ABSTRACT
For many companies, personal selling is a necessary condition for success, with the sales force being analogous to battle troops as their relative quality determines who wins the competitive war. Strategic planning in field selling is frequently subordinated to operational planning with the result that sales management carry on selling when they should be marketing. Sales force communication goals, however, vary with the marketing strategy's competitive objectives and the want-states of the target audience. Every salesperson is expected to report customer reaction to the firm's offering. But an important though neglected function in industrial markets is that of collecting market intelligence. The development of the sales strategy follows steps already described in the chapter on strategy formulation. Customer appeals may take account not only of product benefits, but of the problems customers are likely to anticipate in buying the product. Procedural problems occur in learning how to use or how to sell the product.
