What Salespeople DO

Salespeople are professional problem solvers. They are:

  1. Salespeople are Problem Solvers: They help people buy what they need. The goal of the salesperson is to help customers make good decisions, thus creating satisfaction before, during and after sales. Their first responsibility is to determine needs and locate the product, services and information that help customers teach their business goals.
  2. Salespeople are Influencers: They act as catalyst or influence buying decisions by applying their knowledge and persuasive powers to convince the customer that one of the solutions offered is viable and profitable.
  3. Salespeople are Facilitators: As new products and services appear on the market, producers, distributors and retailers face many choices. Salespeople make it easier for the customers to focus or uncover their most important needs. This requires questions, careful listening and identification of various priorities and solutions. This information allows them to facilitate a sound and profitable buying decision for the customer.

Responsibilities of Salespeople

Sales responsibilities vary in different firms and responsibility has a purpose, involves a specific task and has a beginning, middle and end. Many of the tasks must be completed on an ongoing basis. Salespeople are responsible for bringing product and services to the market, fitting them to the customer needs, persuading them that the product is of value to them and in the process bring a strong relationship. In all these, the customer has control of the decisions.

There are two types of responsibility: Direct and Indirect.

Direct and Indirect Selling Responsibilities

Direct

/

Indirect

1. Prospecting / 1. Handling complaints
2. Pre-call planning / 2. Maintaining customer relations
3. Building customer relationships / 3. Market intelligence
4.Attracting customer attention & interest / 4. Maintaining technical competency
5. Uncovering customer needs / 5. Collecting accounts
6. Making sales presentations / 6. Networking
7. Handling objections / 7. Trade and public relations
8. Closing the sales / 8. Office work
9. Servicing accounts / 9. Managing information
  1. Direct Selling Responsibilities: They are those that affect how the salesperson implement the sales process and works when he/she is face-to-face with the customer. Is the first function of the salesperson and involves getting organized in your territory, finding new customers (prospects), planning sales calls, building relationships, uncovering their needs, attracting their interests in your solutions, making recommendations and presenting them, closing sales and following-up after the sales with service. For agric salespeople these activities happen over a period of several calls in formal or informal sequences.
  2. Indirect Selling Responsibilities: Involve all the responsibilities salespeople must carry out to get themselves ready to sell, satisfy customers and create climate for continued sales. It may take more of salespeople time than direct selling and includes extended services performed for the customer, the company or industry.

-Customers may require more services many times during the year – e.g. during planting or harvesting or just “touching base” with the customer is important.

-Companies may require salespeople to stay “smart” on new technologies through various training or continued education.

-Industry: Salespeople may spend many hours learning about what is new in their industry.

The following are indirect selling responsibilities;

  1. Handling Complaints: When customers have problems with a product or service they express dissatisfaction back to the salesperson who sold the product. The way salespeople handle complaints can win them customers for life or cause customers to look for another supplier. Most firms provide guidelines for handling complaints. Resolving complaints may involve several steps or repeated calls or visits with the customers.
  1. Maintaining Customer Relationships: When salespeople become insensitive to customer feeling or when customers feel they are taken for granted, they are taken over by competitors who can give them the attention they deserve. The warning signs to lack of customer attention include customers not returning calls or putting off appointments.
  1. Market Intelligence:

Refers to info about customer trends, competitor activities, pdts performance, weather conditions, insect infestation – i.e market conditions. Mkt intelligence is not salespeople’s formal job as firms have mkt research & analysts acting as “investigative reporters”.But the salesperson is the firm’s “front line” in the battle for customer business. Thus salespeople must have current knowledge of mkt conditions at all times.

  1. Maintaining Technical Competency

Agric sales rest on technical foundation as results and profits in agricultural are based on how technology is adopted, purchased, used and evaluated. Professional agric sales people have to be up-to-date on current technology in their field. Many firms provide training to them in this regards.

  1. Collections

Sales is incomplete until payment is made. Many firms give salespeople the responsibility to identify “credit worthy” accounts, and to complete the initial stages of the collection process. Salespeople also explain the credit terms and policies, and to remind customers when accounts are overdue.

  1. Networking

A professional agric salesperson is expected to maintain contacts with USDA personnel, university researchers, extension staff etc. in the area of operation.

7. Education Customer

As problem solvers and influencers, an important part of salespeople’s job is to educate customers through meetings, seminars, field days, one-on-one with customers, service contacts etc.

  1. Office Work

Salespeople’s job includes some computer time, paper work, budgeting, administration, completion of weekly call reports, market conditions, order forms, inventory reports etc.

  1. Managing Information

Salespeople need to “plug in”, must be comfortable with computer, internet, email, and filing system etc.

To Whom Do Salespeople Sell?

Type of firms, products, services, goals result in different types of selling. One way to classify types of selling is by customer types and role of customer in the distribution channel as shown below.

Distribution Channel

Each business above is organized differently, has different goals and therefore will have different types of customers and selling types.

  1. Manufacturing and Processing Companies.

They manufacture inputs and process raw farm products for sale at wholesale, retail or farm level. Manufacturing sales reps may sell to distributors, retailers or direct to large farms. Manufacturing sales reps must thus have good sales and presentation skills and competitive attitude as their customers ( distributors and local retailers) rely on them for product training, sales support efforts and help them attain their goals.

  1. Distributors/Wholesalers

They buy from manufacturers and re-sell or distribute to retailers and large producer customers. The distributor sales reps must have knowledge of the industry and the problems solving skills to help retailers grow their business. These sales reps may work with buying agents or brokers who place order for the products or work with retailers to understand the trend among producers and customer and the product and services needed by the market.

  1. Retailers:

Some agric salespeople sell for retailers who also sell directly to local customers or end users such as farmers, ranchers, flower-growers etc. However many salespeople also prefer to sell to directly to farmers or end-users. They must thus develop sensitivity to current issues, economics and opportunities for the farmers or end-users.

Source: Chapter 2 of AgriSelling Textbook