4ME3 Winter 2014 - Page 1 of 13 COMMERCE 4ME3 SALES MANAGEMENT Winter 2014 Course Outline Marketing DeGroote School of Business McMaster University COURSE OBJECTIVE This course focuses on examining the essential functions of a `Sales Professional in today s business environment. With the emerging nature of global and fiercely competitive markets, the onus is on the sales team, within most business organizations, to provide that vital edge. Importantly, almost one in six business students find placement in the sales function upon completing their undergraduate studies. It is critical, therefore, for the commerce grad to be prepared to take on this challenge when faced with it. This course introduces students to key theoretical frameworks for a sound foundation in the `science of selling and allows for enough opportunity to experience the practical application of this theory in a controlled setting. INSTRUCTOR AND CONTACT INFORMATION Mandeep Malik malikm@mcmaster.ca Assistant Professor Office: DSB 228 TA: TBA Tel: (905) 525 9140 x23972 Classroom: DSB B 105 COURSE ELEMENTS Credit Value: 3 Team skills: Yes IT skills: No Global: No Avenue: Yes Verbal skills: Yes Numeracy: Yes Political: No Participation: Yes Written skills: Yes Innovation: Yes Social: Yes Evidence based: Yes Experiential: Yes Final Exam: No Guest speaker(s): Yes COURSE SUCCESS SKILLS Proactive thinking and action; Creative problem solving; A responsible and self directed working style; Networking ability; Curiosity and Asking Good Questions; Good interpersonal skills; Information mining skills; Analytical ability; Open mindedness; Interest in persuading and influencing people; Good Planning and Time Management; Effective Team work skills.
4ME3 Winter 2014 - Page 2 of 13 COURSE DESCRIPTION The primary purpose of this course is to acquaint students with the essential concepts and practices in B2B buying and selling. Selling is about dealing with customers and their needs, and it has less to do with the product or service than is commonly believed. The course therefore has a focus on customer decision process and an influence approach for each stage of buying. It will be taught using a mix of classroom workshops, guest lectures and observation in a work setting. Role plays will be used to give practice in analyzing customer types, solving typical sales problems, and developing a consultative selling approach. The course attempts to maximize `sales practice time by allowing students to open and / or lead class discussions and using an online simulation. COURSE CHALLENGES 1. It will offer you many opportunities to sharpen your ability to think on your feet, develop your ability to improvise and work creatively in face to face transactions. 2. Your interpersonal ability and presentation skills will be tested in role play situations and inclass presentations, helping you develop `public speaking confidence 3. Learn through self critique and meaningful critique of peer ideas in class debates 4. Learn using the process of information search, information analysis and opinion development also including disagreement / debate during all class discussions LEARNING OUTCOMES This course will help you to: 1. Understand the basics of professional selling practices, as they need to be applied today 2. Develop a strong foundation in the customer decision process for business buying and the related B2B sales process 3. Gain the knowledge and skills for a typical entry level sales position in the B2B environment REQUIRED ONLINE LEARNING RESOURCE Visit www.emz2.com and sign up for an online sales training resource that will challenge you with a new sales situation in each session and help you to develop the skills to solve sales problems in face to face consultative selling situations. Your online progress will be tracked and you will be coached by the Class TA. Recommended Readings from the journals Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management Industrial Marketing Management and Textbook Selling Building Partnerships by Weitz, Castleberry and Tanner Approx. $ 100 CAD
4ME3 Winter 2014 - Page 3 of 13 EVALUATION Components and Weights Participation in Class Discussions...... 20% (Individual) Leading Class Discussion on a Topic... 05% (optional) Completion of Job Shadowing Report... 15% Sales Role Play Interim... 15% Sales Role Play Final... 30% Performance in Online Learning Project... 15% (Individual) TOTAL 100% IMPORTANT: STUDENT EVALUATION METHODS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE Conversion At the end of the course your overall percentage grade will be converted to your letter grade in accordance with the following conversion scheme. LETTER GRADE PERCENT LETTER GRADE PERCENT A+ 90 100 C+ 67 69 A 85 89 C 63 66 A 80 84 C 60 62 B+ 77 79 D+ 57 59 B 73 76 D 53 56 B 70 72 D 50 52 F 00 49 Communication and Feedback Students that are uncomfortable in directly approaching an instructor regarding a course concern may send a confidential and anonymous email to the respective Area Chair or Director: http:///curr/emailchairs.aspx Students who wish to correspond with instructors or TAs directly via email must send messages that originate from their official McMaster University email account. This protects the confidentiality and sensitivity of information as well as confirms the identity of the student. Emails regarding course issues should NOT be sent to the Administrative Assistant. Instructors can conduct an informal course review with students by Week #4 to allow time for modifications in curriculum delivery. Instructors should provide evaluation feedback for at least 10% of the final grade to students prior to Week #8 in the term.
