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Successful Selling of Complex Products Such as Computer Software Requires

question 35

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Successful selling of complex products such as computer software requires excellent salespeople.Lack of quality service in the marketplace led Alan Hall,head of a small computer networking company,to open Technology Advancement Corporation in 1988.Today,Technology Advancement is a national field marketer with several divisions.The bulk of its business involves training and educating salespeople on the features,benefits,competitors,and market potential of Technology Advancement's clients' products.To date,Technology Advancement has focused on computer software and hardware makers and has launched most of the marquee names in the industry: Novell,Lotus Development,IBM,Microsoft,Apple Computer,Hewlett-Packard,Motorola,Intel,and Xerox,as well as smaller firms.
Here's how the Technology Advancement client relationship works for training.A marketer hires the company to promote its product or to launch a new product,and Technology Advancement assigns a team exclusively to that client.The team gathers,usually at a ski resort,and the client comes in for the training.The training starts with explaining how to use direct communication with a prospective purchaser and how it fits the company strategy and differs from sales promotion.Latest developments in the selling process are explained with special emphasis on networking,follow-up strategies,and post-purchase customer service.Many computer giants have reported that this type of training program has significantly improved their business.
-Refer to Kraft Foods.Mallory,a junior salesperson for Kraft,has been given a list of all grocery retailers in her region.She has been instructed to call each number on the list and see if the respondent is interested in stocking several new Kraft product lines.What is Mallory doing?

Definitions:

Allocative Efficiency

A state of the economy in which production represents consumer preferences; specifically, every good or service is produced up to the point where the last unit provides a marginal benefit to society equal to the marginal cost of producing it.

Production Possibilities Curve

A visual diagram illustrating the highest potential production mixes of two products or services that an economy can reach when it uses all its resources in a completely efficient manner.

Stable Supply Curve

A situation in which the supply curve remains unchanged over time, indicating that the quantity supplied is not affected by changes in price.

Increasing Demand

A situation where the quantity of a good or service that consumers are willing and able to buy increases, often due to factors like rising incomes, changes in tastes, or lower prices of the product.