Students

MKTG3007 – Sales and Personal Selling

2023 – Session 2, Online-scheduled-weekday

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and lecturer
Syed Rahman
syed.rahman@mq.edu.au
Room 221, 4 Eastern Road (4ER)
Monday 11am to 12pm
Credit points Credit points
10
Prerequisites Prerequisites
40cp at 2000 level or above including MKTG2008 or MKTG208
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description

Sales is an important function in any commercial organisation. Within organisations, salespeople play a crucial role in aligning their organisation's offerings with customers’ needs, and in maximising value creation for both the customer and the selling firm. Moreover, to keep up with today’s empowered buyers in both B2B and B2C contexts, salespeople need to personalise the entire sales experience to meet the buyer’s wants. This unit develops students’ knowledge of theories and concepts underpinning the planning and operationalisation of a firm’s sales. It also focuses on developing students' knowledge of personal selling, addressing the critical analysis and application of sales tactics. Students will develop communication skills necessary for successful sales.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • ULO1: Evaluate sales concepts on theoretical grounds.
  • ULO2: Critically analyse sales techniques and recommend actionable solutions to improve sales performance.
  • ULO3: Develop a sales pitch and professionally communicate it in either a B2B or B2C setting.

General Assessment Information

Late Assessment Submission Penalty (written assessments)  

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark) will be applied each day a written assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a grade of ‘0’ will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11.55pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical concern.   

 For any late submissions of time-sensitive tasks, such as scheduled tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, and/or scheduled practical assessments/labs, students need to submit an application for Special Consideration.

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Practice-based activities 15% No Week 1 to 10 workshops
Case study analysis 30% No Report 1: Week 4, Monday Report 2: Week 7, Monday
Individual sales report and presentation 55% No Week 12, Sunday

Practice-based activities

Assessment Type 1: Participatory task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 10 hours
Due: Week 1 to 10 workshops
Weighting: 15%

 

This is an individual assessment that requires students to participate during weekly workshops, including short concept quizzes and online discussion forum posts.

The individual participatory tasks are part of workshop activities in the first ten weeks. The activities include 10 weekly online quizzes each worth 0.5 mark, and 10 weekly discussion forum posting activities up to 100 words, each post worth 1 mark.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Evaluate sales concepts on theoretical grounds.

Case study analysis

Assessment Type 1: Case study/analysis
Indicative Time on Task 2: 20 hours
Due: Report 1: Week 4, Monday Report 2: Week 7, Monday
Weighting: 30%

 

This is an individual assessment that requires students to apply theoretical and practical knowledge of personal selling to critically analyse a firm’s sales challenges.

Total 1500 words; students will analyse two sales case studies and submit 750 word reports for each case.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Evaluate sales concepts on theoretical grounds.
  • Critically analyse sales techniques and recommend actionable solutions to improve sales performance.

Individual sales report and presentation

Assessment Type 1: Plan
Indicative Time on Task 2: 28 hours
Due: Week 12, Sunday
Weighting: 55%

 

This is an individual assessment that requires students to apply their practical skills to plan a sales pitch that resonates with a specific opportunity and record an elevator sales pitch based on the plan to demonstrating the communication skills necessary for successful sales. The report will address theories, concepts, and problems underpinning the planning and organisation of sales for maximising value creation for both the customer and the selling firm.

A 2000 word individual report and a recorded presentation (up to 5 minutes).

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Evaluate sales concepts on theoretical grounds.
  • Develop a sales pitch and professionally communicate it in either a B2B or B2C setting.

1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:

  • the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
  • the Writing Centre for academic skills support.

2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation

Delivery and Resources

  • Lecture: PowerPoint files and recordings will be available on iLearn; students do not need to attend any live lectures.  
  • Students need to attend all weekly workshops (week 1 to 13) and engage in activities; the timetable for workshops can be found on the University website at: http://www.timetables.mq.edu.au.

Successful completion of this unit requires the student to submit all assessment tasks and achieve at least 50% in total.

Access to a personal computer, internet, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Powerpoint is required to complete learning activities and assessment tasks.

Following is the list of key required reading/viewing resources; details of learning materials for each week will be available in iLearn and in the Leganto unit reading list. 

Required Textbook: 

SELL (6th Edition, 2020), Authors: Ingram/LaForge//Schwepker/Williams, https://au.cengage.com/c/ebook-sell-44-6th-edition-6e-ingram-laforge-schwepker-williams/9780357144145/ (eBook is available via MQ Library on this link)

Recommended Journal Articles:

Anderson, R. E., Cohen, A. H., Christ, P. F., Mehta, R., & Dubinsky, A. J. (2020). Provenance, evolution, and transition of personal selling and sales management to strategic marketing channel management. Journal of Marketing Channels, 26(1), 28-42. https://doi.org/10.1080/1046669X.2019.1647913

Ancillai, C., Terho, H., Cardinali, S., & Pascucci, F. (2019). Advancing social media driven sales research: Establishing conceptual foundations for B-to-B social selling. Industrial Marketing Management, 82, 293-308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2019.01.002 

Charoensukmongkol, P. (2020). The efficacy of cultural intelligence for adaptive selling behaviors in cross-cultural selling: The moderating effect of trait mindfulness. Journal of Global Marketing, 33(3), 141-157. https://doi.org/10.1080/08911762.2019.1654586

Delpechitre, D., & Baker, D. S. (2017). Cross-cultural selling: Examining the importance of cultural intelligence in sales education. Journal of Marketing Education, 39(2), 94-108. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0273475317710060

Eggert, A., Ulaga, W., Frow, P., & Payne, A. (2018). Conceptualizing and communicating value in business markets: From value in exchange to value in use. Industrial Marketing Management, 69, 80-90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2018.01.018

Hansen, J. D., Singh, T., Weilbaker, D. C., & Guesalaga, R. (2011). Cultural intelligence in cross-cultural selling: Propositions and directions for future research. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 31(3), 243-254. https://doi.org/10.2753/PSS0885-3134310303

Sahni, N. S., Wheeler, S. C., & Chintagunta, P. (2018). Personalization in email marketing: The role of noninformative advertising content. Marketing Science, 37(2), 236-258. https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2017.1066

Singh, S., Marinova, D., Singh, J., & Evans, K. R. (2018). Customer query handling in sales interactions. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 46(5), 837-856. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-017-0569-y

Tyler, K., Patton, M., Mongiello, M., Meyer, D., Whittaker, G., Ledden, L., & Kalafatis, S. P. (2007). A re‐examination of the relationship between value, satisfaction and intention in business services. Journal of Services Marketing, 21(5), http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/08876040710773651 

Verbeke, W., Dietz, B., & Verwaal, E. (2011). Drivers of sales performance: a contemporary meta-analysis. Have salespeople become knowledge brokers?. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 39(3), 407-428. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-010-0211-8

Recommended Online Reading/viewing:

HubSpot Academy Inbound Sales certification - https://academy.hubspot.com/courses/inbound-sales

Unit Schedule

Please refer to iLearn.

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/admin/other-resources/student-conduct

Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Academic Integrity

At Macquarie, we believe academic integrity – honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and courage – is at the core of learning, teaching and research. We recognise that meeting the expectations required to complete your assessments can be challenging. So, we offer you a range of resources and services to help you reach your potential, including free online writing and maths support, academic skills development and wellbeing consultations.

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Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

The Writing Centre

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Unit information based on version 2023.01R of the Handbook