assignment on Problem and Prospect of Sales People in Bangladesh

Executive Summary

For a salesperson to be successful, it is important to possess immense confidence and understand one’s goals. A salesperson should also recognize and accept one’s weaknesses and special talent. Hence, in order to be successful, a salesperson should follow specific rules that help in enhancing sales. Being a good salesperson
The sales profession values experience over education. A specialized degree is not necessary to pursue a career in sales. An understanding of the product is important no matter what you sell, but the salesperson must learn to communicate well with clients, whether it’s face-to-face, over the phone, or by letter or e-mail. Ambitious salespeople may study marketing and sales techniques at college or business school either before or during their sales careers.

A strong and efficient sales force is a vital asset to an organization. It helps in the smooth realization of sales targets and ensures perennial sales productivity. The organization and structure of the sales force depends on several factors. Different business scenarios require different types of sales force organization

Introduction:

Sales is the act of providing a product or service in return for money or other compensation. It is an act of completion of a commercial activity.

Selling is a practical implementation and part of marketing. It often forms a separate grouping in a corporate structure, employing separate specialist operatives known as salespersons (singular: salesperson). Sales is considered by many to be a sort of persuading “art”. Contrary to popular belief, the methodological approach of selling refers to a systematic process of repetitive and measurable milestones, by which a salesperson relates his offering of a product of service in return enabling the buyer to achieve his goal in an economic way

Sales Managers is the goal of a qualified and talented sales manager to implement various sales strategies and management techniques in order to facilitate improved profits and increased sales volume. They are also responsible for coordinating the sales and marketing department as well as over site concerning the fair and honest execution of the sales process by his agents.

Personal Selling:

Peter Drucker explains marketing this way: “The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous. The aim is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him or her and sells itself.” This is not to say that selling is unimportant. It is the most important part of a larger “integrated marketing communications” that must be orchestrated for maximum impact on the marketplace. The promotional mix (or marketing communications mix) includes personal selling and nonpersonal selling (advertising, sales promotion, public relations, and direct marketing). Personal selling is a personal (face-to-face, telephone, or Internet chat) presentation for the purpose of making sales and building relationships.

Relationship Marketing

The focus of marketing is to do such an excellent job of developing, pricing, promoting, and distributing a product to customers that the product practically sells itself. In the past, the focus of marketing was on finding new customers to make the sale. Organizations have begun to realize that it is a lot cheaper to retain current customers than to attract new ones. This has led to a focus on relationship marketing that involves working closely with customers to build lasting relationships over time. Personal selling is the essence of developing relationships because it is directed toward achieving mutually satisfying results between buyer and seller, which sustain and enhance future interactions.

Relationships are built upon trust. According to Stephen X. Doyle and George Thomas Roth (“Selling and Sales Management in Action: The Use of insight & Coaching to improve Relationship Selling,” Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, Winter 1992, p. 62) there are five characteristics of trust-building in salespeople.

Customer Orientation means that the salesperson places as much emphasis on the customer’s interests as on the salesperson’s interests. Presentations balance the pros and cons. The salesperson doesn’t push a product that the buyer doesn’t need.

Competence includes the salesperson’s ability, knowledge, and resources to meet customer expectations. The salesperson displays technical command of products and applications.

Dependability is the predictability of the salesperson’s actions. His or her words and actions are consistent with a professional image.

Candor is the honesty of the spoken word. The proof used to support claims is credible. Subsequent events prove the salesperson’s statements to be true.

Likability is rooted in each party’s perception of “having something in common” with the other. This is an emotional factor, yet a powerful force in buyer and seller relationships.

Communications Tool

Personal selling is unique because it involves personal contact. It is the two-way marketing communications tool. It follows the AIDA model, which defines a good message and the stages a receiver should go through. The steps in AIDA are to gain the receiver’s attention, to create and hold the receiver’s interest, to arouse desire, and to motivate a desired action (purchase). Marketers manage satisfaction by targeting the customers who are most likely to appreciate the organization’s distinctive competence. A personal sales call is expensive. It is most appropriately used in situations where the target market is concentrated, where products are high in value or orders are large, when the product is technically complex, or when the differential advantage is difficult to explain.

