2. 2.1 Sales Responsibilities
There are 2 categories of Responsibilities of Sales Person
a) Primary
b) Secondary
The primary responsibility of a salesperson is to conclude a sale
successfully. It includes :
a) Identification of customer needs
b) Presentation / Demonstration
c) Negotiation
3. d) Handling Objections
e) Closing the Sale
The Secondary Responsibility of a Sales persons are vital to long-term
sales success. This includes
a) Prospecting Database
b) Customer Records and Information Feedback
c) Self-management
d) Providing service
e) Handling complaints
f) Relationship management
4. • Here , Secondary Responsibilities are explained as :
a) Prospecting Database
i) Getting information from the existing customers :- A highly effective method of
generating prospects. Information can be obtained simply by asking the existing
customers if they know anyone is in needs. After obtaining the name of potential
customers, sales person can ask if they can use the name of the existing customers
as reference.
e.g Insurance by referral, industrial selling
i) Trade directories:- Can be obtained in trade shows/exhibitions/publication
company. A reliable directory could be very useful in identifying potential
customers by providing name,size and nature of company, type of products etc.
e.g.Industrial products/retail directory, seldom in the selling to end-users.
5. iii) Inquiries:- Many companies stimulate inquiries by advertising, direct mail and
exhibitions. It is important that the salesperson responds quickly, by call, mail…
iv ) The press:- Salespersons can get the hits from the advertisements and articles of
potential customers. Articles may reveal diversification plans of an organizations,
advertisement for personnel may mean the potential company is expanding and can
be a new business to the salespersons.
v) Cold canvassing- Cold calling/visiting. Depends on the nature of the industry
the salespersons are in, sometimes a scanning of a certain company by size and
nature is needed. Cold call on big company is not very useful, rather, by letter
expressing purpose then make appointment is better.
e.g. stationery salesperson calls to every company, medical sales
representative only calls to doctors or pharmacy.
6. b) Customer Records and Information Feedback
• For the repeat-call salespeople, a systematic approach to customer record-keeping
is needed.
• For retail salesperson, feedback from customers are more important, because it
always involves many customers, but quick improvement/ correction is
urgently needed to improve sales.
• For industrial salesperson, both customer records and their feedback are equal
important.
They should record :
i) Name and address of company
ii) Name and position of contact
ii) Nature of business
iv) Date and time of interview
v) Buyer needs , Problems and Buying habit
7. vi) Paste sales with dates
vii) Problems/opportunities encountered…..
8. c) Self-Management :
• Sales job is usually independent with very limit personal supervision. Therefore a
salesperson should organize own call plan :
- How frequent you call a certain customer ?
- How much time needs to be spent with each customer /the whole selling process?
• Some companies ask the salesperson to produce worksheets showing who is to be
called on and in what order every day.
d) Providing service :
• In the selling process, a salesperson may act to provide a “consultancy” service to
the customers.
E.g. industrial salesperson may advise customers on improving productivity and
quality and cutting costs.
9. e) Handling complaints
- Dealing with complains may be time consuming, but a market/customer-oriented company
may require sales force to priory meet customer satisfaction in order to generate profit
- No matter how trivial the complaint is, the complainant should be treated with respect and the
matter should be dealt with seriously.
- If the salesperson can react synthetically can create goodwill and help foster long-term
relationship.
- Some companies may offer customer certain benefit as compensation if it does not involve
high cost, e.g. free replacement, discount coupon on next purchase, EVEN THOUGH the fault
is due to inappropriate usage by customer.
- Sometimes salesperson does not have the authority to deal with complaint immediately, he/she
should inform the direct management as soon as possible to avoid further seriousness.
10. f) Relationship Management
• Refers to a business’s process of managing and optimizing interactions with its
customers: past, present, and future.
• A sales person can manage relationships with customers in your direct
interactions with them and through CRM ( Customer Relation Management)
software like Salesforce or Hubspot.