4ME3 Winter 2014 - Page 4 of 13 A. CLASS CONTRIBUTION (20% + 5%) This course will rely heavily on `EMPOWERED LEARNING involving student led discussions and in class presentations on the topic of the day. As such it is imperative that you prepare for each class this will determine the take home value of this course to you and impact your learning as well as that of your peers. It is our belief that highly interactive environments are the breeding grounds for excellence in stimulating idea generation, enhancing communication skills, improving analytical processes, fostering collaborative networks, testing assumptions, and having fun! This is also the time and place to develop the assertiveness and communication skills that are necessary for success in business. Consequently, we value and reward contribution. For our sales class, contribution relates to: Being prepared for class discussion demonstrate fair knowledge of subject content; Offering analysis in a critical and constructive manner; Being eager / willing to debate issues using logic and integrating knowledge of basic sales/marketing concepts; Listening and reacting to comments made by other students Your ability to communicate clearly (i.e., quantity of dialogue is not the same as quality); Demonstrate initiative to bring new and relevant knowledge to class discussions Leading Class Discussion: Each two person team will be assigned a topic by the instructor to prepare a presentation for leading a class discussion. This will include a PowerPoint presentation, class participation exercises and a Q & A period (either throughout or at the end of the presentation). You will be evaluated on the quality of the facilitation, insights / learning presented and subsequent discussions that ensue, as well as your preparedness to address questions and provide key takeaways. You are expected to dress professionally when leading the class discussion (business casual is acceptable). Interim contribution marks will be available through the TA about half way through the course. Come to see me then if your mark is low, or well before if you are concerned that it might be low. There are ways I can help you to participate more effectively. The key to high participation grades is making a quality contribution to every class. Marks will be awarded on both quality and consistency. Absence from class is a serious matter, since you obviously cannot participate if you re not there. If there are legitimate reasons for you to miss class, you need to provide documentation within one week of returning to school to the Academic Programs Office.
4ME3 Winter 2014 - Page 5 of 13 GROUP WORK Groups will consist of two students. They will operate as a buyer seller team for the first roleplay and as a sales team of two for the final role play (this may change based on student needs or instructor choice regarding the nature of exam). Please note that 65% of your mark in this course is based on teamwork so choose your partner wisely. On or before January 28th, you are required to advise the TA of your team details. All hand in assignments will be completed as a group so even though you will job shadow individually, you will submit one report on the experience. OBJECTIVES OF THE GROUP The purpose of asking you to work in groups is to allow you to experience the process of addressing sales problems and tasks with a partner a reality you may be faced with in the field. Given the complexities encountered in selling, most technology and industrial product companies encourage teams to work on major accounts. Sometimes these teams are a combination of sales specialist and technical specialist, other times they may be sales manager and an executive. Today, I believe the sales professional and his or her buyer work as a team too. In the real world team formations have many different objectives. This classroom partnership will allow you to learn how to manage this process more easily, when you are faced with it in the working world. It will help you in areas like relationship building, communication, building trust, division of tasks, respect, handling conflict and motivating others to meet mutually agreed upon `win win goals. B. HAND IN ASSIGNMENTS Length and Appearance Job shadowing report: No more than ten pages (10 pages) plus any appendices that you choose to include. (Appendices consist of information that supports the main content of your report but is too detailed or voluminous to include in the body). Appendices not referred to in the body of the report will not be marked. In terms of appearance, your objective is to write reports using business standards. That means, your submissions should be typed and double spaced, should have one inch margins all around and should employ a font size of no smaller than twelve points. Whole numbers ten or less should be written in words. Good English grammar and spelling count so edit carefully. Timing Written assignments will be accepted for grading only on or before the assigned due date and time. Please do not wait until the day the report is due to complete it. Viruses, printer problems, file or disc problems, etc. should all be detected and corrected before the due date.