Sales promotion, advertising, and publicity move the prospect toward an exchange decision. Yet, personal selling is the tool that most often brings the buying decision process to a satisfactory conclusion for both buyer and seller. The strength of personal selling is that it is flexible and provides immediate feedback. The prospect can relate concerns and the salesperson can address those concerns. The salesperson can ask questions to determine the prospect’s level of interest and react quickly to the prospect’s wants. The sales presentation can be personalized based upon those wants. Many customers don’t know what they want, and part of the salesperson’s responsibility is to help them find out – to help them find out how the product can solve their problems or satisfy their wants.

Types of Selling Jobs:

A salesperson personally communicates with the prospect to make the sale and build a relationship. The job of a salesperson ranges from order takers to order getters.

Order Takers

An order taker interacts with customers placing an order. Order takers include most retail sales workers. These job titles include:
Cashiers
Counter and rental clerks
Insurance agents and brokers
Manufacturers’ and wholesale sales representatives
Real estate agents, brokers, and appraisers
Retail sales workers
Securities and financial services sales representatives
Services sales representatives

The following has been adapted from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook Sales clerk.
Retail sales workers assist customers in finding what they are looking for and try to interest them in the merchandise. They might describe a product’s features, demonstrate its use, or show various models and colors. For some sales jobs, particularly those selling expensive and complex items, special knowledge or skills are needed. For example, workers who sell automobiles must be able to explain to customers the features of various models, the meaning of manufacturers’ specifications, and the types of options and financing that are available. The largest employers of retail sales workers, however, are department stores, clothing and accessories stores, furniture and home furnishing stores, and motor vehicle dealers.

Retail Readiness Assessment is a National Assessment System to measure retail skill standards for organizations interested in building a high-performance workplace. The RRA is the first assessment to directly link to the industry-based skill standards developed by retailers through the National Retail Federation.

Order Getters

An order getter engages in creative selling of products and is responsible for the entire ordering and relationship-building process. Order takers include most manufacturers and wholesale sales representatives. The following has been adapted from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook Manufacturers’ and Wholesale Sales Representatives. Depending on where they work, sales representatives have different job titles. Many of those working directly for manufacturers are referred to as manufacturers’ representatives and those employed by wholesalers generally are called sales representatives. In addition to those employed directly by firms, manufacturers’ agents are self-employed sales workers who contract their services to all types of companies. Those selling technical products, for both manufacturers and wholesalers, are usually called industrial sales workers or sales engineers. Many of these titles, however, are used interchangeably.

The following has been adapted from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook Manufacturers’ and Wholesale Sales Representatives. Manufacturers’ and wholesale sales representatives spend much of their time traveling to and visiting with prospective buyers and current clients. During a sales call, they discuss the customers’ needs and suggest how their merchandise or services can meet those needs. They may show samples or catalogs that describe items their company stocks and inform customers about prices, availability, and how their products can save money and improve productivity. Those selling consumer goods often suggest how and where their merchandise should be displayed. Working with retailers, they may help arrange promotional programs, store displays, and advertising.

The following has been adapted from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook Manufacturers’ and Wholesale Sales Representatives. Sales engineers, who are among the most highly trained sales workers, typically sell products whose installation and optimal use require a great deal of technical expertise and support—products such as material handling equipment, numerical-control machinery, and computer systems. In addition to providing information on their firm’s products, these workers help prospective and current buyers with technical problems by recommending improved materials and machinery for a firm’s manufacturing process, drawing up plans of proposed machinery layouts and estimating cost savings from the use of their equipment. They present this information and negotiate the sale, a process that may take several months.

Other Sales Jobs

A missionary salesperson provides information to and educating potential clients, but does not actually solicit or take orders. Missionary selling is not so much selling a specific product, but the company, its image, and its role in providing technical support.

An inside salesperson stays primarily inside the company’s buildings and interacts with customers via the telephone, the Internet, and fax. These jobs are known as technical support staff, sales assistants, telemarketers, and telesales professionals.

Team selling is the use of teams made up of people from different functional areas to service large accounts. The following has been adapted from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook Manufacturers’ and Wholesale Sales Representatives. Increasingly, sales representatives who lack technical expertise work as a team with a technical expert. In this arrangement, the duties of a sales representative are to make the preliminary contact with customers, introduce the company’s product, and close the sale. The technical expert will attend the sales presentation to explain and answer questions and concerns. In this way, the sales representative is able to spend more time maintaining and soliciting accounts and less time acquiring technical knowledge. After the sale, sales representatives may make frequent follow-up visits to ensure the equipment is functioning properly and may even help train customers’ employees to operate and maintain new equipment.

