Sales Primers: Parables on Advertising, Marketing and Business in General

Citation

Dietz, J. (2003), "Sales Primers: Parables on Advertising, Marketing and Business in General", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 20 No. 4, pp. 375-377. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363760310483720

Although no one would argue that the sales process is an easy one, Sales Primers appears to use some simple reminders in order to distill for salespeople the complexities of the sales profession. In his foreword, Norris states his premise when he writes: “The real secret of success still lies in understanding the process and applying good common sense solutions to a relatively small number of definable problems” (p. IV).

Having spent 25 years in sales before entering academia, I would agree with his statement that a short, simple book that uses illustrations and parables may get across some important points for anyone in sales or marketing.

The book is divided into 35 illustrated parables, originally used by Wallace as advertisements for his customers, and as illustrations of a common sense approach to sales. The customers liked the ads so much that they suggested Norris combine all the ads into one book. It is an easy read, and would even help a very frustrated salesperson to take some of the self‐imposed difficulty out of his or her situation. The parables are as follows:

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  Salespeople … a bum rap. I could not have said it better: “Selling is a tough job in which no one survives without competence, dedication, integrity, and a desire to succeed” (p. 11).

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  Learning to love distributors. Working with an intermediary is often difficult for manufacturers, who must struggle to motivate the distributors to sell their products along with possibly competing lines. This parable explains how to make the most of a relationship with distributors.

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  Postcard packs … are they any good? The most common faults are “failure to identify immediately what is being sold … not enough room for inquirers to fill in their name … , etc.”(p. 15) This parable points out how simple the rules really are for postcard direct mail.

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  Where do your sales come from? “The best way to find out where customers come from st to make it part of the process” (p. 17). This appears to be a simple rule of managing sales that companies too often overlook.

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  Think selling’s tough? Try buying. Salespeople often overlook the fact that buyers have lots of choices, and that “it is not enough to give people reasons why they should buy your product; you have to give them reasons why they should buy your product instead of competitive products” (p. 19).

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  What happened to automatic 20 percent growth? This parable recognizes that the old formulas of growth no longer work, and that “clear cut objectives and measurements” (p. 21) are necessary.

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  Blow the factory out of the water. Here the tough talk is “people who are charged with creating sales volume should never try to meter order flow to a level that is comfortable for manufacturing” (p. 23).

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  Selling in spontaneously developing markets. “The best way to attract their attention is to tell them you have what they want” (p. 25) The sales process does not get much simpler than this, especially when the message is to keep it simple.

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  Closed loop selling. Norris points out the fallacy of failing to close all the loops in the sales process and, thus, greatly diminishing the effectiveness of the campaign.

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  No call to action? Any advertisement will do. “Recognition alone is not enough to ask of your advertising. It should also produce measurable results” (p. 27).

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  Product life cycles – whales are better than dinosaurs. You can make the maturity curve of your product life cycle last longer (whale) if you drive sales quickly, leaving more time for the flow of profits.

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  The swinging pendulum … it is always off the mark. “In almost any selling situation, the odds strongly favor the most familiar name”(p. 29).

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  A good advertisement should reach out and grab you. Norris wants you to make sure that the ad produces the reaction intended.

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  The two best advertisements ever written. “Clarity in knowing what you want to do is often more important than creativity” (p. 31).

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  There’s an awareness of quality. “Good copy, good graphics, good printing and good paper are all important” (p. 33).

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  Marketing and Molly Malone. Find a way to get prospects to identify themselves.

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  The OEM … it is companies, not a market. Finding ways to differentiate your product offering to an OEM prospect is not easy, but it promises lasting results.

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  Market share and repotting. The process of “repotting: into an expanded market” (p. 36) offers expansion possibilities.

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  Treasure in your backyard. Data mining offers the modern marketer a very rewarding exercise.

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  Non‐transactional selling. When the objective is a long‐term vs. one‐time transaction, the sales process requires a different process.

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  If you had God’s unlisted phone number. “Most … of the things you would like to know you can probably find out with a little work” (p. 40).

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  Do the right things and the right things will happen. “Trust your judgment and test before you make a full commitment” (p. 41).

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  You can be an advertising expert. Three questions tell you whether or not the advertisement is good.

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  Professionals take all the help they can get. “Good presentation material is welcomed by successful salespeople … ” (p. 45).

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  Business advertising, Is it really different? Business advertising might not be much different, but total program planning is very much so.

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  How much should you spend on advertising? “You can only determine what you need to do when you consider it (advertising) in relation to the overall marketing communications mix” (p. 49).

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  How smart is your market? “People in your market need continual reinforcement and justification for their purchasing decision” (p. 51).

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  Sales incentives … rules to live with. Four good rules for sales incentives.

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  Advertising and selling principles. “Industrial selling is an active rather than a passive system” (p. 54).

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  Who’s got the ball? Have a “written program with clear agreement as to what actions need to be taken and who will take them” (p. 57).

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  Media should not be a mystery. Good advice for understanding media purchases.

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  The hat trick. “Take every opportunity you can get to visit with customers” (p. 61).

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  Advertisement inquiries. How valuable? Read page 63 to find out just how valuable.

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  Ingredients are not enough – you also need a recipe. “If advertising is not integrated with selling efforts, it is probably not worth the dollars spent on it” (p. 65).

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  Selling is a process. Norris ends his book with a reminder that the process of selling requires continued nurturing.

This book has two audiences: it is a good primer to be used in conjunction with more in‐depth training materials about the sales process. However, at $39.95, it basically has the same materials that are available in small booklets for much less.

Seasoned salespeople could also use the book as a reminder to brush up on their skills and find new ways to locate customers. It is not a textbook, but could be used in sales training by some of the larger consumer and industrial products companies. It might be a good coffee table book for some sales executives.

Sales Primers is a fun read and certainly qualifies for a part in the “return to basics” movement, for those who can afford it.