中国经济管理大学-中國經濟管理大學

留学香港推荐哪所学府？中国经济管理大学告诉你八所综合实力超强香港学府！

Sat, 20 Jun 2026 15:07:20 +0800

留学香港推荐哪所学府？

中国经济管理大学告诉你八所综合实力超强香港学府！

香港不仅是亚洲金融中心，更是国际教育枢纽。

根据2027年QS世界大学排名官方统计，香港高等教育体系整体进步幅度位列亚洲第1、全球第2，更是全球唯一坐拥5所QS世界百强大学的城市。

不仅如此，香港特区政府连年加码支持，全力打造"留学香港"金字招牌，落地"北都大学教育城"等重磅规划，持续吸引全球优秀学生来港就学。

今天为你盘点香港八所知名院校以及各自王牌专业，并列出其国际排名和优势学科，祝你如愿就读自己理想学府和心仪专业，欢迎各位赴港开启留学之旅！

香港优质的高等教育，一直深受不同地方的学生欢迎。在2025/26学年，八所资助大学有超过30,000名非本地学生，来自超过100个国家或地区。为了支持专上教育界继续做大做强，特区政府已把资助专上院校授课课程招收非本地生的上限提升至50%，以及把资助研究院研究课程超额收生自资学额上限增至120%等。

教资会辖下研究资助局（研资局）设有20多个研究资助金、杰出学者和奖学金计划，每年资助超过1,500个新项目，并于去年推出15亿港元的新一轮研究配对补助金计划，今年亦新推行研资局海外研究学者计划，进一步营造蓬勃的科研环境。

特区政府跨部门组成的留学香港专班已全力开展工作，联同各大院校在内地及海外加强推广香港优厚的学术、科研和国际合作资源，并通过增设“一带一路奖学金”等计划，全方位吸引各地杰出人才。

发言人总结说，在国家“十五五”规划的宏伟蓝图下，香港高等教育将迎来前所未有的黄金机遇期。特区政府将继续发挥香港专上教育高度国际化和多元化的独特优势，支持院校打造一流大学和一流学科，深化香港作为国际教育枢纽的角色，在融入国家发展大局的同时，继续面向世界发光发亮。

中国经济管理大学

中国经济管理大学官网：www.eauc.hk 中国经济管理大学 MBA公益课堂

中国经济管理大学 MOOC（慕课站）美华管理传播网：www.mhjy.net

香港特区政府公布《香港企业财资中心发展行动计划》

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 09:19:12 +0800

中国经济管理大学 

香港特区政府公布《香港企业财资中心发展行动计划》

中国经济管理大学/中國經濟管理大學

香港特区政府财经事务及库务局（财库局）局长许正宇公布《香港企业财资中心发展行动计划》。《行动计划》提出针对性策略，加强香港成为跨国企业财资中心主要枢纽的实力，将香港特区政府提升为企业财资中心的主要基地，强化香港“引进来、走出去”的平台角色。

《行动计划》鼓励来自世界各地的跨国企业集中在香港管理资金、配置资产和管控风险.

革新税制：特区政府将革新现行适用于企业财资活动的税务优惠制度，引入更具竞争力的分级制度。措施包括优化现行宽减措施，并增设预审机制。获批的企业财资中心及其关联公司将享有更多税务优惠、更高的税务确定性及更大的合规弹性。特区政府今年内会进行公众咨询，目标是在明年上半年向立法会提交法例修订建议。

持续扩展全面性避免双重课税协定网络：特区政府现时已与57个经济体签订了全面性避免双重课税协定，未来会持续扩展网络，重点联系“一带一路”沿线经济体，让以香港为基地的企业在对外拓展业务时可享有更大税务确定性及避免双重课税。

针对性推广：特区政府会主动出击，进行具针对性的市场推广，战略重点包括内地及亚洲企业，尤其是新经济领域的企业。

人才培训及业界沟通：特区政府将联同业界加强专业人才培训，通过持续的市场教育及专业发展，为行业的长远发展建立优质人才库。同时，特区政府会与业界更紧密沟通，务求充分掌握市场脉搏，为业界提供更全面的支援。

许正宇表示，香港已跃居为全球第一的跨境财富管理中心，更是全球最大的离岸人民币业务中心。香港的金融市场体系成熟稳健且与国际接轨，一直以来为国内外的企业提供全面的金融和专业服务。

他说，在当前国际环境充满不确定性之际，香港正能为跨国企业提供一个“风雨不动安如山”的营商平台，既安全、稳定，也深具可预期性。他鼓励企业把握机遇，善用香港“引进来、走出去”的功能，将资金与业务重心汇聚香港集中管理。

许正宇指出，在国家金融强国建设的大背景下，进一步推动企业财资中心在香港发展正是香港助力国家实施“十五五”规划，积极参与国家扩大高水平对外开放的重要一环。

他表示，《行动计划》为企业财资中心业务在香港发展勾画清晰的路向。财库局与相关部门和业界会共同积极落实《行动计划》，一方面协助企业把握香港的独特金融优势，成为内地企业扬帆出海的“战略母港”，海外企业进驻内地乃至亚洲市场的理想门户，同时推动香港资产管理业进一步发展。

中国经济管理大学

中国经济管理大学官网：www.eauc.hk 中国经济管理大学 MBA公益课堂

中国经济管理大学 MOOC（慕课站）美华管理传播网：www.mhjy.net

今年是香港回归祖国二十九周年：庆祝香港特区成立二十九周年

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 09:11:42 +0800

中国经济管理大学 

今年是香港回归祖国二十九周年：庆祝香港特区成立二十九周年

中国经济管理大学/中國經濟管理大學

今年是香港回归祖国二十九周年，适逢国家第十五个五年规划的开局之年，亦是香港迈向由治及兴的关键之年，使这次回归纪念倍添意义。《十五五规划纲要》提出多项建议，为塑造香港的未来带来重要启示。这份纲要不仅体现国家对香港的重视和支持，更进一步确立香港在国家整体发展布局中的重要角色和战略定位。

为对接国家「十五五」规划，特区政府正全力为香港制定首个五年规划，勾划未来愿景、确立目标方向、厘清重点领域、谋划重要举措。「安全是发展的前提，发展是安全的保障。」这份蓝图必须顾及国家安全和香港长远稳定发展。我们将广纳群言、凝聚共识、精准对接、务求实效，为祖国的高质量发展和现代化进程贡献更大力量。

维护香港繁荣安定、推动经济稳步增长、持续改善民生福祉，乃社会各界共同之期盼。特区政府会一如既往，坚定不移贯彻「一国两制」方针，全面落实「爱国者治港」原则，持续提升依法治理效能，积极巩固既有优势，推动经济发展多轨并进。我们会着力推进金融、航运、创新科技等核心领域的产业升级，加快培育新质生产力，吸引更多龙头企业来港设立基地，使香港在新时代中维持竞争优势，确保市民能够分享经济繁荣之硕果。

中国经济管理大学

中国经济管理大学官网：www.eauc.hk 中国经济管理大学 MBA公益课堂

中国经济管理大学 MOOC（慕课站）美华管理传播网：www.mhjy.net

Assessing the Performance of the Sales Force and the People Who Comp：中国经济管理大学 MBA课堂笔记《销售管理：塑造未来的领导者》

Fri, 29 May 2026 15:14:18 +0800

中国经济管理大学 MBA 课堂笔记

Assessing the Performance of the Sales Force and the People Who Comp

中国经济管理大学/中國經濟管理大學

Assessing the Performance of the Sales Force and the People Who Comprise It

Learning Objectives:

After completing this chapter your students should be able to:

Explain why it is important to evaluate the overall performance of the firm’s sales force.
List the advantages and disadvantages of sales, cost, and profit analyses.
Understand the importance of profitability and the application of ROI and ROAM.
Explain both input and output objective sales performance measures.
Explain the differences between performance and effectiveness.
Compare formal and informal evaluations.
Describe how the sales manager can implement an effective performance review.

Introducing the Chapter:

Sales managers are responsible for planning, implementing, and controlling a firm’s sales activities. To control the sales effort so that the firm’s goals are accomplished, sales managers must continually monitor and evaluate the performance levels of both the individuals who comprise the sales force and the sales force as a whole.

One way to introduce this chapter is to ask students if they have ever been evaluated unfairly. Several will likely relate that they worked hard and were criticized by managers (or parents) who didn’t understand how hard they worked even though things did not go well. A follow-up question should be: should evaluations only focus on how hard someone works but also what they are able to accomplish? Most students will begrudgingly say yes, but…. A third question should be: would it be important to you for the boss to figure out why you worked hard but were not able to accomplish your goal? Now is the time to discuss how firm’s must evaluate their sales force through how hard they work (inputs), what they accomplish (results) and even more importantly how much profitability they generate. This type of introduction helps the students relate their own experience to what you will discuss in the book.

A second way to introduce the chapter is to tell an old story that I heard when I worked as a sales engineer in the electronics industry. Apparently our firm had a salesperson in the far westernU.S.who everyone thought was a high performer. Every year he sent in his forecast, which was slightly higher than the year before, and every year he achieved that sales goal and received a nice evaluation and raise. Finally the salesperson retired and a replacement was reassigned. In the first year, he increased sales by 50% and in the second year he doubled the previously salesperson’s output. Based upon this anecdote, ask the students to list evaluation criteria that would have allowed the sales manger to more accurately assess the salesperson’s performance. In today’s environment it is more difficult to hide the potential of most customers, but if the sales manager knew the number of calls made, number of proposals submitted, competitor actions, profitability made on each account, sales made divided by sales calls made, etc. it would be evident how hard the salesperson was working.

Chapter Outline:

I. Evaluation Helps the Sales Manager Know What is Working and Why:

Sales managers must continually evaluate their sales efforts to know what is working and more importantly “why” things are working!

A. Sales Manager’s Responsibilities involve three activities:

1. Plan

2. Implement

3. Control

a. Monitor and evaluate the performance levels for individual sales force members and sales force as a whole

B. Importance of Evaluations

1. Helps determine whether a new strategy is working or not

a. Answers the question: “Are the predetermined goals inadequate or is a team displaying a weak performance?”

2. Shows what actually is taking place in the business

3. Aids in planning for sales in future periods

4. Aids in giving incentives

a. Assigning raises

b. Giving promotions

c. Recommending training

d. Replacing low performing sales force members

II. Evaluating the Performance of the Sales Force as a Whole

In general sales managers evaluate the overall performance of their sales teams by comparing and analyzing different types of information.

A. Multiple goals lead to the need for multiple evaluation efforts

1. There is no single measure to define sales force success

2. Three most common measures of sales force success are:

a. Sales analysis

b. Cost analysis

c. Profitability analysis

3. Sales analysis – assessing and making decisions based upon a firm’s sales revenues

a. Sales info routinely gathered for accounting purposes

b. Sales managers must organize to evaluate from a sales perspective

i. Are sales increasing or decreasing?

ii. How well are different products selling in each territory?

iii. How are salespersons in different regions performing?

c. To perform consistent evaluations, two sales points must be determined:

i. Accurately define when a product is sold

ii. Monitor sales revenues and units sold during inflationary period

4. Cost analysis – is the relationship between the sales generated and the costs of making that sale.

a. Sales costs can be stated as a percentage of sales to assess sales-cost relationship

b. Sales costs will vary by industry and location

c. Most sales managers monitor deviation from planned expenses and investigate any deviation from expectations

d. Cost data allows pricing levels and budgets to be set

e. Costs also allow manager to identify inefficient company functions, determine if cost of sales call is increasing, and decide when it is time to change commission structure

f. Sales manager can also identify cost differences by product and market

g. Sales manager must consider costs in relationship to selling opportunity of market—costs are not standardized!

h. Sales and cost analysis is the two most common evaluation criteria used by sales managers

i. Sales managers face problems in analyzing costs since there is no accepted way of allocating direct and indirect selling costs

i. For example, how are executive salaries allocated?

5. Profitability Analysis - Sales managers compute profitability by taking sales revenues and subtracting costs (sales revenue minus expenses = profits)

a. This allows the sales manager to:

i. Identify unprofitable product lines, territories, and segments

ii. Evaluate territory and product performance

iii. Calculate year-end bonuses

iv. Profitability used to computer Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

6. Ratio Measures - allow the sales manager to standardize evaluations

a. Two measures useful for evaluating sales force include:

i. Return on investment (ROI)

ii. Return on assets managed (ROAM)

1. Contribution margin – selling price minus variable costs (costs of goods sold and sales commission)

2. This is the contribution toward satisfying fixed costs

iii. ROAM should only be employed when the sales manager controls assets

7. After determining the data to use to evaluate sales force performance, the sales manager collects and organizes the data

a. Typically the manager wants to know why goals were or were not met

i. Simplistic answer is the sales force did not work hard enough

ii. Other possible reasons include:

1. Firm’s pricing isn’t competitive

2. Firm’s products suffer quality or delivery problems

3. Salespeople lack ability and need training

iii. Sales manager lists each possible explanation and analyses

iv. When initial analysis fails to pinpoint shortcomings, sales manager may want to look at competition

v. Also, were original goals correctly set?

vi. Once confirmed, sales manager must review other data to confirm hypothesis.

III. Evaluating Individual Sales Representatives

Most firms appraise their sales reps on a regular schedule and consider input measures, outcomes, profitability, and personal development. A new type of measurement, called pipeline analysis, shows how well a salesperson is maintaining a stream of customers at different stages in the sales process. CRM software now permits sales managers to constantly monitor sales performance.

A. Previously, salespersons mailed, faxed, phoned, or emailed their results to managers.

1. Technology now allows near real-time data flow

B. Input measures – gauge the level of effort put forth by the salesperson

1. There are a number of different input performance measures:

a. Number of days worked, sales calls per period, service calls

b. Dealer meetings, customer training sessions, product demonstrations

c. Reports completed, letters/phone calls, displays set up

2. Input measures can be segmented by:

a. Current vs. potential customer

b. Sales vs. service call

c. Telephone vs. on-site call

d. Scheduled calls vs. cold calls

3. Sales managers often compare how a salespersons spends their time in comparison to top sales personnel

4. Input measures tell sales managers the strategies the salesperson is using

a. Transactional or relationship

C. Outcome measures – are the actual results of the salesperson’s efforts

1. How well can the salesperson close the sale?

a. Sales revenue generated, revenue per account, revenue as percentage of potential, orders generated, new customers, canceled orders, lost accounts

2. Output measures can be misleading when sales cycle extends over several sales periods

3. Sales managers believe that outcome measures are highest when salespersons devote sufficient time to input activities!

D. Profitability measures – tells managers whether salesperson is selling products at a profit

1. Net profit as percentage of sales, net profit contribution, net profit in dollars, return on investment, and gross margin

2. Salesperson impacts firm profitability through:

a. specific products sold

b. final prices negotiated

E. Ratio Measures for Performance Appraisals

1. Ratio measures allow sales managers to assess individual performance by combining various input and output data

a. sales volume per call = assesses efficiency

b. order per call = number of sales made per sales call (batting average)

c. average cost per sales call = total sales expenses/total calls made

d. close rate = number of orders/number of quotations

e. profit per call = total profit/number of calls made

F. Qualitative Performance Measures – judgments made by sales managers about a salesperson’s performance or abilities

1. job knowledge, problem-solving ability, creativity, attitude and morale, relationship building, initiative, communication with management, and timeliness in completing reports

2. There are a number of methods to assess qualitative performance:

a. essay technique – a brief statement that summarizes salesperson performance

b. rating scales – use terms or phrases to describe performance or personal characteristics

c. Forced rankings – occurs when sales personnel are rated top to bottom

d. Management by objective (MBO) – agreed upon objectives and assessments between the sales manager and salesperson

e. Behaviorally anchored rating scale – a set of scaled statements that describe the level of performance for a salesperson

G. Overall goal of performance appraisal it to improve future performance

1. Appraisals also important for personal development

2. Bonuses and raises, plus promotions

3. Determines when termination is required

H. The Problem of Evaluation Bias – a systematic tendency toward a lack of objectivity, fairness, or impartiality on the part of the evaluator that is based upon personal preferences and beliefs or a systematic error in the assessment instrument and procedures or in the interpretation and evaluation process.

1. Base evaluation on results or behavior rather than traits or personal characteristics – e.g. 4 sales calls a day

2. Evaluation should be from point of neutrality

3. At least five types of evaluation bias:

a. halo effect – one area of assessment influences overall evaluation

b. leniency or harshness – when a salesperson is rated at extremes

c. central tendency – rate person in center of scale

d. interpersonal – ratings are influenced by how well the manager likes

e. outcome – a single outcomes influences overall assessment

4. Informal evaluations – assessments that vary by individual or situation

a. different amounts and quality of information

b. informal evaluations are most often biased

c. formal evaluations likely to produce objective appraisals

5. To minimize Performance Appraisal Errors

a. Read and be familiar with each rating on the form

b. Do not allow one factor to influence other factors

c. Base ratings on actual, rather than potential, performance

d. Evaluate based upon an objective, unbiased standard

e. Rate individual for entire period, not one incident

f. List sound reasons for all performance appraisal ratings

IV. Summary

A. Evaluation tells a sales manager what is working or not and why.

1. Information shapes daily decisions about how to improve sales force performance

2. To improve performance sales managers examine sales, costs, and profitability measures

3. Continual evaluation, using CRM, allows managers to help sales team on track

4. Formal appraisals are conducted once or twice a year

5. Multiple sales duties mean the sales force must be evaluated on multiple measures

6. Sales managers must be aware of potential for biased evaluations and take steps to maximize the objectivity of performance assessments

Questions and Problems:

1. What is the relationship between managerial control and sales team evaluations? When managers make decisions without the benefit of accurate information, what is the likely outcome?

Without data provided by objective evaluations, it is not possible to accurately control the activities of the sales force. If sales managers don’t have accurate information they are more likely to make poor or totally inappropriate decisions.

2. When a sales manager detects a deviation from the performance expected by the firm, what are the two most common aspects they investigate?

What caused the deviation: the setting of improper goals or lack of effort due to capabilities or lack of motivation.

3. What are the different goals of evaluation and assessment? That is, what types of decisions must a sales manager make, and how are these decisions linked to the type of evaluation information needed?

The basic reason to evaluate and assess sales force members is to improve performance. If a sales manager evaluates the sales team and the current strategy is not working, she can change the strategy to improve sales and profits. The same is true for performance appraisal. The individual salesperson needs feedback on what they are doing well and what they can do better. The sales manager also uses this information to assign raises, provide training, promote, or even terminate the employee. Different criteria are examined for assigning raises than for promoting the individual.

4. Why is sales revenue the most common data used? What are some limitations of considering only sales revenue generated?

Sales revenue is the most common criteria used to evaluate the sales force because it is their job to generate sales revenue! Also, it is available and constantly tracked by most managers within the firm. A limitation of sales revenue is that inflation and costs are not considered.

5. List three managerial decisions that are possible based upon a cost analysis.

The sales manager can identify inefficient company functions, determine whether the cost of making a sales call is increasing, and decide when it is time to change the commission structure.

6. Review the data presented for Hannah, Moe, and Sydney in Exhibit 14.8. What areas do they excel in? Which areas, as their sales manager, would concern you?

Looking at this exhibit, Hannah excels in input activities (demos and new accounts); Sydney exceeds goals in sales volume and profitability (outcomes and profits); and finally Moe has turned in 103 percent of the sales revenue goal (outcome). Each salesperson also has performance figures that should concern the sales manager. For example, Hannah did not meet either sales revenue or profitability goals. Her total score is skewed by her input percentages for demos and new accounts of 140 and 120 percent, respectively. Sydney is not meeting input goals, but she is exceeding her sales revenue and profitability goals, which are more important. Input activities suggest that the salesperson is doing the correct things and this will lead to sales and profits. Since Sydney was exceeding sales and profitability goals, she may not have had time to conduct demos and open new accounts. The sales manager might want to reconsider this level of input goals for Sydney. Finally, Moe appears to be struggling on all categories except sales revenue. Although Moe reached his sales revenue goal, his profits were significantly below expected levels. This infers that Moe is selling lower margined goods and he is having trouble meeting demos and new accounts (input) goals. Based upon the relationship of input and output success, Moe will likely continue to struggle to reach his assigned level of performance.

7. The handheld mini-PCs discussed in the chapter can be upgraded with Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to allow a sales manager to track exactly where each sales representative has been and is currently. What do you think the pros and cons of using this technology might be? As a sales manager, would you use it?

The “pros” of merging the handheld mini-PCs and GPS would allow the sales manager to monitor the activities of a salesperson at all times. Thus, it would be difficult for a salesperson to take time away from the job to sleep in, play golf, or take the afternoon off. In the “cons” category, good salespersons would probably not mind this monitoring since they are doing their job anyway; however, a few salespersons might not like being monitored by “big brother” and they would seek a job elsewhere. Thus this system could de-motivate sales efforts. It is possible for the sales manager to understand what the field salesperson is doing without resorting to electronic monitoring.

8. If a salesperson received 32 purchase orders during the month based upon 123 sales calls, what is his order per call, or “close rate”?

32 purchases/123 sales calls = 26 percent close rate. It would be helpful to know past close rates and/or the sales force average close rate. Ratios are important because all salespersons can be compared using the same criteria. This does not mean that two persons with close rates of 24 and 26 percent are not very close in their performance, but if you had an average close rate of 18 percent while the company average was 25 percent, this would be cause for concern and further investigation.

9. In what ways can salespeople influence the profitability of their territories?

By the products they sell and the prices they negotiate.

