This document summarizes a lecture on strategic sales force management. It discusses how the marketing concept has evolved and modern sales managers understand that the sales force is just one part of the company's overall marketing strategy. It also outlines how strategic planning occurs at different levels, starting at the company level and filtering down to marketing and sales. Key aspects of strategic planning like objectives, strategies, and tactics are also defined.

1. MK 314
SALES MANAGEMENT
LECTURE NO. 2
Strategic Sales Force Management

2. OUTLINEOF
LECTURE NO. 2
Strategic Sales Force Management
1. The Marketing System
2. The Marketing Concept and Marketing
Management
3. Strategic Planning
4. Strategic Planning at the Company,
Marketing and Sales Force Levels
5. StrategicTrends

3. SUMMARYOF
THE LECTURE
NO.2
Modern sales managers understand
that they are but one link in the total
marketing strategy for the firm.
Moreover, they understand the place
of the firm’s marketing strategy
within the company’s total strategic
plan

4. L/N: 2.1:
The Marketing
System

5. L/N: 2.2:
The Marketing
Concept and
Marketing
Management
With the advent of the marketing concept and its
acceptance by most businesses, the job of the sales
manager has been changed and sales operations have
become but one portion of the firm’s total marketing
program. Marketing has evolved through several
stages.
It is now in the relationship-orientation stage, in which
buyers and sellers make long-term commitments to do
business with each other. For effective relationship
marketing, all functions of the selling firm must work
together as a team to help solve customer problems.

6. The Marketing
Concept and
Marketing
Management
–Cont’d
Marketing Concept is a philosophy that holds that
achieving organizational goals depends on the firm’s
ability to identify the needs and wants of a target
market, and then to satisfy those needs and wants
better than the competition does.
In order to do this, all activities throughout the entire
company must be coordinated with one another and
focused on the customer.An effective and efficient
implementation of the marketing concept results in
profitable sales volume and long-run success for the
firm.

7. The Marketing
Concept and
Marketing
Management
–Cont’d

8. The Marketing
Concept and
Marketing
Management
–Cont’d
Production
Orientation
Sales
Orientation
Marketing
Orientation
Relationship
Orientation

9. MARKETING
CONCEPT
Customer
Satisfaction
Profitable
Sales
Volume
Marketing
Concept

10. Relationship
Marketing
Open Communication
Employee
Empower
ment
Customer and the
Planning Process
Teamwork

11. The Marketing
Concept and
Marketing
Management
–Cont’d
Integrating Marketing and Sales Functions
The marketing strategy can be effective only
when it is clearly understood and embraced
by the sales force.This is more likely to
happen when salespeople are involved in the
strategy development process.
Integrating Production and Sales
Coordinating the activities of the sales force
and the production function is also critical to
the overall success of the firm. Materials
requirements and production schedules are
developed according to sales forecasts

12. L/N: 2.3:
Strategic
Planning
When shaping sales force management
strategy, sales executives are guided and limited
by both the firm’s total company planning and
its strategic planning.
Three concepts—objectives, strategies, and
tactics—are the heart of planning at any level in
the organizational hierarchy. All sales managers
should have a thorough understanding of these
concepts—what they are and how to use them.

13. L/N: 2.3:
Strategic
Planning –
Cont’d
Objectives are the goals around which a strategic
plan is formulated.Without goals, it is impossible to
create a meaningful plan.To be useful, objectives
must be specific and measurable. Eg. goals of a 15
percent return on investment and a 10 percent
annual growth rate.
Strategies are plans of action, to achieve the
objectives. Eg. entering new markets or covering
the existing markets more intensely.
Tactics are the activities that people must perform
in order to carry out the strategy.

14. L/N. 2.4:
Strategic
Planning at the
Company,
Marketing and
Sales Force
Levels
Marketing must create a strategic plan
that is consistent with the strategic plan of
the total company. In turn, planning by the
sales department is determined by the
strategic marketing plan.
In this sense, planning starts at the top and
works its way down, guiding the entire
organization. At the same time, planning is
a bottom-up process—those creating the
strategic plan for the total company must
listen carefully to the input of employees
at all levels of the organization.

15. L/N. 2.4:
Strategic
Planning at the
Company,
Marketing and
Sales Force
Levels –Cont’d
Thus, strategic planning starts with identifying the
organization’s fundamental mission. Management
should ask two questions: “What business are we in?”
and “What business should we be in?”
Once it determines the company’s mission,
management can set objectives consistent with that
mission. For example, the company may aim either to
earn a 20 percent return on investment next year or to
increase its market share from the present 8 percent to
20 percent in three years.

16. L/N. 2.4:
Strategic
Planning at the
Company,
Marketing and
Sales Force
Levels –Cont’d
The next step is to select the strategy to be used to reach the
objectives. As examples, consider the following relationships:

17. L/N. 2.4:
Strategic
Planning at the
Company,
Marketing and
Sales Force
Levels –Cont’d
The tactics selected to implement the strategy
depend, of course, on the strategy chosen.
Thus, if the chosen strategy is to reduce marketing costs,
management can use such tactics as cutting advertising
expenses by 10 percent or closing two branch offices.
To implement the strategy of intensifying the domestic
marketing effort, management might add 20 more sales
reps or change the compensation plan to provide greater
motivation for the sales force.

18. L/N. 2.4:
Strategic
Planning at the
Company,
Marketing and
Sales Force
Levels –Cont’d
Once the total company planning
process is completed, essentially the
same procedure can be repeated for
the marketing program.
The objectives, strategies, and tactics
at the marketing level are closely
related to those at the corporate level.
A corporate strategy often translates
into a marketing strategy.To illustrate:

19. L/N. 2.4:
Strategic
Planning at the
Company,
Marketing and
Sales Force
Levels –Cont’d

22. L/N. 1.5:
Strategic
Trends
 Several strategic trends have emerged in the past
decade and are shaping the strategy of sales
organizations.
 The Internet has had a significant impact on sales
strategy—though sales organizations have not
completely grasped how best to use it.
 In response to intensified competition and changes in
customer purchasing patterns, many firms are now
using multiple sales channels to reach a broad
customer base and multiple relationship strategies to
sell to different customers.
 Finally, today’s managers must act in a socially
responsible manner if they wish to succeed.

23. END OF LECTURE NO. 2