13 Integrated Marketing Communication: Personal Selling and Direct Marketing ROAD MAP: Previewing the Concepts • Discuss the role of a company’s salespeople in • • • • creating value for customers and building customer relationships. Identify and explain the six major sales force management steps. Discuss the personal selling process, distinguishing between transaction-oriented marketing and relationship marketing. Define direct marketing and discuss its benefits to customers and companies. Identify and discuss the major forms of direct marketing. 13-2 The Nature of Personal Selling • Most salespeople are well-educated, well- trained professionals who work to build and maintain long-term customer relationships. • The term salesperson covers a wide range of positions: – Order taker: Department store clerk – Order getter: Creative selling in different environments 13-3 The Role of the Sales Force • Personal selling is a 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 13-4 The Role of the Sales Force Sales Force serves as critical link between company and its customers They represent the company to the customers They represent the customers to the company Goal = Customer Satisfaction and Company Profit 13-5 Major Steps in Sales Force Management 13-6 Sales 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 organizes along customer or industry lines Complex: Combination of several types of structures 13-7 Inside Sales Force • Conduct business from their offices via telephone or visits from perspective buyers. • Includes: – Technical support people – Sales assistants – Telemarketers 13-8 Inside Sales Force Experienced telemarketers sell complex chemical products by telephone at DuPont’s Customer Telecontact Center. 13-9 Team Selling • Used to service large, complex accounts. • Can include experts from different areas of selling firm. • Pitfalls: – Can confuse or overwhelm customers – Some people have trouble working in teams – Hard to evaluate individual contributions 13-10 Recruiting and Selecting Salespeople • Key talents of salespeople: – Intrinsic motivation – Disciplined work style – Ability to close a sale – Ability to build relationships with customers 13-11 Recruiting Salespeople • Recommendations from current sales force • Employment agencies • Classified ads • Web searches • College students • Recruit from other companies 13-12 Sales Force Training Goals Learn about and identify with the company. Learn about the company’s products. Learn customers’ and competitors’ characteristics. Learn how to make effective presentations. Learn field procedures and responsibilities. 13-13 Compensating Salespeople • Fixed amount: – Salary • Variable amount: – Commissions or bonuses • Expenses: – Repays for job-related expenditures • Fringe benefits: – Vacations, sick leave, pension, etc. 13-14 Supervising Salespeople • Directing Salespeople – 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 13-15 How Salespeople Spend Their Time 13-16 Supervising Salespeople • Motivating Salespeople – Organizational climate – Sales quotas – Positive incentives: • Sales meetings • Sales contests • Recognition and honors • Cash awards, trips, profit sharing 13-17 Sales Force Incentives Many companies offer cash, trips, or merchandise as incentives. Marriott suggests that companies reward outstanding sales performers by letting them “spread their wings and reenergize” at fabulous Marriott resorts worldwide. 13-18 Major Steps in Effective Selling 13-19 The Personal Selling Process Prospecting The salesperson identifies qualified potential customers Preapproach The salesperson learns as much as possible about a prospective customer before making a sales call Approach The salesperson meets the customer for the first time Presentation The salesperson tells the “product story” to the buyer, highlighting customer benefits 13-20 The Personal Selling Process Handling Objections The salesperson seeks out, clarifies, and overcomes customer objections to buying Closing The salesperson asks the customer for an order Follow-up The salesperson follows up after the sale to ensure customer satisfaction and repeat business 13-21 Owens-Corning Field Sales Advantage system gives salespeople a constant supply of information about their company and the people with whom they are dealing. 13-22 Direct Marketing • Direct marketing consists of direct connections with carefully targeted individual consumers to both obtain an immediate response and cultivate lasting customer relationships. • Click Here to Visit the Direct Marketing Association's Website 13-23 The New Direct-Marketing Model • Some firms use direct marketing as a supplemental medium. • For many companies, direct marketing constitutes a new and complete model for doing business. • Some firms employ the direct model as their only approach. • Some see this as the new marketing model of the next millennium. 