10. Sales managers should assess qualitative measures against what standard? Why?

Evaluations should always be based upon neutrality and set standards. It is imperative to set standards (4 sales calls per day) and base performance appraisals on these standards. Did salesperson Smith complete 4 calls per day and did she call upon 10 new accounts this sales period? If she did, she met standards and if she exceeded this requirement she likely exceeded this input criterion. Starting at a point of neutrality reduces bias in the form of halo, interpersonal, and outcome. Likewise, having set standards reduces the likelihood of leniency and harshness and outcome bias. It is important for the sales manager to understand these biases and take active steps to minimize them.

11. What challenges are posed when firms evaluate a global sales force’s efforts?

Introducing culture into evaluations raises a number of issues. First is the issue of transfer pricing. Many firms sell products to subsidiaries and base the sales price on tax laws rather than actual value. This means the global salesperson may not have any input into the sales price. Perhaps more complicated is the impact of culture on motivation (God’s will in the Middle East) and the perceived role of the salesperson in newly capitalistic societies (RussiaandChina). Lastly, in collectivist societies, it is unlikely the salesperson will be graded as an individual, but will receive ratings of their contribution to the group. In other words, evaluations in countries outside the British-heritage nations (US,Canada, British Isles,New Zealand, andAustralia) will differ significantly in their tone, criteria, and influence on raises and promotions!

12. Explain the common types of bias to which sales managers can fall victim.

At least five types of evaluation bias can influence the sales manager:

a. halo effect – one area of assessment influences overall evaluation

b. leniency or harshness – when a salesperson is rated at extremes

c. central tendency – rate person in center of scale

d. interpersonal – ratings are influenced by how well the manager likes

e. outcome – a single outcomes influences overall assessment

Answers for Chapter Caselets:

Caselet 14.1

Happy Hanna:” Did the Sales Reps Meet Their Goals?

Sales manager “Happy” Hanna Johanson helped establish goals for two of her sales reps: the outspoken, Ella Lynn, and the on-again-off-again, Syd Vance. Three sales quarters have passed since that meeting and Hannah has collected the performance measures for both of the reps outlined in Figure 1 below. She’ll being meeting with both reps tomorrow and needs to prepare for the feedback sessions tonight for mid-morning meeting tomorrow. Ella has continued to be the firm’s “sustainability” advocate and Hanna has learned that Syd is the star pitcher for a local softball team. How should Hanna prepare for these two evaluations and meetings with the salespersons?

1. Based on the performance data in Figure 1, what “deviations” would you focus on during your meeting with Ella?

Ella’s not meeting sales goals two of three quarters and her lack of meeting demonstrations two of three quarters. Stress the need to increase input activities and determine why outcomes were not being met. Ask Ella for her rationale for not meeting expectations, ask how you can help, but stress the need to meet future expectations.

2. Based on the performance data, what factors would you focus on during your meeting with Syd? What approach would you take in your meeting with Syd?

One way to start the meeting with Syd would be to congratulate him on his sports prowess and ask him to explain why he has not met his numbers for the past three quarters. This lets Syd know that you are aware that he has been putting a tremendous amount of time taking his team to the national championships (and thus not giving that time to customers). Syd has met his input requirements, but the sales manager should question the quality of these demonstrations and look at sales to all customers to understand why Syd opened 5 new accounts each quarter but his total sales figures were below expectations? It may be that Syd is trying to make input numbers but he is not taking care of existing accounts. I would tell Syd he must improve his numbers and must reach his goals if he is to remain a salesperson with the firm.

3. Would your response differ if Syd’s team was sponsored by a religious or a civic organization?

The reason for Syd’s not meeting expectations should not hinge upon his motivations. If a salesperson enjoys working for Special Olympics®, their church, or Habitat for Humanity® that is their right. However, starting from a point of neutrality, Syd is not meeting his expectations and the sales manager’s responsibility is to help Syd see that he will need to give more time to his job or leave the work force to be a professional athlete.

Figure 1

Last 3 Sales Quarters Actual Vs. Goal Figures

Sales Goals and Actual

Quarter

Ella’s Sales Figures

Syd’s Sales Figures

Sales Vol. Goal

Sales Vol. Actual

125,000

120,000

125,000

128,000

125,000

118,000

150,000

140,000

150,000

130,000

150,000

105,000

Demonstrations Goal

Demonstrations Actual

New Account Goal

New Account Actual

Caselet 14.2

Ligon Industrial

Ligon’s sales manager, Fred Stephenson, recently ranked each of the company’s five salespeople in five performance areas: sales revenue, new accounts opened, lost accounts, expenses, and profitability. However, once Stephenson had ranked his sales staff, it was hard for him to identify the salesperson who should receive the top rating. He wanted to devise an improved system that would allow him to utilize the information to coach each salesperson to improve his or her performance.

Questions:

Are all five categories used for ranking the sales force equal in importance?

As currently configured they are, but in reality sales and profitability are more important.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of a ranking system?

A ranking system forces the sales manager to “rank” each of his sales members from “best” to “worst.” However, one way to do this is to assign a weight to each category and then assign a grade for that category to each salesperson. For example, if Ford exceeded his sales revenue he might be given a 10 and the weight for that category might be .3. His score for that category is 3. Rather than a forced ranking a weight and grade evaluation provides a more valid picture of who is performing and at what level. Said differently, the sales manager would be able to gauge the distance between all salespersons’ performance.

Under what conditions is it appropriate to rank one’s sales force?

Ranking is appropriate for promotions and retention only. But again, it is best to do such rankings objectively rather than fall into the trap of halo, interpersonal, or outcome bias.

What can be concluded if each category receives the same importance weight?

That all salespersons are performing at the same level! Which they are probably not doing!

What recommendations would you offer Fred Stephenson?

That Stephenson switch to a weight and grade evaluation based upon set expectations. Rankings are best for promotions and/or terminations –we need to promote one person to management. Who should we promote? We have ranked the sales force based upon management criteria and feel that Thelen is best suited for this promotion.

Role Play:

Johnson Controls Considers Changing Its Assessment Criteria

Rhonda Jones is meeting with the President and Operations Manager to determine if and how evaluation criteria should be changed based upon the sales strategy becoming more customer centric (selling what and how the customer wants). A major question is: should sales revenue remain a major assessment criterion at Johnson Controls? The purpose of this role play is to determine whether the evaluation criteria need to be modified since Johnson Controls is moving from a sales to a customer oriented strategy. The current criteria utilized—sales revenue generated, number of new accounts opened, and sales increase at existing accounts may all still be applicable for the switch to customer driven selling. Other criteria the management team might want to add include: customer satisfaction ratings, number of customers lost, and sales amount per purchase. The idea is that customer centric selling results in greater focus on customer satisfaction and that satisfied customers buy larger amounts when they purchase. If sales revenue is kept as an evaluation category, Johnson may use it as a guide but understand that profits, satisfied customers, and retained customers are more important.

Sales Manager’s Workshop:

As Promedia’s district sales manager, it is time to conduct an end of the year evaluation of your five salespersons. After reviewing the evaluation criteria discussed in this chapter, go to the Applicor data and analyze the performance of your five salespersons. Consider looking at several activity, outcome, and profitability figures. Based upon the performance of each salesperson, write a short report to the national sales manager detailing their performance and also justify the raise you will recommend for each salesperson. When you are satisfied with your report, turn it in to your sales management professor.

In order to register for Aplicor, email tanner@aplicor.com. Within 2 business days, you will be verified as an instructor, and then will be provided with your login information. Once you log in to Aplicor at www.pearsonhighered.com/tanner, you will be able to register all your students. Once you do so, share the login information with your students so they may access the site as well, via the same URL.

Self-Assessments:

In your copy of Sales Management, you will find an Access Code Card. By using this code at www.pearsonhighered.com/tanner, you will gain access to the SAL program. Students will find an Access Code Card in their copy of the book as well.

This chapter suggests that students take self-assessment:

IIIA3 – How Good Am I at Giving Performance Feedback?

After taking the assessment the student is provided feedback about how well they give the type and depth of information salespersons need to improve. Said differently, are you more likely to be tactful and give accurate information or sugar-coat the feedback in a way that confuses the salesperson. No matter the initial score giving performance feedback is a skill that one can develop through training and practice.

A second self-assessment provides the taker with a view of how they feel about people:

IC4 – What’s My View of the Nature of People?

Do you view people as someone you can trust or perhaps that people cannot be trusted. This is an important area to understand since managers approach the way they evaluate based upon how individual salespersons are viewed. Plus, this perspective could greatly influence several of the evaluation biases discussed in Chapter 14.

Using Videos:

To access these videos, go to www.pearsonhighered.com/tanner and consider the two videos selected for this chapter. The videos on coaching allow the sales manager to use information gained from evaluations to help the salesperson improve. Listed below are potential ways to introduce each video and questions that can be asked to spur discussion after you show the videos.

Video 1: Sales Coaching for the Next Level – Keith Rosen

Rosen explains that the best way to coach is to ask a series of questions. First, though the sales manager must have the salesperson fill out a form that identifies what areas they feel weak in and that they would like to be coached on (again, evaluations provide the sales manager an even better insight). Rosen starts by asking: what are you currently doing? What is your process? Ah, you seem to be putting forth the effort, but are not succeeding? What exactly are you saying? The key is to involve the salesperson in the dialogue rather than simply “telling.”

1. How does Keith Rosen describe the act of coaching?

2. Why are the first 15 seconds important when talking to a customer?

3. Why should all claims be “measurable and profitable”?

4. Why is it important to engage the salesperson in the coaching session?

Video 2: Coaching to Build Confidence – Jim Cathcart

Cathcart states that high performers have elements that other salespersons need: knowledge, skill, and confidence. Knowledge allows the salesperson to reach their potential, while skill and confidence helps the salesperson stay motivated. There is a large difference between high performers and all others. The sales manager should coach to encourage a belief that the salesperson can handle the situation. When a salesperson fearfully approaches Cathcart, he tries to get them to take a deep breath and look at the broader view. Without reflection, no lesson is learned. Salespersons must use their time wisely and Cathcart feels that is true of sales manager coaching. If a salesperson does not have the skills and knowledge to succeed, the sales manager is wasting their time coaching. More is to be gained from working with the better salespersons than the weakest salespersons.

1. What three skills do successful salespersons possess?

2. How does Cathcart define “encouragement”?

3. Cathcart says that without reflection what happens?

4. How long should a sales manager invest time coaching a salesperson?

Full Case Recommendations:

Case 11: Concord and Associates provides students with an excellent opportunity to employ the evaluation techniques taught in Chapter 14.

This case is about Emily Murray and her responsibility to formally evaluate her sales force in the Southwest US for a year of work. Emily sends messages to her sales team to gather data, think about the previous year, etc. and schedule a meeting with her during a specified period of December. As Emily sifts through the sales data, she identifies several salespersons who have not met standards—expected sales vs, actual sales. Emily must analyze the information to determine if the salesperson has been given goals that are unrealistic or whether the salesperson has not performed at a level that was attainable. This case focuses on one salesperson, Jose, who manages the Arizona territory. In addition to the raw data that Emily is perusing, she also has notes from her field visits with Jose. The students’ jobs are to evaluate the information in the possession of Emily and to make recommendations similar to what Emily would do.

This case is an excellent way to teach students how to analyze sales performance. The data provided allow students to play the role of Emily and to objectively compare the performance of her sales team. Every sales manager faces this dilemma—who is doing a good job and who needs to improve? Some questions to ask to introduce the case include:

Which of Emily’s sales team is doing an excellent job? Based upon what criteria?
Which of Emily’s sales team needs to improve? Based upon what performance factors?
How should you determine the performance of the sales team based upon the data that are available?
Why are accuracy and objectivity important in performance appraisals?
How can you help insure your performance appraisals are objective?

Other In-Class Exercises:

Evaluation Design

Chapter 14

Your group assignment is to design an evaluation system that results in the best performance for your sales force. Looking at the three scenarios below, how would you design the way your sales force is evaluated?

(The professor should break the class into 3, 6, 9 or 12 groups and have each group work on either scenario 1, 2, or 3 below. Each recommended evaluation system should vary to match the strategies proposed by management).

A mature computer firm that wants to establish and maintain positive relationships with their best customers.

Look at number of lost customers, sales growth by account, number of purchases in the pipeline, or number of long-term contracts signed.

A financial services company whose goal is to maximize sales and profits.

Sales revenue as percentage of sales goals, closed sales, profit per account.

A consumer goods manufacturer that wants to maintain customers and grow market share at retail stores.

Number of demonstrations, increase in sales per store location, number of repeat visits to stores that result in increased sales.

Be sure to consider the assortment of available criteria* you could measure.

Activities

Outcomes

Profitability

Qualitative measures

How often would you conduct a performance appraisal of your sale force?

Formally once or twice a year but salespersons would receive interim reports that detail their performance toward reaching set goals and expectations.

What factors might complicate the evaluation system you design?

Team selling, the economy, and competitive actions to name just a few.

Can the evaluation system be used at all firm locations? Why or why not?

As always, it depends. If orders are placed centrally and shipped to all locations such behavior complicates the evaluation system. It is easier to design evaluation systems for salespersons that control what they sell and call singly upon buyers. Such a “lone wolf” salesperson is becoming scarce in most companies.

*Activities:

Sales calls per period, reports completed, complaints, customer training meetings conducted, letters/phone calls, product demonstrations/dealer meetings, service calls, sales calls per customer,: BY existing or new customer; planned vs., cold calls, in-person vs. telephone calls.

*Outcome:

Sales revenue generated, profits, sales per account, sales revenue as a percentage of potential, number of orders, number of new customers, sales to new customers.

*Profits:

Net profit as a percentage of sales, net profit contribution, net profits in $, ROI, gross margin.

*Qualitative Measures:

Professional development, product knowledge, sales presentation.

Comparative Performance Analysis

Cost Analysis

Ben Leonard Nancy Hanks

Gross Margin (%) 34.70% 32.26%

Expense (%) 14.97% 15.72%

Contribution Margin 19.73% 16.54%

Average Order Size $470 $388

Average Cost per Sales Call $100.43 $102.54

T & E Expense per Sales Call $ 10.00 $ 15.00

Miles per Sales Call 26.67 miles 28.00 miles

Special handling/regular orders (%) 4.00% 10.34%

What can you say about the comparative performances of Ben Leonard and Nancy Hanks?

Ben has slightly higher margins, slightly lower expenses, higher contribution margin, average order size, lower costs and fewer special handling (rush orders).

More importantly, why do you make these statements?

Based upon this analysis, Ben appears to be performing at a higher level that Nancy. Without having additional information, it is difficult to justify why Nancy’s average orders are smaller (smaller customers?), why her travel and expense per call is 50% higher (more miles and having to spend overnight?), and why her special handling is >10% versus 4% for Ben. There may be logical reasons for Nancy’s behavior but the sales manager should further investigate to “explain” the differences before labeling the deviations as positive or negative. All other things being equal, Ben appears to be performing at a higher level!

Further analysis should provide the following evaluative results:

Gross margin, expense, and CM also indicate superior performance by Lomand.

Lomand sells larger orders at lower average costs and miles driven.

Lomand generates fewer special handling orders = lower costs!

Overall, Lomand appears to be performing at a higher level.

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Motivating and Rewarding Salespeople：中国经济管理大学 MBA课堂笔记《销售管理：塑造未来的领导者》

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中国经济管理大学 MBA 课堂笔记

Motivating and Rewarding Salespeople

中国经济管理大学 MBA课堂笔记《销售管理：塑造未来的领导者》

中国经济管理大学/中國經濟管理大學

Motivating and Rewarding Salespeople

Learning Objectives:

After completing this chapter, your students should be able to:

Summarize how motivation has been conceptualized and how the contributions of past studies can be incorporated into managerial activities.
Explain the different models of motivation and how sales managers can utilize them.
Identify generational differences in motivation and how to adapt motivational approaches for each group.
Describe how managers can utilize different motivational elements available to sales organizations.
Distinguish different situations in which financial and nonfinancial rewards should be used to motivate salespeople.
Illustrate how compensation systems can be utilized to address different motivational needs.

Introducing the Chapter:

Students are used to a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach in many situations, including most classrooms. Most good sales managers would tell you, in terms of motivating and rewarding members of their sales force, that model won’t work. A critical skill that new sales managers need to develop is the ability to understand what rewards are valued by each member of their sales force. What motivates one person won’t necessarily motivate another. As an opening discussion, consider asking students what non-cash rewards they most appreciate from past employers and see how dissimilar they are.

Part of the challenge to understanding what motivates individuals is recognizing what motivates members of different generations. This chapter examines the background experiences and values of four generations and how it affects their behavior in the work environment. Some students may have already had an opportunity to manage older individuals and can share some of their (awkward) experiences.

The second half of this chapter examines rewarding salespeople. An opening question for this section would probe what rewards the ideal employer – or even some currently recruiting on your campus would offer. The old conceptualization of ‘compensation and benefits’ was fine for the 1960’s; 21^st century sales managers need to utilize a Total Rewards program. Salespeople want more than money or a retirement program; they want a work-life balance and opportunities for career and personal development. Employers that can offer such programs can have a competitive advantage over other employers if they can provide them.

Chapter Outline:

I. What Motivates Salespeople?

A. One of the toughest jobs of a new sales manager is trying to understand what motivates each member of their sales force.

B. Intrinsic motivation factors are rewarding because a person finds doing the activity a reward in itself.

C. Extrinsic motivation factors are external to the job and activities are done in order to obtain a monetary or physical reward, a social reward or to avoid punishment.

D. Content approaches to understanding motivation focus on identifying different needs. All approaches offer contributions that a sales manager can apply (See Exhibit 12.1). These approaches include:

1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

2. McClelland’s Needs Approach

3. Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene or Two-Factor Approach

E. Process Approaches to understanding motivation focus on the process of what someone does, for how long, and at what level of intensity. All approaches offer contributions that a sales manager can apply (See Exhibit 12.2). These approaches include:

1. Adam’s Equity Theory

2. Expectancy Theory

II. Generational Motivational Issues

A. Young sales managers will manage reps from four generational groups. Each group has been shaped by historical influences and personal experiences. As a result members of each group are motivated by different drives and rewards at work.

B. Matures were raised during the Depression and WWII. They are loyal and reliable workers. Matures want respect and titles that reflect their importance.

C. Baby Boomers were raised during periods of economic prosperity and social consciousness. They work long hours and struggle to balance their family lives. They value promotions, leadership and public recognition.

D. Generation X’ers were likely raised by parents who both worked. X’ers place a high value of family over work. They prefer independence over teamwork. They value changing work opportunities and flexibility in the work environment.

E. Millennials were raised during periods of economic and technological change. They prefer a work/life balance. They value flexibility in their work environment.

III. The Dos and Don’ts of Motivating Your Sales Representatives – Tips for a New Sales Manager

A. Hire motivated sales reps.

B. Show trust in your sales reps.

C. Capitalize on the unique strengths of each member of the sales force.

D. Empower sales people to make their own decisions.

E. Ensure that you offer rewards that are valued by all members of your sales force.

F. Develop or remove deadbeats.

G. Identify people who have reached a plateau in their career and find new ways to challenge them.

IV. Financial and Nonfinancial Rewards

A. There are many types of rewards both financial and non-financial to offer reps. No two reps will likely value the same rewards.

V. The Components of a Reward Program

A. A Total Rewards Program includes all of the options a sales manager should utilize to reward performance rather than just compensation and benefits. Programs need to be designed to address different situations. Consideration should be given to the following influences.

1. The Marketplace Environment which includes market and industry factors and practices.

2. The Organizational Culture which impacts the rewards a firm offers its salespeople.

3. The Business Strategies a firm uses will influence how rewards are achieved.

4. The Total Reward Strategy involves using five different types of rewards (i.e., compensation, benefits, work-life, performance recognition and development and career opportunities).

B. Compensation can be awarded using three different formats:

1. Base salary is a fixed amount of compensation often used with new hires and positions requiring high levels of customer contact. Provides stability but offers no incentive for above average work.

2. Variable (or Incentive) pay will change depending upon a sales rep’s performance. It may include several different components:

a) A bonus is a lump sum of cash to reward efforts within a prescribed time period.

b) Stock options are designed to encourage a long-term commitment.

c) Team-based pay is designed to reward group productivity.

d) A commission is a percentage of the price of the product or service that salespeople receive for their selling efforts.

(1) A progressive plan increases the percentage of a commission a rep may receive with each additional sale.

(2) A regressive plan decreases the percentage of a commission a rep may receive with each additional sale.

3. Combination Plans include a salary and incentive component. It provides both a stable salary and an incentive for superior work.

a) A draw is an advance on an incentive plan that allows a rep to receive income at the present time, but it will be repaid with income from a future sale.

C. Benefits provide different forms of security to members of the sales force. They represent 40 percent of a firm’s payroll cost.

1. Legally required programs include Social Security, workers’ compensation unemployment insurance, and family and medical leave programs.

2. Retirement or pension benefit programs provide additional income after a rep retires.

3. Paid time off includes benefits such as pay during vacations, holidays, and sick days when the rep is not working.

D. Work-Life Rewards programs help sales reps find a balance between their work and life while they are away from work.

1. Workplace flexibility programs are designed to help reps schedule where and when they work.

2. Leaves of absence programs allow reps paid time off for births, adoptions, and sabbaticals.

3. Health and wellness programs focus on maintaining or improving the health and fitness levels of salespeople.

4. Community involvement programs compensate sales reps for time they serve as volunteers.

5. Care for dependents programs provide support for employees with childcare or dependent needs.

E. Recognition Programs are greatly impacted by the sales manager. They can be informal (e.g., gift card) or very formal (e.g., top sellers recognition at a vacation destination).