Sales Automation

Many salespeople need to go to the prospective customer in order to demonstrate or illustrate the particulars about the product. Technology makes salespeople more effective and productive because it allows them to provide accurate and current information to customers during sales presentations.

Sales automation (also known as customer asset management and total customer management) implies that technology can be used to speed up previously inefficient operations. The Internet and related technology have affected the personal selling process. Product information on Web sites is available to customers and prospects. In the past, salespeople delivered this information to the customer. The Internet frees salespeople to focus on the most important aspects of their job (such as building long-term relationships with customers and focusing on new accounts). Information is shared among users in every department that touches the customer. Also, information sharing promotes more effective channel partnership.

Salespeople use computers (with communications devices, contact management programs, and email) to connect them (over the Internet) to their own company’s databases when they are out on sales calls. This gives them with the ability to provide the customer with extensive, relevant information almost immediately. Salespeople have access to current, relevant marketing materials, including data sheets, brochures, multimedia presentations, and proposal templates, online or via CD-ROM.

Salespeople have access to dossiers on prospects, customer and prospect companies, perceptions, loyalties and buying histories, personal interests, competition, etc. Online access to the company’s customer and prospect database gives the salesperson the ability (and the responsibility) to update files from the field. In some cases, it makes sense to create a dedicated (and more manageable) sales database for a special initiative, product, or region. Salespeople become intelligence agents in the field when they feed that information directly into the data resources shared by the rest of the sales force and the company at large.

The Personal Selling Process

The personal selling process consists of creating new customers and maintaining existing customers. Salespeople follow a series of steps in identifying prospects and turning them into customers.

1. Prospecting is identifying potential qualified customers. Prospects may come as referrals from existing customers, from suppliers, dealers, etc. Sometimes they come from analysis of public sources such as directories, newspapers, or public activities of the firm. Once prospects have been identified, they need to be qualified or screened to see if they are good prospects.

2. Preapproach is planning the sales presentation to meet the customer’s wants or to solve the customer’s problem. This involves gathering research about the prospect. The salesperson must determine where the specific target market consumer is in the purchasing process. In the approach, the salesperson meets and greets the buyer and puts the buyer at ease. At this meeting, the salesperson asks some key questions to get some essential information before getting the buyer’s attention and launching into the presentation.

3. Presentation is telling the product “story” to the prospect, showing how the product will solve a problem for the product. The salesperson must build a case for how the product can serve the needs of the buyer. A need-satisfaction approach involves carefully listening to the buyer’s needs and then clearly explaining how the product can satisfy those needs. Questioning and listening are more important than talking. Presentations using Microsoft’s PowerPoint significantly enhance the professionalism of the presentation.

Features and Benefits

The information about features and benefits is adapted from SALES&MARKETING EXECUTIVES-INTERNATIONAL CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL SALESPERSON – STUDY GUIDE Prepared for The SME-I Accreditation Institute COPYRIGHT 1994 by Sales & Marketing Executives-International and Thomas .

To do an adequate job in planning a presentation, salespeople must understand the concepts of features, potential benefits, and confirmed benefits. Extensive research by Learning International, a major sales training and consulting firm, concludes that stating features and potential benefits may result in successful sales calls, or at least may lead to a continuation of the sales dialogue on the next sales call. This same research, however, concluded that a far more promising way to achieve sales call success is to seek customer confirmation of potential benefits. According to Learning International, successful sales calls have approximately five times as many confirmed benefit statements than for unsuccessful sales calls.

A feature is a factual statement about a characteristic of the product or service being sold.

Examples of features:

Natural surface cohesiveness of ULTRAMID, a high-tech plastic golf club

Bell-shaped nozzle on vacuum cleaner

Daily delivery of Frito-Lay potato chips

Technical support personnel for a computer system

A potential benefit describes how the product or service may meet a customer need that is assumed to be important by the salesperson. When a customer acknowledges the importance of a benefit to his or her buying situation, it is a confirmed benefit. In selecting specific benefits to be stressed, salespeople should focus on any unique benefits not offered by competition, as long as the benefits are of interest to the prospect. These might include product benefits, along with non-product related benefits such as delivery, extraordinary customer service, or additional sales support available to the customer.

