D099 Module 6

D099 Module 6 Leave the first rating Students also studied Terms in this set (23) Western Governors UniversityD 351 Save D099 Module 9 24 terms cvda00Preview Sales Management Module 6 & 7 58 terms jyasin89Preview D099 Module 7 30 terms cvda00Preview

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22 terms cvd How are sales role perceptions and sales performance intertwined? Provide three examples.Role perceptions can be influenced by formal documents, by training and education, and by interactions and communications with other people, including customers and colleagues. The lack of clearly defined roles may lead employees to inaccurate perceptions and expectations about their roles and responsibilities, which can negatively affect morale, self-esteem, and performance.(1) role partners (or stakeholders) communicate their expectations, (2) the salesperson develops perceptions, and (3) these perceptions drive salesperson behavior. Salesperson behaviors drive performance and therefore are essential for managing sales and sales teams.How are roles perceptions and sales force structure intertwined? Provide 3 examples.The two exceptions are inside sales structures and matrix organizations.Organizations may use an inside or outside sales model. Inside salespeople work inside stores and also reach customers and prospects remotely, typically by telephone, online chat, or email. They are housed internally with other salespeople, or they may work from home. Outside salespeople visit customers and prospects in the field. Inside sales structures have more supervision, which tends to lower role inaccuracy and role ambiguity but still involves some role conflict. Matrix organizations, then, are associated with higher role ambiguity, role inaccuracy, role conflict, and role stress.

Describe the top 5 personal traits of salespeople. 1. Assertiveness: involves pursuing a desired outcome or standing by an opinion while considering and respecting the desired results and views of others. Permits the salesperson to advance a sales interaction without insulting or frustrating the customer.

2. Self-awareness: conscious knowledge of one's own character, feelings,

motives, and desires. Identifying personal emotions and biases can help the salesperson relate to the customer in a way that builds trust and solid relationships.

3. Empathy: understanding and sharing the feelings of another; this gives the

salesperson the ability to adapt his or her behavior according to the customer's attitude, because the salesperson can perceive a situation from the customer's point of view.

• Problem-solving: the process of finding solutions to difficult or complex issues

& this ability helps the customer perceive that the salesperson is interested in delivering value by providing a solution that benefits the customer.

• Optimism: A mental attitude reflecting a belief that outcomes, in general, will

be positive - this helps the salesperson stay balanced, positive, and focused on the next step, even when things go wrong.Define role ambiguity, role conflict, role inaccuracy, and role stress. Provide examples of each.Role ambiguity is a situation where people are unclear or uncertain about their role expectations; often associated with incomplete job descriptions or changing roles, but it can also occur when role partners are not communicating clear expectations for the role played by the salespeople.Role conflict is a situation where there are imcompatiable demands placed upon a person relating to their job/position.Role inaccuracy is a mistaken perception of role expectations; may happen when the salesperson is mistaken in his or her perceptions of the role the salesperson is expected to perform.Role stress are the pressures experienced by people because of their job in the organization. This would be if someone had two sets of expectations, from a manager and a customer, that need to be reconciled.A department store recently acquired a nearby shoe store and opened a new shoe department that incorporates the products and sales staff from the former store. The department store has a storewide discount offering a sizable reduction in prices. However, the shoe department also has a sales promotion that was already in place. As a result, the sales staff is having difficulty determining how to focus its efforts.What role perception issue is contributing to the sales staff’s poor performance?Role ambiguity.List the internal and external stakeholders who act as role partners for the salesperson.Internal stakeholders are team members, sales managers, marketing staff, executives, and shareholders. They express how they believe a salesperson should perform the role, including expectations for how often a salesperson follows up with customers.External stakeholders usually family members or relatives, customers, vendors, purchasing agents, the local community, and broader society. Communicate to the salesperson their own perceptions of the sales role and what their expectations are regarding the salesperson.

Describe the stress-related negative outcomes of role ambiguity.It can produce psychological strain and dissatisfaction, leads to underutilization of human resources, and leads to feelings of futility on how to cope with the organizational environment.It has far-reaching consequences including employee turnover and absenteeism, poor coordination, utilization of human resources, and increased operating costs for the organization because of inefficiency.How does role conflict affect the emotional experience of the salesperson?Can create intensified internal conflicts, increased tension associated with various aspects of the job, reduced satisfaction with the job and its various components, and decreased confidence in superiors and in the organization.Contrast affective and cognitive job satisfaction. Affective job satisfaction is a person's emotional feeling about the job as a whole while cognitive job satisfaction is how satisfied employees feel concerning some aspect of their job (pay, hours, benefits).Describe the steps managers take when developing a sales force structure.