1. Cash

2. Travel

3. Plaques and awards

4. Recognition dinners

5. Gifts/Merchandise

6. Gift cards

7. Sales promotion incentive funds (SPIFs) are often available to retail sales people.

F. Expense Accounts although not often thought of as a benefit, should be considered more of a neutral factor in a reward system.

1. Unlimited plans cover all sales costs.

2. Per diem plans cover a certain amount per day.

3. Limited plans cover up to a certain amount for each expense, each day.

G. Personal Development and Career Opportunities help reps explore new growth opportunities

1. Learning opportunities can range from graduate education to personal training sessions at a facility specializing in developing corporate athletes.

2. Sales meetings are unique learning opportunities for sales reps that cover educational and motivational issues.

VI. Summary

A. Sales managers need to recognize what factors motivate each member of their sales force.

B. Sales managers may manage sales reps from several generations. Sales managers need to understand the differences between the groups and strive to satisfy the motivational needs of each.

C. Because the values of salespeople reflect their generational background, members of the sales force may not place the same value on rewards. A total rewards program looks beyond traditional rewards such as compensation and benefits and includes more work/life balance programs.

Questions and Problems:

1. What intrinsic and extrinsic factors motivate you as a student? What intrinsic and extrinsic factors do you think would motivate you as a salesperson? What about as a sales manager?

Responses to these three questions will run the gamut from intrinsic factors such as, ‘It makes me feel good about myself,’ or “It will make my parents feel good,’ to those focused on extrinsic factors, ‘It will allow me to earn more money.’

Be sure to look for any changes between what (might) motivate them as a student, salesperson, and a sales manager. One might expect more intrinsic motivational factors in play as a sales manager.

2. As a sales manager, how can you apply the findings of the content approaches? How can you apply the findings of the process approaches? Which do you think makes the most significant contributions and why?

Content approaches help identify the factors that make up motivation. Sales managers can apply these approaches by ensuring that the factors are being used as rewards and as reinforcements for members of their sales force. Process approaches help understand how sales reps are motivated. Sales managers can apply these approaches by being attentive to reps comments on fairness of rewards, understanding the value of different rewards and helping improve their performance that leads to rewards. (For more detailed information see Exhibits 12.1 and 12.2)

3. Sales manager Gretchen Anderson recalls a “ride-along” with one of her sales representatives, Bill, who consistently struggled to reach his quota. They reached their first destination at 10:50 a.m., and Bill said, “Let’s eat some lunch.” The two had lunch, met the client at 1 p.m., and were done at 1:20 p.m. Bill then told Gretchen he had no other sales calls planned. “I started early today, so I’m knocking off when we get back,” Bill told her. In terms of equity theory, describe what is going on from Tom’s perspective and from Gretchen’s perspective. If you were Gretchen, how would you handle this situation?

Equity theory proposes that a sales rep weighs their perceived inputs and outcomes in comparison to others and decides if their effort/reward equation is equitable or fair. They then re-align their efforts to be rewarding. Bill might justify his efforts as being fair based on what his compensation is. He might see his efforts as being of high value and therefore he only needs to put in limited time. If he were rewarded more, it would justify him working more. Gretchen might think that he would be compensated more if he worked more.

Gretchen should ask open ended questions about how fair or equitable Bill considers his compensation plan. In addition, she should try to understand Bill’s perspective, that is, how his input/output ratio compares with others. It may be that Bill has incomplete information about others or that he clearly values his inputs at a higher level than others might.

4. Given the information below, what insights do you have about the following representatives and what is or isn’t motivating them?

	2007 Sales	2008 Sales	2009 Sales	Comments
Dustin	$80,000	$86,000	$94,500	Three years of experience; named outstanding trainee three years ago
Jessica	$104,000	$111,000	$119,000	Ten years of experience; three years in the $100,000 Club and also had a baby!
Deborah	$109,000	$103,000	$97,500	Twenty years of experience; 2009 is the first time the rep didn’t make the $100,000 Club in ten years

Dustin’s performance has improved every year. He would appear to be very motivated. Jessica’s performance also looks very good, a great performer. Because of Jessica’s latest child, the child the sales manager may need to include more work/life balance rewards. Deborah has been a good performer, and no doubt still is. Her trend line show that sales have slipped over the past three years. The sales manager should investigate whether Deborah has reached a career plateau and needs new challenges or is just facing other tasks that take her away from work, e.g., caring for a family member.

5. As a sales manager, what are some behaviors and actions you would try to use to motivate your personnel?

Sales managers should try to understand each sales rep’s drives and motivations, as well as their perspective of their total rewards. Other suggested behaviors would include hiring motivated sales reps, showing trust in sales reps, capitalizing on the unique strengths of each member of the sales force, empowering sales people to make their own decisions, ensuring that the rewards offered valued by all members of the sales force, and either developing or removing dead beats from the sales force.

6. The intent behind a COLA is to help salespeople who live in and work in high-cost locations. Find an online cost-of-living calculator or use the one at http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/costofliving/costofliving.html. Compare the living costs in Minneapolis–St. Paul, Raleigh–Durham, North Carolina, and Dallas–Fort Worth and San Francisco. Which area has the highest and lowest cost of living? Compare these costs with a small city near you. How much (or less) would you need to earn as a sales representative in order to move from one locale to another? Consider two members of the sales force that are producing identical results. Is it fair that one sales representative living in a large metropolitan area is compensated more than another one living in a smaller town just because the costs of living in one location are higher than the other?

Encourage students to use several online cost of living calculators in responding to this. Generally they will find that the cost of living in San Francisco is nearly double that of Minneapolis. The COL in Raleigh is about 7% less than that of Minneapolis. While the COL in Fort Worth is almost 20% less than Minneapolis.

The discussion of fairness should spur a healthy discussion. Without paying the high-cost of living cities more, why would they want to work there? In this case, if their salaries were identical, the Fort Worth reps would have almost double the buying power of the San Francisco rep. Why would anyone want to do anything but visit San Francisco, if geographic costs of living allowances weren’t in place?

7. Some students have doubts about being able to support themselves under an incentive-only system. What advice would you offer them?

It’s true that an incentive-only system may be difficult for a new sales person (look at many insurance companies and their high rates of turnover). Students can support themselves under an incentive system but need to consider several factors. Recommendations might include: making sure that you receive excellent sales training that prepares you to start selling once you are in the field; starting out in a system that has a salary component that is gradually replaced by incentives; working in a field with a shorter sales cycle as opposed to a field that has a long sales cycle; working with a company that allows a draw against future income.

8. Which three work-life programs do you find most attractive? Which three do you think someone your parents’ age would find most attractive? What about your grandparents’ age?

Answers will reflect students’ preferences and their familiarity with the needs of other generations (see Exhibit 12.6 for a list of possible options). Students typically include compensation and paid vacations, some may mention recognition. People their parents’ age may find health and life insurance, compensation and retirement programs, as most attractive. People their grandparents’ age may find health insurance, retirement programs and some workplace flexibility programs as most attractive. Each of the above categories includes a wide range of more specific programs. Encourage students to be specific in identifying their choices.

9. If you were to hold a sales contest and offer a trip as an award, what location would you pick? For each generation, identify a location that you believe they would find particularly motivating and explain why.

This question should generate some interesting discussion and reveal some interesting perspectives. They may range from Extreme Adventure Trips to Hawaii to Niagara Falls. Watch for any stereotyping.

10. What type of performance recognition program would motivate you the most? The least?

No doubt students will have varying opinions about the value of public recognition. Some may find it very motivating, whereas others won’t. Be sure to get the students to share what their employers do to offer recognition and what their perspective on those practices are.

11. Some sales managers give cash cards worth about $25 each to their sales representatives when they perform a new skill. What do you think the pros and cons of this practice are?

Rewarding new or correct behaviors with $25 cash cards may come across two ways. From the positive perspective it is a small acknowledgement (positive reinforcement) that they are doing the right thing. On the negative side, some might perceive it a cheap replacement for a higher compensation package – or some might interpret it with more of a psychological viewpoint (like the training of an animal).

12. How could a recognition program for marketing students work within your college’s business-education department? What would you use as motivators if you had an unlimited budget? What if your budget were $250?

Your department/school may already be doing many things that might be mentioned, including: plaques and awards, cash awards, recognition at various banquets, school newsletters or marquis. Many of these are of nominal cash value. Student suggestions will run the continuum. Your discussion might include a query if, or at what point might some intrinsic motivators change to become extrinsic motivators.

Answers for Chapter Caselets:

Caselet 12.1

Adjusting Your Compensation Plan to Motivate Your Sales Representatives

Pelican Pharmaceutical Company is having difficulty retaining quality, experienced salespeople. The problem started three years ago when the patent for the firm’s most popular drug expired, and other low-cost drug producers began manufacturing and selling similar drugs under generic names. Pelican has a board of directors that is fiscally conservative and believes in rewarding sales performance based only on profitability. So, as the firm’s sales slumped, so did the incomes of Pelican’s sales representatives and sales managers. The new sales manager, Frank, has been struggling with motivation and reward issues for a sales force that is again failing to make its yearly sales quota.

Pelican provides both its sales representatives and sales managers with modest salaries, company cars, and full benefits, which are some of the best in the industry. The company pays commissions based on salespeople surpassing their previous year’s sales totals. An escalating reward system kicks in once a sales representative achieves 80 percent of his or her sales quota. However, the average salesperson at Pelican is only achieving 75 percent of his or her sales quota, which means the person earns no commission. Those who do earn bonuses are usually only a few percentage points over quota, so their commission checks are marginal. The sales quotas were set by Pelican’s board of directors and are based on the company’s overall operations, overhead, and the return the company’s shareholders expect.

Frank is very concerned about the downward spiral he is seeing in his sales force. He thinks changing the commission structure by reducing sales goals 10 percent would help solve the problem.

Questions

1. What problems do you anticipate Frank will run into when he presents his revised commission structure plan to Pelican’s board of directors?

After years as a market leader, they appear to be slow in adjusting to the realities of their current market position. Their practice of exceeding last year’s goals should be rethought.

2. If Pelican were a low-cost, generic pharmaceutical company, how would you as a sales manager reward and motivate sales representatives?

With this perspective the focus would shift to requiring large amounts of sales to generate profitability. While many of the same practices would hold, attention would focus more on firms capable of buying large amounts. As sales volume increases, more importance should be shifted toward profitability.

3. What other motivational tools could Frank have used to retain and motivate employees other than adjusting the sales quota downward?

Perhaps a shift of focus to some of Pelicans other viable drugs may have helped improve sales reps bottom line. Management should consider identifying the value of their total rewards package (since we are told their benefits are some of the best) in light of the lost commissions. Other suggestions may come from shifting from the compensation categories to non-compensation categories total rewards categories.

4. Identify other areas within the company that will be affected if Frank’s plan is approved by the board of directors?

If they haven’t already, production should certainly take note. Anyone involved in budgeting would need to be aware of the impact of reduced sales. Research and product development personnel should be aware of the need for new products to introduce to the market. Those in charge of administering the compensation system (i.e., Human Resources) will need to know.

5. Do you feel the company should have adjusted its commission structure before the patent for its best-selling drug expired? Is it fair to penalize the sales force with lower commissions for an outside competitive factor they cannot control? Explain your answer.

Most forward looking organizations would have seen the economic impact of the drug patent expiring. The delay in adjusting the commission has and will continue to cost the company in terms of sales force turnover and lost sales.

Some may note that the sales force may have benefited for years with an easy sale. With no competitors the sales force, no doubt, had years of easy picking. Some may say that things are just evening up now.

Caselet 12.2

Which is Better: A Market Share-Based Incentive System or a Revenue-Based Incentive System?

Phil Lehman, a very successful salesperson, started working for Lextron Corporation right out of college. Phil has been with Lextron, a major manufacturer of sterilized medical equipment, for over 10 years. During his first 10 years with the company, he won numerous sales awards, was a sales dollar leader in most product categories, and never missed his sales quota, which increased by approximately 10 percent each year.

Lextron’s customers are major hospitals and medical centers across the country. The company currently has a 40 percent market share in theUnited States, which is double its nearest competitor. Territories are divided up by metropolitan areas, and commissions are paid based on sales volume. Phil had been working in the Atlanta,Georgia, territory his entire career.

Two years ago Phil’s wife, Marcia, who is a physician, had an opportunity to take a new position in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The position would have enabled her to do more research, which is one of her passions. Coupled with this offer was the fact that both Phil and Marcia are from the Milwaukee area. Thus, Phil’s company agreed to transfer him to the Milwaukee territory, which had recently opened up.

The move back to Milwaukee started out great. Phil’s wife enjoyed her new job, and he worked hard making new contacts in the medical community. He opened up six new major accounts in his first year and another three in his second year. However, Phil was running out of new account prospects. He figured he had doubled his market share since he started working in Milwaukee, and he speculated that his products were in 80 percent of the hospitals and clinics within his territory. Despite his hard work, he was making less money in commissions and not winning sales contests like he did when he was in Atlanta.

Mark Green, a regional sales manager for Lextron, is Phil’s direct supervisor. Mark has agreed to visit Phil in his territory to discuss a pressing issue Phil has not yet disclosed to him. At lunch Phil asks Mark several questions about his sales performance over the past two years. Mark praises Phil for doing an excellent job and encourages him to keep up the good work.

Phil then asks Mark why he is not being compensated for his efforts. Mark is puzzled. He tells Phil he is paid on a commission like every other sales representative in the country. Phil then lays out the compensation he received in Atlanta for capturing just 40 percent of the market and the compensation he receives now in Milwaukee for capturing 80 percent of the market―double what he had in Atlanta.

Questions

1. How do you think Mark Green should react to Phil’s argument about market share and compensation? (Remember, he just told Phil he was doing an excellent job.)

He should be concerned that a rep with a great performance record doesn’t believe he is being rewarded fairly and should move quickly to investigate what can be done.

2. Do you believe Phil has been fairly compensated since his move to Milwaukee? What other compensation programs could the company have put in place to avoid this situation?

Phil voluntarily moved to Milwaukee and the economic and geographic conditions of the market place could of have been investigated before he made the move. Because he now has a smaller market and thus fewer opportunities to achieve the volume he did in Atlanta, his sales volume will be less. It should be noted that he has secured a significantly higher share of the market while in Milwaukee. Some consideration should be given to awards and commissions being based on share of the market or a combination of share and volume. Sales to new customers should also be considered. Decreasing commissions based on volume will bring howls of dissatisfaction to current reps. Lextron might consider adapting their commission structure depending upon the market.

3. Should Lextron Corporation consider changing its commission structure from one that is revenue-based to one that is market-share based? If so, how might this affect the firm’s other territories? Explain your answer.

Yes, there should be some consideration for a change in commission structure. However, the change might negatively impact reps in large markets if it were based solely on market share.

4. How do you think the size and speed of growth in a metropolitan area like Atlanta affect commissioned salespeople with territories in areas such as this? What about commissioned salespeople with territories with shrinking population bases, such as Milwaukee?

The rapid growth of the area no doubt, contributed to some easier selling – or at least more opportunities – as noted above. Those working in shrinking population areas have limited choices. Commissions might be calculated higher for new sales. Some consideration to including more geographic territory (assuming there is area outside of the metro without a rep) could be explored. If available, there might be some consolidation of the product line and reps might be given new lines of products to sell.

5. Should the territory Phil was working in Atlanta have been split in two―to allow Lextron to capture more market share and keep the market share of different territories around the country and the compensation associated with on par with one another?

Lextron probably should have considered a split. Phil in fact might be accused of going for the low hanging fruit (the easy sales) and avoiding the more difficult, least profitable customers. (And who could blame him?)

6. Should the existing salesperson in a territory that is to be split receive any additional compensation of future lost wages because their territory is going to be smaller? Explain your answer.

Assuming that the business involves repeat sales, most would agree that the rep who earned the business, and is now losing it, should receive some compensation for these lost sales. Most companies will handle this by offering the past rep a decreasing amount of profits from their past sales. Sales from these clients may be shared between the past and current rep for a limited period of time.

Role Play:

BioIDs

BioIDs specializes in incorporating biometrics (such as fingerprints, retinal scans, body measurements, and so forth) into ID cards so that a person’s identification can be immediately verified. They have experienced rapid growth due to marketplace factors. Government organizations have been the company’s largest segment. Selling to them is often a long process that involves a large number of people in a buying center. Salespeople have to be prepared to work with multiple people and be available on short notice to work with buying committees. Sale people like to work for BioIDs because they are known for their outstanding total rewards programs.

Two reps, who have been successful in the past, are struggling to achieve their threshold goals. It could be assumed that both reps are being distracted because of recent crises at their homes (i.e., an elderly parent moved in with one and the other recently gave birth to a child who has some complications). Despite each rep’s efforts, their results will have an economic impact (i.e., lost bonuses) on all reps in their district.

Assignment:

Split into pairs. One of you is the sales manager for District Six and the other the regional manager. Both of you stand to lose $10,000 in bonuses, and other sales representatives in District Six will lose $4,000 in bonuses if the goals aren’t met. In situations such as these, the national sales manager will request an action plan for the future. Outline the plan the two of you will propose to the national sales manager to improve sales. What types of reward programs might you propose?

This role play can be adapted to three people with the third being the national sales manager. Discussions should reflect an understanding of the pressures being placed on these two members of the sales force. Students should consider many of the programs available in the work-life balance area in their discussions. It might be beneficial to consider listing recommendations as having both short-term and long-term impact. Be sure that the discussion addresses the impact of the lost bonus on the other reps. Recall that many reps were attracted to BioIDs because of the opportunities. If other reps believe that their future includes more lost bonuses due to these family issues, some will no doubt consider leaving your sales force.

Self-Assessments:

IC1 – What Motivates Me?

This instrument was developed in conjunction with one of the early content approaches to motivation and is similar to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs approach. The ERG approach considers three sets of motivators (needs): existence needs are focused on physiological and safety needs, relatedness needs are focused on social and external esteem needs, and growth needs are focused on actualization and internal esteem needs. A low score for a set of needs implies that the need is substantially satisfied, whereas a high score implies the need is not satisfied. As much as possible, sales managers should work to help sales reps achieve unsatisfied needs.

IC3 – What Rewards Do I Value Most?

This respondent rates the value of 10 different rewards, ranging from pay to friendly coworkers, in this assessment. The developers recommend comparing what the respondent values with what their company offers. Fewer disparities in scores implies a better fit between employee and employer. When sales managers know what rewards are most meaningful to their reps they are in a much better position to help their reps achieve them, than those who don’t know what their reps value.

Using Videos:

Go to the website with videos from Selling Power and consider the two videos selected for this chapter. Listed below are potential ways to introduce each video and questions you might consider to encourage further discussion after you have viewed the videos. To access the videos go to www.pearsonhighered.com/tanner.

How to Create a Compensation Plan Ron Conlin, Centive

Mr. Conlin is from Centive, a compensation system software provider. His discussion includes how compensation plans work within his company as well as with those sales organizations who are his customers. The discussion addresses three factors that companies need to consider when they are developing a compensation program. These factors are: 1. Identifying the corporate objectives (e.g., revenue based, market share, geographic expansion, product introduction), 2. Identifying what activities are required in the different sales jobs (i.e., some jobs are more development focused while others are more customer service), 3 Deciding what metrics will be used to reward people.

Here are some questions you could ask the class to look for and consider:

1. How many metrics should companies include in the compensation plan? What metrics does Mr. Conlin’s company, Centive, use in developing their compensation plan?

2. Based on what he sees with Centive clients, how often do they change their compensation plans?

3. What does he consider a typical compensation pay plan? (Answer: 50% salary/50% commission).

Winning Sales Incentives Mary Luckey, Maritz Incentives

Maritz Incentives is a company that helps design and implement sales incentives (aka contests). The video starts with an example of one popular sales incentive program, “Run through the warehouse”. Mary Luckey describes the value of using non-cash awards to help elicit extra effort from the sales force.

The basics for implementing a successful sales incentive program are quickly detailed. They include: 1. Defining the goal of the program (e.g., increase sales, increase distribution, etc.), 2. Making sure the sales force has the required training and product available needed to achieve the goal, 3. Communicating how the program works to the sales force, 4. Running the program, and lastly, 5. Measuring the effectiveness of the program (i.e., Did the program achieve its goal?).

She notes that multi-generational sales forces need a variety of incentives, not just those that have worked in the past.

Here are some questions you could ask the class to look for and consider:

1. Why are sales incentives important?

2. What is the recommended process for planning a sales incentive program?

3. What percent of sales incentive programs fail and what is a common reason for their failure?

4. What is a common mistake made by sales managers?

Full Case Recommendations:

The Pacific Medical Supply Company (PMSC) case discusses the recent growth of a small company largely due to the efforts of one outstanding salesperson. During her three year tenure at the company she has worked hard and her efforts have been rewarded. Unfortunately, she now is receiving some negative comments from fellow (jealous) sales people and customer service personnel. Her boss has always maintained a distant, laize-faire approach with the sales force, which is likely contributing to the issues at hand. The case addresses issues of compensation and (lack of) other forms of rewards as well as management style.

1. Are people like Nicole born to be natural salespeople? Or can good sales managers help them become better salespeople? Is there a way Jim might enlist Nicole to help PMSC in this regard?

It might argued, that some people are naturally more outgoing and this helps them be more comfortable in a sales setting. Obviously, good sales managers can help develop their sales people and this should tie into a discussion about how they can do so. The consideration of Nicole as a new sales manager should allow for a good discussion on the pros and cons of moving her into more of a management position.

