The Industrial Sales Force

Abstract

The industrial sales force has evolved from being a relationship oriented profession to a technically oriented one. Praise for that! While a good Sales Engineer must still be able to manage human relations as a basic trait, there are other more important competences that customers want from them: technical expertise, time commitment and agreement fulfilment.This chapter discusses a complete industrial purchasing process from the customer point of view, as well as the sales process from the supplier's perspective. A proactive tender bid approach and two types of after-sales concepts and practises are also explained.Moreover, Capex/Opex consultative selling activities are discussed in detail, and novel tools such as the project map and its impact upon other company's departments are introduced for the first time. The reader will also obtain knowledge about the essential characteristics of modern industrial selling.