• Figure out the right mix of generalists, product, market, or activity specialists

with the objective of balancing sales force productivity. What is the right mix? That depends on the company and its offerings.

• Design a reporting structure that makes it easy to both coordinate and control

the sales process and the activities of the salespeople.

• Help the salespeople achieve their goals (and reduce stress) by providing

training, coaching, incentives, information support, and performance management.Describe the 4 departmental structures that can be used to structure a sales organization.Product: this structure is based on the goods or services produced or sold by the organizational unit. Works well where products are more technical/ require more specialized knowledge and also are supported by centralized services, which include public relations and business development.

Customer: this model structures salespeople according to the value or size of

accounts and is ideal for an organization that has products or services unique to specific market segments, especially if that organization has advanced knowledge of those segments.

Geography: if an organization spans multiple geographic regions, and the

product or service needs to be localized, it often requires organization by region.Geographic structuring is especially important if tastes and brand responses differ across regions.

Matrix: essentially, this structure combines two different forms of

departmentalization, functional and product, that have complementary strengths and weaknesses. This structure brings together people from different functional areas of the organization to work on a special project.What is a matrix structure and what are the advantages and disadvantages of the matrix?Advantages: teamwork, efficient use of resources, flexibility, ability to balance conflicting objectives, higher performance, and opportunities for personal/professional development.

Disadvantages: power struggles, confusion among team members, and lack of

cohesiveness.

What is decentralization and what are the benefits and risks of a decentralized structure?Decentralization is the process of pushing decision-making authority down the organizational hierarchy, giving lower-level personnel more responsibility and power to make and implement decisions.Benefits: quicker decision-making, increased levels of innovation and creativity, greater organizational flexibility, faster development of lower-level managers, and increased levels of job satisfaction and employee commitment.Risks: If lower-level personnel do not have the necessary skills and training to perform effectively, they may make costly mistakes. Additionally, decentralization may increase the likelihood of inefficient lines of communication, competing objectives, and duplication of effort.Describe the 4 main factors that influence a customer's experience, involvement, and satisfaction with a product, which in turn create perception.

• Personal: individual factors such as gender, age, income level or social class,

ethnicity, sexual orientation, lifestyle, religious beliefs, and culture can substantially influence a person's perceptions.

• Object: the degree of info that a consumer has about a product, including how

well they can distinguish its characteristics, can also affect their experience, involvement, and satisfaction.

3. Situational: products that can easily conform to and enrich a consumer's

lifestyle tend to be consumed with more frequency and involvement.

4. Social: social influence can deeply affect consumer behavior, especially as

related to the products they consider and consume. A consumer's social network has a strong influence on the products he or she uses, as individuals tend to rely on the opinions and advice of friends and family.Discuss the complex dynamics between consumers and salespeople in the sales process, emphasizing the role of perception and influence strategies.Consumers and salespeople play opposing roles that are typically looking to fulfill the same goal. Salespeople typically like to influence the consumer so that they can try to meet a certain quota or upsell the consumer on an item.How does the consumer's perception of a salesperson's strategies depend on their goals and stage in the decision-making process?Generally, a consumer's willingness to interact with and purchase from the salesperson will depend on whether they perceives the salesperson's influence strategies as customer-oriented or sales oriented; which then, depends on the salesperson's perception of the consumer's goals and status in the decision- making process.Explain the potential impact of a consumer's perception of salesperson opportunism on their purchasing behavior and satisfaction with the organization.A consumer's perception of salesperson opportunism has an impact not only on the consumer’s purchasing behavior but also on their perception of sales situations and satisfaction with the retailer or organization the respective salesperson represents. A typical situation of salesperson opportunism is when a salesperson recommends products contrary to the consumer's needs or recommends products that pay the highest commission.Discuss the importance of sales manager training in reducing the perception of opportunism and effectively addressing consumer needs.It; in the best interest of the sales manager and organization to reduce or eliminate the perception of opportunism by training the sales team to effectively address the consumer's needs and minimize triggers that likely create a negative perception of the organization.