Nama : Afrian Nanda Kusuma

NIM : 16080324011

Kelas : PTN 16 A

Matkul : Salesmanship

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The topic of the report is “Capital Unit Gain (ULIP) of Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance
Company Ltd – Its marketing and comparison of its features with that of other companies”.
For marketing of the product, at first a list of prospects was prepared. Then appointments
were fixed with them through telephonic conversation. Presentations and demonstrations
were done to make them understand the benefits the product was having. Five of the
prospects were convinced and the business was closed.
A product comparison was also done. The product was
Capital unit gain
Capital unit gain is the most selling ULIP of this company.
This product was compared with the similar products provided by its competitors. For
this product brochures of different life insurance companies were referred. Help of the
project guide and employees of other companies were taken for this task. It was found
that this product is much more beneficial than similar products of other companies.
Capital unit gain gives 95% allocation of funds in the share market which none of the
ULIPs of other companies in this industry gives. It guarantees a maturity value of
Rs 9, 20,634.865 at the end of 20th year if someone pays premium of Rs10, 000 for first
three years only. It’s a wonderful policy if one wants to invest for capital appreciation. It
also gives a life cover which is 10times that of the premium paid.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
For the purpose of completing the project effectively and in the most efficient manner, the
research has undergone through a number of materials and has used the following
literature review.
“Concept of SELLING In Life Insurance” [1]
This article says that life insurance is a simple concept. A person buys a policy that pays
to his/her beneficiary or beneficiaries when he/she dies. Agents can make life insurance a
way of life by knowing the concept. Thousands of agents all across the country are
transforming their agencies by capitalising on a new opportunity - selling the concept of
life insurance.
“Salesmanship in Insurance” [2]
This article examines the different steps in selling. The first step in selling is to identify
prospects. It is followed by approaching the prospect, making presentation and
demonstration, overcoming objections and then closing the business. The sales person
should develop an account maintenance plan to make sure that the customer is not
forgotten or lost.
“Being an insurance agent-the pride and prejudice” [9]
In this article the author says that she is very proud to be an insurance agent. It is one of
the best professions. insurance advisors earn well for themselves and get a lot of
recognition from the insurer that they work for, they are doing good to the customer to
whom they are selling securities for their future and doing good to the insurance
company that they are working for and doing good to their country. So they should feel
proud for the noble job they are doing.
The Economic Times, 16 July 2007,”Capital Unit Gain behind the success of Bajaj
Allianz”
This report says that the difference between this and other ULIPs is that in this policy, he
first year premium is used to allocate capital units and the regular premium payable
thereafter will be used to allocate accumulation units. It also says that while all new
insurers were in red, Bajaj Allianz managed to post Rs.63crore profit last year and Rs.30
crore in first quarter of this financial year(2007-08).
“Unit Linked insurance Products”.
This is a comprehensive note on ULIPs. It has made a very clear cut distinction between
traditional and unit linked plans. Various types of charges collected by different insurers
is explained here. It also made a list of features that investors need to ascertain from the
selected insurers before taking an ULIP
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The topic of the report is “Capital Unit Gain (ULIP) of Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance
Comp. Ltd. – Its marketing and Comparison of its features with that of other companies”.
For marketing of Capital Unit Gain policy, first a list of prospects was prepared. Then
appointments with them were fixed through telephonic conversations. Thereafter they
were approached. Demonstrations and presentations were made to make them understand
the benefits the policy was having. Five people were successfully convinced. Business
was closed for them. Three more people are about to complete the proceedings.
For comparison of features of Capital unit gain with similar products of other life
insurance companies, the researcher made a detailed study of these products. The
similarities and dissimilarities among all these products were analysed. Different news
paper articles and different items on internet were gone through to make a thorough
comparison. Detailed discussions were held with the project guide to find a solution to
this task. Different people working in other Life Insurance companies were also contacted
to get help from them.

COMPANY PROFILE
Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance:
This was the number one private sector life insurance company for the
financial year 2005-06. With a pan India presence and over 900 offices, Bajaj Allianz
Life Insurance has already a customer base of close to 3.5 million customers. It has
developed insurance solutions that cater to every segment and age-income profile.