2. Can you find the flaw in PMSC sales commission structure that might be adversely affecting its lower performers? How, as a sales manager, would you change the plan to better motivate them?

Several flaws might be indentified in their commission structure. It is progressive and tends would tend to reward large sales to the detriment of smaller accounts. Additionally it appears to be based solely on one factor, sales volume. Some consideration should be given to adding additional factors to their commission system. (See 3 below.)

3. Should the profit margin of the product play a role in the commission structure? What if a salesperson predominantly sold products with an 80 percent profit margin? Should the person be paid more than someone who predominantly sold products with a 40 percent margin?

Profit margins would be a good addition to the commission structure. The higher margin products should receive greater rewards.

4. In your opinion, what should Jim do to try to retain and motivate Nicole?

Jim’s style has allowed his sales force great independence. It may however be catching up with him by the fact he has several sub-performing sales people. Nicole and other high achieving sales personnel may find the motivational power of some rewards, in this case compensation, to be less fulfilling over time. Jim needs to find out what else motivates her (and this case provides likes of details about what does) and offer it.

Cannon Associates is another possibility for a case for this chapter. In this case, there is conflict between an inside and outside sales force that need to be working together. Discussion of this case should include topics such a total rewards plan, team selling and managerial styles.

Other In-class Exercises:

Interesting Websites on Rewards

The Hay Group is a compensation and benefits consulting firm. Visit its website at

Hay Group - http://www.haygroup.com/ . The website typically posts commentary on current national topics of interest. Its ‘Press Center’ and ‘Training’ sections provide interesting insights and some free podcasts and vodcasts on a wide range of current trends and topics (e.g. Emotional Intelligence: What it is and how can you benefit from it? to Economic crisis; reward management advice for weathering the downturn).

WorldatWork is a nonprofit organization for those involved with rewarding employees. It has a wealth of information including white papers and blogs at its website http://worldatwork.org. While some of the site is limited to members only, a large portion is available for review. You might consider assigning students the task of identifying new trends in different areas, e.g., sales compensation, benefits, work-life, performance and recognition, and development and career opportunities.

In terms of development and career opportunities, students (and some instructors!) have an interest in the notion of being a ‘Corporate Athlete’. Human Performance Institute - http://www.energyforperformance.com/index.html is one firm that can help sales reps achieve this status. They offer programs in managing your health and focusing your energies while leading a busy business schedule. The website provides interesting free profiles that can be used to check your style and level of energy.

Maritz Incentives was highlighted in one of the chapter’s videos. Their website http://www.maritzincentives.com/ describes some of their products and services that can support a sales manager.

Class exercise – Design a reward system.

If the class had a contest – (e.g., best grade, paper, discussion, simulation score, current news report, etc.) ask students how they would you like to be rewarded? Some possible options might be extra points, public recognition, a day off, a free meal (with or without the instructor) or merchandise.

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Training and Developing the Sales Force：中国经济管理大学 MBA课堂笔记《销售管理：塑造未来的领导者》

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中国经济管理大学 MBA 课堂笔记

Training and Developing the Sales Force

中国经济管理大学 MBA课堂笔记《销售管理：塑造未来的领导者》

中国经济管理大学/中國經濟管理大學

Training and Developing the Sales Force

Learning Objectives:

After completing this chapter, your students should be able to:

Identify factors that help determine what types of training are needed by sales personnel.
Summarize the inputs needed to design and deliver an effective sales training program.
Explain why it’s important to assess the effectiveness of a firm’s sales training and what’s involved in the assessment.
Distinguish the elements which contribute to effective and ineffective training programs.

Introducing the Chapter:

Regardless of the size of the company a sales manager might work for, one of their most important responsibilities is to be a good sales trainer. Selling Power considers training to be important enough to be one of three components in their “Best Companies to Sell For” annual ratings. Whether done by a corporate training department or a single sales manager, the principles behind good training as the same. The sales training cycle include identifying who needs what type of training, planning the training, delivering the training and lastly evaluating the effectiveness of the training.

One interesting way to begin a class discussion on training is to solicit students’ opinions what they consider outstanding examples (both good and bad) of learning. These experiences should come from the classroom and jobs. Be sure to try to identify examples where learning was expected, but no training was provided and what the consequences (to the individual and the organization) were.

Another area to discuss is their preferred delivery method format. How many are more traditionalists and prefer the interactivity of the classroom and how many are more open to more technologically sophisticated formats. What do they think of training technologies? Try to identify the causes that resulted in some examples being successful and other to fail.

Finally, you might consider ask what KSA’s are needed to be a good trainer and if they believe they could a good trainer. The material at the end of the chapter discusses best practices, characteristics and skills of successful trainers.

Chapter Outline:

I. How Important is Training?

A. Well trained sales reps are more motivated and serve customers better than those who aren’t.

B. Compared with other areas of industry training, sales receives the most funding.

C. Sales executives ranked sales training as the most important area to improve.

D. Selling Power’s list of “Best Companies to Sell For” includes the amount of training a sales person receives as one of three factors in determining their annual ratings.

II. The Training Process – A major responsibility of sales managers is to help train their sales force. Research shows that for a rep’s sales training to be effective, managers need to provide follow-up training and reinforce what was learned. Regardless of the size of a company, the sales process should follow a four step process. Larger organizations may likely be positioned to expend more effort and resources in training.

A. Identify the Firms Sales Training Needs – Training is not always warranted. Personnel problems (e.g., low compensation and motivation, interpersonal conflict) present problems that training cannot overcome. Additionally, the cost/benefit equation also needs to be considered before starting a program.

1. Determine Sales Training Objectives - Managers should consider information from three levels to help them determine what the objectives of sales training should be.

a) Organization Analysis – Review the firm’s mission, strategic initiative and upper management mandates to guide training to fit with firm’s current strategic goals.

b) Task Analysis – Focus on identifying the KSAs needed to perform the job successfully. Input should be solicited from job incumbents, upper management, sales managers, customers, performance measures as well as observations.

2. Determine Who Needs Sales Training

a) Individual Analysis – The third level of analysis determines which sales people (individuals and/or groups) needs what types of training. New sales force members will have unique training needs as compared with more established members. Other groups may be identified from an analysis of performance measures that indicate an area they are below a standard. After identifying an individual’s training and development needs a plan should be developed to ensure they receive the experiences they need.

B. Designing and Developing the Sales Training Program

1. Determining What Content is Required – The results of the assessments should provide good insights into what content is needed in the sales training courses.

a) Sales training programs typically cover the following topics (in order from most frequent to less frequent).

(1) Product Knowledge

(2) Sales Skills

(3) Computer Skills

(4) Communication Skills

(5) Organizational Skills

(6) Management Skills

b) Other training content areas

(1) On-the-job training (OJT) or job shadowing – allows the trainee to observe a role model and gradually move into the role of sales person.

(2) Technology training – Providing technology without the training to make it work has been shown to be a sure route to failure. Integrating technology into the sales process is a critical step.

(3) Professional development – More experienced sales personnel need higher level training. This can range from advance presentation skills to summer institutes or graduate course work.

(4) Sales manager training – Often pushed to a lower priority, training for new sales managers is a critical training area.

2. Developing the Objectives of Sales Training: Changing Ideas into Action. – After content has been identified trainers need to outline the objectives of sales training. Bloom’s Taxonomy helps trainers develop objectives that reflect different levels of learning. The behaviors can be categorized as cognitive, affective or psychomotor.

a) Cognitive/Knowledge Categories – (moving from lower level skill to higher level) remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, creating.

b) Affective/Attitude Categories – (moving from lower to higher level) receiving inputs, responding to inputs, valuing, organizing, and internalizing values.

3. Staffing the Training Programs – Once the program content has been determined, a number of staffing decisions must be made.

a) Internal versus External Staffing Resources

(1) Factors to consider include: presenter credibility, expertise (company, market, sales processes, technology) availability, cost/price considerations.

b) Time Pressures – Logistical issues need to be addressed.

(1) How frequently will the program be offered (rarely vs. regularly)?

(2) Must it be done gradually or all at once?

(3) Can internal presenters dedicate time needed to the course?

c) Costs

(1) How much development time is needed?

(2) How many trainees will need the course?

(3) Travel costs (transportation, lodging, meals)

(4) Missed opportunity costs?

(5) Outsider provider costs?

4. Selecting the Training Delivery Method

a) Instructor-Led

(1) Classroom

(2) Online – synchronous (at the same time)

(3) Remote – video/audio (teleconference, video conference), webinar

b) On-Demand

(1) Online-networked (web-based courses, wikis)

(2) CD, DVD

(3) Audio/video (podcasting)

(4) Other (Computer simulations, games, etc.)

C. Delivering the Training

1. Scheduling the Training – After all the planning is complete the actual scheduling of classes needs to occur. Factors to consider include:

a) Centralized vs. Decentralized (Home office vs. Regional office vs. Local office)

b) Timing (Busy selling season vs. slow selling season)

c) Logistics (Open calendars, lodging, transportation, presenters availability)

2. Facilitate the Transfer of Learning – Trainees need to take what they learned in class and apply it in the field. To help facilitate this, do the following:

a) Make sure the training and field conditions are as similar as possible

b) Provide as many opportunities to practice the new skill

c) Provide a variety of situations to apply the new material to

d) Make sure the trainee has the opportunity to practice the new skills in the field

D. Assessing the Firm’s Sales Training Efforts – Only 28% of sales trainers indicate that they assess the effectiveness of their sales training programs. How can a firm know how good a job they are doing if they don’t measure the effectiveness of their programs? They can’t. While many measures many have some flaws, they shouldn’t be entirely disregarded because of them. Kirkpatrick identified four different measurement levels.

1. Determine the Value of Sales Training to the Individual – There are several measures that have an intuitive appeal – primarily at the individual level.

a) Reaction (Level 1) – Looks at the trainee’s reaction to training. “Happy sheets”. Easy to collect. Don’t measure learning. Reflects the trainees immediate reaction to the training. Generally reflects trainers’ personalities and location of training.

b) Learning (Level 2) – Considers pre- vs. post-training skill or knowledge levels. Easy to collect. Doesn’t reflect if training behaviors/skills can be applied in the field.

c) Behavior (Level 3) – Observation of trainee in the field. Requires observing trainee engage in new behaviors in the field – which will likely require time with sales managers/trainers.

2. Determine the Value of Sales Training to the Organization

a) Results (Level 4) – Were the overall training objectives achieved? If training was focused on fewer complaints –did that occur? Maybe flawed because of the influence of other factors (e.g., better product, better distribution, etc.)

b) Utility Analysis – An examination of costs/benefits. How useful was the training? What was economic impact of training?

E. Completing the Sales Training Cycle – At the conclusion of this process the findings need to be compared with the initial training objectives. Were they achieved? Why or why not? How could the sales training program(s) be improved?

III. Summary

A. Sales training is an on-going process and typically commands large investments of resources into the sales force.

B. The sales cycle revolves around four stages: Identifying Needs; Designing; Delivering and Evaluating the Programs. Few companies do a good job assessing needs or measuring the effectiveness of their training efforts.

C. New training technologies have greatly improved sales training opportunities for a more geographically dispersed sales force.

Questions and Problems:

1. What are the limitations of a survey such as the one used by Selling Power?

While the annual survey of “Best Companies to Work For” (which typically appears in the Nov./Dec. issue of Selling Power) is a good attempt at identifying some industry leaders, it is not specifically designed to evaluate sales training programs. The overall ratings are based on 3 factors: sales force compensation, career mobility and training. It focuses on companies with sales forces of 500 or more salespeople – leaving many smaller-sized companies with high caliber training programs not eligible. It is based on self-reported data which is not verified by an outside party. It examines the amount of time that companies spend on initial selling skills and product knowledge training programs. Some very efficient and effective programs may not fare as well with a ‘more is better’ approach. Lastly, it depends on companies volunteering their input. Some companies no doubt, may opt not to draw attention to themselves and thus may not participate.

2. In what situations does it not make sense to conduct sales training?

Sales training is not the cure for certain management issues or when the cost of training outweighs the benefits. Management issues such as low morale caused by low levels of rewards, inferior products/services, or conflicts with upper managements will not be improved with sales training. Quality training programs may require substantial personnel and economic resources. The benefits of conducting training need to be compared to the cost of training. New training technologies (e.g., web-based learning systems, webinars) may substantially cut training delivery costs and help to improve the cost/benefit ratio.

3. What is the difference between the organizational, task and individual assessment? What are the benefits of using them?

Organizational-level training assessments are the broadest indicators of where and what sales training is needed. Informal comments from upper-level management, sales managers or customers may provide insight where the sales force needs improvement. These can be combined with more formal methods of collecting data may come from internal performance measures, turnover rates, or customer surveys. Task-level assessments focus on identifying what level of KSAs are needed to successfully perform at in firm’s sales positions. Job descriptions, performance ratings, comments for the sales force and customer input will provide insights at this level. Individual assessments are conducted to determine which sales person needs to receive different training programs. Some members of the sales force may have the required KSAs to perform successfully, while others may not.

Conducting assessments at three levels allows the training to be strategic (organizational), job-related or job-critical (task) and tailored for each individual in the sales force (individual).

4. Describe the concept of a KSA and how it can be used in sales training.

Knowledge, skills and abilities, or KSAs typically can be found in a job description. Lacking a detailed job description the KSAs of a sales position can be identified by a sales manager. Once a listing of KSAs are available they can serve as a list to help guide the content needed in determined types and levels of sales training.

5. One of your friends who just graduated from college has accepted a sales position with a large firm. What topics do you believe should be included in a sales training course for her? Consider another friend who has accepted a position with a smaller firm that has four sales people. How will their two experiences differ?

The experiences these two new hires will have will differ greatly. The recent graduate going to the larger firm will likely receive informal training opportunities, but will have more opportunities for formal training programs. These formal programs range from being trained in a ‘class’ of new hires with input from general information ranging from company history and policies to training on corporate ethics. Changes are good that larger firms will be requiring higher use of – and training on different sales technologies. Sales training is more likely to be more high tech and done in a sequence depending upon their length of tenure with their firm.

The recent hire employed by the smaller firm may still receive quality training opportunities. They are likely to be receiving a higher percentage of training from more informal sources. An example of this includes on-the-job (OJT) training experiences such as riding along with more experienced members of the sales force. Smaller firms may also be more likely to send their new hires to a commercially available (i.e., public) training program.

6. What are some of the reasons a company would consider using someone outside of their firm to train members of their sales force?

Outside trainers are typically used when they are more knowledgeable about the topic than an insider. This may be the case when some new technology or software program is being introduced. It might also be the case when new sales and marketing concepts are being introduced (e.g., negotiations, category management). It also may be more cost effective and quicker to seek an outside training firm if only a small number of people need training. Lastly, if all inside trainers are unavailable, due to time or travel conflicts and costs, using an outside trainer may be a good choice.

7. Online courses are growing in use. What are some of the reservations individuals have for taking sales training courses online?

When online training was in its infancy, some trainers believed that training could not be tailored to a distant learner. Others were concerned it lacked the rigor. Lack of interactivity was also cited as a reason for not considering on-line training. Technology has quickly adapted to these challenges. Self-testing/assessments allow for weaknesses in an individual’s understanding to be easily identified. Base on these findings prescriptive areas for additional studying can then be offered. Today’s online courses are rigorous; incorporating written as well as audio and video materials and allowing for secure self-testing. Interactivity can be included using improved video/audio capturing techniques including the use of avatars as coaches.

8. When does in-person sales training make more sense than on-demand sales training? When does on-demand sales training make more sense than in-person sales training?

In-person training is an excellent format for role playing the different roles involved in making a sale. Some forms of interpersonal communication require an individual to observe what is not just what is being said, but how it is being said (e.g., posture, amount of eye-contact, voice inflections and other forms of non-verbal communication). An in-person forma also allows for person interactions with classmates and on-site management. Opportunities for these ‘out-of-classroom’ socializing are difficult to quantify but have value at the individual level.

On-demand training may make good sense when those needing training need it at different dates, not allowing for a common start dates; as is often the case of new hires. For example, instead of waiting several months for enough new hires to warrant the offering of a class, on line training can immediately allow for some forms (i.e., product knowledge) of training on an individual level. Another compelling reason for using a form of on-demand training is the increasing costs associated with travel. Not just costs for flights, lodging but lost selling time need to be factored in the in-person vs. on-demand comparison.

9. What sales training format do you believe holds the most promise for the future? Why?

There are actually a variety of training formats with great promise for the sales force. Some of these are on-line courses, webinars, wikis. These delivery formats may allow for great flexibility to work with different skilled students (on-line courses), quick response to areas that need immediate attention (wikis) and the flexibility of having a live instructor in part or all of the course (webinars). Another area with great promise is the use of avatars in computer scenarios that allow the student to repeatedly practice their skills. vLeader is an program receiving increasing attention in its ability to help delivery constantly changing role play situations for individuals to practice and hone their leadership skills. For more information on this program and its applications go to http://www.simulearn.net/leadership_training/leadership_training.html. To observe the program go to: http://www.simulearn.net/leadership_training/vLeader_look.html.

10. Individuals should never be assigned a position as a permanent sales trainer. Develop some rationale to support and repute this statement.

Many larger companies will rotate individuals through their sales training positions. An individual may be selected to become a trainer because of the skills they have demonstrated in the field and because they have an interest in sales management and see this as a stepping stone to future career opportunities. Training assignments may range from 18 months to 3 years. Staying out of the field longer than that may contribute to them loosing touch with issues occurring in the market.

The rationale for a using a permanent sales trainer would focus on that person’s increased ability to develop higher-level training programs with their increased attention to the principles and technologies used in training.

Answers for Chapter Caselets:

Caselet 9.1 Justifying the Cost of a Firm’s Sales Training

Chippewa Mowers is a family-run business that has manufactured reel mowers used to cut golf courses and recreational fields. It is experiencing growth because of their ability to customize their product and their ‘green’ environmental friendly push mowers.

The sales force has recently begun using laptops for use in selling and ordering their mowers. The company owner thinks of them as ‘time suckers’ and thinks sales people should be in front of potential buyers and not computer screens. The new sales manager, Joe Hannah believes the sales force needed the pcs for several reasons; including: keeping up with their competitors, producing better presentations and proposals, and to better utilize their CRM system. At their last sales meeting one day was devoted to working on this program.

The owner, who admits he doesn’t know much about training (and probably less about computers) has called Joe and requested an evaluation of this sales training investment. Joe has one week to prepared information that will answer the owner’s request to, “

What approaches should Joe consider when evaluating the effectiveness of his training programs? Discuss the merits of each.

Reaction (Level 1) – self appraisals from participants and mangers on how much they liked the training. Advantages – could be quickly (and retroactively) done. Disadvantages – easily influenced by training site and entertainment value of presenters.

Learning (Level 2) – tests given after the training to compare with pre-training measures. Advantages – easy to gather. Disadvantages – only shows how well you did on the test, reflects no generalization of learning to the field.

Behaviors (Level 3) – demonstrations of or observations of the trainees performing the new training behaviors. Advantages – most accurate measure of training success. Disadvantages – may take weeks/months before trainees can master new skills and mangers observe them doing so.

Results (Level 4) – demonstrations that the organization is benefiting (financially) from the training. Advantages – makes for an easy case of justifying training. Disadvantages – difficult to show that training and not other factors (e.g., economic conditions, competitors’ actions) were causing the changes.

What ethical considerations are involved with this decision?

His boss admits he really doesn’t know that much about evaluating training effectiveness. His comment that he wants proof of the effectiveness of the training next week reflects this lack of understanding, as the most effective demonstrations of the value of sales training (i.e., behaviors) may take weeks or months before they can be collected. Consequently Joe can’t show him the most valid measures of training effectiveness – but may be positioned to show him the less valid measures of Level 1 and 2.

Caselet 9.2 Good, Good Enough or Not Good Enough?

Bob Sullivan is unhappy and disappointed with the sales training provider by his multi-national employer. The current training program appears very broad based in terms of content. However, the formats used in delivering the training reflect a great deal of one-way communication (i.e., lectures, meetings, seminars) with little evidence of one-on-one development. His past requests have largely been ignored and his most recent one to the corporate office doesn’t offer much in the way of improvements.

1. What potential areas of weakness in TCI’s approach to sales training can you identify?

TCI appears to offer training on a number of topics relevant to the sales force. However their choice of training formats (i.e., lectures, meeting and seminars) reflect training that can be economically delivered to large numbers of sales people and may offer little assistant in terms of addressing the needs of the individual.

2. Do you believe that TCI’s sales training is appropriate for their type of business and the number of sales people they have?

TCI has 1,500 sales people and should benefit from economies of scale by developing their own training to their sales force. Their lectures, meetings and seminars may be very economical methods of delivering basic training. They appear unwilling or incapable of developing and delivering individual training or more advanced training.

3. Did Bob Sullivan do the right thing in resigning? What other steps could he have taken to improve his current situation?

It’s difficult to say if he did the correct thing in resigning. The average tenure with the company is four years and we know Bob has been there for at least three. It may be approaching a decision point to stay or leave, that many of his predecessors did have. He might have sought out his immediate manager to assist in observing his areas of difficulty and providing him additional feedback in this area.

4. In this case, who should take responsibility for a sales person who needs help in performing at a higher level? What do you think of Claire Boston’s advice to Bob? What would you have said?

