One of the First Sales Management Decisions a Firm Must

question 144

Essay

One of the first sales management decisions a firm must make is whether the company should build its own salesforce or hire independent agents such as manufacturers' representatives. Abacus Designs sells high-end furniture to retailers and needs to make this decision. Independent agents would receive a 5 percent commission on sales while a company salesforce would receive a 3 percent commission, salaries, and benefits. In addition, with company salespeople, sales administration costs would be incurred for a total fixed cost of $500,000 per year. At what sales level would independent salespeople be less costly?

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Definitions:

Entertainment Expenditures

Money spent on activities or products that provide leisure and enjoyment, such as movies, games, concerts, and hobbies.

Mode

The value that appears most frequently in a data set, representing the most common or popular outcome among a set of observations.

Standard Deviation

A statistical measure that quantifies the amount of variation or dispersion of a set of data values.

Variation

The occurrence of differences or deviations within a population, which can be genetic, phenotypic, or behavioral, among individuals or groups.