Currently it has a product portfolio of 31 products and more need based products are in
the pipeline.

MARKETING AND SELLING

OF
LIFE INSURANCE PRODUCTS
Marketing insurance policies is a tough job. Intangibility is among the main source of
problem followed by the contingent nature of the marketer’s benefit and/or indemnity.
Perception of risk is subjective and depends upon the attitude and the value system of an
individual. Insurance is an outgo without much immediate gain and brings no perceivable
value addition to the insured subject, be it a person, his property, pecuniary interests or
conveyance.
The job of marketing and selling life insurance has always been of a hybrid nature. At
the contact level, a portion of the time spent is to counsel the prospect on the possible
economic risks and consequences in his family or business economics, while another
portion of that in follow-up contacts are devoted to persuading the prospect to do
something about the solutions suggested. Reduced to its simplest terms, the fact-finding
and advice-giving phase at the contact level may be considered as the work of
counselor; the persuading phase as the work of a salesman.
The more carefully the job of counseling is performed, the easier and simpler the job of
persuading becomes. Thus the combination of science and art is salesmanship and
practice of professional service concept. Those who practice salesmanship enjoy the
friendship and confidence of their customers, and do more business year after year. The
membership of the Million Dollar Round Table, an international association of insurance
and financial service professionals, bears testimony to this reality. A potential buyer primarily
expects that the saving should be a painless process and that
the money saved should be absolutely safe. The challenge is to provide not only
convenient payment options, but also mechanisms that could offer some measure of
protection and relief to the customer if he is forced to disrupt the payment arrangement
for unforeseen reasons.

2. Salesmanship and the media

Salesmanship at the national and international levels demands that PR
practitioners work with media individually. Reporters, editors and producers are
not a face-less audience to be bombarded with releases and story ideas but
individuals with likes, dislikes and interests who view journalism as a calling or
business, or both. There are sources that track media and their backgrounds.
There is little excuse for failing to know something about them before
approaching them.
Salesmanship also requires an understanding of media processes. The media
manufacture content. They produce more or less accurate stories and analyses
regularly for readers and viewers that will not only inform them but keep them
coming back. National and international media choose content from stacks of
releases, hundreds of e-mails, dozens of in-bound phone calls and their own
resources. The challenge for reporters, producers and editors is to determine
stories that best inform news consumers. A PR story idea is one of a thousand
options that the media consider daily. From a statistical perspective, a
practitioner should expect a low percentage of wins – lower than a poor hitter’s
batting average. Therefore, persistence is an essential part of salesmanship.
The practitioner doesn’t give up easily and is always looking for new doors to
enter. This in itself is a barrier for many practitioners. It is deflating to get turned
down so often, and it is hard to explain the reasons why to clients. If there is a
truism about how PR practitioners work with media, it is that clients never
understand the process. All they want are results.
Time
Salesmanship understands that the media’s time is valuable, and a PR
practitioner never wastes it. In an era with fewer national-level media and
continued downsizing, the media have even less time. And, with demands that
reporters, editors and producers supply copy and video not only to print and
electronic media but also to blogs and web pages, their work hours are stressed.
This means that the PR practitioner:
· Knows the media’s beats. There is good reason for reporters’ rages
against publicists for stupid phone calls, imbecilic releases and spam email.
There was never justification in PR for spamming story ideas:
Failing to do so now is heinous. It is a measure of how poorly PR has
matured that national and international media continue to complain about
clueless publicists. It would be an extraordinary day if the media could
say that most PR material they receive is relevant.
· Responds to media queries. One of the largest wastes of media time
are phone calls and e-mails that go unanswered. It is not that a journalist
gets a “no comment.” It is that the reporter gets no response. It is basic
salesmanship to respond swiftly to media inquiries, especially if the
answer is no. That gives the media time to find other contacts and still get
a story in on deadline.
· Is accurate. It is a waste of the media’s time to provide them with
inaccurate information. It is a hit to one’s credibility to have done so.
Check and recheck information before it is sent. Errors creep in, but they
should be an exception and not a rule. PR practitioners learn that some
clients are careful about accuracy and others aren’t. They take extra care
with those who are careless with facts.