Bob’s sales manager is responsible for ensuring that Bob has the skills needed to be successful in the marketplace. The corporate sales training supervisor’s comments weren’t very helpful. Reading a book might be adequate for someone with little sales experience. The comment on working with Bob’s sales manager was appropriate. In this case we don’t know if that person has limited interest or capabilities to offer Bob. It may also be that his manager and the corporate trainer see additional training for Bob to be more trouble than its worth – either due to Bob’s personal characteristics, performance and/or length of time he has been with the company. A more appropriate comment would have focused on getting Bob the individual training he was requesting.

5. What other problems do you see with the way TCI structures their sales training, sales management and assessment process?

Based on what we know the level of involvement from the sales mangers seems to be lacking. Additionally, it doesn’t appear that there is any assessment of training. Consequently, it may be that all the training that TCI does conduct, may be on material/process that is not actually needed by its sales force.

Role Play:

Home Fire Lights

This role play can be modified by adding a person to play the role of the president of Home Fire Lights. The president can then challenge the findings of the sales trainer and the sales manager.

Home Fire Lights has benefited from a high caliber sales training program which has historically been delivered at their home office. This approach is steeped in tradition as it offers all sales personnel an opportunity to make an appearance at the “Home Office”. Three events have brought HFL to a point where they need to rethink how and where they deliver sales training. These three events are: the retirement of the individual responsible for sales training, the increasing cost of transporting sales personnel to the home office and the increased viability of online training methods.

Discussion needs to focus on the advantages of continuing use of the on site location (established site with creative sales training lab not easily duplicated elsewhere), the high cost of travel (rising costs of oil and pressure on the airline industry which are likely to continue to increase as well as the long periods of non-selling time), and the fact that online training formats my well be as effective as in-person training. Additional discussion should focus on having training at regional sites.

Self-Assessments:

The first SAL instrument is described in the text, the second one is included if you want an additional exercise.

IIA1 – What’s My Face-to-Face Communication Style?

This self-assessment instrument considers the student’s responses to how they would interact with others in different situations and maps them on nine different dimensions of communication style. Is the respondent dramatic and dominant in their responses or more likely to be friendly and open? How would their communication style impact their ability to function as a good trainer and coach?

IE3 – How Good Am I at Personal Planning?

This survey examines how well people are able to achieve goals and achieve them. In sales a person may start out thinking one day I want to be the VP of Marketing or even CEO. This exercise is designed to get students think about long-range planning and the training and goal setting it will take to help achieve their goals.

Using Videos:

To access these videos, go to www.pearsonhighered.com/tanner. Listed below are potential ways to introduce each video and questions that can be asked to spur discussion after you show the videos.

Video 1: Sales Training that Pays – David Stein, ES Research

Over $4 billion are spent each year on sales training using outside venders. With that kind of money spent on this activity one might expect that companies are using objective criteria in selecting their trainers and the effectiveness of their training investments. Most use subjective criteria such as the charisma of the training company’s presenters, the look of their website, or their advertising. Stein advocates that companies move away from using instructive methods of selecting and evaluating their training to using more strategic methods.

1. What criteria do you think companies are using in selecting companies they hire to delivery their sales training?

2. What percent of companies do you think are following the objective training steps described in your text to evaluate their effectiveness of their sales training effectiveness? (Answer: Stein reports it is near 20 %.)

3. What does Stein suggest companies do to get a better return and become more satisfied with their training investment? (Answer: 1. Conduct an objective assessment of your current situation. 2. Put your sales training requirements in writing. 3. Search for the best provider.)

Video 2: The Future of Sales Training – David DiStefano, Richardson

Di Stefano is CEO at Richardson (http://www.richardson.com/) a sales training vendor. With sales forces being more global and geographically dispersed it is imperative to harness technology to help in sales training. Richardson has gradually moved from traditional classroom training in the 1990’s with its first move to e-learning in 2001. They initially experimented with DVDs, and cameras mounted on computers and have ended up using web-based training technologies. They believe that training in the years to come needs to be available on-demand and at any location. Technology will be evolving and they will need to follow it.

Here are some questions you could ask the class to look for and consider:

1. Why does Richardson think e-learning platforms are so important?

2. What is their current breakdown between in-person training and on-line training? (Answer: 2/3’s in-person, 1/3 on-line).

3. What technologies have they experimented with? Why do you think they failed?

4. What technologies lend themselves to where Richardson thinks the future of sales training is headed?

Full Case Recommendations:

Wellco Distributors has a problem recruiting, hiring and training minority members sales force members. A comment from a customer and a review of the demographics of Wellco’s sales force confirms the sales manager’s suspicions that the company has done little to diversify the sales force. Questions about the recruiting and hiring process lead to concerns about the effectiveness of the company’s sales training program. Concerns exist about the use of both formal and informal methods of sales training as well as mentoring new members of the sales force. Discussions can include what happens as a result of having a homogenous (i.e., white male) sales force and the hiring and training challenges it creates for a sales manager who want to rectify the situation.

Other In-Class Exercises

Websites of Interest

Current sales and sale management advice and tips are available at Selling Power’s website - http://www.sellingpower.com/homepage/index.asp -

Review the best training practices at the Professional Society for Sales & Marketing Training website: http://www.smt.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=1

Pod casts of sales training tips from Sales and Marketing Training are available at: http://smt.marcommstore.com/

Web-Ex is one provider of web-conferencing tools. Review examples of their training delivery formats at:

http://www.webex.com/solutions/e-learning-svc.html

Best Companies to Sell For Exercise.

Examine Exhibit 9.1 and 9.2. Some of the companies listed as having the highest training scores are familiar to most of us. Some are not so familiar.

1. Pick five companies you are not familiar with and using their websites determine what products they sell.

2. Do the same for Exhibit 2 to determine what services they sell.

3. What industries are represented in these Exhibits? What, if any, implications can you draw regarding employment in select industries?

Writing Training Objectives

Imagine an insurance company that designs a sales training program that will help their sales force design health-care coverage for companies. Using the cognitive categories write an objective for each level of Bloom’s taxonomy.

Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning Behaviors

Order

Cognitive

Knowledge (Revised)

Affective

Skill

Psychomotor

Skills

Highest

(Complex)

Lowest

(Simple)

Creating

Evaluation

Analyzing

Applying

Understanding

Remembering

Internalizing values

Organization

Valuing

Responding to

phenomena

Receiving phenomena

Origination

Adaptation

Complex overt response

Mechanism

Guided response

Perception

Adapted from Bloom, B. S. (1956), Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: the Cognitive Domain. And Anderson, L. W. and Drathwohl, D. R. (eds.) (2001). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching and Assessing: A Revision of Blooms Taxonomy of Educational Objectives.

Evaluating Training Exercises

1. For each of the four levels of Kirkpatrick’s training evaluation framework, write a sample question to evaluate a sales training program designed to reduce the time to make presentations to potential customers. For each level how would collect the information?

2. Using Kirkpatrick’s framework how would you evaluate the value of your college education?

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Setting Goals and Managing the Sales Force’s Performance：中国经济管理大学 MBA课堂笔记《销售管理：塑造未来的领导者》

Fri, 29 May 2026 15:03:13 +0800

中国经济管理大学 MBA 课堂笔记

Setting Goals and Managing the Sales Force’s Performance

中国经济管理大学 MBA课堂笔记《销售管理：塑造未来的领导者》

中国经济管理大学/中國經濟管理大學

Setting Goals and Managing the Sales Force’s Performance

Learning Objectives:

After completing this chapter, students will be able to:

Describe how sales managers use goals to guide and control the efforts of their sales forces.
Summarize the elements of an effective goal.
Distinguish when different outcome and behavioral sales goals should be used.
Identify different resources available to capture information used for making effective decisions on goals.
Apply goal-setting theory in order to improve managerial and motivational practices.

Introducing the Chapter:

Goals or quotas? Historically, discussion about the topics covered in this chapter has been one of the least favorites of our students. A typical comment might be something like, “If you don’t make your quota you’re a goner.” More top flight sales forces no longer use the term “quotas;” in its place they use goals. Goals reflect a more positive perspective and outlook and our presentation of this content reflects that sentiment.

A good way to start the discussion would be to ask students their perception of the concept of a goal, and then compare it with their concept of a quota. Typically, we have found that “goals” conjure positive comments and images, while “quotas” are associated with negative ones. What happens if you don’t achieve your goal versus what happens when you don’t achieve your quota? Goals and goal setting should be looked at in terms that reflect more of the positive contributions. The discussion should focus on the investment that companies have made in their sales force. Students should consider failure to achieve a goal a coachable moment for a sales manager, as opposed to an “Off with their heads!” moment.

Students might be surprised to find out how of themselves are many currently are using some form of goal setting. In questioning, you might find that many are already setting goals for their homework and other activities. They know why they use goals – but a discussion focusing on ‘Where and why organizations use goals?’ is usually productive. This can be followed up with a question dealing with the role of the sales force in achieving a company’s goals.

We conclude this chapter with a discussion on how sales managers can set goals. Many students will recall the SMART (specific, measureable, actionable, realistic and timely) acronym. But can they actually write a goal? How about implementing one? We think this is such a powerful tool that the last part of the chapter addresses the process of setting goals. There is a correct way to set goals that can result in a motivating experience. And, if done improperly, may be at best neutral but most likely a de-motivating experience.

Chapter Outline:

I. Why Are Sales Goals Important to an Organization?

A. Sales goals or quotas are performance standards that direct the resources of the sales force.

B. Sales is not the only profession that uses performance goals or quotas.

C. Production, management, marketing and other functional areas depend on the ability of their sales force to achieve their sales goals.

II. Using Goals to Guide and Manage the Performance of a Firm’s Sales Force

A. Sales goals help motivate the sales force.

B. Sales goals help focus the selling efforts of the sales force

C. Sales goals help assess the financial return of the firm’s investment in its products and services.

D. Sales goals allow for a comparison of results by salespeople in different sales territories and regions.

III. Different Types of Goals or Quotas

A. Input or activity-based goals are observable selling efforts (e.g., number of sales calls or presentations made, number of sales proposals written).

B. Output or outcome-based goals are the results of sales efforts (e.g., number of orders, sales volume, or profit). Sales volume historically is the most used metric.

C. Combination goals include some input and some output goals.

D. Pipeline analysis displays where a salesperson’s accounts are in the sales process.

E. Service metrics are difficult to identify. Lost accounts or complaints are often used.

F. Expense quotas are used to track a sales rep’s selling expenses (e.g., meals, travel, sampling, costs of selling)

G. Weighting the importance of goals helps balance the importance of each element being measured.

IV. Choosing the Right Metrics to Track

A. How many metrics should be counted? It would appear more is better, but at some point too many metrics leads to confusion on the importance of each goal.

B. Experts agree that between 7 and 9 ‘critical metrics’ are appropriate.

V. Choosing the Right Time Period to Track

A. What About Almost Meeting a Goal?

1. Actual goals are the 100% mark.

2. Threshold goals are the 90% of the actual goal and allow for partial achievement.

3. Stretch goals are 110% of the actual goal.

B. Should Sales People Be Involved in Setting Their Own Goals?

1. Involving sales reps in goal setting helps build commitment.

2. Involving sales reps in goal setting may allow reps to underestimate (i.e., lowball) what they may be able to achieve.

C. When Is a Sale a Sale?

1. When a product is shipped or paid for is a conservative approach to establishing a completed sale. Long sales cycles may, however, make this approach problematic.

2. Some firms devise a partial credit plan to address the length of cycle issues, e.g., 30% when the order is placed and 70% when the order is shipped.

D. Should Everyone Achieve Their Sales Goals?

1. Some organizations believe everyone should achieve their sales goals, others don’t and may expect only between 60% and 80% of the sales force to achieve them.

2. Not achieving sales goals may not be entirely the sales rep’s responsibility. Factors which may contribute to this problem include:

a) Flawed marketing research

b) Changes in marketing mix variables

c) Underachieving promotional campaigns

d) Delays in distribution

e) New competitors

f) Environmental factors than impact demand

g) Adverse laws and regulations

E. Do Goals Ever Get Changed or Altered?

1. Most companies change their sales goals on an annual basis. Most will implement an across the board percentage increase.

2. Some companies may modify their initial goals depending on the influence of non-selling factors in making the goals either too easy or too difficult.

F. What Happens When Salespeople Do Not Achieve Their Sales Goals?

1. Most companies understand that all reps will not meet all goals all the time.

2. Most companies will not immediately see not achieving sales goals as a problem. Only after receiving additional coaching and a continued underachievement of goals persists will this performance become an issue.

G. The Process of Setting Good Goals

1. Goal setting can be a great motivator, and when done incorrectly it can be a de-motivator.

2. Goals set unrealistically high typically lead to lower levels of customer service and may invite unethical behaviors.

3. Difficult goals lead to higher levels of performance.

4. Specific, difficult goals lead to higher levels of effort than do general goals (e.g., 6 calls/days vs. as many as you can).

5. Goal setting works to impact performance because:

a) Goals direct people’s attention and efforts toward goal-relevant behaviors

b) Goals have an energizing function

c) Goals affect persistence

d) Goals affect people’s problem-solving skills

6. Sales managers should follow the following practical goal-setting guidelines when setting sales goals:

a) Set goals that are easy to understand.

b) Important tasks which are not part of a goal may get ignored.

c) Having too many goals creates stress.

d) Try to get sales reps to commit to their goals

e) Indicate how sales performance will be measured and rewarded

f) Provide feedback as frequently as possible

g) Demonstrate confidence in reps’ ability to achieve the goals.

h) Not achieving a goal should not be considered a failure, but progress on the road to success.

VI. Summary

A. The primary purpose of having sales goals is to align the direction and efforts of the sales force with the plans developed by the firm’s top managers.

B. Most companies utilize a combination of input (effort) and output (results) goals for their sales force.

C. Finding the right combination of goals can be a challenging task.

D. Input from the sales rep can help gain their commitment to sales goals.

E. Sales goals should be adjusted to reflect market conditions.

F. Using the principles of goal setting should help motivate a firm’s sales force.

Questions and Problems:

1. Based on the comments offered in the opening profile of Bill Febry, describe the different goals that you think Leinenkugel’s sets for its sales force.

Leinenkugel’s uses a combination of different sales goals including: input goals (e.g., call on 8 to 10 accounts each day; help with 2 promotional events) and output goals (e.g., sales volume levels and distribution goals such as new taps in bars and can, bottle and keg distribution in other stores (e.g., 6-pack bottles and cans; 12 pack cans and bottles; case sales).

2. Sam is a sales manager who prefers to use output measures for goals. Melissa, another sales manager, prefers the use of input measures. Summarize the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches. What type of products/services lend themselves to each type and why?

Output goals focus on the results of selling activities. They may include a number of metrics including: number of different units sold, volume of sales, new sales, and profits. They are easily counted, analyzed and understood. Their disadvantage is that a sole metric or even several may not accurately reflect the entire effort needed to produce the sale. Almost any product or service could use them – they may be particularly useful in products with short sales cycles (e.g. food products). Input goals focus on a sales rep’s observable efforts or sales-related activities. They may include the number of calls (phone and/or in person) or presentations made, the number of proposals written or the number of new clients contacted. They should reflect the steps involved in making the sale can be quantifiable. Their disadvantage is that they may not include any quality component and because they are often self-reports, can be easily manipulated. Products and services that have a longer selling cycle typically use a number of input goals (e.g., insurance).

3. Customer service receives a lot of lip service and press, but when it comes down to using it as a sales goal, it presents some problems. Develop a possible customer service goal that could be used in a B2B setting.

Almost any number of goals could be developed. They might range from the simple (e.g., no complaints were made by customers) to the more sophisticated, (e.g., customers completing a post-sale or post-visit survey ranked us at a certain level or we were recognized in a public poll).

4. Naperville, Illinois, located southwest of downtown Chicago, has undergone rapid growth. It is now the second largest city in Illinois, next to Chicago. As a sales manager, you knew the time would come when there were more potential clients than your present sales force could handle. Your organization has authorized splitting its two Naperville sales territories under your control into four. What type of goals do you think would be the most important to focus on given the situation?

With twice as many sales personnel in the area, you would expect that input or activity goals should be very important (e.g., number of new accounts contacted, number of proposals and presentations made to new accounts). With additional time available, one might also expect the amount of time spent with existing customers would increase, as would customer service. Output measures would be expected to increase in a gradual fashion as prospects are turned into customers.

5. The sales goals for one of the territories you manage have been set at $1.1 million for the current year. There are three sales representatives in this territory: Jose, who is one month out of training; Katie, who has five years of experience and is considered an average performer; and Kim, who has 12 years of experience and is a top performer. Set three goal levels for each representative and explain your rationale for each.

Jose has only one month of field activities. Input goals will assist him in how he spends his time. Threshold goals might be the initial focus. Katie appears to have the experience, but may be missing some motivation. She should be routinely making the actual goals with encouragement to focus on achieving more stretch goals. As a top performer, the sales manager would want to keep obstacles that prevent Kim from selling out of her path. She may already be achieving stretch goals and may want to focus on capturing some key accounts.

6. A number of factors can impact a salesperson’s ability to achieve their goal. What are some of these factors?

Some factors that impact a sales rep’s ability to achieve their sales goals are within their control and some are not. When reps are not achieving their goals a sales manager would want to consider how they are spending their time (input or activity goals). If their time allocation seems in order then an examination of the quality of their work would be warranted. Some factors affecting goal attainment are outside of a rep’s control. The goals may be in error as a result of flawed marketing research, changes in marketing mix variables, underachieving promotional campaigns, delays in distribution, new competitors, environmental factors than impact demand, adverse laws and regulations, as well as other factors.

7. As a student you probably have had some courses with only one or two exams or papers. Likewise you’ve probably encountered some courses at the other end of the spectrum where many aspects of your performance were graded. The same situation could be said to exist in sales. As a sales representative, which end of the continuum would you prefer? As a sales manager, which end would you prefer? In each case, explain your rationale.

Students’ responses to this will be mixed, but most should prefer somewhere in the middle. Using the classroom analogy, most find the use of only one or even two measures of their performance not something they like. They might see think that using too few measures may not accurately capture all their efforts and just be too risky. At the other end of the continuum, students probably don’t want to have homework and quizzes taken on a daily basis either. This extreme might cause more stress than they want. Most will prefer some position more toward the middle. Moving to the sales arena, they likely will have similar opinions about the number of performance measures they would like used to capture their efforts.

8. How well and in what situations do “all or nothing” goals work? What problems do you think a sales manager might encounter by rewarding salespeople who only partially meet their goals?

This question should generate some interesting discussion. Students may be concerned about an all or nothing approach. They will likely prefer some reward for partially meeting a sales goal. This seems natural, especially for a newer less experienced sales person. However, be sure to point out that commission sales are largely based on the ‘all or nothing’ approach. Getting “close” to making a sale does not mean you made the sale.

There are several potential problems a sales manager might encounter by rewarding sales people who only partially meet their goals. These reps may become satisfied with what they get, even though they are not meeting their goals. As the number of these situations increase, the sales manager may end up with a sales force that is sub-par in terms of productivity and profitability.

9. Are coaching and mentoring skills involved in goal setting? If so, explain where and how they should be incorporated.

Yes, coaching and mentoring behaviors are involved in goal setting. Goals are meant to direct behavior. They help identify where things are going correctly and where they are not. The advice of a coach and/or mentor in correcting these behaviors can be very helpful in working toward achievement of goals. Similarly, when goals are not met, having a coach/mentor help address any disappointments and work to reposition the rep for another set of goals can be helpful.

10. As a sales manager you know that goal setting can be motivational. If you are about to set goals for your sales force, what are some of the behaviors you want them to demonstrate?

There are a number of principles that can make goal setting a motivational experience. Goals should be challenging, yet achievable. They should be specific. Goals should be easy to understand. Important tasks should be included in goals, otherwise they may get ignored. Having too many goals creates stress. Try to get sales reps to commit to their goals. Indicate how sales performance will be measured and rewarded. Provide feedback as frequently as possible. Demonstrate your confidence in the reps’ ability to achieve the goals. Not achieving a goal should not be considered a failure, but progress on road to success.

Answers for Chapter Caselets:

11.1 All In A Day’s Work

The sales manager, Hannah, has several issues going on in this role play. Ella is a young and promising sales representative. However, her limited maturity has a tendency to show through. After six months with the company she sent an email to the vice-president complaining about the “gas guzzling SUV hogs” they were driving. While her environmental concerns were appreciated, her communication was considered a bit out of line.

Hannah’s bigger issue with Ella today deals with Ella’s replacing in-person customer contacts with on-line customer video contacts. She purchased the pc-video cameras for some of her customers and has been doing this for nearly two months without the knowledge of the sales manager. Now, that Hannah has ‘discovered’ this change of sales protocol on her own, Ella indicates she was about to cover it in their next meeting. Ella also reports these should be considered the same as an in-person call for her activity report (which is how she has been handling it).

Hannah’s second issue is with Syd, a member of the sales force for three years, with a mediocre sales record. Both Syd’s sales performance and customer service need to improve.

1. If you were Hannah, how would you handle your meeting with Ella?

Ella’s immaturity is showing. She should be encouraged to make her positions know, but consider the best time and place to do so. In essence, she needs to be encouraged to “Tone it down”. While her environmental stance on using fuel efficient cars and video sales are applaudable, she needs to work within the system. She might consider having more of an informal conversation with the sales V-P and suggest she be a pilot case for a hybrid auto. Changing the sales process without informing Hannah, regardless of her environmental stance, was going too far. Discussion should focus how to positively channel Ella’s enthusiasm and energy.

2. If you were Hannah, how would you approach your session with Syd?

Discussion should highlight how the principles of goal setting should be implemented.

