The Role Professional Salespeople Play
What Salespeople Do
Salespeople act on behalf of their companies to do the following:
- Create value for firms' customers. Salespeople create value by understanding the needs of their customers and then creating solutions to meet those needs. Salespeople also must act on behalf of the customer when the customers have specific needs that should be addressed by the company.
- Manage relationship between companies and customers. Salespeople can adapt the offering or they can adapt how they present the offering so that it is easier for the client to understand and make the right decision. This ability isn't something that can be easily accomplished with other types of marketing communications. Role conflict occurs when companies and customers each have different expectations of the salesperson's job. Salespeople must recognize that making and retaining customers is the key to having "customers for life." Sales representatives have to decide which accounts to cultivate; which accounts they have the best shot at willing and are the most lucrative.
Gathering Information
Salespeople are boundary spanners, in that they operate outside the firm and in the field. They are the first to learn about what competitors are doing. Important aspect of their job is to report back to the company about the competition's new offerings and strategies. Salespeople also get a lot of information from customers that will help the company create new offerings, adjust current offerings (Boundary spanner).