· Works quickly. Knowing that the media work on deadline means one
works to the media’s speed. The PR practitioner should adopt the same
race against time in which the media engage. Salesmanship means
setting up interviews promptly, getting information to the media swiftly,
answering follow-up calls immediately.
Getting to know you
Respect for the medias’ time is not enough to build credibility. One can be
respectful and anonymous, handling reporters correctly but forgotten once a
story is filed. Salesmanship requires going farther.
Salesmanship means staying on the job long enough for key media to get to
know one. Once a reporter, editor or producer has talked to a PR practitioner
several times, the practitioner’s name gets added to contact lists and more
importantly, short-term memory. Corporate PR practitioners who stay in their
positions for a number of years have an advantage. On the other hand, if there
is a need to take a story beyond reporters whom a corporate practitioner knows,
it is easier for the agency practitioner. This is because agency practitioners often
work with the same national and international media repeatedly on behalf of
different clients. While corporate practitioners know the media in their industry in
depth, agency practitioners know the media horizontally.

The story idea

PR salesmanship judges the newsworthiness of a story idea before submitting it
to the media. This requires the practitioner to think like the media and to select
story ideas that are likely to pass media scrutiny. This is why successful PR
practitioners are often former members of the media who know how to judge
news value. It is also why many practitioners without media experience never
understand why their efforts are rebuffed. They think like promoters and
marketers.
A poor story idea wastes a reporter’s time. Therefore, salesmanship requires
approaching a reporter with a strong idea. This means a PR practitioner treats
every media approach like a one-call situation. The salesman with one call
works hard to make the call successful long before contacting the prospect.

Media resource
Salesmanship requires consistent procurement of information, timeliness and
accuracy to create an advantageous situation for both the reporter and for a
message. Serving as a media resource means helping a reporter even when
one can’t get a message out. For example, if you are not the best source for a
reporter, who is? Recommend whom to call. Perform quick research for the
media to get data they need. Brief them regularly to keep them up to speed.
Don’t expect a story with every contact. Build relationships that produce
consistent and accurate stories over time. This means that salesmanship knows
when to back off. There is a time to take “no” for an answer. If a reporter, editor
or producer doesn’t like an idea, reformulate it. Or, demonstrate that there is
marketplace interest in it. Send along clips of stories on similar topics and show
how they connect to your story. If the media still show no interest, abandon the
idea and find another one.

Dos and don’ts

There are many heuristics to salesmanship in PR. For example, national and
international media want to talk to the CEO, not the CFO nor VP of marketing nor
other senior executive. Salesmanship requires getting the CEO’s commitment to
be the prime spokesperson. However, it is difficult to distill all rules into one
article. Even if one could, the result would be a list of “do’s and don’ts” that are
hard to implement. It is one thing to tell a person how to play a piano. It is
another to play the piano yourself. PR salesmanship is learned on the job and
through mistakes and victories. It doesn’t come from books or essays like this.
3. Implementasi Green Marketing Melalui Pendekatan Marketing MIX, Demografi Dan
Pengetahuan Terhadap Pilihan Konsumen (Studi The Body Shop Pontianak) Syahbandi
Landasan Teori Green Marketing
Istilah green marketing mulai diperkenalkan pada akhir tahun 1980an dan awal 1990an oleh
American Marketing Association (AMA) yang menyelenggarakan workshop perdana dengan
tema ecological marketing pada tahun 1975. Menurut American Marketing Association
(AMA), menghasilkan buku pertama tentang green marketing berjudul "Ecological
Marketing" (Henionand Kinnear, 1978) sejak saat itu banyak buku tentang topik tersebut
dipublikasikan (Charter 1992, Coddington 1993, Ottman 1993). Green marketing merupakan
pemasaran produk-produk yang telah diasumsikan ,aman terhadap lingkungan. Oleh karena
itu, green marketing mengintegrasikan aktivitas- aktivitas yang luas, termasuk didalamnya
adalah modifikasi produk, perubahan pada proses produksi, perubahan kemasan, hingga
perubahan pada periklanannya.