3. What specific goals would you suggest for Ella and Syd to improve their performance?

Ella’s goals might include getting back in front of customers. However, this might seem like a great opportunity to test out how a firm can reduce their carbon footprint. Hannah needs to work with Ella and see if they can help focus Ella’s experiences and energy on the company’s sustainability or green goals.

Recommendations for Syd should consider looking into why his performance might change from quarter to quarter. Additionally, some work should be done to determine why his customer service ratings are only adequate and how he might improve. They might end up with a more steady and positive sales and customer service trend lines.

11.2 Sandwiched In

Devin is being pressured by the need for immediate income to help care for his grandparents who raised him and the need to make a sales goal. He could reach the goal if he pressed a loyal customer to make a big purchase, but he is concerned that such a large purchase might not be in the company’s interest.

1. If you were Devin’s sales manager, what would you recommend he do in this case?

The discussions should consider long-term needs versus short-term needs. If making the sale jeopardizes his relationship with his most loyal customer, he might be encouraged to re-think that. Additional discussion might include things he and the organization could do to help him with his immediate financial stress.

Role Play:

Oval Track Promotions

This role play deals with a sales rep (K.R.) who is not pleased with the way top-down setting of sales goals impacts her sales territory. Oval Track Promotions sells advertising and other promotional opportunities aimed at NASCAR® enthusiasts. Sales goals are set by top management and are typically an across the board increase. K.R. believes this process is particularly unfair to her because, out of all territories, her territory has the least interest in racing.

While K.R. is considered a good performer in terms of results, she is outspoken and clearly upset by the goal-setting procedure. The discussion should include dialog about the importance of getting buy-in from the sales rep as well as an understanding of the goal setting procedure of top management. While K.R. may be unhappy, it may be that the sales manager has little recourse in this situation. The sales manager should be sure that they address the areas that they do have control over and work to focus on those areas in which they can be of assistance to K. R. in her achievement of her sales goals.

Self-Assessments:

IDI – What’s My Decision-Making Style?

Sales manages must make many decisions about how they set goals. This short instrument addresses an individual’s decision-making style and classifies it as either based on a rational or logical approach or as an intuitive style. The style an individual uses is of interest in determining how they gather information. Rational types will utilize facts, details and cause and effect logical. An individual with an intuitive style focus more on relationships between ideas and weighs options against personal values more than logic (i.e., gut feel).

IC7 – What’s My Attitude Toward Achievement?

We all have to strive to achieve our goals. This instrument was developed to measure attitudes toward the success and achievement of others. The instrument developers believe the results can help individuals better understand why they react the way they do to others’ success and how important achievement is to one’s personal goals. Note that this was developed inAustraliawhere Australians value achievement, but are ambivalent about its public expression.

Using Videos:

Sales Quota Management Robert Youngjohns

Be prepared --Robert Youngjohns is a fast talker and covers a great deal of ground quickly. In this clip he discusses a variety of topics about quotas, from both the individual level and the organizational level. He discusses some of the reservations that reps have to quotas (i.e., they don’t understand how they were set; they believe they are based on favoritism and politics). He believes the way companies can get a buy-in from reps is to be sure that reps believe the quota is achievable. He describes how companies can better inform reps about the setting of quotas which includes examining what happened last year, how territories have changed and what are top management’s and the sales force’s assumptions about growth. This segment closes with a discussion about how realistic it is for most firms to think that about 70% of their sales force should achieve their quota.

Here are some questions you could ask the class to look for and consider:

1. What are some concerns reps typically have about quotas?

2. Why are quotas often not understood by reps?

3. What are some of the reasons for NOT adjusting quotas at mid-year?

Goal Setting Ron Hubsher

This brief video presents a couple new twists for goal setting. Ron Hubsher discusses how he likes to set goals in a team environment. He thinks that everyone should share their goals. The benefit of this practice is that others can help reinforce your efforts. For example, imagine you were working to earn money for a Harley. Now your colleague can ask ‘How close are you to getting that Harley?’ He believes the camaraderie of the goal setting helps reinforce efforts. He also discusses how one company includes feedback levels for each individual on a dashboard so they can see how close they are coming.

Here are some questions you could ask the class to look for and consider:

1. How comfortable would you be to share your goals with others in your work group?

2. Mr. Hubsher thinks it is important to visualize your goals. How could you do that as a student? How could you do it as a sales representative?

Full Case Recommendation:

Freedom Telecom a well established telecommunications company, had been a great company to work and sell for. As a result of an unethical executive team’s actions, the company’s stock as well as its image, was now in the trashcan. Many clients, as well as younger employees, left the firm-- its future is in jeopardy. A new wave of ‘turn around’ managers were brought in to breathe some life back into the company. A new VP of Sales has imposed a top-down set of sales goals that an established sales manager is being forced to implement. Discussions should include how sales goals are developed and implemented, as well as the leadership styles of the VP and the sales manager.

Other In-class Exercises:

Setting Personal Goals - Motivational Speakers – Brian Tracy and Zig Ziglar

Brian Tracy is one of many nationally known motivational speakers. In this 2-minute video clip he describes a simple exercise that helps focus and prioritize your personal goals. From his description of the exercise, you can see how this activity may be very appealing. It’s simple, it helps you focus, it can be rewarding. It is a nice, feel good, self -development activity. Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iDbs3vh6KM&feature=related.

Over the years, another popular motivational speaker has been Zig Ziglar. This 5-minute clip describes a series of 4 steps that he recommends (in his ‘unique’ style) individuals should follow to set goals. Note: Ziglar’s style may come across as a bit preachy to some students and the audience’s clothing is out of style. You might want to call this a ‘classic’. Go to http://www.nightingale.com/LandingPages/IY/Ziglar2.aspx?promo=intgooga372&org=intgooga372&gclid=CIbckozxvpYCFRJdxwodGiSJxw

First Hand Experience - Interview a sales person and/or sales manager.

If students have an opportunity to talk with sales managers or sales reps, they should ask them what type of goals the sales force has. Include a discussion of how goals for a 3-month rookie would differ from someone with 5 years of experience. Would there be any difference between a veteran with 5 years of experience and one with 10 years of experience?

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Ethics, the Law, and Sales Leadership：中国经济管理大学 MBA课堂笔记《销售管理：塑造未来的领导者》

Fri, 29 May 2026 15:01:04 +0800

中国经济管理大学 MBA 课堂笔记

Ethics, the Law, and Sales Leadership

中国经济管理大学 MBA课堂笔记《销售管理：塑造未来的领导者》

中国经济管理大学/中國經濟管理大學

Ethics, the Law, and Sales Leadership

Learning Objectives:

After completing this chapter, students will be able to:

· Identify the more common ethical dilemmas that face salespeople, sales managers, and sales executives.

· Distinguish between those organizational policies and practices that support ethical behavior and those that enable unethical behavior.

· Explain how principled leadership can foster a firm’s ethical principles and corporate culture.

· Be able to develop an appropriate course of action when you’re personally faced with an ethical dilemma.

Introducing the Chapter:

Salespeople, as boundary spanners, may find themselves faced many ethical challenges because they have to represent both the company and their customers. Common ethical issues specific to sales can include misrepresentation, bribery, and encouraging rogue purchasing.

Companies and sales managers can reduce unethical behavior by creating the right ethical climate. Codes of ethics are also useful tools, not only because these can provide guidance to salespeople when faced with ethical challenges but also in the creation of the right kind of ethical climate. Companies may also create different forms of systems for identifying and responding to ethical breaches.

Laws also govern salespeople’s and sales managers’ actions. Such laws include the Uniform Commercial Code, which defines when a sale occurs, the limitations of warranties, and other important elements in selling. Also important are laws such as state laws governing business defamation, the CAN-SPAM act, the FTC’s Do Not Call registry, and the Federal Corrupt Practices Act. Managers also have to worry about labor laws, such as those protecting employees from sexual harassment.

Chapter Outline:

I. Approaches to Ethics

A. Common approaches to ethics

1. The Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

2. The Conventionalist Approach: take any and all actions allowed by law or by convention

3. The Protestant Ethic: do what you can defend to a committee of peers.

4. The Market Imperative: the market will determine what is right.

5. The Libertine Ethic: ethics are based on the principle of individual freedom.

6. The Utilitarian Ethic: do what has the best outcome.

a. Situational Ethics

b. Bentham/Mills proportional ethic

II. Common Ethical Issues Facing Salespeople

A. Ethical Issues Associated with the Salesperson’s Customers

1. Misrepresentation: lying about a product, making claims for it that are not true.

2. Bribery: offer of a gift that secures undue influence.

3. Encouraging rogue purchasing: the practice of purchasing products from non-approved vendors

B. Ethical Issues Associated with the Salesperson’s Company

1. Stealing

2. Sexual Harassment: unwelcome sexual advances and jokes.

III. Ethical Climate: the degree to which a firm’s corporate culture supports ethical business practices

A. Code of Ethics: A company’s outline of its standards for ethical behavior. Established to:

1. Provide salespeople and other employees with guidelines and standards for conduct.

2. Help salespeople inform others that they intend to conduct business in an ethical way.

3. Support salespeople’s intentions to remain ethical, offering salespeople an “out” when under pressure.

4. Attract high quality salespeople.

B. Federal Sentencing Guidelines (FSG): enacted in 1987 and updated in 2007 as a response to an increase in white collar crime, specifically crime committed by businesses. Include:

1. Developing a clear and complete code of ethics capable of reducing misconduct.

2. Securing top management’s support for high ethical standards and charging an executive-level officer of the company with responsibility for establishing and managing a compliance program.

3. Establishing and managing a compliance program that includes mandatory training and regular communication.

4. Creating internal auditing systems to monitor behavior and detect misconduct.

5. Consistently enforcing standards and punishing violations.

6. Reviewing and modifying the compliance program on a regular basis to demonstrate a focus on continuous improvement.

IV. Identifying and Responding to Ethical Breaches

A. Ways of identifying and responding to ethical breaches

1. Whistle blowing: the reporting of unethical or inappropriate behavior by an employee

2. Using technology

V. Responding to Ethical Breaches

A. Due Process Systems Responding to Ethical Breaches

1. Compliance Investigation and punishment systems: upper manager investigates potential violations, determines guilt, and assesses punishment to the guilty

2. Grievance and arbitration systems: guilt and punishment is investigated and discussed by progressively higher levels of management with an arbitrator resolving the case if management and labor cannot agree on guilt or on the amount or type of punishment

3. Mediator/counseling systems: a manager investigates, leads discussions, and builds consensus about the potential guilt of an accused person, as well as the need for any changes in the organization’s practices or policies

4. Employee board systems: Mediator/counselor role is taken on by a board of the accused’s peers.

VI. Dealing with Ethical Breaches

A. Strategies for Dealing Personally with Ethical Breaches

1. Leave the organization

2. Take a stand

3. Negotiate for an alternative course of action

4. Appear to agree with the tactic but choose to remain ethical

VII. State Related Laws

A. Examples

1. Uniform Commercial Code: legal guide to commercial practices

a. Agent: person who has the ability to make a binding agreement for a company.

b. Sale: the transfer of title from the seller to the buyer in exchange for money.

c. Warranty is an assurance by the seller that the product or service will do what it was sold to do

2. Laws governing business defamation: occurs when salespeople (or other company representatives) make unfair or untrue statements to customers about a competitor, its products, salespeople, or other aspects of that organization

3. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act: requires companies to notify their customers regarding their privacy policies

4. CAN-SPAM act: requires companies to clean up their email lists and only contact those with whom they have an ongoing relationship

5. FTC’s Do Not Call registry: allows individuals to place their phone number off-limits to telemarketers.

6. Foreign Corrupt Practices (FCP) Act: requires salespeople to live up to the law of theUnited States, even if the laws in the country they operate in are more lenient

7. Federal Corrupt Practices Act.

VIII. Laws for Sales Managers

A. Labor laws

B. Market Laws

1. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

2. Robinson-Patman Act: forbids price discrimination, the giving of special prices, discounts, or services to some customers and not to others.

3. Anti-trust Act: prohibit certain forms of non-competing agreements

IX. Chapter Summary

Questions and Problems:

1. The different approaches to ethics discussed in this chapter focus on the salesperson’s actions. Now consider what buyers might consider appropriate or inappropriate behavior under each of the different approaches.

a. Golden rule approach

· The buyer might consider it appropriate to be concerned about the salesperson’s result if a sale is made (worried about how the other person benefits).

· The buyer might consider it inappropriate for the salesperson to sell a product to them for more than it is worth or to be worried only about making the sale.

b. The conventionalist approach

· The customer would want to comply with professional standards, such as those put forth by the Institute for Supply Management, because that is what other purchasing agents do. Alternatively, the customer would want the salesperson to act as other salespeople do, which could mean buying lunch or providing gifts.

· The customer would consider it inappropriate for the rep to offer lunch if no one else did that.

c. The Protestant Ethic

· The customer would be much more concerned about the appearance of ethical behavior. A bribe would be ok if it could be dressed up in a way that could be defended, if the buyer were not particularly ethical.

· Alternatively, a scrupulous buyer would avoid any activity that would appear questionable, such as accepting a lunch, even though the activity was innocent.

d. The Market Imperative

· The customer would want the greatest value at the lowest price with the most generous of payment terms.

· The customer might consider negotiating inappropriate because it results in different prices and terms and that might not allow the customer to compete against other companies because they got better prices or terms.

e. The Libertine Ethic

· The customer could be happy to accept favors, free lunches, gifts, etc., as long as the company got a competitive product at a competitive price (wasn’t hurt by the action).

· The customer would consider it inappropriate for a salesperson narrowed down choices without being offered the options.

f. The Utilitarian Ethic

· The customer may not worry about the purchase process and fairness to anyone involved, as long as the company got the best value.

· The customer might consider it inappropriate for a salesperson to worry only about making the sale and not about the customer’s outcome.

2. Likewise, consider each of the different approaches and review the ethical challenges faced by sales managers. How might a sales manager’s response to an ethical challenge differ under the different approaches?

a. Golden rule approach- There could be a conflict on how different people want to be treated; therefore the sales manager might face a challenge in deciding how each party wants to be treated.

b. The conventionalist approach- There are gray areas where it would be difficult to tell whether certain acts are legal or illegal. Further, what is conventional within a company may be different than what is conventional in general society.

c. The Protestant Ethic- The sales team might focus on doing what can be defended, not what is right. Thus, a great deal of effort might be spent on arguing or developing arguments to support activities.

d. The Market Imperative- What might be right for the customers might not be right for the organization and vice versa.

e. The Libertine Ethic-Some customers can be harmed indirectly by salespeople’s actions even though the salespeople performed those actions in good faith. The question then becomes how to resolve those fairly for everyone involved.

f. The Utilitarian Ethic-It can be difficult deciding what would be the best outcome for all who are involved. Further, means are not an issue, which means that there could actions that are questionable but undertaken in order to achieve objectives.

3. Jim Stradinger, a sales manager for Holland 1916, argues, “Do what’s right for the customer and everything else will take care of itself.” Discuss the pros and cons from each perspective: the perspectives of the sales representative, customer, and sales manager.

While answers may vary, here are some samples:

Sales Representative

Pros: Customer satisfaction should increase or be very high, which will result in repeat business from customers.

Cons: What the customer wants may not be to the advantage of the sales rep – for example, lower prices may benefit the customer but harm the rep’s commission.

Customer

Pros: The customer gets what is best for them.

Cons: The customer could spend an inordinate amount of time making sure that what was sold was “right.”

Sales Manager

Pros: If the customer is treated right, it may result in higher sales for the organization and consequently higher profits for the sales team; in addition, the policy takes some decision making authority away because of the need to always do what is right for the customer – there is no need to consider what is right for anyone else.

Cons: If the focus is on the customers only, then the sales manager might neglect the welfare of his or her salespeople, resulting in low team morale.

4. The Federal Trade Commission has generally ruled that puffery is acceptable. What is not acceptable is deception that is subjectively interpreted as injurious to consumers – that is to say, the claim can be interpreted in a way that harms the buyer. Review the following claims. Are they puffery or deceptive misrepresentation?

a. This sinus medication was developed by a scientist to alleviate his own sinus headaches!

b. There is no other wrench like it!

c. You can’t buy a faster copier in this price range.

d. I’ve sold lots of other customers this same product at the full list price.

The first statement would be considered puffery, though of little consequence. The issue really isn’t who developed it but does it work.

The second statement would also be considered puffery.

C, though, is measurable and if not true, would be considered deceptive misrepresentation.

The final statement would be considered puffery. The challenge is defining “lots;” is three, for example, lots?

5. A sales manager listened to a customer complain about a salesperson and thought, “This is the third complaint like this I’ve gotten this week. We’ve got a code of ethics – why aren’t my people following it?” Discuss some reasons why her sales team is acting unethically and what she can do about it.

· Perhaps the company does not have a system that monitors the employees’ behavior and detects misconduct.

· Even though the company has a code of ethics, it may not have a system for punishing violations therefore the employees continue to act unethically.

· The code of ethics may be vague and as a result employees may not know what is required of them

· If the code of conduct is vague, the sales manager should ensure that a clear code of conduct is developed. The sales manager should also come up with a way of detecting violation and punishing employees who are in violation of the code of ethics.

6. Your university has probably established multiple ethics violation investigation systems. An honors council, for example, often acts like an employee board when it comes to the actions of students. Ethics violations by a professor, however, are likely to be addressed in another system. As a student, if you were treated unethically by a professor, which type of system (discussed in the chapter) would you want and why? Would it make a difference to you if the unethical behavior involved the professor claiming your work were his or her own versus, say, sexual harassing you?

Responses will vary. A sample answer is “If I was treated unethically by a professor I would want the compliance and punishment system to be applied” and “I would feel more aggrieved if the unethical behavior involved sexual harassment compared to the professor claiming my work were his or her own.”

7. Which of the following are legal practices and which might be considered illegal? If you determine that not enough information is provided, what would make the practice legal or illegal?

a. A salesperson offers a discount to a small drugstore if the store will set up a special display of his product at its entrance.

This practice is legal and fairly common.

b. A salesperson sends two bottles of wine, valued at $100 each, to a customer as a thank-you gift after making a large sale.

This could be considered illegal. The sale was large, so thank you gifts worth $200 might be ok, but the value of the gifts is certainly more than the IRS would allow as a reasonable expense.

c. The buyer asks the salesperson out for drinks after work.

Not enough information is provided. If the buyer is just taking the salesperson out after a successful sale, then there might be nothing wrong. If the buyer is using it as a condition to offer the salesperson business, then this might be considered unethical but would be difficult to prove as a bribe.

d. A buyer provides a salesperson with a competitor’s proposal, including pricing information.

If the competitor’s proposal were marked “confidential, for the customer’s eyes only,” then the competitor could take civil, not criminal, action. If the buyer is a buyer for the government, then there may be laws dealing with the situation that might make it illegal. For example, it would be illegal in certain instances to open a competitor’s bid early and then use that to leverage other prices down.

8. As a sales manager, you find yourself faced with the following situations. Identify the ethical or legal issue in each and discuss how you would handle the problem. (All of these were experienced by former students.)

a. The regional sales manager, your boss, forwards several ethnic jokes and lewd emails to you and your entire sales and support staff. Two of your salespeople complain to you.

This practice creates a negative work environment and the salespeople could take legal action. A possible way to handle the problem is to tell the regional sales manager that the emails are offensive and some employees have already complained and not to do it again. Further, the instance should be documented and placed into the manager’s permanent file with the warning that if done again, the manager would be terminated. Alternatively, the manager could be terminated immediately if there is a clear computer use policy forbidding such behavior.

b. A customer has called and asked you to send someone else to his office as he does not want to be called on by his currently assigned salesperson. When you ask why, it is because he doesn’t want someone of that sexual orientation calling on him.

If discussing in class, note that this type of situation has occurred for many reasons – sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, and faith are just a few examples. While there are no legal ramifications for the customer, the manager has to tread carefully. To comply with the customer’s wishes may win the company business, but if the salesperson who owns the account is penalized as a result, then the company has also discriminated against that salesperson and legal action could ensue. In many situations, the manager has left it up to the salesperson to decide whether anyone should call on that account and how credit for the account is awarded. A key point is to document any and all conversations regarding the situation.

c. You’ve asked a salesperson to create a training session for the entire sales team, a task that will require the salesperson to spend about $60 on materials that company policy expressly prohibits salespeople from charging on their expense report. She agrees, then submits an expense report with the $60 down as entertainment of a client, an acceptable expense. You notice it on the expense report; she hasn’t said anything about it but you know she was conducting the training session on the day in question and couldn’t have entertained the client that day.

The manager should deny the expense because it cannot be documented. We’ve seen managers turn a blind eye to such a practice because the company policy is wrong; however, such a choice carries the potential consequence of the manager being reprimanded or fired as a result.

d. The company has introduced a new product and requires all salespeople to memorize a demonstration script. To encourage salespeople to learn it, a contest was developed by your boss to award a new HDTV to the best presentation of the demonstration. Two salespeople come to you and say, “Let’s just let Beverly represent our team, we don’t have time for time for this. We need to be out selling.”

As a side note, Beverly won the demonstration contest anyway. However, what is the purpose of the contest? That purpose still needs to be accomplished. To skip the competition may not be a violation of ethical principles but it isn’t sound management. However, to put Beverly forward as the winner is lying if there has been no team level competition and would degrade the trust management would have in you.

9. Look at the article describing the Caux Round Table principles. Which model of ethics would you say most aptly describes those principles? What is the impact on salespeople and sales managers if they ascribe to the CRT principles?

