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The area of salesman behaviour is characterized by a lack of theoretical and empirical research contrasting with the need for an understanding of salesman behaviour in the area of several sales management problems. For instance, when designing a new compensation scheme, a sales manager needs to know what to change, with what probable effect on sales, on salesmen's earnings and, consequently, on net profits. It has been shown that the compensation plan structure should be largely dependent on salesman behaviour patterns. In the same way, knowledge about salesman behaviour has managerial implications for recruiting salesmen displaying desirable behavioural patterns, whenever possible.

INTRODUCTION A large number of variables influence the approach of the marketing function to the problem of selling, including the state of technology, the economic environment, the social structure, the climate of the age (political, institutional, religious and educational), available communication media, skills which managers apply and so on. Yet personal selling is by far the major promotional method used to increase profitable sales by offering want satisfactions to markets and customers.

States that salespeople are increasingly taking on a dual role — not only of selling, but also in gathering intelligence from the marketplace. Presents three case histories of different companies, showing how they use the knowledge of their salespeople in product development, sales forecasting and other planning areas. Suggests that much information can be accrued from the salesforce of a company, which, if made good use of, could lead to better market planning.

Analyses attempts already made to evaluate the qualities required in a successful salesperson. Investigates whether salespeople differ according to the type of product they sell, relating personality characteristics to selling skills. Describes three selling skills: propagatory, expository and closing, and reveals that different selling situations involve different proportions of these skills. Discusses the need for social skill training.

Discusses four occupational characteristics of salespeople that should be measured: ego drive; empathy; appearance; and manner and speech, suggesting that technical knowledge of a product is also important. Uses a case history to demonstrate the correct use of tests in selecting salespersonnel, showing some limitations of the tests in question and revealing their effectiveness.

To achieve a full understanding of the role of marketing from plan to profit requires a knowledge of the basic building blocks. This textbook introduces the key concepts in the art or science of marketing to practising managers. Understanding your customers and consumers, the 4 Ps (Product, Place, Price and Promotion) provides the basic tools for effective marketing. Deploying your resources and informing your managerial decision making is dealt with in Unit VII introducing marketing intelligence, competition, budgeting and organisational issues. The logical conclusion of this effort is achieving sales and the particular techniques involved are explored in the final section.

A practical approach to assessing sales performance can cost little to implement and provide valuable feedback for both company and salesforce.

The strength of personal selling lies in the fact that it allows for communicative interchange, a process more subtle but, at the same time, more hazardous than classical methods such as advertising, which rely on one‐way communication. In terms of efficiency, communicative interchange results in a reduction of reach losses; it is of primary importance in the marketing of commodities which have to be explained or demonstrated to the buyer and particularly, therefore, in industrial marketing and the marketing of services. It is recognised, however, that personal selling is a relatively expensive means of communication.The author undertakes a taxonomical review of the various constituents of the personal selling scene, analysing the tasks involved and the composition of the sales force. In the latter half of the monograph he selects certain sales force management problems of special importance to discuss in greater detail with regard to the optimisation of efficiency and job statisfaction.

The information contained in this article was collected during the course of a research study of the role and activities of industrial salesmen, particularly focusing on the types of information they generate as a result of their contacts in the market place. The article examines how certain companies are utilising the knowledge of industrial salesmen in product planning and development.

We examine the work undertaken by salespersons in the menswear department of a well-known department store in New York City that sells specialized “luxury” clothing by using the theoretical perspective developed by Kenneth Burke, the philosopher of language and communication. He has argued that the most comprehensive way to describe human conduct is to examine what was done, what attitude did it manifest, where was it done, who did it, and how was it done. Burke summarized these questions as act, attitude, scene, agent, agency, and purpose. With these terms comprising a “hexad,” a great deal of complexity can be captured within an organizational context. Indeed, Burke refers to these terms as “the grammar of motives” – that is, the motives of human conduct (1969a, 1968). In the carefully staged menswear environment we find salesmen who negotiate the goals and purposes of the store as well as their individual motives through implicitly defined sequences of acts on the selling floor.