Sales force management

Transactional sales promotion involves the exchange of goods and service at a cost between the seller and buyer. The relational promotion of sales entails the creation of conducive sales environment between the sales promoter and the consumer that attracts the interest of the consumer to use the particular product. The creation of hospitality is very important in sales promotion. In history, the literature of marketing theories has been known to operate on transactional exchange orientation. This has been so in both business- business transactions as well as the consumer to marketer exchange. The theory of classical economics is credited for having led to the development of ‘law of exchange’ by Alderson in 1965. Transactional orientation can further be traced form the development of neoclassical economics which has had formulated assumptions towards maximization of utility and the nature of man in economics. According to research studies, both the relational and transactional marketing strategies have been found to coexist. This means that a consumer may choose on whether to engage a new business relationship with a supplier, try to nourish it and come up with a relationship that is valuable or choose to manage low value- business relationship (Honeycutt, Ford, 2003). However, it is valued to have strong business relationship in any transaction. The ultimate business performance can be achieved through an effective integration of business relationships managements balanced on the framework of transactional economics costs. The interaction of either level is optimized through testing models in the environment, business transaction exchanges, networking and relational governance with a track of its performance. Sales promotion in America is historically not only as old as mankind, but also as old as the art of giving. When a gift is offered to some one, it does not only create a good relationship but also generate a desire for a purchase of the same or similar commodity to offer it as gift to other friends. The art has grown over ages through drastic changes in the media level, personal contact, billboards, and currently the gift sales promotion. The promotional accessories, by the use of branded commodities as well as commercial gifts are the most preferred promotional method currently. This is outweighing the popular traditional means of media broadcast in many ways. People want tangible goods or services brought to their door step. They also want to have an experience on it before purchasing. Therefore, it is good for sales promoters to adjust with quality and give more gifts to consumers as a sales promotion exercise. Some commodities for promotion include biro pens, school bags, mugs, capes and flash drives (USB) which bear the company brand names or promotional tags. Other ways of sales promotion include face to face sales, publicity and media advertisement. Whatever kind of sales promotion if directed to the retailer or wholesaler, then it is referred to as ‘trade sales promotion,’ while when the sales promotion is directed to the consumer, then it is called ‘consumer sales promotion’. The use of reliable packaging method can be a means of attracting consumers in large numbers. This is called ‘price pack deal’ and it is bound to increase sales by more than 25%. Standardized coupons are used in sales promotion. They are either placed on the daily news papers, in phone texts, on the shelf or even as online. When consumers come across these, they tend to be attracted and may end up purchasing the items (Honeycutt, Ford, 2003). Finally, price adjustment strategy also does well in sales promotion. Lowering product price attracts higher demand from consumers.