The Utilitarian approach most aptly describes the CRT principles. If salespeople ascribe to CRT principles, they will do what is best for the society-for the shareholders, other employees and the customer.

Answers for Chapter Caselets:

Caselet 4-1

Patman Paper Co.

Case Question:

Jared declined, but later wondered if he was an idiot. Entertaining clients was not unusual. He needed the sale. What should he have done?

While entertaining clients was not unusual, in this case Suzy’s approach was inappropriate and therefore in conflict with Jared’s standards of ethics. Jared could have talked the matter over with his manager and come up with an alternative-for instance, he could have told Suzy that while the company allows salespeople to entertain clients, the company’s policy was that there be two or more sales representatives present.

Caselet 4-2

Callahan Car Parts

Case Question:

What type of approach to monitoring, investigating, punishing, and improving ethics policies should Tommy suggest to the committee? What should he do to get salespeople to support the need for clear ethics policies?

Tommy can suggest an employee board system. To get the employees to support the need for clear ethics policies he could talk to them and assure them that while he does not doubt their honesty, having an ethics policy would provide an official guideline for standards of conduct. He could ask the salespeople to give their contribution on how the policies can be structured and how to deal with misconduct, if any.

Students may develop other choices; the issue is to make sure that they have thought it through carefully.

Role Play:

Magnum Performance

Assignment: Break into groups of three. In each group, one person is Jackie, the office general manager, and another is the salesperson who is responsible for the Shoshiba account (and for finding the salespeople to fill the jobs). Don’t worry about matching gender to the names in the case. Discuss strategies for how to handle Jackson (the client) and how to respond to Magnum’s regional vice president. The role of the third party is “the devil’s advocate,” and this person’s job is to suggest unethical strategies to each person. The devil’s advocate should call time-out and whisper suggestions to each person, who must then act out that suggestion. The general manager or salesperson then listens to the unethical suggestions and responds with implications of those choices and then presents alternatives.

Strategies Jackie can use to handle Jackson and respond to the vice president:

Tell Jackson that there are 8 qualified candidates who can fill the job immediately; ask for a little time more time to fill the remaining positions.

An example of unethical strategies from the “devil’s advocate”:

Suggest to Jackie to agree to Jackson’s demand for as many salespeople as possible even though they are not qualified. After all, this will ensure that the order gets filled up and Jackie will therefore not have to answer to the vice president about not filling the order. Jackie could respond by saying that the qualifications of the salespeople is of importance and would rather send out a few qualified ones than several who are not qualified.

Self-Assessment:

ID3 - How Do My Ethics Rate?

When you have completed the instrument, your answers are then compared to those offered by a group of 243 business students. Because the instrument presents both philosophical positions and individual situations, answers could vary greatly from the student average. The report compares the individual student to the student average from the study, which may or may not reflect your students.

IB1 - What do I Value?

Students are asked to rank a list of terminal and instrumental values, based on Rokeach.

Using Videos:

Go to the website with videos from Selling Power and consider the two videos selected for this chapter. Listed below are potential ways to introduce each video and questions you might consider to encourage further discussion after you have viewed the videos. To access the videos go to www.pearsonhighered.com/tanner.

What Makes a Great Leader: Asher Milgrom

This video, while longer than most, is very inspiring and can lead to much introspection. Gerhard begins by talking about Jack Welch, a former CEO who is vilified by many for his hard-nose approach to managing people, as well as idolized for his success. Milgrom is one who idolizes Welch, and brings to the fore Welch’s philosophy toward supporting people. One topic Milgrom covers in depth is skeptical curiosity. He also describes how his self-doubts and experiences have held him back in making the progress he’s wanted. (There is another Milgrom interview on the Selling Power website where he describes a near-death experience he had – another amazing video.)

Questions:

1. What is skeptical curiosity and how is different from cynicism?

2. Why does a leader have to be “authentic” and what does that mean?

3. Milgrom brings up the writings of Mother Theresa, who was wracked with doubts about her faith. Yet these doubts did not hold her back. What are the things that hold you back? How can you address those?

Trump Fired Her, Now She’s a Millionaire: Nicole D’Ambrosio.

Interesting video starring a woman who now owns her own real estate company. She talks a bit about getting on the show and how her first attempt through the normal process failed. So she made her own tape and sent it in, then got a call-back. She also was offered a job after, but decided to strike out on her own. She also describes about her philosophy of selling and why she went into selling.

Questions:

1. What does D’Ambrosio’s experience in getting on the show mean to salespeople who have difficulty getting in to see prospects?

2. She graduated fromNorthern Illinois’ sales program, then went out to sell on her own. She also has several points she believes are very important. What were the keys to her success?

3. She knocks company training, or at least points out some of the weaknesses in company training programs. What does this mean for you if you are managing a sales force?

Full Case Recommendations:

The Afgar case is a good one for this chapter. A sales rep has been fired and has left behind a number of customer issues. His practices were certainly unethical and possibly illegal. The field sales manager must now clean up the situation as well as ensure that the situation is isolated.

Lexington Industries can also be used with this chapter. This case explores cultural issues facing a sales manager inAsia. As aUScompany, he is responsible for following the corrupt practices act, but salespeople have not always done so. The question becomes how to restore the firm’s practices to comply with theUSlaw without losing business.

Other In-Class Exercises:

An interesting debate is whether ethics can really be a function of a corporate culture (i.e. leadership) or whether the best route is to hire ethical people. This exercise can be started by briefly debating that question. But while interesting, the debate serves little practical value because the Federal Sentencing Guidelines (FSG) require that companies develop policies and practices that encourage and support ethical behavior. Companies that fail to do so face significantly greater penalties should problems arise. Thus managers have to operate as if ethics can be a function of corporate culture.

One mechanism for illustrating the various ethical approaches is to divide the class into groups and assign each group an ethic: The Golden Rule, the Libertine, the Protestant ethic and so forth. Using that approach and that approach only, develop policies and procedures for the following behaviors:

· Dating subordinates who report directly to you

· Personal use of company equipment and materials

· Loaning equipment to customers that you intend to later sell as new

· Entertaining customers

Any policies and procedures must include limits as to what is and is not acceptable, mechanisms for reporting and evaluating potential violations, and punishment if determined guilty of a violation.

Each group can then report out its recommendations. Ask if differences or similarities are due to personal preferences or the nature of the ethical philosophy.

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Leadership and the Sales Executive：中国经济管理大学 MBA课堂笔记《销售管理：塑造未来的领导者》

Fri, 29 May 2026 14:56:45 +0800

中国经济管理大学 MBA 课堂笔记

Leadership and the Sales Executive

中国经济管理大学 MBA课堂笔记《销售管理：塑造未来的领导者》

中国经济管理大学/中國經濟管理大學

After completing this chapter, students should be able to:

· Understand the historical development and different approaches to examining leadership.

· Recognize the contributions made by contemporary leadership approaches.

· Identify issues today’s sales leaders face.

· Use the information in this chapter to develop their leadership skills.

Introducing the Chapter:

The topic of leadership is of great interest to everyone from world leaders to sales managers, but too often overlooked by students and employers. Research shows that too few companies believe they have the leaders they need and have difficulty recruiting them. A good way to introduce this chapter is to ask students to describe their leadership style. Often times we’ll find that while they may have heard discussions about leadership they haven’t looked at how the topic applies to them at a personal level.

The chapter looks at a historical review of the major approaches to studying leadership and the contributions made by each. Within each of the five major approaches, several individual theories or approaches are described. Each school of thought has made a contribution and has set the stage for further research. The most recent approaches have incorporated past contributions as well as bringing forward a focus on more personal qualities of the leaders. One idea for a class discussion would be to identify who they consider to be good (and not so good) leaders. A visit with past issues of Selling Power or Sales & Marketing Management may help them better define the topic from a sales perspective.

Given that sales executives have noted shortcomings in the leadership demonstrated by their sales managers, we believe that this chapter will help students begin the process of actively shaping their own sales management leadership skills – regardless of which model they prefer to follow.

The chapter closes with a discussion on the challenges of the future for sales leaders and executives. Many of the issues identified are tied with leader-member interactions and the development of members of the sales force.

Chapter 10 Supervising, Managing and Leading: Individually and in Teams, is an extension of this chapter. It focuses more heavily on the application of these behaviors by sales managers, with sections on coaching, mentoring and virtual leadership.

Chapter Outline:

What is Leadership? - It is a process (not a trait or set of characteristics). It involves influence. It occurs in a group. It involves movement toward a goal or goals.

A. Leading versus Managing

1. Research on leadership has defined it as:

a) As a process that helps direct and mobilize people and ideas.

b) As a person – in a formal position whose job is to be the group’s leaders (i.e., manager)

2. Leadership is involved with establishing direction, aligning and communicating direction and motivating and inspiring. The focus is on change.

3. Management is involved with planning and budgeting, organizing and staffing, and controlling and problem solving. The focus is on results that keep things working efficiently.

4. These concepts are similar in that they both include: deciding what needs to be done, working with people to be sure action is taken.

5. Current research shows many leadership challenges:

a) Two thirds of companies believe they have strong management skills but weak leadership skills;

b) 95% of companies report too few people have both strong leadership and management skills;

c) 80% of companies report having trouble recruiting strong leaders;

d) Some two thirds of companies indicate less than 60% of sales managers were meeting expectations.

B. Understanding Leadership: An Historical Perspective

1. Trait Approach – “These are the traits you need to be a leader”

a) Leaders are born, leadership is not a skill you can learn. “Great Man Theory” e.g., Abe Lincoln, Napoleon, Mahatma Gandhi.

b) Traits commonly associated with leadership were height, intelligence, dominance, and social skills.

c) This approach was initially not supported by research. Recent meta-analyses of past research now show some support of this approach. Findings note that leaders differ from followers in intelligence, alertness, insight, responsibility, initiative, persistence, self-confidence, sociability.

d) Shortcomings of this approach include no universal listing of traits, findings that lacking some of these traits people can learn to lead, and whether a strength of one trait do seem to overcome the weakness or absence of another.

e) Application – Many firms recruit and select based on these skills – so develop them. Training programs use these as basis of some programs.

2. Behavioral Approach – “This is how a leader behaves.”

a) Ohio State researchers found leaders high in 1.Consideration for maintaining good social relationships and building trust and 2. Initiating structure, or dealing with task-directed behaviors.

b) University of Michigan researchers identified similar dimensions. Leaders were more employee-centered as opposed to production-centered.

c) The Managerial Grid pulls from past researchers and uses two axes as their basis of leadership: 1. Concern for people and 2. Concern for production. This approach has developed into a training program that helps individuals move toward a higher level of both skills (i.e., Team Management).

d) Application – It is important for the sales manager to balance leadership behaviors between the social needs of the group members and accomplishing the task. The more a leader demonstrates ‘consideration’ the more satisfied the group.

3. Situational Approaches – “Assess the situation, then adjust your behavior to it”

a) Contingency Theory suggests that the best type of leadership is contingent on the characteristics of the situation. Each situation differs depending on 1. Leader-member relations, 2. Task structure, 3. Position power. It proposes that leadership behaviors are stable, and leaders can’t shift their orientation from one situation to another. Task-oriented leaders are better in one situation; relationship-oriented better in another. Attempts at organizational engineering were suggested to match leaders with tasks that match their strengths.

b) Situational Leadership of Hersey and Blanchard asserts that leaders are able to adapt their behavior to the constraints of the situation. Leaders diagnose the group’s task competency and commitment on a continuum from developing to developed. After this they must adapt their behavior along two dimensions 1. Directive (task-oriented) behavior and 2.Supportive behaviors (relationship-oriented). Depending on the group’s level of development the leader utilizes one of four leadership styles (directing, coaching, supporting, or delegating).

c) Vroom and Yetton Model is similar in approach to Situational Leadership. The model offers a greater degree of specificity in diagnosing the situation by examining, 1. The amount of structure in the situation, 2. The amount of information available to solve the problem and 3.The level of importance the decision’s acceptance is to its implementation. Based on these inputs the model then proposes the level to which followers should be involved in the decision making.

d) Application -There is no one “best style”. Leaders need to consider the characteristics of the situation and adapt their behaviors to each unique situation.

4. Contemporary Perspectives – “Motivate your followers”

a) Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) focuses on the relations between a leader and each group member. In-group relations develop with high levels of interaction, support, trust, and respect. When these types of relations don’t develop, an out-group relationship exists. It has less interaction and relies on formal roles, consequently followers are less satisfied and productive. Leaders should maximize the number of in-group relations they have and minimize out-group relationships.

b) Transformational Leadership does not prescribe how a leader should act. They should encourage, inspire, support and develop their followers. Leaders need to establish trust and respect among followers.

c) Application -These two approaches emphasize the roles of followers in the leadership process, and encourages leaders to develop their followers.

5. Emerging Theories of Leadership – “Develop your followers”

a) Principle-Centered Leadership – Steven Covey developed his approach from his popular book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Leaders should follow seven principles to guide their behavior: 1. Be proactive. 2. Begin with the end in mind. 3. Put first things first. 4. Think win-win. 5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood. 6. Synergize. 7. Practice self-renewal. 8. Added later: Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.

b) Servant Leadership Model – Robert Greenleaf proposed that leaders should serve their followers. They should be role models in their use of collaboration, empathy, and the ethical use of power. They are characterized by traits such as listening, awareness, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community.

c) Level 5 Leadership Model – Jim Collins found that high performing companies had leaders who were modest, humble, and set up their successor for greater success. He proposed 5 levels that characterized leaders: 1. Highly Capable Individual, 2. Contributing Team Member, 3. Competent Manager, 4. Effective Leader and 5. Level 5 Executive.

d) No Leader? – Do you always need a leader? A number of proponents believe you don’t. Sometimes referred to as shared leadership, team leadership or leaderless work groups, members assume leadership responsibilities.

e) Application – These approaches places an emphasis on the leader demonstrating moral character and a passion for helping their followers develop into leadership positions themselves. Many companies have embraced these principles and work to apply them.

II. Leadership Challenges for the Sales Executive

A. Recruiting and selecting good employees – Bad hires can be costly in terms of sales, goodwill and training costs.

B. Keeping good employees – Once you hire them you have to keep them working for your firm.

C. Executing virtual leadership – Sales managers will go long periods of time without being physically together with their sales force. Sales managers must be adept at communicating through multiple channels.

D. Diversifying the sales force – A diverse sales force will better understand existing customers and attract new ones.

E. Removing limitations facing females – Make sure women play an important role at all levels in the sales organization.

F. Avoiding ethical mistakes – Training and good leadership will help the sales force act in the most ethical manner.

G. Maintaining motivated sales teams – Sales managers must provide meaningful rewards to their sales force.

H. Integrating technology in sales – Technology is often the difference between the most successful companies and those who follow them.

III. Summary

A. Leadership research finds no “best way” or things to do to be a great sales leader. It is important to recognize that being a good sales manager and a good sales leader requires different skill sets. Being good in one role does not compensate for being poor in the other.

B. The trait approach suggests that certain characteristics will better position a person to be a good leader. Frequently referenced traits include self-confidence, determination and sociability.

C. The behavioral approach suggests that leaders have good skills in dealing with people and task orientation.

D. The situational approach proposes that the appropriate leadership style should be determined by first examining the requirements of the situation and then adapting leadership behaviors to best fit the situation.

E. The contemporary approach recommends that leaders motivate their followers by developing an atmosphere of trust and respect in the workplace.

F. The emerging leadership approaches suggests leaders should follow a set of principles and focus on developing their followers.

G. A variety of leadership challenges faces sales managers and sales executives. The majority of them deal with interacting and developing their sales force.

Questions and Problems:

1. Think of one person you know who is an effective leader. What actions or traits does the person demonstrate? What behaviors does he or she engage in? Now do the same for an ineffective leader.

This question should generate a great deal of discussion. Encourage students to think of several people and why they thought of this person as a leader. Answers to this discussion question will run the range from pop celebrities to politicians and (hopefully) some business leaders. Typical answers might include: Oprah Winfrey, Bono, Madeline Albright, John McCain or Barack Obama, Mary Kay Ash, Sam Walton, Warren Buffet, Steve Jobs or Bill Gates.

Once the names are volunteered students need to offer what leadership behaviors they believe this person has displayed. Are they identifying management skills or leadership skills – or both? Another option would be to drop back and consider the individuals highlighted in the chapter opening.

What about ineffective leaders? What about Martha Stewart (who spent time in prison for her illegal insider trading) or Ken Lay (of Enron fame who died before his day in court)? Some might consider these two ineffective and some might consider them effective.

The ultimate ineffective leader is probably the one who no one remembers or the leader of a company that is no longer is business.

2. What behaviors or actions can you engage in to help develop your leadership skills while you are still in school?

Students should be able to volunteer a number of good examples ranging from being an officer in a student organization, a community or religious volunteer, or a leader at work. Consider asking them to write down two examples and then do a tally to determine what behaviors are making their list. Are they offering behaviors that deal with managing or leading? How many are helping others develop?

3. What is the difference between managing and leading? Give some examples of each for a sales manager. How are the two concepts interrelated?

Management is involved with planning and budgeting, organizing and staffing, and controlling and problem solving. The focus is on results that keep things working efficiently. Managers organize and direct work assignments. Management is needed to accomplish many business tasks.

Leadership is involved with establishing direction, aligning and communicating direction and motivating and inspiring. The focus is on change. Leaders communicate what needs to be done and motivate followers to accomplish it. Leadership is needed to help companies address and accomplish difficult challenges.

A successful organization needs sales mangers with both good management and leadership skills to prosper.

4. If leadership can be developed, how good of a job are organizations doing? Identify their strengths and/or weaknesses.

Research results indicate that companies are not doing a very good job at developing leaders. It may be due in part toy the fact that most organizations are involved in activities which are focused more on managerial tasks and less on leadership development. Without good role models, many individuals may not see good leadership behaviors at work. Many companies have now acknowledged the importance of leadership and what they think constitutes it.

5. What traits are considered important for a leader’s success? What are the shortcomings of the trait approach to leadership?

From a historical perspective important leadership traits have run the gamut from height to masculinity to intelligence. More recent studies typically identify intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity and sociability. No universal list of leadership traits has been assembled and no research has demonstrated the relationship between traits and leadership outcomes. Additionally, even with a list it might be very difficult to incorporate them into leadership training.

6. Describe the central tenets of the behavioral approach to leadership. Provide examples of each in a sales-management situation.

The behavioral approach examines how a leader interacts or behaves with their subordinates. Several different groups of researchers identified two similar dimensions, one focusing on social interaction between the leader and followers and the second on completion of the group’s task(s). The social interaction dimension would show how the leader focuses on issues such as availability and ability to perform the job. The task centered dimension would focus on getting the job done, such as when a job would be performed or reporting results.

7. According to situational theorists, what characteristics of a leadership situation need to be considered? What is organizational engineering?

Task-oriented leaders will be most effective in either well-structured or disorienting situations (i.e., they can give direction). Relationship-oriented leaders are more effective where the solution to the task is ambiguous (i.e., they have the interpersonal skills to work with individuals and teams to develop a solution.) Organizational engineering is where people are matched with organizational settings. For example, some sales people will be better suited to maintain accounts (i.e., they enjoy detailed work and delivering customer service on a routine basis) whereas others may enjoy securing new accounts (i.e., they enjoy the work involved in finding and making a successful presentation to a new customer.)

8. What are in-groups and out-groups? Why is it beneficial to develop more in-group relationships?

Leadership-member exchange theory proposes these two concepts to describe the unique relationships between a leader and a follower. In-group relations develop between a leader and follower with high levels of interaction, support, trust, and respect. When these relations don’t develop, an out-group relationship exists. An out-group dyad has less interaction and focuses on formal roles, resulting in followers who are less satisfied and productive

9. What types of activities do transformational leaders engage in? Describe someone you believe displays these characteristics.

Transformational leaders stimulate their followers intellectually, encouraging them and supporting their development. They offer personal attention to each of their followers and make them feel valued and important. There are no set behaviors that a transformational leader should follow. In some situations it may be working on a personal relationship and in others it might be laying out the steps and activities needed to help make for a rep’s successful sale.

Students may offer a number of examples of a person with these characteristics. This person may be a college or high school teacher, a coach, an employer and sometimes even a parent!

10. What is the focus of Covey’s Principle-Centered Leadership? How can you apply these principles to your situation as a student? As a sales manager?

The focus of Covey’s Principle-Centered Leadership is the initial seven principles (one additional principle was added later) that should guide a leader’s behaviors. They are: 1. Be proactive. 2. Begin with the end in mind. 3. Put first things first. 4. Think win-win. 5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood. 6. Synergize. 7. Practice self-renewal. 8. (Added later:) Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.

Student examples will focus on how they can apply the principles to themselves. As a sales manager students should be able to generate examples of how these behaviors might be displayed between a sales manager and one of several sales representatives.

11. Visit the websites for ServiceMaster, Starbucks and the Men’s Warehouse. How is the servant leadership approach conveyed in the mission statements of these firms? What servant-leadership behaviors might a sales manager engage in?

All three of these companies clearly state that they place an emphasis on making sure their employees (i.e., sales people) develop both personally and professionally.

ServiceMaster – has a lengthy description of their philosophy on their home page. Their four guiding principles are: 1.Honor God in all we do (e.g., do the right thing; treat others with respect, etc.) 2. Excel with customers, 3. Help people develop, and 4. Grow profitably.

Starbucks – has six guiding principles. The one principle that most displays servant leadership is:” Provide a great work environment and treat each other with respect and dignity.”
Another related principle is: “Embrace diversity as an essential component in the way we do business.”