Pendekatan greenmarketing pada area produk meningkatkan integrasi dari isu lingkungan
pada seluruh aspek dari aktivitas perusahaan, mulai dari formulasi strategi, yang
memperhatikan aspek lingkungan jika dipandang dari bauran pemasarannya dalam konteks
green marketing. Secara empiris akan dicoba dievaluasi pilihan konsumen yang dipengaruhi
oleh hubungan antara elemen untuk produk kosmetik environmentally-marketed, yaitu pada
produk kosmetik The Body Shop. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah mengidentifikasi pengaruh
staregi green marketing melalui pendekatan marketing mix (harga, produk, tempat, dan
promosi), umur, tingkat pendidikan, jenis kelamin, pendapatan dan pengetahuan terhadap
pilihan konsumen pada produk The body Shop, juga unuk mengetahui variabel harga, produk,
tempat, promosi, umur, tingkat pendidikan, jenis kelamin, pendapatan dan pengetahuan yang
mana dominan berpengaruh terhadap pilihan konsumen pada produk The Body Shop.
Marketing Mix
Menurut Kottler dan Armstrong (2007), bauran pemasaran (marketingmix) adalah sebagai
seperangkat variabel pemasaran, yang dapat dikendalikan dan dipadukan perusahaan untuk
menghasilkan tanggapan yang diinginkan didalam pasar sasaran. Bauran pemasaran terdiri
atas segala sesuatu yang dapat dilakukan oleh perusahaan untuk , mempengaruhi permintaan
terhadap produknya. Kegiatan- kegiatan yang dimaksud dalam definisi tersebut adalah
keputusan dalam empat variable, yaitu produk, harga, distribusi, dan promosi. Untuk dapat
mencapai tujuan perusahaan, yaitu mencapai pasar yang dituju dan memenuhi atau melayani
konsumen seefektif mungkin maka kegiatan-kegiatan ini perlu dikombinasikan, dipadukan,
dan dikoordinasikan. Dalam hal ini perusahaan atau organisasi tidak sekadar memiliki
kombinasi yang terbaik saja, tetapi juga harus mengkoordinasikan berbagai macam elemen
bauran pemasaran tersebut untuk melaksanakan program pemasaran secara efektif.
Price (Harga)
Harga adalah elemen penting dalam marketing mix. Kebanyakan para pelanggan bersedia
membayar dengan harga premium jika ada persepsi tambahan terhadap nilai produk.
Peningkatan nilai ini dapat disebabkan oleh kinerja, fungsi, desain, bentuk yang menarik atau
kecocokan selera. Keunggulan dari sisi lingkungan hanya merupakan bonus tambahan, tetapi
sering kali menjadi faktor yang menentukan antara nilai produk dan kualitas. Produk yang
ramah lingkungan sering kali lebih murah jika biaya product life cycle diperhatikan.
Contohnya kendaraan yang efisien penggunaan bahan bakarnya, atau produk yang tidak
mengandung racun (Queensland Goverment, 2002).
Product (Produk)
Apa yang membuat suatu produk yang ramah lingkungan telah menjadi suatu perdebatan
serius antara environmentalis, pejabat pemerintah, perusahaan manufaktur dan konsumen.
Apakah hanya bahan atau produk telah cukup dianggap menjadi suatu yang ramah
lingkungan, ataukah kemasannya yang harus aman? Menurut John Elkington, JuliaHailes dan
Joel Makower dalam buku "the Green Consumer" (P.7) Terdapat kriteria yang dapat
digunakan untuk menentukan apakah suatu produk ramah atau tidak terhadap lingkungan
Place (Tempat atau Saluran Distribusi)
Pilihan dimana dan kapan untuk membuat produk selalu tersedia dapat memberikan pengaruh
* signifikan pada pelanggan. Sangat sedikit pelanggan yangbenar-benar hanya ingin membeli
produk karena keramah lingkungannya saja. Penjual yang ingin mencapai kesuksesan dalam
penjualan produk yang ramah lingkungan seharusnya memposisikan produknya secara luas
dipasar sehingga dapat lebih dikenali (Queensland Goverment, 2002).