Examples of corresponding benefits:

Better launch angle

More distance on shots

Optimum airflow improves cleaning ability

Retailer can reduce inventory costs

Product freshness leads to customer satisfaction

Assistance in installation, maintenance, and expansion

4. Handling Objections raised by the prospect takes a great deal of skill and training. The salesperson must be able to identify the real reasons for an objection, respond to the objection, and overcome it. Objections provide the salesperson with the opportunity to learn more about the customer’s needs and provide information about the product to satisfy those needs.

5. Closing the sale is asking the prospect for an order. The salesperson must be able to recognize the signals that indicate the prospect is ready to close.

6. Follow-up is essential to building a relationship between the seller and the buyer. The salesperson follows-up to ensure that the buyer received the right products in the right condition at the right time. Any problems or concerns on the part of the buyer after the sale are addressed immediately. The salesperson demonstrates continued interest in the account and a desire to satisfy the buyer’s needs on an ongoing basis.

Compensation

Compensation plans include (1) straight wages or salary, (2) straight commission, (3) wages or salary plus bonus, and (4) wages or salary plus commission. Salespeople receive hourly wages, a salary, commissions, or a combination of wages or salary and commissions. Commissions are usually based on the amount of sales, whereas bonuses may depend on individual performance, on the performance of all salespeople in the group or district, or on the company’s performance. Commissions offer salespeople the opportunity to significantly increase their earnings, but they may find their earnings depend on their ability to sell their product and the ups and downs of the economy. Employers may use incentive programs such as awards, banquets, and profit-sharing plans to promote teamwork among the sales staff.

Managing and Motivating Salespeople

Salespeople are the front line of an organization, the main point of customer contact, and the ones who can make or break a business. Keeping them happy and motivated is not just important, it’s essential to the continued success of your business. Commissions and bonuses keep salespeople charged up because they know that the more they sell, the more they’ll make. But managing and consistently motivating employees who work on commission takes much more than money. Salespeople need to know that there are financial rewards for their success, but they also need to feel that their employer supports them in their efforts and recognizes the important role they play in the success of a business.

You can effectively manage and inspire your salespeople through a variety of motivational techniques:

Set goals. Goals are a critical tool for motivation. Sales goals need to be realistic, but they also need to be structured to encourage employees to improve on their past performance. Establish both short-term and annual goals that help provide a sense of accomplishment, and reward people when they meet them. Something as simple as tickets to a show or dinner on the company can go a long way to encourage commission-based employees to do their best. Create goals with the participation of your employees.
Encourage and listen to input. Create an atmosphere where salespeople feel that they can offer their input and that their input will be acknowledged. If they have suggestions for how to improve the way things are done, they should be encouraged to share their ideas.
Offer training. Invest in training for your salespeople, and they will know how important they are. A few classes can help freshen skills and re-energize flagging spirits and can help salespeople learn to overcome the more challenging aspects of their jobs.
Provide feedback. Managers should provide ongoing guidance and advice to improve employees’ work and performance. Be careful not to berate them with criticism. Instead, provide positive feedback; offer constructive pointers and suggestions for different things to try when they experience difficulty achieving the results they — and you — want.
Offer opportunities for growth. People who perform should not only be rewarded financially and recognized personally, but they should also be offered new opportunities to grow within the organization. Employees who feel stagnant in their positions generally aren’t motivated, aren’t professionally fulfilled, and probably won’t stay.
Avoid pressure tactics. Some managers try to motivate through intimidation and fear. This management style can produce short-term results, but it will increase stress for employees,
Build trust. It is essential that your employees trust you. If you say you’ll do something, do it.

Objective of the Study

The objectives of the study are to understand the salespeople in Bangladesh, the policy of an organization regarding to a salesperson as well as present situation of a salesperson, the problem & prospect of salespeople in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is one of the countries where salespeople are available. Salespeople are cheapest in Bangladesh than other country. That’s why it is important to find out the present condition & future prospectus of salespeople in Bangladesh.