Men’s Warehouse – has an interesting company philosophy which includes the following, “Trust and respect are the cornerstones of our philosophy; our collective honesty, sincerity, integrity, responsiveness, authenticity, mutual goodwill, and caring for each other will allow us individually and as a company to achieve maximum success.

A sales manager demonstrating servant-leadership behaviors would likely spend time reviewing a sales representative’s past performance in an effort to support what they did correctly and work on the challenges they were facing. Their actions and comments would reflect respect and foster trust.

12. How would you describe the leadership behaviors exhibited by a person in Collin’s Level 5? What behaviors can you personally improve on to approach this level?

A Level 5 Executive is modest, humble, diligent and helps ensure that their successors are positioned for greater success.

No doubt, most of us (including students) can work on our humility and continue to be diligent in our efforts. Many students may not have looked beyond what they currently do in terms of setting up their successors. However, some may have or are about to transfer leadership responsibilities to another person and may have some insights on how they have positioned their successors.

13. What leadership challenges do you believe today’s sales executives face?

Sales management challenges of the future focus heavily on securing and developing a good talent pool of sales representatives and sales managers as well as integrating the use of technologies for competitive purposes. Specific challenges include: Recruiting and selecting good employees. Keeping good employees. Executing virtual leadership. Diversifying the sales force. Removing limitations facing females. Avoiding ethical mistakes. Maintaining motivated sales teams. Integrating technology as a competitive advantage.

Answers for Chapter Caselets:

“I Never Thought About It”

Elena has been a good sales representative in terms of exceeding her sales goals and delivering high levels of customer service. She has always done well in leadership roles in college and has displayed the same natural tendencies in her training classes. Her sales manager Liz has called her in to discuss a future in sales management. She lets Elena know that in an interview she will likely be asked to describe her leadership style. Elena replies that she really hasn’t thought about it much, to which Liz suggests that she start to think about it, because management will want to know something about how she would lead.

1. Put yourself in Elena’s position. Based on what you know about different leadership approaches, how would you describe your leadership style?

Many students may find that they really are a lot like Elena. They really haven’t thought much about how they would implement a leadership style they are comfortable with. This is an opportunity for students to ‘try on’ a leadership approach and see which one ‘fits’ them the best. Answers will range from a trait theory (a rather simple response) to others that will require a little more thought. When students suggest that they may prefer some of the newer approaches that encourage development of their followers, follow-up by asking if they have had an opportunity to do this? Consider encouraging students who haven’t to set a goal to do so during the term they are taking your course.

“Coach” Charlie Hustle

Two former college friends, David and Michael, who now work for the same company, have been discussing David’s boss’ leadership style. David, an avid athlete, likes the coaching style displayed by his sales manager, Chuck Houser, aka “Coach” or Charlie Hustle. He likes it because, just like a coach, he tells his sales representatives what they need to be doing to “win” the next sale. Coach also keeps a score board of each person’s “points” or sales.

Michael thinks this is a bit much. What kind of a leader would tell you what to do all the time?

1. Put yourself in Michael’s shoes. What should he tell David about other leadership behaviors Coach could use?

It sounds like David enjoys the direction given to him by his sales manager. Coach sounds like he emphasizes task orientation, but not to the point that it alienates his current group of sales reps. Without additional information we don’t know if Coach is a supportive person or has high turnover and only those reps who enjoy this directive style in a sales manager remain. As a new rep, David may have benefited from this style.

Michael is reacting against such a strong task orientation. He may feel that with someone always telling you what to do, that you will never have an opportunity to solve problems or develop on your own. He may believe that at some point the sales manager should trust that his sales force has the skills needed to accomplish the job – and don’t require the explicit acknowledgement of just doing their job.

Role Play:

Jackson Kramer Clothiers

In this role play students need to develop questions that a job candidate can answer about their own leadership style and experience. They will find that identifying the correct question to ask can be a challenge in itself.

Jackson Kramer Clothiers has been successful employing former department store employees in a direct sales channel. They work as wardrobe consultants to busy business people. They want to develop a younger clientele and realize that they may not be able to recruit them from department stores as they have done in the past. They are taking the firm’s youngest sales managers out to recruit on campuses. The founder wants them to identify individuals with leadership potential.

Each of the two sales managers needs to develop a list of 4 or 5 questions that they believe will help them identify these potential leaders. After developing their own list they should work jointly to consolidate their list into one final list. Using this list the two of them need to convince a third student (the company founder) that their questions will help them identify the best recruits.

Many companies are also including questions about ethics in their interviews. They typically present the candidate with a scenario and ask them to explain how they would handle things.

You may wish to encourage students to or discuss the advantages of using a question that reveals behaviors about the interviewee. What did you do? How did you accomplish that? What difficulties did it present? How did you handle those?

Self-Assessments:

IIIB4 – What’s My Leadership Style?

Much of this chapter focuses on leadership styles. Self-assessments are a good starting place but there is nothing like an outside view. This Self Assessment pulls from those taking the behavioral approach. After completing the series of 35 questions it will provide the student with some insights into the degree they are task or people-oriented. The instrument’s developers suggest that the best leaders are those who can balance their task/people orientation to various situations. A high score on both would reflect that balance. A high task score reflect more of an autocratic perspective while a high people-oriented score may reflect a high emotional cost in getting the job accomplished.

IIB4 – Do Others See Me as Trustworthy?

The more recent leadership approaches frequently discuss the importance of trust between the leader and followers. This short instrument provides the student some insights into how trustworthy others are likely to perceive them. Those with low scores are given some suggestions on how they might improve how others perceive them. Among the actions included are being more open, giving generous credit to others, following through on commitments and maintaining confidences.

Using Videos:

From Salesman to President Part I – David Berman, Webex

David Berman chats about how he progressed from a telemarketer at Xerox, to a sales person to sales manager and finally to the President of Webex. He jokes that he has made lots of mistakes and discusses how he handled a job rejection and used it to help motivate himself for his next interview. He outlines what he considers to be some of his success factors, including:

· Always learning, using coaches to help you to the next level, and helping others do the same.

· Never giving up. Get training either on your own of through classes.

· Watch others who are good, and adapt their behaviors into your skill set.

· Realize you can’t do it all yourself. Managers do; leaders get others to help get it done.

1. BEFORE WATCHING ASK – What personal traits do you think a president of a large company will consider important in moving up from a telemarketer to president?

2. What approach to leadership do you think Berman uses?

3. How does your view of a manager and a leader compare with Berman’s?

How Women Lead Differently – Mary Delaney, CareerBuilder.com

The publisher of Selling Power, Gerhard Gschwandtner – opens this interview with Mary Delaney, Chief Sales Officer (CSO) of Careerbuilder.com, by noting how difficult it is for him to find female leaders who will agree to be interviewed. In the conversation, Delaney describes how she leads and if she thinks there is a difference between how males and females lead groups. Research findings indicate that women leaders tend to:

· Be more sensitive to reading nonverbal signals (in meetings and sales calls).

· Relate more on an individual level and are less hierarchical than men.

· Focus more on building relationships.

1. What differences do you think there are between how women and men lead?

2. Why do you think there fewer female CEOs than male CEOs?

3. What are some of the ‘off-ramps’ for women leaders? How well do you think companies are handling these situations?

4. Do you think we are moving toward more equity or not? What forces are pushing us in the direction you have indicated?

Full Case Recommendations:

Cannon Associates is experiencing generational stresses between older sales veterans and new hires that threatens it sales teams. A recent team-training workshop hasn’t diminished the tension and lack of cooperation between the inside and field sales personnel. The sales manager has developed some proposed changes that he wants to review with corporate officer personnel. Discussions should include what types of leadership styles would appear to be effective in this situation. Additional discussions address which of the proposed suggestions should be implemented and which should not.

The Plantation revolves around the development of a golf course, a plantation-like clubhouse, and the home sites surrounding the development. An over-extended investor must now accelerate the sales or face bankruptcy. The case describes the new marketing plan and sales goals that must be met in a very limited time span. It lays out different types of sales goals and discusses the roles played by members of a sales team. Discussions should focus on the proposed sales structure and how it will be led, if in fact, it will. Both the old and the new sales force organizations involved family members. What are the ramifications of using family members in this situation?

Other In-Class Exercises:

Which leadership training would you send your sales force to?

Below are four commercial suppliers of ‘leadership’ training. Ask your students, as sales managers which ones they would most likely consider sending members of their sales force to? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each? Would level of sales experience make a difference in their choices? Which one would they consider for the most experienced members, average level of experience and little experience? If they had a sales force of seven people how much would it cost to implement their leadership training? What does that say for larger sized sales forces?

· The Center for Creative Leadership has conducted research on leadership as well as offering leadership training for many years. http://www.ccl.org/leadership/index.aspx

· Grid International - http://www.gridinternational.com/foundations.html

· Steven R. Covey – 7 Habits of Highly Effective People- http://www.stephencovey.com/

· Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership - http://www.greenleaf.org/

What is Their Leadership Style?

In several of the questions and caselets students are encouraged to explore what leadership approach they prefer. Most salespeople are not grounded in leadership research but when asked to describe their style may have a pretty good idea.

In the course of a sales manager interview (or other school mates if it more convenient) students should ask the manager to give three examples of how they lead. Compile the class’ responses and first, see if they have given examples of management or leadership. From the leadership examples ask the student’s which approach they think this person best exemplifies? What style is most frequently and least frequently observed? Why might this be the case?

Revisiting Good Websites

Discussion question 11 refers to the websites of Service Master, Starbucks and the Men’s Warehouse. All 3 of these offer some interesting insights into each company’s philosophy.

Assign students to teams and let them summarize what they see as worthy goals and others that might be considered as ‘just talk’. Another option would be to have them identify other companies that they might consider following a servant leadership approach (i.e., Southwest Airlines, Medtronic). An online search should help them easily identify several.

中国经济管理大学

中国经济管理大学官网：www.eauc.hk 中国经济管理大学 MBA公益课堂

中国经济管理大学 MOOC（慕课站）美华管理传播网：www.mhjy.net

香港特区政府欢迎司法机构设立香港国际商事法庭

Fri, 29 May 2026 14:52:15 +0800

中国经济管理大学 

香港特区政府欢迎司法机构设立香港国际商事法庭

中国经济管理大学/中國經濟管理大學

香港特区政府5月28日欢迎和支持司法机构宣布将设立香港国际商事法庭，专门审理重大的跨境国际商事纠纷，标志着香港法治体系发展迈向新里程。

行政长官李家超表示，国家“十五五”规划明确提出加快涉外法治体系和能力建设，健全国际商事调解、仲裁、诉讼等机制，支持香港巩固提升国际金融、航运、贸易中心和国际航空枢纽地位，深化国际法律及解决争议服务中心建设。香港特区是全国唯一实行普通法的司法管辖区，以普通法为基础的香港商业经贸法律与国际商事规则连接，一直深受国际商界和投资者信任。设立香港国际商事法庭，充分体现香港在“一国两制”下发挥背靠祖国、联通世界的独特优势，为国家高水平对外开放贡献新的更大力量，同时进一步推动国际商事规则发展。

诉讼、仲裁和调解是解决争议的三大主要途径。香港在积极发展国际仲裁和调解的同时，诉讼依然是最基本及不可或缺的争议解决方式之一。香港作为国际金融中心，司法制度稳健完善，设立香港国际商事法庭能为跨境交易、国际贸易、金融、基建或投资项目等全球高价值或复杂的商事争端提供公平、公正和专业的处理机制。

李家超说，香港一直支持自由贸易，是全球第五大商品贸易经济体，总部设在香港的国际调解院已经开业。当前地缘政治复杂多变，各经济体对于具国际公信力的商事争端解决平台需求殷切。设立香港国际商事法庭将强化香港在国际诉讼方面的核心能力和优势，与香港现有的国际仲裁和调解服务相辅相成，为全球企业或投资者提供多元化、全方位的争议解决选项，进一步提升香港法律和争议解决服务的国际竞争力，推动香港在国际争议解决服务迈向更高层次发展。香港特区司法机构在国际上享有崇高声誉。他深信香港国际商事法庭秉持香港司法机构的卓越和专业的公信力，会备受国际尊崇。

律政司司长林定国注意到，香港国际商事法庭将会聚焦处理复杂且高价值的国际商业纠纷，而审理案件的法官不仅来自香港，亦会包括其他普通法司法管辖区中、在该类案件具备声望和经验的法官。此外，法庭将参考其他国际商事法庭的做法，制定专门的实务指示，精简诉讼程序，确保案件得到及时和高效的处理。他表示香港国际商事法庭切合国家、香港和国际商贸社会的需求和期望，亦会为香港法律业界带来新机遇。

林定国指，特区政府极有信心，香港国际商事法庭凭借其国际化的法官背景和高效的诉讼程序，不仅能对其审理的案件作出具权威性及令当事人信服的裁决，其判例亦会对国际商事法律的发展带来重大贡献，从而进一步巩固香港普通法司法制度在国际间的声誉和地位，更好发挥香港在“一国两制”下这方面的独特优势。

特区政府全力支持和配合香港国际商事法庭的筹备工作及相关安排。

香港成全球最大跨境财富管理中心

波士顿咨询公司发布《2026年全球财富报告》指出，香港成为全球最大的跨境财富管理中心。《报告》更预计在2025至2030年间，香港管理的跨境财富规模将每年平均增长约9%，维持全球第一，充分肯定香港作为全球领先跨境财富管理中心的地位。

香港特区政府财政司司长陈茂波表示，国家“十五五”规划明确支持香港强化国际资产及财富管理中心功能，这也是香港“金融+”发展策略的重要一环。当前，环球投资者积极寻求多元化的资产配置，香港凭借“一国两制“下的优势；自由、开放、透明和可预期的经济政策；稳定安全的投资环境，以及跨越市场的联通优势，正吸引越来越多超高净值人士及家族办公室落户并在港投资。

陈茂波说，受惠于科技创新和人工智能相关产业快速发展所带来的财富增量，内地及亚洲地区对资产及财富管理的需求将加速增长，可以预期将为香港资产及财富管理业开创更大的发展空间。特区政府将继续把握和推动这一波发展，巩固和提升香港国际金融中心的地位和功能。

财经事务及库务局局长许正宇表示，本届特区政府致力巩固香港作为领先资产及财富管理中心的竞争优势，并落实多项措施。特区政府将于下月就优化基金、单一家族办公室和附带权益优惠税制向立法会提交立法建议，进一步提升税制的竞争力，吸引更多基金及家族办公室在香港成立及营运。

他指出，世界经济重心东移，地缘政治事件也凸显香港作为“安全港“的角色，反映香港作为国际金融中心的吸引力。在全球地缘政治风险升级的环境下，特区政府会与业界携手并进，提升香港资产及财富管理业的发展动能。

本届特区政府推进多项措施以完善家族办公室和资产拥有人的生态圈，取得不少成果：

于去年9月提前完成在《行政长官2022年施政报告》所订立于2025年年底前协助不少于200家家族办公室在香港设立或扩展业务的目标，并会争取在2026至2028年间再协助不少于220家家族办公室在香港设立或扩展业务；

在去年年底有超过3,380家单一家族办公室在港营办，两年间增加约680家，升幅超过25%；及

截至今年4月底，投资推广署共接获近3,600宗“新资本投资者入境计划”的申请，所有申请预计将为香港带来约1,080亿港元的投资金额。

中国经济管理大学

中国经济管理大学

中国经济管理大学官网：www.eauc.hk 中国经济管理大学 MBA公益课堂

中国经济管理大学 MOOC（慕课站）美华管理传播网：www.mhjy.net

中国经济管理大学-中國經濟管理大學

留学香港推荐哪所学府？中国经济管理大学 告诉你八所综合实力超强香港学府！

香港特区政府公布《香港企业财资中心发展行动计划》

今年是香港回归祖国二十九周年：庆祝香港特区成立二十九周年

Assessing the Performance of the Sales Force and the People Who Comp：中国经济管理大学 MBA课堂笔记《销售管理：塑造未来的领导者》

Motivating and Rewarding Salespeople：中国经济管理大学 MBA课堂笔记《销售管理：塑造未来的领导者》

Training and Developing the Sales Force：中国经济管理大学 MBA课堂笔记《销售管理：塑造未来的领导者》

Chapter Outline:

I. How Important is Training?

A. Well trained sales reps are more motivated and serve customers better than those who aren’t.

B. Compared with other areas of industry training, sales receives the most funding.

C. Sales executives ranked sales training as the most important area to improve.

D. Selling Power’s list of “Best Companies to Sell For” includes the amount of training a sales person receives as one of three factors in determining their annual ratings.

1. Determine Sales Training Objectives - Managers should consider information from three levels to help them determine what the objectives of sales training should be.

a) Organization Analysis – Review the firm’s mission, strategic initiative and upper management mandates to guide training to fit with firm’s current strategic goals.

b) Task Analysis – Focus on identifying the KSAs needed to perform the job successfully. Input should be solicited from job incumbents, upper management, sales managers, customers, performance measures as well as observations.

2. Determine Who Needs Sales Training

B. Designing and Developing the Sales Training Program

1. Determining What Content is Required – The results of the assessments should provide good insights into what content is needed in the sales training courses.

a) Sales training programs typically cover the following topics (in order from most frequent to less frequent).

(1) Product Knowledge

(2) Sales Skills

(3) Computer Skills

(4) Communication Skills

(5) Organizational Skills

(6) Management Skills

b) Other training content areas

(1) On-the-job training (OJT) or job shadowing – allows the trainee to observe a role model and gradually move into the role of sales person.

(2) Technology training – Providing technology without the training to make it work has been shown to be a sure route to failure. Integrating technology into the sales process is a critical step.

(3) Professional development – More experienced sales personnel need higher level training. This can range from advance presentation skills to summer institutes or graduate course work.

(4) Sales manager training – Often pushed to a lower priority, training for new sales managers is a critical training area.

a) Cognitive/Knowledge Categories – (moving from lower level skill to higher level) remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, creating.

b) Affective/Attitude Categories – (moving from lower to higher level) receiving inputs, responding to inputs, valuing, organizing, and internalizing values.

3. Staffing the Training Programs – Once the program content has been determined, a number of staffing decisions must be made.

a) Internal versus External Staffing Resources

(1) Factors to consider include: presenter credibility, expertise (company, market, sales processes, technology) availability, cost/price considerations.

b) Time Pressures – Logistical issues need to be addressed.

(1) How frequently will the program be offered (rarely vs. regularly)?

(2) Must it be done gradually or all at once?

(3) Can internal presenters dedicate time needed to the course?

c) Costs

(1) How much development time is needed?

(2) How many trainees will need the course?

(3) Travel costs (transportation, lodging, meals)

(4) Missed opportunity costs?

(5) Outsider provider costs?

4. Selecting the Training Delivery Method

a) Instructor-Led

(1) Classroom

(2) Online – synchronous (at the same time)

(3) Remote – video/audio (teleconference, video conference), webinar

b) On-Demand

(1) Online-networked (web-based courses, wikis)

(2) CD, DVD

(3) Audio/video (podcasting)

(4) Other (Computer simulations, games, etc.)

C. Delivering the Training

1. Scheduling the Training – After all the planning is complete the actual scheduling of classes needs to occur. Factors to consider include:

a) Centralized vs. Decentralized (Home office vs. Regional office vs. Local office)

b) Timing (Busy selling season vs. slow selling season)

c) Logistics (Open calendars, lodging, transportation, presenters availability)

2. Facilitate the Transfer of Learning – Trainees need to take what they learned in class and apply it in the field. To help facilitate this, do the following:

a) Make sure the training and field conditions are as similar as possible

b) Provide as many opportunities to practice the new skill

c) Provide a variety of situations to apply the new material to

d) Make sure the trainee has the opportunity to practice the new skills in the field

1. Determine the Value of Sales Training to the Individual – There are several measures that have an intuitive appeal – primarily at the individual level.

a) Reaction (Level 1) – Looks at the trainee’s reaction to training. “Happy sheets”. Easy to collect. Don’t measure learning. Reflects the trainees immediate reaction to the training. Generally reflects trainers’ personalities and location of training.

b) Learning (Level 2) – Considers pre- vs. post-training skill or knowledge levels. Easy to collect. Doesn’t reflect if training behaviors/skills can be applied in the field.

c) Behavior (Level 3) – Observation of trainee in the field. Requires observing trainee engage in new behaviors in the field – which will likely require time with sales managers/trainers.

2. Determine the Value of Sales Training to the Organization

a) Results (Level 4) – Were the overall training objectives achieved? If training was focused on fewer complaints –did that occur? Maybe flawed because of the influence of other factors (e.g., better product, better distribution, etc.)

b) Utility Analysis – An examination of costs/benefits. How useful was the training? What was economic impact of training?

E. Completing the Sales Training Cycle – At the conclusion of this process the findings need to be compared with the initial training objectives. Were they achieved? Why or why not? How could the sales training program(s) be improved?

III. Summary

A. Sales training is an on-going process and typically commands large investments of resources into the sales force.

B. The sales cycle revolves around four stages: Identifying Needs; Designing; Delivering and Evaluating the Programs. Few companies do a good job assessing needs or measuring the effectiveness of their training efforts.

C. New training technologies have greatly improved sales training opportunities for a more geographically dispersed sales force.

Setting Goals and Managing the Sales Force’s Performance：中国经济管理大学 MBA课堂笔记《销售管理：塑造未来的领导者》

Ethics, the Law, and Sales Leadership：中国经济管理大学 MBA课堂笔记《销售管理：塑造未来的领导者》

留学香港推荐哪所学府？中国经济管理大学告诉你八所综合实力超强香港学府！