Is the Direct Salesforce in Business-to-Business Marketing Obsolete in the Era of the Internet - Essay Example

3. Is the Direct Sales Force in Business-to-Business Marketing Obsolete in the Era of the Internet? Direct sales force is an inherent aspect of marketing that makes use of selling off products and/or services coming under the direct hold of the organization in a manner which involves interaction with the customers on a one-to-one level. This means that direct sales force can make or break the deal in a few minutes’ time as well as win back return customers who had already purchased the products and used the services at a later stage and merely need a reinforcement agent to make that vital action towards purchase and usage. This makes one and all comprehend the need for having active and creatively astute individuals under the direct sales force regimes so that they remain vigilant and on the look-out as far as the customers and potential customers are concerned. When it comes to the knowledge related with business-to-business undertakings, there is a need to find out what these regimes in essence do. B2B is the abbreviation for Business-to-business environments. These types of environments describe the relations amongst the commercial partners that are the channel members and this does not necessarily take into view the end consumers. This kind of an environment fosters relationship between at least two channel members present at different ladders of an enterprise or even in different business concerns. This kind of relationship is particularly found in the marketing areas but of late the sales force has been pretty active at exploiting the benefits of B2B environments. The reason is tantamount to the emerging sales trends which are on the rise as well as Sales Force Automation (SFA) that has come about in the wake of these very B2B environments. In the yesteryears, people usually discussed trade of industrial goods and services but of late there has been a trend of talking about the B2B marketing and sales related aspects which quite frankly is a step in the right direction. B2B focuses on the vertical as well as the horizontal marketplaces. A vertical marketplace is an area that covers one segment of an industry in a vertically up and down manner. In this marketplace, each level has access to every other level within the industry and as such there is more interaction possible. Collaboration is thus increased as a result of the very same vertical framework. The horizontal marketplace within a B2B environment oversees the connection between buyers and sellers across a number of different business concerns, enterprises and/or even industries. The impact of the organization due to SFA’s deployment and implementation is something that can be remarked as immense. This means that the role SFA plays in the proper scheme of things is one that should be understood by the sales force and the different business concerns’ staffs alike. There must not be any hurdle in the path of implementing SFA within the relevant ranks as it would mean cutting down on the benefits that are envisaged in the long run. Moreover, a sense of responsibility also rests with the people at the helm of affairs within the sales force to bring SFA within their ranks and make others realize about the importance that it can make towards their respective sales activities, processes and business as a whole. The bottom line results in the wake of the deployment and indeed implementation of SFA in a sales process is related with the business processes. It means that in order to create a business which is intelligent from an actionable stance, the key success criteria in this is played by the business concern which wants to boost its performance in terms of sales to far reaching levels, both in the short term as well as the longer scheme of things. It is indeed true that companies of all sizes face immense competition at the hands of different sales concerns and even more so, the advanced software applications that have hit the market as well. This competition ensures that there is a need for every kind of tool which can increase marketing efficiency as well as boost the different business processes of the company, more so the sales related activities. This needs to be done in the most cost effective manner possible, one that saves time, money and reduces work load at the very same time. The bottom line results are achievable through making informed decisions relating with the marketing campaigns that are being worked upon as well as the sales processes that are running in parallel to them. Another important facet is to increase customer retention which means he/she should come back and forth to the sales organization in order to strike positive deals. Last but not the least, there needs to be a determinant in the wake of the best practices related with cross selling and up selling targeted towards the existing customers as well as to the potential ones. The business processes in the field of the impact on the organization with regards to the implementation of SFA is something that we need to delve into with pertinent information. As we know that business processes are very much dependent on the SFA’s deployment within them, hence the need to discern the amount with which SFA actually contributes towards the wellness and prosperity (in terms of monetary profits and returns) of the respective business concerns. As the bottom line results suggest that the activities need to be in line with the related processes, hence the processes also need to echo the sentiments of the SFA that has been made available for them. Now coming to the aspect as to whether or not Internet has played a substitute role at changing the fortunes of the direct sales force and that too in a negative manner, one must touch the pros and cons of the related discussion. Surely Internet has changed the face of this globe ever since it came into its own but there is a dire need to understand here that Internet has not been that big a hit when it comes to a clear cut comparison with the direct sales force. It is true that the Internet can entice clients located in different nooks and corners of the world but when the talk goes out loud of a particular region that has been segregated for the sake of attracting customers on the part of the sales force teams, then surely direct sales force has come out as a clear winner and there are no two opinions on this very count at all. It is a fact that Internet has fastened things up and there are quick regimes in place when it comes to interaction with customers and clients, but meeting them on a one-on-one basis is much more important than a virtual knock on the customers’ desktop computers. The physical presence of a sales force member from the organization