The University of Alabama at Birmingham MK Professional Selling Spring 2014

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1 The University of Alabama at Birmingham MK Professional Selling Spring 2014 Professor: John D. Hansen, Ph.D. Office: BEC 207D Phone: jdhansen@uab.edu Meeting Time: M/W 2:00-3:15 BEC 117 Office Hours: M/W 12:00-2:00, or by appointment Required Texts: Ingram, Thomas N.; Raymond W. LaForge; Ramon A. Avila; Charles H. Schwepker; Michael R. Williams, (with Marketing CourseMate with ebook Printed Access Card), 3rd Edition, ISBN: Course Background and Approach: The course focuses on the fundamentals of professional selling and the professionalization of the field. Today, the most effective salespeople are customer- as opposed to product-oriented. They are excellent questioners, and even better listeners. They have an in-depth understanding of the problems their customers face and are able to deliver creative solutions which solve these problems. They understand the financial implications of these solutions, and are able to financially quantify the solutions they provide. Through all of these things they create value. This is important as for most salespeople the ability to differentiate on the basis of product or price alone is difficult. This course combines personal selling theory with actual practice. Students will be encouraged to develop the analytical and communicative skills useful in their future business relationship-building activities. Analytical skills will be developed through an assignment that requires students to research, design, and present their own comprehensive sales scenario. Students will also be provided opportunities to practice their communicative skills through in-class role playing. Through the course you will: Come to better understand what a career in professional selling entails. Learn the basics of a sales call and apply this knowledge. Significantly develop your interpersonal communication and formal presentation skills. UAB Professional Sales Program Professional Selling is the introductory course in a comprehensive professional sales area of study curriculum. The purpose of the sales area of study is to provide students with leading edge instruction as well as practical experience dedicated to preparing graduates for success in entrylevel sales positions and career advancement. Students completing the program will be awarded a sales certificate which is officially recognized on transcripts upon graduation.

2 Evaluative Criteria: Component Weight Point Total Final Grade Professionalism 25 points A CRM Team Presentation 25 points B Ripping Session Presentation 25 points C Final Role Play Video Presentation - Buyer 25 points D Final Role Play Video Presentation - Seller Less than 300 F Quizzes Exam I Exam II Total 500 points Grading: I encourage you to discuss your grade situation with me as the course progresses. However, no changes will be made in grades at the end of the course unless a clerical error has been made. Professionalism: Professionalism encompasses everything from attendance to participation to the way you carry yourself in class. I expect good preparation for each class. Sleeping, talking with other students and other similar behaviors are not acceptable. You are not to make or receive any calls on your cell phone during class. Ringers should be turned to silent mode (or preferably your phone should be turned off). Do not check your phone during class for incoming calls or text messages. Laptops are not permitted during class discussions. Just as your attendance will be required in the real world, your attendance is required here. Each student is afforded two unexcused absences. From there, each unexcused absence will result in a five-point deduction from your final grade. Absences will negatively affect your professionalism grade as well. Attendance will be taken at the start of every class. If you are not here when attendance is taken, you are considered absent. You must see me at the end of class and explain your reason for being late to have the absence removed. Further, if you leave class and do not return without providing an explanation you will be counted as absent. Under no circumstances should students leave or re-enter the classroom while other students are presenting. CRM Software Team Selling Presentations: In order to enhance your knowledge of customer relationship management (CRM) software tools, student teams will present detailed overviews of the most popular CRM packages ACT!, salesforce.com, NetSuite CRM+, SugarCRM, GoldMine, and Maximizer. Teams should approach the presentation as if they are trying to sell their software in comparison to the other packages being presented. Other than that, there are no parameters for this presentation. Appropriate dress is required. 2