4ME3 Winter 2014 - Page 6 of 13 ACADEMIC DISHONESTY It is the student s responsibility to understand what constitutes academic dishonesty. Please refer to the University Senate Academic Integrity Policy at the following URL: http://www.mcmaster.ca/policy/students AcademicStudies/AcademicIntegrity.pdf This policy describes the responsibilities, procedures, and guidelines for students and faculty should a case of academic dishonesty arise. Academic dishonesty is defined as to knowingly act or fail to act in a way that results or could result in unearned academic credit or advantage. Please refer to the policy for a list of examples. The policy also provides faculty with procedures to follow in cases of academic dishonesty as well as general guidelines for penalties. For further information related to the policy, please refer to the Office of Academic Integrity at: http://www.mcmaster.ca/academicintegrity ONLY IF APPLICABLE In this course we will be using Turnitin.com which is a plagiarism detection service. Students will be expected to submit their work electronically to Turnitin.com so that it can be checked against the internet, published works and Turnitin s database for similar or identical work. If a student refuses to submit his or her work to Turnitin.com, he or she cannot be compelled to do so and should not be penalized. Instructors are advised to accept a hard copy of the assignment and grade it as per normal methods. The assignment can be subjected to a Google search or some other kind of search engine if the instructor wishes. To see guidelines for the use of Turnitin.com, please go to: http://www.mcmaster.ca/academicintegrity/turnitin/students/index.html COPYRIGHT McMaster University has signed a license with the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright) which allows professors, students, and staff to make copies allowed under fair dealing. Fair dealing with a work does not require the permission of the copyright owner or the payment of royalties as long as the purpose for the material is private study, and that the total amount copied equals NO MORE THAN 10 percent of a work or an entire chapter which is less than 20 percent of a work. In other words, it is illegal to: i) copy an entire book, or ii) repeatedly copy smaller sections of a publication that cumulatively cover over 10 percent of the total work s content. Please refer to the following copyright guide for further information: http://library.mcmaster.ca/about/copying.
4ME3 Winter 2014 - Page 7 of 13 REQUESTS FOR RELIEF FOR MISSED ACADEMIC TERM WORK 1. Students may request relief from a regularly scheduled midterm, test, assignment or other course component in the following two ways: a) for absences from classes lasting up to five (5) days; or b) for absences from classes lasting more than five (5) days. a) For absences from classes lasting up to five (5) days Students must use the MSAF (McMaster Student Absence Form). This is an on line, selfreporting tool, for which submission of medical or other types of supporting documentation is normally not required. Students may use this tool to submit a maximum of two requests for relief of missed academic work per term. Students must immediately follow up with their course instructors regarding the nature of the relief. Failure to do so may negate the opportunity for relief. It is the prerogative of the instructor of the course to determine the appropriate relief for missed term work in his/her course. b) For absences from classes lasting more than five (5) days Students cannot use the MSAF. They MUST report to the APO to discuss their situation and will be required to provide appropriate supporting documentation. 2. Students who wish to submit more than two requests for relief of missed academic work per term cannot use the MSAF. They MUST report to the APO to discuss their situation and will be required to provide supporting documentation and meet with the Director. 3. The MSAF cannot be used during any final examination period. 4. Students who require accommodations to meet a religious obligation or to celebrate an important religious holiday must make their requests within three weeks of the start of term to the APO. 5. Students seeking relief due to: work related (for part time students only) commitments; representing the university at an academic or varsity athletic event; and/or conflicts between two (or more) overlapping scheduled midterm exams, have the option of applying for special exam arrangements. Such requests must be made to the APO at least ten (10) working days before the scheduled exam along with acceptable documentation. There will be only one common sitting for the special exam. Instructors cannot themselves allow students to unofficially write make up exams/tests. Adjudication of the request must be handled by the APO.
