Page 159 - DMGT205_SALES_MANAGEMENT

Unit 10: Managing Sales Personnel

10.6 You're the Marketer – Sonic PDA Marketing Plan Notes

Many marketers have to consider sales force management in their marketing plans. Because of
the high cost of maintaining a direct sales force, however, some companies are substituting
online, mail, and telephone sales for some of their personal sales calls.
In your marketing role at Sonic, you are planning sales strategy for the company's new personal
digital assistant (PDA). After reviewing the data you previously gathered and the decisions you
made about other marketing-mix activities, answer these questions about Sonic's use of personal
selling:
1. Does Sonic need a direct sales force or can it sell through agents and other outside
representatives?

2. Toward whom should Sonic's sales activities be geared? How can the company's sales
activities support the rest of the marketing plan and the goals that have been set?
3. What kind of sales objectives should Sonic set for its sales personnel?

4. What kind of training will sales representatives need to sell the new Sonic PDA?
Once you have answered these questions and looked at how your sales management ideas will
work with Sonic's goals and objectives, either summarize your programs in a written marketing
plan or type them into the Marketing Mix, Marketing Organization, and Sales Forecast sections
of the Marketing Plan Pro software.
Students who say Sonic needs a direct sales force may argue that this helps the company hire,
train, and motivate the right kind of reps to sell only the Sonic PDA to major business accounts
and to intermediaries. Those who argue against a direct sales force may say that as a start-up,
Sonic should not invest in a direct sales force but should rely on agents and other outside
representatives until the first product has been established.
Sonic's sales activities should be geared toward (1) channel members and, to a lesser extent,
(2) major business accounts. These sales activities will help Sonic get the channel representation
it needs for its first PDA and encourage businesses to buy in bulk for corporate use. In turn, such
sales will help Sonic reach its sales goals. Sales personnel should go after sales objectives related
to volume levels needed to achieve market penetration by territory or according to another
appropriate measure. To do this, the reps need training about Sonic as a company and its goals;
the first PDA product and the features and benefits; customers and competitors' characteristics;
sales presentation methods; and sales procedures and responsibilities.

Task Collect all the reporting formats used by a salesman Working for a marketing
organisation. Analyse them and record the various types of information provided by the
salesman. Comment on the usefulness of such informations.

10.7 Marketing Spotlight: Oracle

Larry Ellison, along with three partners, founded the database management software company
System Development Laboratories in 1977. In 1982, the company changed its name to Oracle,
after the name of its first product. By 1988, Oracle had a 36 percent share of the U.S. government's
PC database market. The company began offering consulting services to its customers in 1989.

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