High Technology, Low Pay — Morale and the Sales Force
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb057264 |
| Date | 01 July 1982 |
| Published date | 01 July 1982 |
| Pages | 7-8 |
| Author | Bob Crew |
| Subject Matter | Economics,Information & knowledge management,Management science & operations |
High Technology, Low Pay
—Morale and the Sales Force
by Bob Crew
Technology is making it easier to communicate over long
and previously impossible distances. The effect of this on
marketing and sales is likely to be tremendous in the not-
too-distant future according to the Institute of Sales &
Marketing Management (ISMM) in Leamington Spa which
reports that, already, the beginnings of the computerised
sales force are in evidence.
John Fenton, chief executive of the ISMM, says that, as
technology brings office workers into the space age, it
would be all-too-easy for the salesman on the road to get
the feeling that he is being left out. While offices are big
enough to justify the expense of computer technology, the
lone salesman in his company car is not, and Fenton agrees
that it is not much use fitting out the boot of a salesman's
car with £30,000 worth of computer if no-one but he is go-
ing to use it. When there are 40 salesmen to consider, the
deterrent to sales-force technology is even greater. Even
so,
Fenton says that there are other ways that technology is
reaching and will continue to reach the salesman: "The
microchip is bringing down the cost of a lot of items, all of
which make it easier for salesmen to communicate, save
time and increase efficiency and sales. Pocket calculators
cost £150 ten years ago; today they cost
£5.
The calculator
is probably the biggest step forward for the travelling
salesman since the invention of the car. All tiresome and
time-consuming calculations that are a headache to the
non-mathematically minded are suddenly gone".
Calculators with print-outs enable salesmen to tear off a
quote and hand it to the customer on the spot, instead of
ringing head office to get one typed and dispatched over a
period of days or weeks. The ISMM says that some
typewriters can store names, telephone numbers, address-
ed and even pre-pared letters, in addition to calculations
—
a complete office-cum-filing system in the salesman's car.
There are also £100 calculator-libraries on the market
capable of storing thousands of pre-written, field-tested
programmes that are invaluable to the salesman, covering
such subjects as agriculture, leisure, surveying and
business decisions.
Next to the calculator, the ISMM regards the hand-held
dictating machine — for as little as £65 — as the most
valuable item of technology currently available to sales
personnel. Used in conjunction with a dazzling
£3,000/£100,000 electronic text-processor; it ensures that
promises to customers of quotes dispatched the same
day/overnight are kept, without the salesman or his
secretary going anywhere near a typewriter. Other similar
machines in the pipeline for salesmen will bring them ins-
tant access to information about customer credit limits,
market research etc. Then there are the hand-held com-
puters for salesmen with instant information of stock con-
trol, inventory control, discount, sales verification,
delivery times etc.
Another technological aid to the salesman is the radio-
telephone. John Fenton says: "Since salesmen are away
from their offices for such long periods, communications
are of vital importance to sales representatives and, in
most cases, that means telephones. More companies are
finding that maximum efficiency can be achieved by put-
ting radio-telephones in their sales representatives' cars,
with a central radio station in the sales office. With some
of the latest equipment, the radio-phone in the rep's car is
fitted with a flashing indicator which lights up when the
base-station calls. If the salesman is away from his car he
can tell from the light that his office is calling him."
The ISMM reckons research shows that average call-
rates can be increased by up to 25 per cent by use of such
radio-phones which pay for themselves inside six months.
Furthermore it points out that salesmen can save much
time with phones in their cars by avoiding the wild goose
chase from one vandalised public telephone box to the next
that is all-to-common these days; phoning customers from
their cars either when they are delayed by traffic conges-
tion or to ask them the way if they are lost, phoning their
offices en-route to or, immediately after, an appointment
to pick up urgent information about changed specifica-
tions,
appointments or whatever. Moreover the phone in
the car of course is better for the salesman's image than the
coin-box coin-in-the slot, vulnerable to being cut off.
Radio-phones pay for themselves in 6 months
The ISMM believes that the companies which equip their
sales force with the latest micro-chip technology first are
the ones which will put their competitors out of business
the quickest. John Fenton says: "Sales are the most vital
cog in the company wheel. Without them everything grinds
to a halt. Increased sales are as important as increased pro-
ductivity." Therefore, if productivity is to be increased by
the micro chip in the near future, so too are sales and the
capacity of salesmen.
According to John Fenton: "In the next few years pro-
gress will be rapid and a salesman will no longer feel quite
so isolated when miles away from his office in his car or
hotel room."
But while British salesmen may feel less isolated in
future, there is concern that they will continue to feel that
they are being sold short. In 1981 they earned, on average,
£6,250 a year plus a bonus and commission—far less than
salesmen worldwide whose salaries, on average, were
£12,250 a year according to the International Labour
Organization. If British salesmen do manage to earn more
by selling more, they are liable to be penalised or even fired
by ungrateful employers whose lowly expectations of the
salesforce do not, apparently, allow for the overachiever.
Recently, at least two salesmen have been in trouble with
JULY/AUGUST 1982 7
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