Promotion (Promosi)
Mempromosikan suatu produk dan jasa untuk memperoleh pasar dapat dilakukan dengan
iklan, publicrelations, promosi penjualan direct marketingdan on- site promotions. Penjual
produk hijau yang cerdas akan dapat menekankan kredibilitas produk yang ramah lingkungan
dengan menggunakan sustainable marketing juga alat dan praktek komunikasi
(iQueenslandGoverment, 2002).
4. Salesmanship Skill as Effective Driving Force in Indian Pharmaceutical Industry
1. Introduction
Indian Pharmaceutical industry is a highly competitive industry and it is one of the highly
organized sectors among all
segments. The vibrant movement of the branded pharma industry showed a consistent growth
in the past. The pharma
industries take various strategies to make their strong presence in their respective
specializations. The sales executives
of this industry have to show their various skill sets in the field. The salesmanship factors
such as adaptability,
negotiation, questioning, sales persons’ cues and communication style and consultative
selling makes up the core of this
study. We take these factors as the measuring tools to observe the overall effectiveness of the
front line sales executives.
Compared with other industries, the pharmaceuticals products are highly technical in nature
that needs more
subject specialized sales persons to promote the product. The role of sales personnel is highly
important in selling
pharmaceuticals products as they make regular visits to their customer, exhibiting product
knowledge, meeting multiple
channels, maintain the sales targets. In practice, the pharmaceutical sales person meets the
consultants who prescribe
the products, paramedical staff; pharmacy attached to the particular hospital and co-ordinate
with the concerned supplier
of the products. The role of salesmanship skill sets is more important to meet out the targets
for the front line sales
forces.
2. Salesmanship Skills
The recent developments and the rapidly changing sales trends are creating new demands on
the business organizations
and this has attracted the researchers to bridge the gap between theory and practice. The
industry is witnessing new
sales models, new kinds of sales professionals, and upgraded technology based customer
management.
The performance is a direct outcome of sales persons’ attitude, aptitude, role clarity, skills
sets and environmental
factors. Churchill et al., (1985) reviewed the various variables concerning the determinants of
sales force performance.
The skill sets such as consultative selling, salesperson cues, communication style,
adaptability and negotiation is taken
as important skills sets for this study by the researcher.
3. Review of Literature
The term effectiveness traced from various sales literatures shows alternative meanings.
Ronald Zallocco et al., (2009) compiled the various literatures to give a clear picture on the
term effectiveness. Evaluation of sales person is done by
the managers using specific objective. (Anderson and Oliver, 1987). Measuring the skill sets
by controlling their
capabilities that facilitates to assess the performance is measured by the organization
(Challagalla and Shervani, 1996).
To decide the effectiveness of a particular division or entire organization, the individuals’
performance results in terms of
sales unites, revenue generated, profitability, new accounts generated. Babakus (1996)
expressed that the organization’s
sales effectiveness is the evaluation of organizational total outcome and only partial element
is the sales person’s
contribution. Venugopal (2015) recommends cognitive strategies, which are customer-
oriented and makes selling an
enjoyable responsibility, his study made it evident that, higher level of performance
salesperson is achievable if they
adopt higher level of selling and emotional skill. His study suggests performance measures
that are capable of identifying
the customer relationship outcomes, and relying less on as sales volume or profits.
Plank and Greene (1996) pronounced, that the personal selling performance is purely by
individual, but distinct
from the sales behaviors to finish the sales. The sales person’s skill sets (interpersonal skills,
technical skills, presentation
skills) and sales situations influence the sales. 4. Statement of the Problem
The front line pharmaceutical sales job consists of syndicated services, customized services,
face-to-face meeting with
customers, request for prescription of drugs, delivering the samples, maintain the
relationships with various selling points
and track the delivery of prescription of drugs to the physicians or the other purchasers, etc.
Since the pharma sales
people are engaged in the above listed activities, the study of salesmanship characteristics and
sales effectiveness is
highly important to sustain in the competitive scenario.
5. Purpose and Objectives Behind the Study
To understand the importance of various factors of salesmanship skill set related to the
pharmaceutical industry, the
study focus on the perceived attributes considered as essentials for the sales force
effectiveness in pharmaceutical
industry. This study is attempting to identify the salesmanship attributes that results in sales
effectiveness and
recommending those factors that could serve as an initiative to improve the sales force
effectiveness in pharmaceutical
industry.