3 Quizzes: Quizzes will be administered online prior to each chapter discussion. Each quiz will consist of 20 questions and will be worth. Your overall quiz grade will be calculated as the average of all of these scores. You must take the quiz during the allotted time. Exams: Two exams will be administered over the course of the term. Exams must be taken on the assigned dates. Absence from an exam will result in a score of zero unless a university-approved and documented excuse is provided prior to the exam. Role Plays: Role plays have been used as a learning tool in selling for many years. As the term suggests, in a role play you will assume the role of either a seller or a buyer. You will buy and sell in teams of two. You may choose the person you want to buy and sell with; students who do not choose a partner will be assigned one. All role plays will be conducted outside of class and videotaped. We will discuss the grading template for the role plays and watch example role plays to help you better understand what you will be doing and how you will be evaluated. We will also go through extensive practice sessions during class time. All students must sell in the business-to-business context; you cannot sell to final consumers. In advance of the role play, you will lead a ripping session. These sessions are used by some firms to assist salespeople as they prepare for important customer meetings. In this presentation, you will provide a profile of the selling company, profile of the buying company, discussion of the needs to be addressed, discussion of the FABs to be discussed in relation to these needs, and your primary and minimal call objectives. Classmates will then brainstorm all possible objections they believe you will hear in the role play (they will, in essence, rip the solution being offered). We will then choose the top five objections believed to be most likely, and you will have to develop responses for them in advance of the actual role play. The role play is broken down into four components: (1) Approach, (2) Solution Presentation; (3) Overcoming Objections, and (4) Gaining Commitment. Your performance as a seller is worth 100 points, while your performance as a buyer is worth 25 points. You will turn in to me (via ) a final buyer information sheet no later than Thursday, April 3. This document will be utilized by your buyers during the role play and will include the finalized buyer needs, the five potential objections identified during your ripping session, and your primary and minimal sales call objectives. All final role plays will conducted outside of class April Sellers and buyers must be appropriately dressed for their final role plays. You will begin the actual role play with a brief approach and then move through the sales process. You should have it planned so you are attempting to gain commitment in approximately fifteen minutes, as the role-play will be stopped at twenty minutes. Though you should not read during the role play, you can, of course, use a sales portfolio, an organizer, or various visual aids. 3

4 Americans with Disabilities Act Compliance: If you have a disability, you aren t at a disadvantage. UAB's Disability Support Services (DSS) provides a broad array of services and technologies to make the UAB campus - and a UAB education - accessible for everyone. Academic Misconduct Academic misconduct undermines the purpose of education. Such behavior is a serious violation of the trust that must exist among faculty and students for a university to nurture intellectual growth and development. Academic misconduct can generally be defined as all acts of dishonesty in an academic or related matter. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to: Abetting is helping another student commit an act of academic dishonesty. Allowing someone to copy your quiz answers or use your work as their own are examples of abetting. Cheating is the unauthorized use or attempted use of unauthorized materials, information, study aids, the work of others, or computer-related information. Plagiarism means claiming as your own the ideas, words, data, computer programs, creative compositions, artwork, etc., done by someone else. Examples include improper citation of referenced works, the use of commercially available scholarly papers, failure to cite sources, or copying another person s ideas. Fabrication means presenting falsified data, citations, or quotations as genuine. See the Student Handbook for additional information. 4

5 Class Schedule: Date Day Activity 7-Jan Tuesday Introduction 9-Jan Thursday Video Presentation: The New Selling of America 14-Jan Tuesday Chapter 1 16-Jan Thursday Role Play Critique 21-Jan Tuesday Achieve Sales Excellence Presentation 23-Jan Thursday Chapter 6 28-Jan Tuesday No Class: Weather 30-Jan Thursday No Class: Weather 4-Feb Tuesday Role Play Critique 6-Feb Thursday CRM Team Presentations (Teams 1-3) 11-Feb Tuesday CRM Team Presentations (Teams 5) 13-Feb Thursday Guest Presentation 18-Feb Tuesday CRM Team Presentations (Teams 7-9) 20-Feb Thursday CRM Team Presentations (Teams 4/6) 25-Feb Tuesday Exam I 27-Feb Thursday Chally Sales Assessment Presentation and Exercise 4-Mar Tuesday Role Play Ripping Sessions 6-Mar Thursday Role Play Ripping Sessions 11-Mar Tuesday Role Play Ripping Sessions 13-Mar Thursday Chapter 2 18-Mar Tuesday In-Class Exercises: The Approach 20-Mar Thursday Chapter 3 1-Apr Tuesday In-Class Exercises: The Solution 3-Apr Thursday Chapter 4 8-Apr Tuesday Guest Speaker: Diana Nguyen 10-Apr Thursday In-Class Exercises: Overcoming Objections 15-Apr Tuesday Chapter 5 17-Apr Thursday Exam II *Students will have the opportunity to visit with me and review their role plays during our final exam time. Role plays will be conducted outside of class April