MAR 330 Principles of Sales

Manning, Gerald L. Ahearne Michael Reece, Barry L. Selling Today: Partnering to Create Value, 13th ed., Pearson, 2015).
ISBN-10: 0-13-354338-2 ISBN-13: 978-0-13-354338-4

Students can obtain this text book from the following source:
https://www.amazon.com/Selling-Today-Partnering-Create-Student/dp/0134004205

https://www.pearson.com/store/p/selling-today-partnering-to-create-value/P100003054172/9780136879084

All reading and (optional) homework assignments referenced in this syllabus refer to this text

1) In addition, it is recommended that students have access to MyMarketingLab®, by Pearson. This can be accessed here:
https://www.pearson.com/store/p/selling-today-partnering-to-create-value/P100003054172/9780136879084

2) The following study guide will be made available upon enrollment:
Manning, Gerald L. Ahearne Michael Reece, Barry L. PowerPoint Presentation for Selling Today: Partnering to Create Value, 13th ed., Pearson, 2015).

Lesson Overview

Lesson 1: Relationship Selling Opportunities in the Information Economy
Read Chapter 1

In this lesson the students describe how personal selling skills contribute to work performed by knowledge workers. The students study how today’s workforce is made up of millions of knowledge workers who succeed only when they add value to information. The students examine how salespeople, and many other knowledge workers, add value to information when they collect it, organize it, clarify it, and present it in a convincing manner.

Lesson 2 – Evolution of Selling Models That Complement the Marketing Concept
Read Chapter 2

In this lesson the students study how personal selling is an important force in maintaining the economic vitality of a nation. The students look at how many productive salespeople are using the strategic consultative-selling approach to determine and fulfill consumers’ product and service needs. The students look at the tactics and strategies needed for successful selling. The students examine the strategic/consultative-selling model in terms of relationship strategy, products strategy, customer strategy, and presentation strategy. The students look at the concept of partnering with respect to the customer value model.

Lesson 3 – The Foundation for Partnering Relationships That Create
Value
Read Chapter 3

In this lesson the students look at developing a relationship strategy for partnering style selling and the issues challenging the ethics of salespeople. The students study the issue of reciprocity with respect to bribery and gift giving. The students study the issues of entertainment and business defamation. The students study the role of the sales manager and the influence of a salesperson’s personal values. The students look at laws, contracts, and agreements that influence the sales relationship. The students study personal codes and ethics with respect to both domestic and international business.

Lesson 4: Creating Value with a Relationship Strategy
Read Chapter 4

In this lesson the students study how relationships add value and the thought processes that enhance relationship strategy. The students look at the verbal and nonverbal strategies that add value to customer relationships. The students look at the impact of appearance on customer relationships, as well as the impact of voice quality. The students look at different conversational strategies that enhance relationships and strategies for self-improvement.

Lesson 5: Communication Styles: A Key to Adaptive Selling Today
Read Chapter 5

In this lesson the students look at communication styles in terms of voice patterns, facial expressions, eye movements, and posture. The students study communication style as a way of thinking and behaving. The students study how awareness of communication can improve relationships as well as management skills. The students look at the communication-style model in terms of dominance and sociability. The students study different styles of communication such as the emotive style, the director style, the reflective style, and the supportive style. The students study how to minimize communication style bias and how to achieve versatility through style flexibility.

Lesson 6: Creating Product Solutions
Read Chapter 6

In this lesson the students learn how to develop a product solution that adds value with a sound product strategy. The students look at product solutions with respect to the product configuration mix of product options, prices, and delivery schedules. The students also learn about how to prepare written proposals that add value to the product solution. The students study how written proposals need to study budget and overview, objective, strategy, and schedule. The students study the importance of becoming a product expert in order to assist product development and the quality improvement process. The students learn how to look at performance data and specifications, maintenance and service contracts, as well as pricing and delivery. The students learn how to quantify the solution to determine whether or not the proposal adds value. The students learn the importance of focusing on returns on investments and ROI selling appeals. The students study the importance of becoming a company expert with respect to the organizational culture of the company. The students study the importance of becoming an industry expert by studying the competition for your particular industry. The students learn how to seek out different sources of product information and how to create value with a feature/benefit strategy.

Lesson 7: Product-Selling Strategies That Add Value
Read Chapter 7

In this lesson the students look at product positioning in a complex marketplace. The students study the salesperson’s role in product differentiation. The students look at the three dimensional product solutions selling with respect to customer satisfactions. The students look at product positioning strategies to sell in terms of new vs. mature and low-priced vs. value-added products. The students look at using price strategies such as quantity discounts, seasonal discounts, promotional allowances, and trade for functional discounts. The students look at using the value added product selling model and value added strategies.

Lesson 8: The Buying Process and Buyer Behavior
Read Chapter 8

In this lesson the students describe the process of developing a customer strategy. In order to do this the students look into the complex nature of customer behavior. The students study the different needs and motives of buyers and look at current trends that influence buying decisions. The students differentiate between consumers and organizational buyers. The students examine the buying process as a systematic series of actions, or a series of repeatable steps intended to achieve a result. The students study the importance of awareness of buyers motivations and how to recognize value creation opportunities. The students differentiate between transactional process buyers and consultative process buyers as well as looking at strategic alliance process buyers. The students look at buyer resolution theory as a way to understanding buyer behavior. The students study Maslow’s hierarchy needs in terms of physiological needs, security needs, social needs and esteem needs. The students look at different how group influences that play a role in buying decisions such as group influences, as reference influences, social class influences, and cultural influences. The students study how perceptions influence the buying process and differentiate between emotional and rational buying motives. The students also differentiate between patronage buying motives and product buying motives.