6. Hypothesis
H1: Higher the salesmanship skills, greater level of sales force effectiveness
7. Identified Limitations of the Study
The gathered data represents the experience and expertise of the specific set of respondents
for a specific period. As the
market and selling strategies are dynamic in nature, the accuracy of the data may not remain
the same for the current
market status. The researcher could meet only one third of the respondents directly, and had
no direct interaction with the
remaining respondents. The authenticity of the responses, might affect the interpretation of
the results. As an organized
sector and under high level of watchfulness by various levels of management, the respondents
were reluctant and
hesitant to share the required information.
8. Methodology
The present study attempted to describe and analyze these behaviors and to outline the skill
sets necessary to call a
sales force as being effective, this study is descriptive and analytical in nature. We used field
survey in collecting the data
by taking second and third line managers as sample respondents. This study used Non-
probability sampling method in
finalizing the sample respondents. The researcher in narrowing down the sample size used
accidental-quota sampling.
With the help of 35 executives and 5 distributers representing 21 pharmaceutical
organizations the researchers collected
the necessary information. Thirty-two pharmaceutical company front line sales executives
participated in this survey to
give their opinions. The study selected Tamil Nadu and Karnataka states from India based on
the availability of these
front line sales people during the study period from March 2012 to January 2013. We took
samples of 352 respondents
for this survey. The study did not considered equal distribution of sample between these two
States due to personal
difficulty faced by the respondents in the survey. Hence, out of these 352 samples, 114
responses came from Karnataka
and the remaining 238 sample from Tamil Nadu.
9. Analytical Framework
Initially, before finalizing the questionnaire for the survey, the researcher undertook a pilot
study on sales executives of
automobile industry and a few pharmaceutical industries. The results and the suggestions
formed the final questionnaire
constructs to exercise on the selected sample size. We analyzed the data after categorizing the
important variables that
emerged from the survey. The study used Chi-Square test and Factor analysis to extract the
required constructs and
other variables.
5. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SALES SKILLS AND
SALESPERSON PERFORMANCE: AN EMPIRICAL
STUDY IN THE MALAYSIA TELECOMMUNICATIONS
COMPANY
INTRODUCTION
he telecommunication services industry in Malaysia has undergone tremendous change -
deregulation, new competition, and rapidly changing customer base from the late 1980s.
Since
then there are six new operators or service providers who have entered the market
(International
Telecommunications Union (ITU) Report, 2002; 2004). However, the industry consolidation
in 2002 had
resulted in only four key players in the industry, which are DiGi Telecommunications (DiGi),
Maxis
Communications (Maxis), TIME dotcom (TIME) and the incumbent, TM Berhad (TM) (ITU,
2004). As a
result of the consolidation, there has been more intense competition than ever before among
these key
players in order to retain or gain market share. Moreover, the competition becomes even
more severe
when the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) continuously
issues new
licensees to smaller or niche players. As of 31 December 2005, there were 395 Applications
Service
Provider (ASP) licensees, 85 Network Facilities Providers (NFP) individual licensees and 94
Network
Services Provider (NSP) individual licensees (MCMC Industry Performance Report, 2005).
Competition
will be further intensified when the domestic market is further liberalised to allow
participation of
ASEAN registered companies in 2010 once the telecommunication agreement rectified under
the AFTA
commence (TM Annual Report, 2005). At a glance, the latest statistics on market share and
business indicate that intense competition has
influenced TM’s business performance. The company can no longer rest on its laurels as
competition is
intensifying and will be getting stiffer in the future. The existing and future competitive
market outlooks
for the company have created great pressure to the company market its products or services
so that the
company not only can retain but also further improve its market share. Moreover, selling
products or
services is the most important component of a business. With respect to this, sales groups are
forced to
work harder in order to provide the revenue streams that support all of TM’s business
activities.
