MKT 3400- Chapter 20- Personal Selling

Personal Selling

involves the two-way flow of communication between a buyer and seller, often in a face-to-face encounter, designed to influence a person’s or group’s purchase decision

Sales management

involves planning the selling program and implementing and evluating the personal selling effort of the firm

Personal Selling serves three major roles

(1) salespeople are the critical link between the firm and its customers

(2) sales people are the company in a consumer’s eyes

(3) perosnal selling may play a dominant role in a firm’s marketing program

Value added by personal selling

salespeople are expensive for firms, but they reocgnize the value it adds to their products or service mix

it is worth more than it costs

(1) they provide information and advice

(2) they save time and simplify buying for customers

(3) they build relationships with their customers

order-taking salespeople

processes routine orders or reoders for products that were already sold by the company

order-getting salespeople

identifies prospective customers, provides customers with information, persuades customers to buy, closes sales, and follows up on a customers’ use of a product or service

customer sales support personnel

augment the selling effort of order getters by performing a variety of services

personal selling process

(1) prospecting

(2) preapproach

(3) approach

(4) presentation

(5) close

(6) follow-up

Prospecting

lead, prospect, qualified prospect

objective: search for and quality prospect

start of the selling process; prospects produced through advertising, referrals, and cold canvassing

lead

name of a person who may be a possible customer

lead

name of a person who may be a possible customer

prospect

a customer who wants or needs the product

qualified prospect

an individual who wants the product, can afford to buy it, and is the decision maker

Preapproach

involves obtaining information on the prospect, deciding on the best method of approach, and knowing prospects’ expectation

objective: gather information and decide how to approach the prospect

information sources include personal observation, other customers, and own salespeople

Presentation

types: (1) stimulus-response format, (2) formula selling format, and (3) need-satisfaction format

objective: begin converted a prospect into a customer by creating a desire for the product or service

different presentation formats are possible, however, involving the customer in the product or service through attention to particular needs is ctirical; important to deal professionally and ethically with prospect skepticism, indifference, or objections

Closing stage

objective: obtain a purchase commitment from the prospect and create a customer

salesperson asks for the purchase; different approaches include the trial close and assumptive close

Follow-Up

includes making certain the customer’s purchase has been properly delviered and installed and addressing any difficulties experienced with the use of the item

objective: ensure that the customer is satisfied with the product or service

resolve any problems faced by the customer to ensure customer satisfaction and future sales possibilties

Sales Management process

(1)sales plan formulation

(2) sales plan implementation

(3) salesforce evaluation

Sales plan

statement describing what is to be achieved and where and how the selling effort of salespeople is to be deployed

three tasks: setting objectives, organizing salesforce, and developing account management policies

sales plan implementation

sales plan is put into practice through the tasks associated with sales plan implementation

three tasks: salesforce recruitment and selection, salesforce training, salesforce motivation and compensation

Managers and experts agree good salespeople have the following traits:

personality- friendly, sociable, like being around people

optimism

resilience- do not take no for an answer

self-motivation

empathy- care about customers

Sales training

training about selling and negotiation techniques, product and service knowledge, technologies used, territory management, company procedures

cost versus value of the training

on the job training vs Internet training

Salesforce evaluation

salespeople are assessed as to whether sales objectives were met and account management policies were followed

quantitative behavioral and behavioral measures tap different selling dimensions