What Is Personal Selling?
• Personal Selling
–Paid personal communication that informs
customers and persuades them to buy
products
• Most adjustable to customer information needs
• Most precise (targeted) form of
promotion methods
• Most expensive element in
promotion mix
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18–1
General Steps in the Personal
Selling Process
FIGURE 18.1
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18–2
Prospecting for Customers
• Prospecting
–Developing a list of potential customers
• Sales records, trade shows, commercial
databases, newspaper announcements, public
records, telephone directories, trade association
directories
• Reponses to advertisements with information
request forms
• Referrals—recommendations from current
customers
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18–3
Evaluating Prospects
• Preapproach (before contacting the customer)
– Finding and analyzing information about the
prospect
•
•
•
•
Specific product needs
Current use of brands
Feelings about available brands
Personal characteristics
– Additional research
•
•
•
•
•
•
Identifying key decision makers
Reviewing account histories and problems
Contacting other clients for information
Assessing credit histories and problems
Preparing sales presentations
Identifying product needs
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18–4
Approaching the Customer
• Approach
–The manner in which a salesperson contacts
a potential customer
• Purpose is to gather information about the buyer’s
needs and objectives
• Important to create a favorable first impression
and build rapport with prospective customer
–Typical approaches
• Referral by another customer to a prospective
customer
• “Cold canvass” call without prior introduction to
the customer
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18–5
Making the Presentation
• During the Presentation
– Attract and hold the prospect’s attention.
– Stimulate interest in the product.
– Spark a desire for the product.
– Listen and respond to the prospect questions and
comments.
• Ways to Enhance the Presentation’s Effects
– Have the prospect touch, hold, or use the product.
– Use audiovisual technology to heighten the impact of
the presentation.
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18–6
Overcoming Objections
• Anticipate objections and counter them during
the presentation
• Generally, best to handle objections
as they arise
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18–7
Closing the Sale
• Closing
– The stage in the selling process when the
salesperson asks the prospect to buy the product
• Closing strategies
– “Trial” closing: asking questions
(what, how, or why) that
assume the customer will
buy the product
– Asking for a tryout order: low-risk
way for customer to try out the
product
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18–8
Following Up
• Determining if the delivery and setup of order
was completed to the customer’s satisfaction
• Ascertaining the customer’s future product
needs
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18–9
Important Terms
• Personal Selling
– Paid personal communication that informs
customers and persuades them to buy products
• Prospecting
– Developing a list of potential customers
• Approach
– The manner in which a salesperson contacts a
potential customer
• Closing
– The stage in the selling process when the
salesperson asks the prospect to buy the product
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
18–10
What Is Sales Promotion?
• Sales Promotion
–An activity and/or material that acts as a
direct inducement to resellers or salespeople
to sell a product or consumers to buy it
–Encourages product trial and purchase by
adding value to the product
–Facilitates or is facilitated by personal selling
and advertising
–Use has grown dramatically over the last 20
years at the expense of traditional
advertising
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18–11
Sales Promotions Like This Provide
Incentives to Customers
Reprinted with permission of LORD’S & LADY’S Hair Salon, Inc.
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18–12
What Is Sales Promotion? (cont’d)
• Deciding Which Sales Promotion Method to
Use
–Product characteristics
–Target market characteristics
–Distribution channel(s)
–Number and types of resellers
–Competitive and legal environment
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18–13
Consumer Sales Promotion
Methods
• Consumer sales promotion methods encourage
consumers to patronize specific stores or to try
particular products
• Coupons
– Written price reductions used to encourage
consumers to buy a specific product
– Effective coupons are easily recognized and state
the offer clearly
– Advantages: generate brand awareness and interest
and reward brand loyalty
– Disadvantages: Fraud and misredemptions;
consumer ill-will from stock-outs during promotions
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18–14
Who Uses Coupons?
Income
% Using
Coupons
< $25,000
77
$25,000 – 50,000
79
$50,000 – 75,000
80
> $75,000
74
Source: Promotion Marketing Association, press release, August 30 2004, www.couponmonth.com/pages/news.htm.
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18–15
Consumer Sales Promotion
Methods (cont’d)
• Cents-Off Offers
–Let buyers pay less than the regular price to
encourage purchase
• Money Refund
–Offers consumers money when they mail in a
proof of purchase, usually for multiple
product purchases
• Rebate
–Sends consumers a specific amount of
money for making a single product purchase
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18–16
Consumer Sales Promotion
Methods (cont’d)
• Frequent-User Incentives
– Loyalty programs reward frequent buyers
• Point-of-Purchase Displays
– Signs, window displays, display racks, and similar
means used to attract customers and to encourage
immediate purchases
• Demonstrations
– Used temporarily to encourage trial use and
purchase of a product or to show how a product
works.
– Highly effective yet costly in practice
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18–17
Consumer Sales Promotions
Methods: Frequent User Incentives
Reprinted with permission of the Sperry & Hutchinson Company, Inc.
