Nowaday, the internet is a good media to the business. The extensive use of the internet to gather information and to make purchases is the key business channel development of the 1990s. As household penetration of computers increase and the speed of the information access over the internet increases, the importance of this channel of distribution will also increase. Although there is considerable concern that the internet will take sales away from other channel of distribution, it is also likely that the internet will allow companies to better access additional market segments.
The internet can be used in all phases of essential activities that need to be performed. Its advertising and streaming qualities can be used on a company’s website to create interset. Pre-purchasing and purchasing activities are accomplished on e-commerce buying sites. Automate reordering, tracking of transactions, billing information, and other post-transaction activities are also efficiently and effectively executed on the internet. Although the internet cost a little more per contact than direct mail, overall it is more effective at generating desired customer behaviors. With continued technological advances, the internet’s effectiveness is likely to continue to increase.
Many companies are finding that the internet is able to increase the effectiveness of their sales forces. For example, Hewlett-Packard has aggressively purchased electronic channels with HP Shopping Village(for customers), HP Commerce Centre(for businesses buying from authorized resellers), and Electronic Solutions(for contract customers). Thanks to a tight integration between HP’s own intranet and reseller’s home pages, HP will take the customers’ order and, at the last moment, kick the order over to the reseller’s home page. The reseller complete the order, diliver the product, and gets the commision. In this way, HP helps to alleviate the conflict that often arises when selling through multiple channels.
Even companies that are 100 percent committed to the internet are finding that they need to understand their customer better. An excutive at Intel noted,” Today we notice that trying to get our customers to purchase through the web has not worked, but we do know that buyers will make their purchasing decisions because of the internet. They continue to want to talk to our salespeople about price—maybe if we had a’haggle’ button on the web, they would do it.”
As changing economic conditions have forced companies to seek cost-effective sales training for their worldwide sales force, more and more are turing to online solutions. One pharmaceutical company, for example, estimated that it cost $7 million to bring all of their 6,000 sales people together for training. Now, instead of bringing its sales force together from place like Kuala Lumpur for two annual sales meetings, it holds as many as 18 inline worldwide sales training meetings. By using internet or intranet-based technology, managers can make sure their salespeople get the necessary information as soon as it is available without leaving their territories or customers. It is that flexibility that is fluening the growth of internet traing in the United States. One study has estimathed thate the U.S intermet-based trainging market will be a $2 billion industry by the beginning of the twenty-first century.
Of course no new technology is without its drawbacks. For example, initial start-up costs of e-learning websites are high, and distractions at the rep’s location could affect learing and retention. Also, many companies have discovered that online courses are not as effective as traditional learning enviroments when teaching advanced skills. This is because adults are better able to master difficult concepts when they can ask questions and role-play to reinforce concepts. Experts recommend a good mix of online and classroom trainning to be 80 percent online and 20 percent classroom.
Many companies issue salespeople laptop computers. In addition, many companies, such as IBM, are also creating “home office” for their sales force that eliminate the deed to go into an office at all. With a high-speed network connection, laptop or desktop computer, printer, and cell phone, a salesperson is almost totally self-sufficient. Salespeople use PCs to plan their call activities, submit orders, send reports, check on inventory and price levels, receive messages, and present product and service demonstrations. In some products have been selling in an area or for a specific customer.
Another use of internet in sales is a prospect of a generating new account. The internet has revolutionized the process of selling and qualifying prospects. Not only can potential customers make purchased over the internet, but a wealth of information is available over the internet. Most of the search engines available today are quite good at locating company websites. In addition, published information on companies is readily available at websites, such as Business Week and the Wall Street Journal.
In addition to these public sources of company information, the internet is being used as a vehicle for supplying information specializing in particulat industries. U.S. LifeLine, Inc., for example, will supply a wealth of information about health care provider such as hospitals, physician offices, and long-term care facilities to manufacturers and distributors selling to these organisations. They provide financial information, data on capital expenditures and procedural costs by area, as well as excutive-level profiles and photos. All this information can be download from the internet and used as graphical information in a powerpoint presentation, which makes it more feasible to develop excellent sales resentations on the road.
The internet also use as a tool of customer interaction management. An increasingly common method of communicaitons, whether with new or existing clients, is to leave an e-mail message. A recent survey shows that 52 percent of companies are using e-mail when prospecting fpr new customers, while 90 percent are using it for rentention of existing customers. E-mail messages have at least two advantages over voice messages. First, it is possible to send the message at very little cost in time or money to a large number of people to whom the same message is applicable. Second, graphics and detailed promotional meterial may be included with the message as an attachment to the main message. Many of the same rules of thumb that were mentioned with respect to leaving voice message also apply to e-mail messages. In particular, the body of the message should be kept as shour as possble. It is not unusual for busy executives to receive 50 to 100 voice message. There is also the problem of communicationg effectively via e-mail. Garammatical and spelling error are quite common in e-mail messages. Also, a lot of information is communicated by how you say something in addition to the actual words you may use. This communication is lost when using e-mail. You can describe your new services or products to your customers by recording one message and e-mailing it to a number of people at once.
When it comes to getting on a senir executive’s calendar at a large firm, none of the techniques metioned above is likely to be successful very often. Surveys of senior executives indicate that most of them do not allow salespeople to call on them unless someone inside their company recommends. tn ther words, you must first establish relationships whth midlevel managers at most large accounts. At the same time, studies show that salespeople who do not gain excutive access until late in the selling cycle find their impact to be greatly reduced.
The internet is a media of advertising. Advertise in the web site are often used th attract salespeople. One advantage of these types of ads is thir ability to attract a large number of applicants. The Wall Street Journal and employment-related websites, such as Monster.com are full of ads for experienced asles reps, sales managers, and vice presidents of sales. These ads have the advantage of reaching a wide audience for relatively little cost and may attract candidates who are not actively looking for a job. Some companies attempt to traget specific types of candidates by limiting the scope of thire ad placements to trade publications , industry-related websitds, or their own website, in addtion, humour is sometimes used to make their ads stand out.
Adevetising’s strength in attracting job applicants may also be its greatest drawback. There is a tendency to overburden the selection process with underqualified applicants, resulting in an extensive and costly screening process, which produces a high cost per hire despite a low cost per applicant.
Reference:
Mark W. Johnston and Greg W. Marshall(2006), “Sales Force Management”, 8th Eition, McGraw Hill, International Edition
Douglas J. Dalrymple , William L. Cron and Thomas E. DeCarlo(2004), “Sales Management”, 8th Edition, Wiley International Edition
Douglas J. Dalrymple , William L. Cron and Thomas E. DeCarlo(2001), “Sales Management”, 7th Edition, Wiley International Edition
Rayport J.F. and Jaorski B.J(2001), E-Commerce, McGraw Hill, International Edition
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