under study means a whole lot more than an automated e-mail from the company which usually does not list a number of different details and other undertakings. Also the intrinsic aspects concerning the organization and the working methodologies are best described by the direct sales force members since they know a lot and also the fact that they are a part of the organization gives the customers a chance to play upon their strengths and past experiences as well. A company has the responsibility to alter its strategies and tactics every now and then so as to keep the competitors at bay and cater to the growing needs of the customers. It must bring about certain efforts and endeavors which are geared up to make it sound, look and eventually feel different from the rest of the lot and in the long run, have a selling proposition in it and in its products that help it in winning the customers time and time again. (Cravens & Piercy, 2002) For getting on to this track of success and achievement, it is significant to understand that having the most sought after employees and workers in the market is necessary since they will give the most productivity in the toughest times possible. Similarly to attain the best practices within the human resources unit, one of the most essential training programs is to make sure that all the employees learn to make use of the Information Technology tools and methodologies that are in line with the present day regimes. This would guarantee them success right away since they would all be on the same level as far as understanding of the IT world is concerned. Then they must be trained about the different sales force mechanisms like Sales Force Automation (SFA) methodologies and the like. If the workers hail from the procurement and business development side, then there should be training in the Just In Time (JIT) and Business Development Re-engineering modules. If the workers are from the IT department, there should be continuous training regimes in the IT sector whereby they are made to learn more and more about the firewalls, ever changing security issues and their remedies, different tools that help in having security in the IT infrastructure and so on. When we speak of the management training needs and the same being so very essential from the best practices human resources regimes, we must make sure that they are being taught about the different software which keep a close look on the performance measurement aspects of the different employees and workers and this could include a number of different software as and when one goes on to research and eventually select them. The aspect of building value with respect to the different products and/or services offered by the direct sales force is there when one speaks of provision of value-building measures for the customers. This could be equally advantageous for the existing customers as well as the potential ones since they are getting to know through the visit of the direct sales force what they did not know in the past. The customers are sensing the market as well as getting to know what this particular organization could provide to them in terms of building more value for their business or merely in satisfying their need or want through the usage of the relevant product/services under the auspices of the organization under consideration. (Piercy, 2002) Also it gives the customers a chance to get in touch with the direct sales force and thus gauge a good measure of the working philosophies of the organization with which it wants to carry out business activities or merely use its products and/or services. Internet can add so much more to these visits on the part of the direct sales force. In fact Internet could be used as an add-on element of the direct sales force. What this means is that they could follow up on the potential customers as well as the existing ones concerning their interest in the organization’s products/services and whether they would be enticed into buying further from the ranks of this organization in the future. Thus value is being continuously being built all this while and it is giving the customers a chance to have positive word of mouth for this organization and more than anything else, this company will remain at the top of his mind when he thinks of undertaking a related purchase, carry out a business or any other similar exercise. Thus the role of the Internet cannot be denied its due place but the same cannot be compared with the benefits that are had by having direct sales force at the customers’ ends. In fact a comparison between the two seems pretty irrelevant since a direct contact is considered more authentic and is respected both by the customer as well as the organization. However when the customer is busy and cannot give time to such a direct sales force member, it is best advisable to get an appointment through e-mail or telephone and this comes directly under the working measures of the Internet. In fact the two – direct sales force and the Internet could go hand in hand and support each other. Having a comparison of their effectiveness and productivity levels within the realms of the B2B environments is indeed not the order of the day as far as business undertakings and measures are concerned. On the contrast, if the customer is located at a distance and there is no way the direct sales force can solicit response from him in person, then it is better that the world of Internet is used for the betterment of all and sundry as this will help speed up the whole exercise of B2B undertakings and smooth the operations in the long run as well. Thus in the end, it would be wise to suggest that the usage of direct sales force in the B2B environments has surely not been a case of being obsolete in any form whatsoever since the direct sales force is still making giant strides in the relevant quarters. What is needed now is a balancing act between the direct sales force measures and the Internet incorporation with the tasks that they are planning to carry out. All said and done, such a regime would see prosperity touching its feet as well as sound planning and development measures to get bolstered in the longer scheme of things. To put it in a single ending statement: the aspects of direct sales force with the collaboration of tools like SFA, and the role played by the Internet have balanced each other and there is a requirement to balance them so as to gain further business grounds. References Piercy, N.F. (2002) Market-Led Strategic Change: A Guide to Transforming the Process of Going to Market, 3rd edn, (Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann). Cravens D. W. and Piercy N. F. (2002) Strategic Marketing, 7th edn, (New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin). Word Count: 2,281 Read More