the specialists visit, an order getter has probably stimulated interest. The technical specialist provides the details. The order getter will probably complete the sale but only after the customer's technical people give at least tentative approval.5
Frederick Ross (Carborundum Company) thought that the essential element in the effective management of industrial product sales lay in planning, a major element of which is concerned with an accurate defining of the business a company is really in, and a second major element of which is the establishment of the goals of industrial sales management within the context of the overall organizational mission.6 Ross also thought that was critical for those managers responsible for industrial sales management within an organization to clearly identify the strengths and weaknesses of the organizations sales program, sales force, and products.7 Bennett Connor (AMP Incorporated) thought that the single most critical factors involved in effective industrial sales management were those of selecting the individuals who will comprise the sales force (individuals who are capable of learning the characteristics and
5E. J. McCarthy, Marketing, 9th ed. (Homewood, Illinois: Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1989) 468.
6F. J. Ross, "Weighing the Options," in Marketing Strategies (New York: The Conference Board, 1983), 55.
applications of industrial products), and the following of this selection with thoughtful field assignments (assigning individual sales persons to industrial areas or client firms where they either have or may develop an expertise) that will enhance the probability of fulfilling an organization's marketing strategy.8
There can be little doubt but that each of the factors mentioned by the two industrial leaders are significant to the effective management of industrial sales and are significant to the international sales strategy of Omega. Further, effective industrial sales managem...