Company Selection Criteria
In order to successfully do ALL of the assignments, the company, salesperson, and product or service that you sell in class must meet certain criteria. Students will sometimes word the proposal to convince me that a salesperson, company or product meet the criteria. These same students get terrible grades in the balance of the assignments.
The number one comment that I hear at the end of the term is that the students wish that they had selected a better company, salesperson or product.
Business To Business
  • Primary business may be
    • consumer
    • industrial
    • service product
  • Customers must another businesses
OUTSIDE Selling only
  • Salespeople must do all their business at the customer's place of business. NO INSIDE SALES. NO TELEPHONE SALES
Sales Automation
  • The sales force must use
    • an approved contact management software package.
    • an approved CRM software package
Some areas to avoid
Residential Real Estate Too long and drawn out. The transaction also involves the seller and the seller's agent. Such a transaction would be impossible to develop into a role play.
Personal life insurance Not business to business. This job seldom requires a degree
"BIG" products Role playing the sale of a nuclear power plant would be impossible.
Multilevel marketing plans Seldom business-to-business. Seldom requires a degree. The focus of the presentation usually emphasizes the network more than the products or services.
Network  marketing plans
Pharmecuticals to doctors You can not close the sale. The doctor must write the perscriptions at a later date. Pharmecuticals salespeople are often highly regimented. They may not be allowed to employ some of the skills that we will discuss.
Banking Services Usually inside sales. High level banking can be outside sales, but often the negotiations are very complex and involve many parties.
Education
  • The company should have a formal, written job description for the salesperson' job. That description must call for a college degree
Company
Limitations
  • Fortune 1000 Corporation or
  • Certain minimums
    • At least 10 full time salespeople
    • A sales manager that does not spend most of his/her time selling
  • Two teams may not study the same company.
Job
Limitations
  • Part-time salespeople are not permitted
  • Inside retail sales is not permitted
  • Telemarketing is not permitted.
Individual
Limitations
  • Salespersons selected must have been on their present jobs a minimum of three years
  • The salesperson may not be a sales manager
  • The salesperson may not be self employed
  • The salesperson may not be an owner or partner in the firm
  • The ideal salesperson works out of an office, under a sales manager.
  • The ideal salesperson will often generate his or her own leads.
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