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18–18
Consumer Sales Promotion
Methods (cont’d)
• Free Samples
– Free products given out to encourage trial and
purchase
– Used to increase sales volume and obtain desirable
distribution for fast turnover products
– The most expensive form of sales promotion
• Premiums
– Items offered free or at a minimal cost as a bonus for
purchasing a product
– Premium must match both the target market and the
brand’s image.
– Premiums must be easily recognizable and
desirable.
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18–19
Consumer Sales Promotion
Methods (cont’d)
• Consumer Contests and Games
– Individuals compete for prizes based on analytical or
creative skills
– Used to generate retail traffic and to increase
exposure to promotional messages
• Consumer Sweepstakes
– A sales promotion in which entrants submit their
names for inclusion in a drawing for prizes
– Used more than contests and attract more
widespread interest
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18–20
Important Terms
• Sales Promotion
–An activity and/or material that acts as a
direct inducement to resellers or salespeople
to sell a product or consumers to buy it
• Consumer Sales Promotion Methods
–Ways of encouraging consumers to patronize
specific stores or to try a particular product
• Coupons
–Written price reductions used to encourage
consumers to buy a specific product
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
18–21
Important Terms
• Cents-Off Offers
–Promotions that let buyers pay less than the
regular price to encourage purchase
• Money Refunds
–Offering consumers money when they mail in
a proof of purchase, usually for multiple
product purchases
• Rebates
–Sending consumers a specific amount of
money for making a single product purchase
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
18–22
Important Terms
• Point-of-Purchase (P-O-P) Displays
– Signs, window displays, display racks, and similar
means used to attract customers and to encourage
immediate purchases
• Demonstrations
– Manufacturers use them temporarily to encourage
trial use and purchase of a product or to show how a
product works.
• Free Samples
– Samples of a product given out to encourage trial
and purchase
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18–23
Important Terms
• Premiums
–Items offered free or at a minimal cost as a
bonus for purchasing a product
• Consumer Contests and Games
–Individuals compete for prizes based on
analytical or creative skills.
• Consumer Sweepstakes
–A sales promotion in which entrants submit
their names for inclusion in a drawing for
prizes
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18–24
Trade Sales Promotion Methods
• Trade sales promotion methods refer to ways
of persuading wholesalers and retailers to carry
a producer’s products and to market them
aggressively
• Buying Allowance
–A temporary price reduction to resellers for
purchasing specified quantities of a product
• Buy-Back Allowance
–A sum of money a producer gives a reseller
for each additional unit bought after an initial
promotion deal is over
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18–25
Trade Sales Promotion Methods
(cont’d)
• Scan-Back Allowance
–A manufacturer’s reward to retailers based
on the number of pieces scanned
• Merchandise Allowance
–A manufacturer’s agreement to help resellers
pay for special promotional efforts
• Cooperative Advertising
–Sharing of media costs by manufacturer and
retailer for advertising the manufacturer’s
products
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18–26
Trade Sales Promotion Methods
(cont’d)
• Dealer Listings
– Ads promoting a product and identifying retailers that
sell the product; influences retailers to carry the
products, builds traffic at the retail level, and
encourages consumers to shop at participating
dealers
• Free Merchandise
– A manufacturer’s reward given to resellers for
purchasing a stated quantity of goods
– Usually takes the form of a reduced invoice
• Dealer Loader
– A gift, often part of a display, offered to a retailer who
purchases a specified quantity of merchandise
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18–27
Trade Sales Promotion Methods
(cont’d)
• Premium (Push) Money
–Extra compensation to salespersons for
pushing a line of products
• Sales Contest
–A means of motivating distributors, retailers,
and salespeople by recognizing outstanding
achievements
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18–28
Important Terms
• Trade Sales Promotion Methods
– Ways of persuading wholesalers and retailers to carry a
producer’s products and market them aggressively
• Buying Allowance
– A temporary price reduction to resellers for purchasing
specified quantities of a product
• Buy-Back Allowance
– A sum of money a producer gives a reseller for each
additional unit bought after an initial promotion deal is
over
• Scan-Back Allowance
– A manufacturer’s reward to retailers based on the number
of pieces scanned
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
18–29
Important Terms
• Merchandise Allowance
– A manufacturer’s agreement to help resellers pay for
special promotional efforts
• Cooperative Advertising
– Sharing of media costs by manufacturer and retailer
for advertising the manufacturer’s products
• Dealer Listings
– Ads promoting a product and identifying retailers that
sell the product; influences retailers to carry the
products, builds traffic at the retail level, and
encourages consumers to shop at participating
dealers
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
18–30
Important Terms
• Free Merchandise
– A manufacturer’s reward given to resellers for
purchasing a stated quantity of goods
• Dealer Loader
– A gift, often part of a display, offered to a retailer who
purchases a specified quantity of merchandise
• Premium (Push) Money
– Extra compensation to salespersons for pushing a
line of products
• Sales Contest
– A means of motivating distributors, retailers, and
salespeople by recognizing outstanding
achievements
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
18–31