4ME3 Winter 2014 - Page 8 of 13 STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES Students with disabilities are required to inform the Centre for Student Development (CSD) of accommodation needs for examinations on or before the last date for withdrawal from a course without failure (please refer to official university sessional dates). Students must forward a copy of such CSD accommodation to the instructor immediately upon receipt. If a student with a disability chooses NOT to take advantage of a CSD accommodation and chooses to sit for a regular exam, a petition for relief may not be filed after the examination is complete. The CSD website is: http://csd.mcmaster.ca POTENTIAL MODIFICATIONS TO THE COURSE The instructor and university reserve the right to modify elements of the course during the term. The university may change the dates and deadlines for any or all courses in extreme circumstances. If either type of modification becomes necessary, reasonable notice and communication with the students will be given with explanation and the opportunity to comment on changes. It is the responsibility of the student to check their McMaster email and course websites weekly during the term and to note any changes. C. PROJECT DETAILS Job Shadowing Assignment Report (due in class on Tuesday March 4th) This report will be based on your job shadowing day and that of your partner you will, however, submit a group report that contrasts the two experiences and reviews the sales calls witnessed in relation to concepts discussed in class. You are required to job shadow a Sales Representative or a Sales Executive, in a B2B environment. This should be a one on one, minimum half day `on field experience in which you are witnessing face to face customer calls. Ideally, you should arrange it such that you get to witness a minimum of three customer interactions at different stages of the sales cycle. Members within a group must also choose two different companies however these can be within the same industry sector. Final Role Play Test (in the weeks of April 7 th and 14 th unless otherwise arranged given exam schedules) The situation, product / service and guidelines will be provided at least two weeks prior to the scheduling of the final test. It is typical in this test that you undertake a team selling effort to the buyer (played by the instructor or an external representative). It is possible that this role play be videotaped for our records. Your skills will be tested on each stage of the buying and selling process and you must demonstrate a good ability to apply / execute all selling steps. As a team you will have up to 40
4ME3 Winter 2014 - Page 9 of 13 minutes (subject to change) face to face with the buyer. In most instances the buyer will be quite cooperative, easy to deal with and interested in what you represent. CAUTION You will be evaluated as a team and as individuals; so it is quite possible that if equal distribution of sales effort is not evident then you will not earn the same mark. Please keep in mind the grading will change if it is observed that parts of your pitch are not realistic or not professionally executed. For example a poor opening / introduction or an unexpected illogical argument during the process could earn you a FAIL even though other elements are properly executed. Besides the overall grading, your mark will also be adjusted using a scale of 0 10 with zero representing `highly unlikely to buy and ten as being `a definite purchase. PREPARING FOR THE INTERIM ROLE PLAY Within your groups you will be required to form a buyer seller team, and develop a scenario for a selling situation depicting opening, needs analysis, very basic discussion around a solution and close of meeting. It may reflect elements of objection handling or dealing with early customer resistance. You will then enact this role play, only in the presence of your TA / instructor and will be graded based on the situation presented, and your performance. It is recommended that you develop B2B scenarios or in case of B2C then depicting sale of big ticket items. These scenarios can be discussed and validated with me before hand. You are encouraged to use presentation material or product literature or demo equipment to make the role play as realistic as possible. PLEASE DO