Lesson 9: Developing and Qualifying Prospects and Accounts
Read Chapter 13

In this lesson the students study the importance of prospecting and account development. The students look at the different sources of prospects and accounts including referrals, directories, trade publications, trade shows, telemarketing, the internet, cold calling, networking, and educational seminars. The students look at the process of qualifying prospects and accounts through identification. The students examine the process of collecting and organizing account and prospect information and managing the account and prospect base. The students look at the portfolio model and the sales funnel model as well as pipeline management and pipeline analysis.

Lesson 10: Approaching the Customer with Adaptive Selling
Read Chapter 10

In this lesson the students learn how to develop the presentations strategy. The students look at call sales presentations and team selling presentation strategies. The students look at adaptive selling and the six step presentation plan. The students study the importance of the initial contact with the customer and establishing credibility. The students study the telephone contact and learn how to effectively use voice mail and e-mail. The students look at different ways of building rapport on a social level and guidelines for good social contact. The students study different methods of converting the prospect’s attention and arousing interest. The students study the importance being optimistic and overcoming fears.

Lesson 11: Determining Customer Needs with a Consultative Questioning
Read Chapter 11

In this lesson the students study the consultative sales process and look at the four-part need-satisfaction model. The students learn how to create value through need discovery with survey questions, probing questions, confirmation questions, and need satisfaction questions. The students learn how to use qualifying to eliminate unnecessary questions. The students study the importance of listening and acknowledging the customer’s response. The students study how to select solutions that create value in order to make the appropriate recommendations. The students learn how to use summary-confirmation questions to adjust from need identification to presentations of features and benefits.

Lesson 12: Creating Value with the Consultative Presentation
Read Chapter 12

In this lesson the students study how to select a presentation strategy with respect to need satisfaction. The students look at the informative, persuasive, and reminder presentation strategies. The students study guidelines for creating a presentation that adds value for each of these strategies. The students look at different types of selling tools for effective demonstrations such as models, photos, brochures, catalogues, and computer demonstrations software. The students study the importance of rehearsing the presentations and being prepared to meet a wide range of buyer responses.

Lesson 13: Negotiating Buyer Concerns
Read Chapter 13

In this lesson the students study the “win-win” relationship strategy and the negotiation process. The students examine common types of buyer concerns and study specific methods of negotiating buyer concerns such as demonstrations, third party testimonies, and trial offers. The students study how to deal with price concerns and how to work with buyers who are trained in negotiation.

Chapter 14: Adapting the Close and Confirming the Partnership
Read Chapter 14

In this lesson the students look at the way closing is perceived. The students emphasize the importance of reviewing the value proposition from the prospect’s point of view before making the close. The students present a set of guidelines for closing the sale including focusing on dominant buying motives and using longer selling cycles and incremental commitments. The students learn how to recognize verbal and nonverbal closing clues and look at specific methods for closing the sale. The students study different closing methods such as the trial close, direct appeal close, assumptive close, summary of benefits close, special concession close and multiple options close. The students emphasis the importance of the confirmation step to reduce buyer’s remorse and study what to do when the buyer says “no”.

Chapter 15: Servicing the Sale and Building the Partnership
Read Chapter 15

In this lesson the students study the importance of building long term partnerships and customer service. The students look at current developments in customer service with respect to computer based systems. The students look at common post sale services such as making credit arrangements, scheduling deliveries, monitoring installation, and offering training in use or care of the product. The students study how to add value with customer follow up such as personal visits, telephone calls, e-mail messages, or call reports. The students look at how to add value with expansion selling with respect to cross-selling and upselling. The students study how to deal with unhappy customers and complaints and how to decide what action to take.

Chapter 16: Opportunity Management: The Key to Greater Sales
Productivity
Read Chapter 16

In this lesson the students study opportunity management and productivity. The students study time management methods such as saving time with meetings in cyberspace and other means of communication. The students look at territory management and study the concept of a “sales” territory. The students study the importance of records management with respect to name and address files, call reports, expense records, and sales records. The students study the need for stress management to avoid unnecessary physical ailments such as headaches and chronic fatigue and psychological systems such as anxiety and depression.

Chapter 17: Management of the Sales Force
Read Chapter 17

In this lesson the students study applying leadership skills to sales management. The students examine the qualities of an effective sales manager such as personal consideration of others and effective communication. The students study situational leadership and coaching. The students learn about recruitment and selection of salespeople in terms of selecting the best qualified applicant. The students study the value of personality and skills testing and the use of the Chally Talent Audit and Sales Achievement Predictor. The students look at orientation and training of the new employee and how to instill foundation skills. The students look at internal and external sales force motivations which effect employee attitudes positively. The students study different compensation plans and differentiate between commission plans and fix salary plans. The students learn how to make assessments of sales force productivity and how sales performance can be measured.

The student’s final grade will be based on a final examination. Examination questions will cover all topics covered in the readings. Students will have two hours to complete the final examination.  Students will be assigned a number grade from 0-100. A letter grade will also be issued in accordance with the following scale:

90-100 – A
80-89 – B
70-79 – C
0-69 – non passing