Faculty
Professor Howard M. Anderson
Objectives
“There are damn few hunters… but everyone likes to eat meat” – Jim Brown, NFL Hall of Fame.
Nothing happens until a sale is made. That simple point underlines the critical importance of sales. Almost every business plan “assumes” a certain amount of sales but that assumption is the tipping point. Without sales the entire business model is an exercise in frustration.
The entrepreneur and the manager must not only understand the sales process but also embrace the fact that the ability to sell is the single most critical success factor of any enterprise, whether new or ongoing. This course does not approach sales from the vaunted perspective of ‘strategy.’ It gets right into the very practical and tactical ins and outs of how to sell products and services to a sophisticated marketplace. Then the course moves into the more complex subject of how to build and manage a sales force and covers subjects such as building compensation systems for a sales force, assigning territories, resolving disputes and dealing with channel conflicts.
In a larger sense, the entrepreneur has to “sell” his vision to perspective employees, to angel and venture investors and to strategic partners. The general manager must continually sell to his existing customers and recruit new customers and must make decisions about which products the market needs and which channel can most effectively sell those products.
This course focuses directly on selling to customers, whether through a direct sales force, a channel sales force, or building an OEM relationship. Sales is the one function that can’t hide behind the veil of corporate doubletalk; sales goals are either made or not made. Every entrepreneurial activity and every corporate direction leverages off that single fact. Markets are not totally rational and firms with the best sales teams will usually win.
Requirements
Written Assignments and Grades
Class participation for this course is a requirement. Cold calls on students will be made on a regular basis. There will be several oral and written assignments. There will not be a final exam. Each class will be broken into three subsections and each of these subsections will have a mini-case study where students will “sell” and “buy,” a discussion period, and a review of the readings.
Videotaping: Students will form themselves into two person teams. Each team will have a ten minute video session due every other week. If one of the team has a last name stating with A-M, then that team is "A"; if both members have a last name starting with N-Z, then that team is "B."
"A" and "B" teams will prepare a video of each member "selling" the other, not to exceed 5 minutes each. In other words, each team will do the case twice. Each student will be both a "buyer" and a "seller." Training in the use of the videotape equipment will be conducted by one of the Tuck AV technicians (time and place TBA).
"A's" will prepare the videos on:
Power Miser
Pill Caddy
Charles Matrix Greylock
"B's" will prepare videos on:
Delphi
Carol Electronics
MorganCare
The videos are "due" at 8:30am the morning of the class.
Hint: practice. Videos will part of the grading.
Materials
Course Materials
The materials for the course consist of a textbook and a number of readings contained in the course packet. Additional material and assignments will be distributed in class.
The textbook for the course is Jackson, Hisrich, and Newell Professional Selling and Sales Management, from NorthCoast Publishers, Inc. You may purchase this book at either the Wheelock Bookstore, or the Dartmouth Bookstore in Hanover, N.H.
Honor Code
Class participation is a strictly individual effort. However, students are encouraged to work in groups when preparing for class. You may not use notes or other material from any previous offering of this, or a similar course, or discuss the material with students who have already taken the course. This restriction extends to case-related information obtained from other sources.
Grading
Schedule
Monday, 09/15/2008
1. Topic: The Sale
Professional Selling and Sales Management, Jackson, Hisrich, & Newell, pgs. 15-39.
Module: Divers Delight
1. Prepare a Sales Presentation for the East Coast Buying Committee. They have told you that you have one half hour on their schedule.
2. What do you think will be their major objections? If you were on this buying committee, what questions would you need answered?
Tuesday, 09/16/2008
2. Topic: The Approach, The Presentation, The Demonstration
Professional Selling and Sales Management, Jackson, Hisrich, & Newell, pgs. 97-116.
Module: Power Miser
1. Prepare the first three parts of the sale - The Approach, The Presentation, and The Demonstration. You will have 15 minutes and you will be meeting Mr. Vestcoat in his office.
