I have no doubt that difficulties of the past few years have had an adverse effect on the morale, enthusiasm, and, therefore, the productivity of manufacturer sales forces. Criticism from consumer groups and resistance to increasing prices must certainly have made sales representatives in all fields take a long look at their jobs and at the prospects for the future.               

The criticism of business and the attacks on it, not only by some of our young people buy also by some of our educators, could influence the thinking of our sales forces about the importance of their work.               

Many must at least wonder what kind of contribution they and their companies are making to society and to making the world a good place in which to live.               

With the pressures of competition and consumer reluctance to buy, many companies have had to reduce their sales forces for the sake of efficiencies. Short supply has also been a major factor in the reduction of not only sales personnel buy people in other areas as well. These reductions have to have an effect on the feeling of security that is necessary in most cases for superior job performance.                

Eroding profits, too, affect the ability of some companies to provide compensation increases commensurate with the rising cost of living. This, of course, directly affects the morale of the sales force.·        Kraft’s position in the food industry:               

Before I relate the ways in which we at Kraft have been dealing with motivation in our sales force, I would first like to point out our position in the food industry. It has a bearing on the problem as far as our employees are concerned.   Kraft Foods is a division of Kraft Inc., whose divisions include, among others, Breakstone Sugar Creek, and oil products. Kraft was founded in1930 by James L. Kraft in Chicago. He started as a cheese wholesaler with a single horse and wagon. Today, Kraft Foods is one of the largest, most respected names in the food business, Recently, a study was conducted by Daniel Yankelovich on Kraft’s corporate and product image as seen trough the eyes of the consumer. The study concluded that “The Kraft consumer franchise today is a strong and pervasive one”; and that “few, if any, other food companies can demonstrate an equal level of consumer acceptance.”               

Kraft retail products are for the great part used in combination with other products, and our advertising involves providing nutritious and appetizing food ideas using these products. This advertising, along with our type of products, assists retail grocers to sell multiple products through related-item merchandising. Our sales people are highly trained in this kind of merchandising and they are, therefore, generally well accepted in the stores.               

I mention these things because they play a large part in the attitudes and the morale of our sales employees. Being able to represent products and services that have a high acceptance rate by consumer and customer alike certainly makes the Kraft sales job more pleasant and satisfying, and being a part of this success story stimulates a great deal of pride.