Module 6: Sales Role Perceptions Flashcards
Role perceptions
Beliefs about one’s job and job expectations
boundary spanners
An individual who has the role of connecting an organization’s internal network with external sources of information
job aptitude
A employee’s ability to perform in a particular role
skill level
Special ability in a task or job; ability acquired by training
motivation
The general desire or willingness of someone to do something
Top 5 Personal Traits of Salespeople
Assertiveness Self-awareness Empathy Problem-solving Optimism
Internal stakeholders
Entities within a business (e.g., employees, managers, the board of directors, investors)
External stakeholders
Entities not within a business itself but who care about or are affected by its performance (e.g., consumers, regulators, investors, suppliers)
role ambiguity
A situation where people are unclear or uncertain about their role expectations
role conflict
A situation where there are incompatible demands placed upon a person relating to his or her job or position
role inaccuracy
A mistaken perception of role expectations
role stress
The pressures experienced by people because of their role (job) in the organization
Role ambiguity has been found to lead to several negative stress-related outcomes:
Produces psychological strain and dissatisfaction.
Leads to underutilization of human resources.
Leads to feelings of futility on how to cope with the organizational environment.
matrix structure
An organizational structure that combines people from different functional areas of the organization
Job satisfaction
The level of contentment a person feels regarding his or her job
Affective job satisfaction
A person’s emotional feeling about the job as a whole
Cognitive job satisfaction
How satisfied employees feel concerning some aspect of their job, such as pay, hours, or benefits
When developing the sales force structure, sales managers must do the following:
Figure out the right mix of generalists, product, market, or activity specialists with the objective of balancing sales force productivity. What is the right mix? That depends on the company and its offerings.
Design a reporting structure that makes it easy to both coordinate and control the sales process and the activities of the salespeople.
Help the salespeople achieve their goals (and reduce stress) by providing training, coaching, incentives, information support, and performance management.
Sales territories
A geographical area or type of customers assigned to a sales unit such as salesperson, sales team, or sales manager
sales targets
A goal set for a sales representative or sales department in terms of revenue or units sold in a specific time period
buying power
Purchasing power
. When setting quotas, successful sales managers tend to
ask for less than they think the salesperson can deliver;
compare results to past performance, not forecasts; and
ensure that the compensation scheme allows the sales force to make money when the company does.1
departmentalization
Dividing an organization into different departments, which perform tasks according to the departments’ specializations in the organization
Product structure
An organizational structure based on the goods or services produced or sold by the organizational unit
Customer structure
An organizational structure based on the primary type of customer served by the organizational unit
Geography structure
An organizational structure based on the geographic segmentation of organizational units
advantages to adopting a matrix structure
Teamwork, efficient use of resources, flexibility, ability to balance conflicting objectives, higher performance, opportunities for personal and professional development
Disadvantages of Matrix Structure
Power struggles, confusion among team members, lack of cohesiveness.
Centralization
The concentration of control of an activity under a single authority
Decentralization
Decision-making responsibilities are delegated by top management to middle and lower-level managers
four main factors influence a consumer’s experience, involvement, and satisfaction with a product, which in turn create perception.
Personal, object, situational, social
Personal
Personal or individual factors such as gender, age, income level or social class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, lifestyle, religious beliefs, and culture can substantially influence a person’s perceptions and therefore determine his or her experience and involvement with a product or brand.
Object
The degree of information that a consumer has about a product, including how well he or she can distinguish its characteristics, can also affect his or her experience, involvement, and satisfaction.
Situational
Products that can easily conform to and enrich a consumer’s lifestyle tend to be consumed with more frequency and involvement. For example, a busy working mother might rely heavily on her smartphone to keep her organized and effective in an effortless manner.
Social
Social influence can deeply affect consumer behavior, especially as related to the products they consider and consume. A consumer’s social network has a strong influence on the products he or she uses, as individuals tend to rely on the opinions and advice of friends and family.