NOT USE DUMMY LITERATURE FOR THIS PURPOSE. USE REAL PRODUCTS AND REAL BROCHURES / SALES LITERATURE. Use of laptop / tablet based presentations is encouraged. DETAILED GUIDELINES FOR THE INTERIM ROLE PLAY TEST This selling situation role play will give you an opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of the buying and selling process and apply the key skills required for sales success. Please design your role play using the following suggestions: 1. Develop a simulation of a business to business selling situation lasting no more than twenty minutes. Use simple products or services, for example selling televisions to a university; selling cellular phones to a business for their service team; selling computers to a small business owner; selling maintenance services to a condominium complex owner; selling the services of a chartered accounting firm to a small business. 2. You should assume that you are meeting this buyer for the first time, in their office for a pre arranged meeting. Cold calls are also acceptable. It is fair to assume elements like you are meeting this buyer based on an inquiry made by him/her or their firm, and that the person you are calling on is a decision maker. All assumptions must be mentioned in the observer brief sheet a half page summary of the situation you are going to demonstrate to the TA/instructor. This brief should be handed in before you begin the exercise.
4ME3 Winter 2014 - Page 10 of 13 3. The role play should demonstrate the essential steps in the sales process including, opening, questioning to identifying needs, basic product proposition (using a Feature Benefit analysis / product demo) and handling resistance. If you see time as a constraint, it is possible to close the call with agreement on the next proposed action; however, such sales calls must at least demonstrate identifying needs and the ability to overcome objections early on in the buying process / sales process. 4. Please try to obtain and use brochures for the products you are representing in the roleplay. It is also possible for you to develop your own professional looking brochures, letters of reference or any other support documents for the sale. NOTHING SHOULD BE LEFT TO OUR IMAGINATION. ALL SUCH SALES TOOLS MUST BE REALISTIC. You can bring along product samples for demonstration, if they are easy to carry and demonstrate. 5. You should not be reading from or referring to a script. The role of the buyer should be well defined and the process should demonstrate a two way interaction in which the buyer is participating actively. Otherwise both members of the group will lose marks. 6. Please dress for business and know the role play is assessed as a professional business meeting. Any `un business like behaviour will have a negative impact on your marks. Ideas that do not appear logical or realistic will not be accepted. 7. You will be judged on your presentation and communication skills, demonstration of and adeptness at the buying and selling steps, usage of sales tools and effort put in developing such tools, reality of the business script/situation and other such skills. GUIDELINES FOR THE JOB SHADOWING REPORT 1. Consider starting with a backgrounder on the company, the structure of their sales organization and their current market position versus competition. Include details on recruitment criteria and entry level remuneration / reward packages. 2. Comment on overall `sales strategy, the recommended sales process, and external and internal factors that impact the sales cycle. Look at how the sales force is empowered, the resources provided, the training that they are given etc for example, average annual training days, technological resources, service support 3. Compare what you witnessed during the day with what we discussed in class use the guest lectures, reference the text and other handouts to analyze the effectiveness of the interactions that you viewed. Consider the sales style of the individual, contrast theory to practice and offer observations on elements like conflict of buyer seller goals. Depending on what you observed you may like to comment on specific aspects of the sales process, for example negotiation or objection handling, cold or planned call, single or multiple buyers. Make recommendations for change. Use references.
