200091 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Critical Mass, National Accounts
Document Summary
Advantages: most common form, reduces travel distance and time between customers, usually minimizes costs. Major disadvantages: each salesperson must perform all selling tasks for all firm"s products and for all customers in territory. 2. salesperson has substantial leeway in choosing which products and customers to emphasize. may not know about all products or only emphasize certain (high commission) products: product oriented sales organizations. Salespersons specialize in relatively narrow components of total product line. Appropriate when the product line is large, diverse, or technically complex and when a salesperson needs a high degree of application knowledge to meet customer needs. Furthermore, various products often elicit various patterns of buying behavior. (e. g. , general electric). Prime benefit: enables sales force to develop deeper product knowledge level--enhances value of firm"s total offering to customers. Disadvantage: expensive and sometimes confusing for customers. - Critical mass of demand required to offset cost.
