SALES AND

DISTRIBUTION
MANAGEMENT


Jose Pius Nedumkallel, Assistant Professor , RCBS
Course Objective & Scope

The objective of this course is to introduce the various functions
involved in sales, sales force management and distribution
management. Students shall appreciate how the sales infrastructure
and distribution channels relate to the overall business growth
strategy by the end of this course.

Syllabus & Course Plan

Sales Definition
Any of a number of activities designed to promote customer purchase
of a product or service. Sales can be done in person or over the
phone, through e-mail or other communication media. The process
generally includes stages such as assessing customer needs,
presenting product features and benefits to address those needs and
negotiation on price, delivery and other elements.

- American Marketing Association
Sales representatives
Deliverer Major task is to deliver a product
Order Taker - Inside order taker / Outside order taker
Missionary build goodwill or educate the actual or potential user.
Technician A sales person with a high level of technical knowledge.
( Sales Engineers)
Demand Creators A sales person who relies on creative methods for
selling tangible products ( Vacuum cleaners) or intangibles ( insurance
,advertising services or education)
Solution vendor A sales person whose expertise is solving a
customers problem, often with companys products & services.
Types of Market
B2B
B2C
B2G

Sales Management
Sales Force Management
Setting the personal selling objective.
Know the problems sales personal meet and suggest solution
Recruitment
Sales Forecasting
Target Setting
Sales performance evaluation
Motivating the sales team
Managing channel conflicts
Managing sales accounts


Sales Vs Marketing
Personal selling a part of Promotion.
Who can fix the price ?
Why sales and marketing feud like Capulets and Montagues ?
Advertising Vs Personal Selling
Advertising Personal Selling
Directed as a mass audience Directed at the individual
Impersonal, indirect contact Personal, direct contact
Less directly adaptable High level of adaptability
Working in breadth Working in depth
One Way Two Way
Organized feedback (Via marketing research ) Direct feedback
Relatively cheap per contact Expensive per contact
Pull Effect Push effect
Personal Selling Objective
Marketing management in consultation with Sales Management
determines personal sellings exact role in the promotional mix.
Marketing planning group sets personal selling objectives,
determines the sales related marketing policies, formulates personal
selling strategies and finalizes the sales budget.
Personal Selling : Qualitative
Objective
To do the entire selling job
To service existing accounts
To search out and obtain new customers
To identify cross selling opportunity
To keep customers informed on changes in product line and other aspects of
marketing strategy
To assist customers in selling the product line.
To provide technical advice and assistance to customers
To assist with the training of middlemen sales personnel
To provide advice and assistance to middlemen on management problems.
To collect and report market information of interest and use to company
management.
Personal Selling : Quantitative Objective
To capture and retain market share
To obtain sales volume in ways that contribute to profitability
To obtain some number of new accounts of given types
To keep personal selling expenses with in set limits
To secure targeted percentage of certain accounts business.