This chapter discusses managing international sales and marketing personnel. It covers designing an international sales force, recruiting from expatriates, local nationals or third country nationals. Selection criteria includes maturity, flexibility and cultural empathy. Training focuses on customs and problems in foreign markets. Motivation must consider different cultures and philosophies. Compensation systems need local input and flexibility. Preparing US personnel includes selection, training, compensation and repatriation policies. Developing cultural awareness helps personnel understand different perspectives.

2. Personal Selling and Sales Management
Chapter 17
McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
PowerPoint presentation prepared by:
Professor Rajiv Mehta
Associate Professor of Marketing
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Newark, N.J.

3. Chapter Learning Objectives
1. The role of interpersonal selling in
international marketing
2. The considerations in designing an
international sales force
3. The steps to recruiting three types of
international sales people

4. Chapter Learning Objectives
4. Selection criteria for international sales and
marketing positions
5. The special training needs of international
personnel
6. Motivation techniques for international sales
representatives

5. Chapter Learning Objectives
7. How to design compensation systems for an
international sales force
8. How to prepare Americans for foreign
assignments
9. The changing profile of the global sales and
marketing manager

6. Introduction
• “The salesperson is the company”
• The sales representative is the final link in the
culmination of a company’s marketing and
sales effort
• Advances in information technology are
allowing coordination across advertising,
marketing research, and personal selling efforts
• In this dynamic international environment, the
tasks of designing, building, training,
motivating, and compensating an international
sales group is important
• This chapter discusses the alternatives and
problems of managing sales and marketing
personnel in foreign countries

7. Designing the Sales Force
• The hard sell that may work in some countries
can be in appropriate in others
• Automobiles have been sold door to door in
Japan for years where “Personal selling as a rule
has to be localized for even the most global of
corporations and industries” (Johanson and
Nonaka 1997)
• The first step in managing a sales force is its
design, which encompasses deciding how many
expatriates, local nationals, or third-country
nationals a particular market requires
• As described in previous chapters, distribution strategies will
often vary from country to country
• Some markets may require a direct sales force, whereas others
may not

8. Recruiting Marketing and Sales Personnel
• Sales and marketing executives can be recruited via the
traditional media of advertising (including newspapers,
magazines, job fairs, and the Internet), employment
agencies or executive search firms
• Some countries to restrict the number of non-nationals
allowed to work within the country citing local
management content laws over concerns of foreign
domination
• The sales force can be recruited from three sources:
(1) expatriates
(2) local nationals, and
(3) third-country nationals

11. Selecting Sales and Marketing Personnel
• To select personnel for international marketing positions
effectively, management must choose individuals who have the
following traits:
1. Maturity
2. Emotional Stability
3. Breadth of Knowledge
4. Flexibility
5. Cultural Empathy
6. Energetic and
7. Enjoy Travel

14. Training for International Marketing
• Selection mistakes are costly, so sales
training is important
• Training for the expatriates focuses on the
customs and the special foreign sales
problems that will be encountered
• Expatriates are also captives of their own habits and patterns.
Before any training can be effective, open-minded attitudes must
be established
• Training of local personnel require greater emphasis on the
company, its products, technical information, and selling
methods

15. Motivating Sales Personnel
• Motivation is especially complicated because the firm is dealing
with different cultures, different sources, and different
philosophies
• The social and competitive contexts still require different
motivational systems.
• Individual incentives that work effectively in the United States
can fail in other cultures
• For example, with Japan’s emphasis on paternalism and
collectivism and its system of lifetime employment and seniority,
employees seem to derive the greatest satisfaction from being
members of a group; so an offer of an individual financial
reward for outstanding individual effort may not work
• Compensation in Eastern European countries typically involve a
greater emphasis on base pay than in the United States, and
performance-based incentives have been found to be less
effective

17. Designing Compensation Systems
• Don’t design the plan centrally
and dictate to local offices
• Don’t create a similar
framework for jobs with
different responsibilities
• Don’t require consistency on
every performance measure
within the incentive plan
• Don’t assume cultural
differences can be managed
through the incentive plan
• Don’t proceed without the
support of senior sales
executives worldwide
The following global sales compensation list of “do’s and don’ts” is based on IBM’s
practices:
• Do involve representatives from
key countries
• Do allow local managers to
decide the mix between base and
incentive pay
• Do use consistent performance
measures (results paid for) and
emphasis on each measure
• Do allow local countries
flexibility in implementations
• Do use consistent
communication and training
themes worldwide

20. Preparing U.S. Personnel for Foreign Assignments
1. Proper selection, training, compensation, and career
development policies (including repatriation) should
reflect the unique problems of managing the expatriate
2. Overcoming Reluctance to Accept a Foreign Assignment
(due to family or advancement reasons)
3. Reducing the Rate of Early Returns (due to adjustment
problems)
• Annual costs estimates of sending and supporting a manager in
a foreign assignment range from $300,000 to $600,000
• Several steps can be taken to successfully prepare U.S.
personnel for international assignments:

21. Successful Expatriate Repatriation
Five steps can be taken to successfully repatriate an employee
back to the home office:
Commit to reassigning expatriates to meaningful
positions
Create a mentor program, who can act as liaison
between the expatriate and various headquarters
departments
Offer a written job guarantee stating what the
company is obligated to do for the expatriate on
return
Keep the expatriate in touch with headquarters
through periodic briefings and headquarters visits
Prepare the expatriate and family for repatriation
once a return date is set

22. Developing Cultural Awareness
• Cultural skills can be learned just as social skills can be learned
People with cultural skills should be able to:
1. Communicate respect and convey verbally and nonverbally a positive regard
and sincere interest in people and their culture.
2. Tolerate ambiguity and cope with cultural differences and the frustration that
frequently develops when things are different and circumstances change
3. Display empathy by understanding other people’s needs and differences
from their point of view
4. Remain nonjudgmental about the behavior of others, particularly with
reference to their own value standards
5. Recognize and control the SRC, that is, recognize their own culture and
values as an influence on their perceptions, evaluations, and judgment in a
situation
6. Laugh things off—a good sense of humor helps when frustration levels rise
and things do not work as planned