Furthermore, advances in technology results in organisations facing environments that are
extremely
complex and dynamic. Moreover, consumers are getting smarter and expect the best from
sellers to fulfill
their demands and satisfy their needs (Atuahene-Gima & Micheal, 1998). Therefore,
salespersons in sales
groups are perhaps the most important individuals in the firm’s marketing communication
process since
salespersons occupy a boundary position within the organisation. They represent the
organisation to
customers, interact with them, underpin transactions, ands serve as a mechanism to scan and
monitor the
external environment (Sohi, 1996). The need to increase market share and be the preferred
service
provider or seller have motivated management to understand the factors underpinning
salesperson
performance. Meanwhile, sales performance has been one of the commonly used variables to
gauge the
salesperson performance (Morris et. al, 1991). The remainder of the paper is organized as
follows. First, literature review of previous studies that
relevant to the topic under study is discussed. Issues discussed include the salesperson
performance
measure, determinant of salesperson performance, sales skills and its dimensions namely
interpersonal
skills, salesmanship skills and technical skills. The chapter also describes the research
framework and
hypotheses. Secondly, the data and methodology section explains the research methodology
used in this
research. Thirdly, results and discussion sections presents the findings and its analysis.
Finally, the
concluding remarks section concludes the study by summarizing the major findings, discuss
the limitation
of the paper and provide suggestion for future research.
performance of salespersons. Furthermore, most previous studies examining the influence of
sales skills
dimensions on salesperson performance have been conducted in advanced Western
economies. Thus,
there is a remaining gap in the literature – as no such research has been conducted within a
specific
telecommunication company i.e. TM Berhad or indeed in the telecommunications industry in
Malaysia
which is a developing economy and one of the ‘tiger’ economies of South east Asia.
Therefore, this is the
first study in company, industry, and the country that attempts to explore this particular
relationship.
The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. First, literature review of previous studies
that
relevant to the topic under study is discussed. Issues discussed include the salesperson
performance
measure, determinant of salesperson performance, sales skills and its dimensions namely
interpersonal
skills, salesmanship skills and technical skills. The chapter also describes the research
framework and
hypotheses. Secondly, the data and methodology section explains the research methodology
used in this
research. Thirdly, results and discussion sections presents the findings and its analysis.
Finally, the
concluding remarks section concludes the study by summarizing the major findings, discuss
the limitation
of the paper and provide suggestion for future research.
LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT
Several studies have identified a great number of independent variables that influence
salesperson
performance (see Churchill et al., 1985; Baldauf and Cravens, 1999; 2002; Piercy et. al.,
1997; 1998;
Baldauf et. al., 2001; Babakus, et. al., 1996; Barker, 1999; Rentz et. al., 2002). Churchill et
al. (1985)
found that in terms of the average size of their association with salesperson performance, the
determinants
were ordered as follows:
(1) role variables, selling skills, motivation, personal factors, aptitude, and organizational
factors; and
(2) when ordered according to real variation (i.e., not attributable to sampling error), the
determinants
were ranked as: personal factors, selling skills, role variables, aptitude, motivation, and
organizational/environmental factors.
The results of Churchill’s et. al. (1985) research indicated that selling skills were the second
most
important of the five variables, both in terms of average size association with performance
and in terms of
real variation. Nevertheless, Churchill et. al. (1985) and Rentz et. al., (2002) observed that
fewer studies
on individuals’ characteristics related to selling skills dimensions of salespersons had been
conducted
before Churchill’s et al. (1985) meta-analysis studies. Nonetheless, since the remarkable
meta-analysis
studies, a considerable amount of research had focused on specific aspects or micro-skill
stream of selling
skills which focused on individual sales skills (Rentz et. al., 2002). These micro-stream
selling skills
could be divided into three dimensions which are: interpersonal, salesmanship and technical
skills.