Company Profile:

Keari Limited

KEARI Limited is a private limited company in Bangladesh (a land of mystery and fascination, having its capital in Dhaka. The country is centuries old and while it has seen many visitors over the years, it is only now starting to experience a commercial tourism boom. In many respects, Bangladesh is a land of opportunity and adventure. Bangladesh has a rich, diverse culture; its deep-rooted heritage is thoroughly reflected in its architecture, dance, literature, music, painting and clothing. All you need do is step out and discover its many mysteries for yourself). KEARI Limited was incorporated in 1996 as a leading private-sector industrial conglomerate in Bangladesh. It has currently 4 on-going concerns, ranging from real estate development and management to Tours and Tourism, Poultry, Links etc. With out this we are presently sponsor a daily newspaper name Nayadiganta (circulation around 1,00,000 copies every day) and also we are bringing more new businesses in near future.

KEARI Limited strives to work in partnership with the Government for promoting sustainable development, environment preservation, and employment-generation and poverty reduction. So we welcome all of you where ever you live, be a part of our glories journey.

KEARI Limited efforts seek to:

-Create affordable housing (developed land & homes) for people

-Foster better living environments and pleasant surroundings

-Ensure environmental balance and sustainability

-Treat industrial effluents

-Establish recreational and shopping facilities for people.

Develop a meaningful partnership with others for development

Provide better working conditions for its staff members

KEARI Limited works in close partnership with the City Corporations, the Government of Bangladesh, other private sector companies, multilateral institutions, the environment department, and myriad financial institutions.

KEARI Limited has its headquarters in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Its Chairman and a Board of Directors frame the company’s policies. The Managing Director acts as the Chief Executive Officer.

Methodology

To gather information about the activities of salespeople & activities of their organization we followed some method to collect that information. Secondary information was taken into consideration. The secondary information and data were collected from internet, journals, research papers, and official statistical documents. We also gathered some Primary information on survey time by questionnaire.

Data Collection Method:

Primary Data
Secondary Data

Questionnaire:

We also followed questionnaire method to collect information.

Findings :

Prospect of a salespeople (Real Estate) in Keari Limited:

They get respect more from customer than other types of salespeople in Bangladesh

Real Estate is a royal product; Salespeople get more confident to present in the market.

They get a very good handsome salary.

They also get some percentage from the total price of the apartment that they sell.
Keari Limited gives various types of promotion to their salespeople, e.t; Bobile connection, transportion cost, lance & so on.

Salespeople are not bound in the official time frame, their responsibility are more flexible than others.

Salespeople can buildup good relatiomship with customer that is important ot future sales.

Problem of a salespeople ( Real Estate) in Keari Limited:

When salespeoples are not educated & knowledgeable about product that he/she going to sell in the market then some problem will be created. It will be hamper for the product & company as well.

Some time customer intentionally hears the salespeople.

Customers sometimes do rough behave with salespeople.

Some people treat salespeople as a lower class people.

Salespeople will be liable for cancel the sale if it’s false presentation.

After cancellation of any selling product the company force salesperson to show the reasons for cansalation.

Salespeople get very small amount of percentage from his/her sales.

Recommendation & Conclusion:

Today’s clients buy differently, so today’s salespeople must sell differently. Clients understand that there is no urgency to buy because good deals, good salespeople, and good companies come along every day. Price is less of an issue because buyers are not just interested in great deals; they want great relationships. Today’s clients are looking for measurable quality in the products and services they buy.

Commissions and bonuses keep salespeople charged up because they know that the more they sell, the more they’ll make. But managing and consistently motivating employees who work on commission takes much more than money. Salespeople need to know that there are financial rewards for their success, but they also need to feel that their employer supports them in their efforts and recognizes the important role they play in the success of a business.

A salesperson personally communicates with the prospect to make the sale and build a relationship. The job of a salesperson ranges from order takers to order getter.

Appendices:

Question:

Q.1. How do you find the customer?

Ans: At first I set the target & then segment the market on the basis of product category.

Q.2. How do you deal with a customer?

Ans:After segment the market I collect the information about potential buyer & get appointment from them to know our product.

Q.3. What kind of problem do you face?

Ans: One of the big problem is to get apointment from the customer.

Q.4. Do you get any incentives from your company?

Ans: Yes, I get incentives from our company.

Q.5. Do you think customer are satisfied on you?

Ans: I think all types of customer are not fully satisfied on me. But some customers are fully satisfy on me & I have a good relation with them.