4ME3 Winter 2014 - Page 11 of 13 4. Use the sales history of the individual you were shadowing to draw learning for the new sales person from an experienced hand. Comment on success factors, typical problems / encounters and other market experiences. Also include comments on your understanding of their sales management practices daily/weekly/quarterly reports, planning and budgeting process etc. 5. You might also want to offer insights on the changes that the company or industry has implemented in their sales organization/strategy/process in recent years. You are encouraged to source and attach documents like recruitment advertisements for sales positions in this organization, job definition, examples of sales reports etc. The mark allocation for this report will generally be as follows: Background Info on Company (Audit of Sales organization): 15% Understanding of the B2B sales practices and the sales process witnessed: 25% Analysis of findings contrast of two companies given product, customer, industry: 40% Correlation to theory (including references): 10% Format and Creativity: 10% How will we rate the in class topic presentations? We would expect students to explore the complexities and deeper aspects of any issue in a conscientious effort to find the truth. We hope that they will not rush to judgment, oversimplify or make hasty conclusions based upon a cursory examination of the subject / topic. We hope to see a carefully constructed argument tied to convincing examples. We also expect to see the counter arguments and alternative theories laid to rest or discredited by the offering of facts or evidence or arguments that show their inadequacies. The goal is to inform, enlighten, and possibly even change someone's mind. So know your audience how much do they already know? How much background is needed to engage them with the topic? What strategies, examples and arguments will help them understand the key points? Outstanding presentations will show significant evidence of originality and inventiveness. The majority of the content and many of the ideas are fresh, original, inventive, and based upon logical conclusions and sound research. Simple thoughts and one liners; Mind byte and Mind candy and Power Pointlessness will not be rewarded. Good presentations are built using communication skills, body language, eye contact, gestures, slide design and other such nuances that you are well aware of as senior business students. So make sure you are considering the basics.
4ME3 Winter 2014 - Page 12 of 13 CLASS SCHEDULE Date Topic Readings Methodology Week 1 Participant Introductions and course success skills. Communication Exercises Discuss course outline, job shadowing project, and role play assignments Selling Today Review current recruitment ads for sales positions to identify commonly required skills and define learning goals Week 2 Online Learning Resource Chapter 1 GUEST SPEAKER from Momentium Review of the article Creating Real Value for Customers by Neil Rackham ARTICLE ON RESERVE AT INNIS (Student led) Week 3 The Personal Selling Process & Buying Process The Buying Process Buying experiences exercise Case Hospital Buying Week 4 Organizational Buying; Buying Centres in Organizations Relationship Management in Selling; Chapter 3 Chapter 4, 5and 13 REGISTER ON www.emz2.com and complete first session Communication with Different Customer Types and Adaptive Selling Social Style Matrix (Student led) Week 5 Prospecting and Pre Sale Preparation. Chapters 6 and 7. Also read Journals / Magazine articles relevant to topic In class role plays on Opening a Sales Meeting (first Buyer Seller interaction) The Sales Approach Opening and Developing a Sale Chapter 8 and Articles relevant to Sales Process
4ME3 Winter 2014 - Page 13 of 13 Date Topic Readings Methodology Week 6 The Questioning Approach SPIN Selling Chapter 8 and articles on Value added selling In Class Role Plays Opening and SPIN Method for Needs Analysis Week 7 SPIN Method for Needs Analysis In Class role plays Week 8 SPIN Method for Needs Analysis In Class role plays Week 9 JOB SHADOWING REPORT IS DUE The Sales Presentation and Demonstrating Products using Feature Benefit Analysis Chapter 9 Bring in product samples for demo exercise (student led) Week 10 Week 11 Meeting and overcoming customer objections Sales Negotiation Process Chapter 10 and articles relevant to objection handling Chapter 12 and relevant articles on Sales Negotiation Week 12 Closing the sale Post sale support In class role plays and video case analysis Chapter 11 and research published studies or opinion papers Week 13 Leadership and Motivation in the sales function Decision making with objectivity The Tower Building Exercise Cave Rescue Exercise COMPLETED ALL ONLINE SESSIONS Review Online Training Project Session led by emz2 NOTE: THE COURSE SCHEDULE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE. FLEXIBILITY WILL BE APPLIED TO BRING IN INDUSTRY SPEAKERS AND DEFINE TOPICS BASED ON PARTICIPANT LEVELS AND INTEREST.