Interpersonal Skills and Salesperson Performance
Interpersonal skills refer to mental and communication algorithms applied during social
communication
and interaction to reach certain effects and results. According to Rentz et al. (2002), the
dimensions of
interpersonal skills are listening, empathy, optimism and perceived observation skills. These
dimensions
had been operationalised and empirically tested independently to represent interpersonal
skills measures
in predicting salesperson performance. Thus, these dimensions are likely to collectively
realise effective
interpersonal skills and, in turn, salesperson performance as achieving high selling
performance
apparently requires salespeople with strong interpersonal skills. Comer and Drollinger
(1999); Castleberry
and Shepherd (1993); Ramsey and Sohi (1997), and Shepherd et. al., (1997) found that
effective listening
skills was a valuable communication skill for successful salespersons. Meanwhile, Comer
and Drollinger
(1999) pointed out that empathetic skill contributed to salesperson performance. McBane
(1995), Pilling
and Eroglu (1994), and Plank et. al., (1996) supported this. Additionally, Rich and Smith
(2000) found
that individuals possessing high responsive characteristics seem to have greater identification
or
perceptive observation skills concerning the social style of others which were critical traits
for successful
salespersons. Jane and Dawn (2002, 2003) also suggested that empathetic and perceptive
others’ emotion
could well explain salesperson performance. Rapisarda (2002) in her research on the impact
of emotional
intelligence on work performance reaffirmed that empathic competency strongly correlated
with
performance. In sum, previous empirical studies demonstrated a positive relationship between
the four
dimensions of interpersonal skills on salesperson performance. Hence, we expect the similar
relationship
to occur among our sample frame of salespersons in the present study.
Technical and Marketing Skills Influence on Salesperson Performance
Technical knowledge refers to behavior of salespeople in providing information about the
design and
specification of products and the applications and functions of products and services, On the
other hand,
salespersons possess knowledge about the industry and trends in general such as customer’s
market and
products; competitors’ products, services, and sales policies; knowledge of competitors’
product line and
knowledge of customers’ operations (Behrman and Perreault, 1982, as cited in Baldauf &
Cravens, 2002;
Futrell, 2006) and these constitute the marketing skills of a salesperson. Thus, both
knowledge assets
refer to the level of understanding a salesperson has about the business in which he or she
operates. An
extensive knowledge base is important for a salesperson, since it allows them to cope with the
complex
market environment. A positive relationship had been empirically supported that the use of
technical
knowledge results in higher salesperson performance (Babakus et. al., 1996; Cravens et. al.,
1993;
Baldauf and Cravens, 2002). Moreover, Churchill et. al., (2000), Schoemaker and Johlke
(2002), and
Ingram et al., (2004) revealed that knowledge of external and organisational environmental
issues were
crucial for salespersons while performing their selling tasks. Researchers have also identified
that
customer knowledge is critical for salesperson performance (see Donath, 1993; Smith and
Owens, 1995).
Ingram et. al. (2004); and Pettijohn and Pettijohn (1994) supported this when they found that
customer
knowledge was an important topic for salesperson training. It is also recognised that effective
salesperson
possesses richer and more interrelated knowledge structures about their customers than the
less effective
(Sujan et. al., 1988b). Data Collection, Population and Sample
The unit of analysis in the present study is individual. The subjects of analysis were
salespersons in TM
Berhad. Information and database pertaining to Sales Department’s organizational structures
and list of
salespersons were obtained from TM Berhad’s Human Resource Department. It shows that
there are 900
salespersons in TM Berhad. Cavana, Delahaye and Sekaran (2001) pointed out that the power
of the
statistical test increases with the number of subjects in the sample. Krejcie and Morgan (as
cited in
Cavana, Delahaye & Sekaran, 2001) suggested that for a population of 900, the sample size
should be
approximately 269. Thus, in the present study study, 270 respondents were selected. The data
collected
and the sampling procedure used was judgmental sampling. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Respondents’ Profile
Out of the 114 decision makers sampled, the majority were managers (50.0 percent), who had
accumulated at least 6-10 years of sales experience (36.83 percent), which can be observed to
be a large
part of their working experience. As such, the main bulk of the respondents had at least 6
years of
working experience (32.45 percent). This confirms that the respondents had relevant
experience to rate
their subordinates’ performance. In addition, most of these business unit leaders were males
(61.4
percent) and within the age group of 25-35 years of age (55.26 percent). This indicated the
relatively new
breed of youthful managers in Malaysia who were representative of TM organization’s
distribution of
employees. The main bulk of the sample was from the Malay lineage (87.7 percent) with a
minimum
education of a bachelor’s degree (74.68 percent).