This article made me think of the great similarities between Chinese and Indian salespersons and how the comments made by Miller with regard to the Chinese, are also applicable to Indians. However, I must point out that India too has many truly professional salespersons.

Miller says that the Chinese are well known for relying on relationships in business. But relationships in China are more personal and not necessarily developed with regard to the potential of the customer. This can result in some piquant situations. For example, like a Chinese sales representative may sell at unprofitable prices to preferred customers. Or, may channel short supply products away from major customers and send it to preferred customers with little business potential.

In India, we see salesmen extending preferential treatment to customers who are their friends-rather than their best or biggest customers. These friends are given the best discounts; they are informed in advance of bonus schemes that are planned; they are given longer credit; or preferential allocation in short supply items. The Chinese and Indian situations are very similar.

Many Chinese sales representatives will even ignore the financial shortcomings of relationship customers and continue to sell on credit to the detriment of their own companies. This is also true in India. It explains why, in spite of very streamlined financial systems, companies in India still find that credit limits have been crossed; the company exposed to financial risk; and does in fact lose heavily when the stockist or institutional customer throws up his hands and says he cannot pay his debts.

This is because the sales representative was not vigilant; did not follow the rules; did not ring a warning bell in time; and was a `good friend' to the customer, but a poor sales representative. Other typical Chinese behaviour patterns are selling products solely on the basis of price; not qualifying potential customers; failing to ask probing questions; asking purely social questions that have no use in finding out business related information; and demonstrating very weak product knowledge.

Here again, Indian sales representatives measure up quite closely to Chinese sales representatives. There are representatives who have been selling cement or fertilisers or consumer durables for many years and yet have very poor product knowledge. Much of the time of the sales interview is taken up with "bazaar gossip" or social chatter. More time is spent with good friends who bring cheer, rather than those who can give more business.

Unfortunately, those customers who have high potential are the most difficult to meet, and when met, give very little time. Sales representatives then take the line of least resistance. In India, as in China, sales representatives also clamour for the best prices and higher dealer margins. They would like to sell price, rather than benefits or quality, because the latter is a more tortuous process and requires high levels of knowledge of both the product and the customer. Companies find that in the long run, they pay a very high price for inefficient distribution systems. It is a system that has been partially set in place by sales representatives who have appointed `friends' as stockists, because they have been friends; rather than on the basis of a past successful record in the same or similar industry. The country is therefore dotted with stockists who handle cement, pesticides or fertilisers, and know little or nothing about the product or the competition and have not gone beyond the mere basics thatwould be required.

There are many situations where sales representatives in India spend a whole hour talking to the customer about family, local politics, national politics and market gossip. Then the customer stands up to say goodbye. He has some other business to attend to and, of course, he knows everything about the product. He will give all the support he can. Please do not worry. The sales representative goes out, complacent in the knowledge that the customer will buy when the need arises, but he will not do so! Because the customer cannot remember the benefits of the product.

Smoothly moving on from social conversation to business conversation is an art. Many Asian sales representatives have not been able to master this.

Miller says that Chinese sales representatives place less emphasis on challenge, on earnings, on recognition and on promotions. Many Chinese sales representatives are accustomed to working on straight commissions with little training or marketing support from their companies.

Miller's comment reminded me of a situation in the 1970s when a salesman of a large pharmaceutical MNC was promoted to the post of sales supervisor. He collected a whole team of salesmen colleagues and tore the appointment letter in their presence, saying, "They cannot buy me. I will continue to be a salesmen and get protection of my job under the Union rights." He would lose this protection once he came under the `manager' category. All these attitudes and disabilities are not true for all salesmen in India. There are, in many companies, salesmen who are objective, goal and systems oriented and truly effective salespersons. But for many others, who are in the Chinese mould, as described by Miller, they have a long way to go before they become world-class sales representatives.