2. What information would you like to have before you meet with him?
Monday, 09/22/2008
3. Topic: Product Knowledge
Module: Delphi Software
1. Come up with 15 objections that the Chief Information Officer at Fleet Bank might have.
2. Come up with 15 answers to those same objections.
Tuesday, 09/23/2008
4. Topic: Prospecting
Professional Selling and Sales Management, Jackson, Hisrich, & Newell, pgs. 83-95.
Module: Pill Caddy
Be prepared to close the sale five different ways to Harvey Rosenthal. Determine the key objections Harvey may have. Have proof points for the objections. Review the product benefits to assist you in overcoming the objections for closing the sale.
Monday, 09/29/2008
5. Topics:Tactics, Handling Objections, Solution Selling
Bosworth, Solution Selling, Participate in the Buyer's Vision, Ch 3, pp 51-71.
Module: Carol Electronics
Design a Systems Solution for Spike Insurance and make it vigorous enough so that it might be used by you with other of your clients. Your goals are also to help you get a larger share of the business from each of these customers. Right now delivery costs your firm $100 each and you believe that having more items delivered would help your sales and would make the territory more profitable. Your pay is based on 5% of your sales, but you know management is considering turning that into a percentage of profit in the future.
Monday, 10/06/2008
7. Topic: Designing Sales Territories
Professional Selling and Sales Management, Jackson, Hisrich & Newell, pgs. 202-220.
Designing the Sales Force, Anderson, pgs. 50-81.
Hiring Sales Personnel, Anderson, pgs. 82-114.
Module: Grid Pro
1. Design a prospecting system for your first 13 weeks. Who will you call on? What is your strategy for deciding? Should you go regionally? Or by industry sector?
2. Assume that you can see two potential customers per day, block out your plan for the first 10 weeks. Who will you be calling on - and why?
3. What information that is available will you use - and why?
Tuesday, 10/07/2008
8. Topic: Setting Quota, Compensation
Professional Selling and Sales Management, Jackson, Hisrich & Newell, pgs. 223-266 and pgs. 285-303.
Module: Charles Matrix Greylock
1. Design a sales territory allocation geographically so that the seven sales people will have equal chances to make quota. For the first year, each will have the same quota.
2. Decide what resources you will use to allocate these territories. It is anticipated that all your sales people will live in their territories and work from their homes.
3. Take a map of the United States and block out which sales people have which territories.
4. Assume that you will adding seven sales people at the end of the first year: design what the territories will be for Year Two and how you are going to organize sales.
Module: Catherine Competitive Corporation
Assignments
1. Outline sales training for these two days. You may use any of the people within the company and other experts if you need them. Your budget for the two days is $20,000. Assume that you will not need pay for transportation and hotel for these 14 sales people because they will be at the Show anyway. This is your one chance to get both existing sales people and new sales employees all together for training.
2. You also need a sales forecasting system that you can use during the year. Design a system that you will present to the sales force at this meeting.
Monday, 10/13/2008
9. Topic: Management Hire/Fire
Professional Selling and Sales Management, Jackson, Hisrich & Newell, pgs. 305-320.
Module: Global View Telecommunications
1. Make up that scoring sheet and number each of the criteria that you will use according to importance. Your scoring sheet should have at least ten categories and you will want to judge each of these candidates in each category, awarding them the maximum of ten points per category. Even though much of this is subjective, you want to be able to use this methodology in future hires. You also want to come up with the appropriate ranking system for the categories.
2. What are five questions that you would ask each of the candidates?
Topic: Wrap up/Ethics
HBR Case: "The Sales Learning Curve"
Module: AvaMac Corporation
Assignment:To be assigned
Tuesday, 10/14/2008
6. Topic: The Close
Professional Selling and Sales Management, Jackson, Hisrich & Newell, pgs. 135-153.
Module: MorganCare
Design and present a solution for William Goodman.
