Introduction to Personal
Selling and Direct Marketing:
Part 1
Click icon to hear
Preview
• Role of a company’s salespeople in creating
value for customers and building customer
relationships
• Six major sales force management steps
• Personal selling process, distinguishing between
transaction-oriented and relationship marketing
• Direct marketing and its benefits to customers
and companies
• Major forms of direct marketing
2
Nature of Personal Selling
• Most salespeople well-educated, well-trained
professionals who work to build and maintain
long-term customer relationships
• Salespeople cover a wide range of positions
• Order taker: Department store clerk
• Order getter: Creative selling in different
environments
3
Role of the Sales Force
• Personal selling is paid, personal form of promotion
• Involves two-way personal communication between
salespeople and individual customers
• Salespeople
•
•
•
•
Probe customers to learn about problems
Adjust marketing offers to fit special needs
Negotiate terms of sales
Build long-term personal relationships
• Sales force serves critical company
customer link
• Represents company to customers
• Represents customers to company
• Goal = customer satisfaction and company profit
4
Sales Force Management
• Analysis, planning, implementation, and control
of sales force activities
• Includes
•
•
•
•
•
•
Designing sales force strategy and structure
Recruiting and selecting salespeople
Training salespeople
Compensating salespeople
Supervising salespeople
Evaluating salespeople
5
Sale Force Structure
• Territorial
• Salesperson assigned to exclusive area and sells
full line of products
• Product
• Sales force sells only certain product lines
• Customer
• Sales force organized by customer or industry
• Complex
• Combination of several types of structures
6
Outside and Inside Sales Forces
• Outside sales force travels to call on customers
in the field
• Inside sales force conducts business from office
via telephone or visits from perspective buyers
• Includes
• Technical support people
• Sales assistants
• Telemarketers
7
Team Selling
• Used to service large, complex accounts
• Can find problems, solutions, and sales opportunities
that no single person could find
• Can include experts from different areas of selling firm
• Pitfalls
• Can confuse or overwhelm customers
• Working in teams trouble for some people
• Hard to evaluate individual contributions
8
Successful Salespeople
• Careful selection can greatly enhance overall
sales force performance while minimizing costly
turnover
• Key talents of successful salespeople
•
•
•
•
Intrinsic motivation
Disciplined work style
Ability to close a sale
Ability to build relationships with customers
9
Recruiting Salespeople
• Recommendations
• Searching the Web
from current sales force • College placement
• Employment agencies
services
• Classified ads
• Recruit from other
companies
10
Sales Force Training Goals
• Learn about different types of customers and
their needs, buying motives, and buying habits
• Learn how to make effective sales presentations
• Learn about and identify with the company, its
products and its competitors
11
Compensating Salespeople
• Fixed amount
• Salary
• Variable amount
• Commissions or bonuses
• Expenses
• Repays for job-related expenditures
• Fringe benefits
• Vacations, sick leave, pension, etc.
12
Supervising Salespeople
• Goal of supervision is to encourage salespeople
to “work smart”
• Help them identify customers and set call norms
• Specify time to be spent prospecting
• Annual call plan
• Time-and-duty analysis
• Sales force automation systems
13
Motivating Salespeople
• Goal of motivating sales force is to encourage
salespeople to “work hard”
• Organizational climate
• Sales quotas
• Positive incentives
•
•
•
•
Sales meetings
Sales contests
Recognition and honors
Cash awards, trips, profit sharing
14
Personal Selling Process for
Salesperson
• Prospecting
• Identify and qualify potential customers (called
prospects)
• Pre-approach
• Learn as much as possible about prospects before
making sales calls
• Approach
• Meet potential customer for first time
• Presentation
• Tell “product story” to potential buyer, highlighting
customer benefits
15
Personal Selling Process (cont.)
• Handling Objections
• Seek out, clarify, and overcome customer
objections to buying
• Turn objections into reasons for buying
• Closing—Ask for an order
• Difficult if lack confidence or feel guilty asking
• Follow-up
• After the sale effort to ensure customer satisfaction
and repeat business
• Selling process is transaction oriented; most firms go
beyond this and attempt to build mutually profitable
relationships
16