International Marketi ng Personal Selling and Sales Management

International Marketi ng Personal Selling and Sales Management Chapter 17

What Should You Learn? • The role of interpersonal selling in international marketing • The considerations in designing an international sales force • The steps to recruiting three types of international sales people • Selection criteria for international sales and marketing positions 17 -2

What Should You Learn? • The special training needs of international personnel • Motivation techniques for international sales representatives • How to design compensation systems for an international sales force • How to prepare Americans foreign assignments • The changing profile of the global sales and marketing manager 17 -3

Global Perspective International Assignments are Glamorous, Right? • Job security • Adjustment to other cultures • Readjustment upon return to U. S. • Will an international assignment really help your career? 17 -4

Designing the Sales Force • Relationship marketing and customer relationship management • Decisions must be made regarding the numbers, characteristics, and assignments of sales personnel • Different market requirements regarding direct sales and customer approach • Territory allocation • Customer call plans 17 -5

Recruiting Marketing and Sales Personnel • The largest personnel requirement abroad for most companies is the sales force • Expatriates – – – Numbers are declining Important for highly technical or involved products High cost Cultural and legal barriers Limited number of high-caliber personnel willing to live abroad • Virtual expatriates – Manage operations in other countries but don’t live there 17 -6

Recruiting Marketing and Sales Personnel • Local nationals – – – Transcend both cultural and legal barriers Familiar with distribution systems and referral networks Headquarters personnel may ignore their advice Lack of availability Sales positions viewed negatively • Third-country nationals – Expatriates working for a foreign company • Host-country nationals – Work restrictions 17 -7

The 20 Most Expensive Cities to Live on the Planet (in order) Exhibit 17. 1 17 -8

Selecting Sales and Marketing Personnel • Management must define precisely what is expected of people • Prime requisites – – – – Maturity Emotional stability Breadth of knowledge Positive outlook Flexibility Cultural empathy Energetic and enjoy travel • Mistakes can be costly • A manager’s culture affects personnel decisions 17 -9

Training for International Marketing • The nature of the training program depends on: – The home culture of the sales person – The culture of the business system and foreign market • Continual training is important in foreign markets • Companies should provide home-office personnel with cross-cultural training • The Internet now makes some kinds of sales training much more efficient 17 -10

Personal Selling Tips from Brussels to Bangkok Exhibit 17. 2 17 -11

Motivating Sales Personnel • National differences must always be considered when motivating the marketing force • Individual incentives that work effectively in the U. S. can fail completely in other cultures • Communications are important in maintaining high levels of motivation • A company needs to make clear the opportunities for growth within the firm 17 -12

Salespeople’s Distribution Exhibit 17. 3 of 100 Points among Rewards in Terms of Their Importance 17 -13

Designing Compensation Systems for Expatriates • Fringe benefits • Compensations comparisons between the home office and abroad • Short-term assignment compensation • Using a compensation program to recruit, develop, motivate, or retain personnel 17 -14

Global Similarity to U. S. Compensations Plans Exhibit 17. 4 17 -15

A Compensation Blueprint How IBM Pays 140, 000 Sales Executives Worldwide Exhibit 17. 5 17 -16

Designing Compensation Systems for a Global Sales Force • Involve representatives from key countries • Allow local managers to decide the mix between base and incentive pay • Use consistent performance measures (results paid for) and emphasis on each measure • Allow local countries flexibility in implementations • Use consistent communication and training themes worldwide 17 -17

Designing Compensation Systems for a Global Sales Force • Don’t design the plan centrally and dictate to local offices • Don’t create a similar framework for jobs with different responsibilities • Don’t require consistency on every performance measure within the incentive plan • Don’t assume cultural differences can be managed through the incentive plan • Don’t proceed without the support of senior sales executives worldwide 17 -18

Evaluating and Controlling Sales Representatives • In the U. S. , emphasis is placed on individual performance – Which can easily be measured by sales revenues generated • In many countries evaluation is more complex – Where teamwork is favored over individual effort • In U. S. – Primary control tool used by sales managers is the incentive system • In other countries – Corporate control and frequent interactions with peers and supervisors are the means of motivation and control 17 -19

Preparing U. S. Personnel for Foreign Assignments • Cost of foreign assignments – Typically from 150 -400 percent of the annual base salary – Cost increases if the expatriate returns home before completing the scheduled assignment • The planning process – Must begin prior to the selection of those going abroad – Must extend to their specific assignments after returning home 17 -20

Overcoming Reluctance to Accept a Foreign Assignment • Concerns for career – An absence will adversely affect opportunities for advancement • Concerns for family – – Education of the children Isolation from family and friends Proper health care The potential for violence • Special compensations packages deal with concerns 17 -21

Reducing the Rate of Early Returns • Evaluation of an employee’s family – 75 percent of families sent abroad experience adjustment problems with children or marital discord • Cross-cultural training for families as well as the employee • Local ombudsmen 17 -22

Successful Expatriate Repatriation • Commit to reassigning expatriates to meaningful positions • Create a mentor program • Offer a written job guarantee stating what company is obligated to do for returning expatriate • Keep the expatriate in touch with headquarters through periodic briefings and headquarter visits • Prepare the expatriate and family for repatriation once a return date is set 17 -23

Developing Cultural Awareness • Expatriate failures – Caused by lack of an understanding of cultural differences and their effect on management skills • Cultural skills – Can be learned and developed – Provide the individual with the ability to relate to a different culture even when the individual is unfamiliar with the details of that particular culture 17 -24

The Changing Profile of the Global Manager • Fewer companies today limit their search for senior-level executive talent to their home countries • Some companies believe – It is important to have international assignments early in a person’s career – International training is an integral part of their entry-level development programs • Many companies are active in making the foreign experience an integrated part of a successful corporate career 17 -25

Foreign-Language Skills • Many believe: – Learning a language improves cultural understanding and business relationships – To be taken seriously in the business community, the expatriate must be at least conversational in the host language • Many companies are making stronger efforts to recruit people who are bilingual or multilingual 17 -26

Summary • The company’s sales force is on the front line of a marketing organization • The role of marketers in both domestic and foreign markets along with the composition of international managerial and sales forces is rapidly changing • The recent emphasis on using local personnel operating in their own lands has highlighted the importance of adapting U. S. managerial techniques to local needs 17 -27

Summary • The development of an effective marketing organization calls for careful recruiting, selecting, training, motivating, and compensating of expatriate personnel and their families • The most practical method of maintaining an efficient international sales and marketing force is careful, concerted planning at all stages of career development 17 -28