13-24 Benefits of Direct Marketing • Benefits to Buyers: – Convenient – Easy to use – Private – Ready access to products and information – Immediate and interactive 13-25 Benefits of Direct Marketing • Benefits to Sellers: – Powerful tool for building customer relationships – Can target small groups or individuals – Can tailor offers to individual needs – Can be timed to reach prospects at just the right moment – Gives access to buyers they could not reach through other channels – Offers a low-cost, efficient way to reach markets 13-26 Customer Databases • An organized collection of comprehensive data about individual customers or prospects, including geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral data. 13-27 Forms of Direct Marketing 13-28 Telephone Marketing • Accounts for more • • than 36% of all direct-marketing sales. Used in both consumer and B2B markets. Can be outbound or inbound calls. 13-29 Inbound Telephone Marketing The Carolina Cookie Company urges, “Don’t wait another day! Call now to place an order or request a catalog.” 13-30 Direct-Mail Marketing • Involves sending an offer, announcement, reminder, or other item to a person at a particular address. • Accounts for more than 31% of directmarketing sales. • Permits high target-market selectivity. • Personal and flexible. • Easy to measure results. 13-31 Catalog Marketing • With the Internet, more and more catalogs going electronic. • Print catalogs still the primary medium. • Expected sales in 2008 = $176 billion. • Harder to attract new customers with Internet catalogs. 13-32 Direct-Response TV Marketing Direct-Response Advertising Infomercials Home Shopping Channels 13-33 Infomercial Ronco and Ron Popeil, with his Veg-o-Matics, food dehydrators, and electric egg scramblers, paved the way for a host of mainstream marketers who now use directresponse ads. 13-34 Kiosk Marketing • Information and ordering machines generally found in stores, airports, and other locations. 13-35 Integrated Direct-Marketing • The use of carefully coordinated multiple-media, multiple-stage campaigns. 13-36 Public Policy and Ethical Issues in Direct Marketing Irritation to Consumers Taking unfair advantage of impulsive or less sophisticated buyers Targeting TV-addicted shoppers Deception, Fraud Invasion of Privacy 13-37 Rest Stop: Reviewing the Concepts 1. Discuss the role of a company’s salespeople in 2. 3. 4. 5. creating value for customers and building customer relationships. Identify and explain the six major sales force management steps. Discuss the personal selling process, distinguishing between transaction-oriented marketing and relationship marketing. Define direct marketing and discuss its benefits to customers and companies. Identify and discuss the major forms of direct marketing. 13-38 Q: Which of the following categories of organization typically maintains a sales force? 1. Privately held consumer products firms 2. Government agencies 3. Colleges and universities 4. All the above AK, 7e – Chapter 13 13-39 Q: Which of the following are salespeople? 1. Account executives 2. Agents 3. District managers 4. All the above AK, 7e – Chapter 13 13-40 Q: Do you think that you have the personal characteristics necessary to be successful at personal selling? 1. Yes 2. No AK, 7e – Chapter 13 13-41 Q: Suppose you're about to begin working as a salesperson. How would you prefer to be compensated? 1. Straight salary 2. Straight commission, earning a high percentage of your total sales 3. A mix of salary and commission, with more in salary 4. A mix of salary and commission, with more in commission AK, 7e – Chapter 13 13-42 Q: A team of telemarketers and the mineral experts who advise them as they focus on business consumers in the mining industry is an example of what type of sales force? 1.A complex inside sales force. 2.An outside product sales force. 3.A large sales force. 4.A customer sales force. AK, 7e – Chapter 13 13-43 Q: Sales training programs generally teach sales recruits to do all the following except: a.understand the company's products. b.research customers' and competitors' characteristics. c.calculate their sales commissions. d.work through established field procedures. AK, 7e – Chapter 13 13-44 Q: Using referrals from suppliers and dealers to identify potential customers is part of which step in the selling process? 1. Prospecting 2. Preapproach 3. Approach 4. Handling objections AK, 7e – Chapter 13 13-45 Q: _________________ is the step in the selling process in which the salesperson learns as much as possible about a prospective customer before making a sales call. 1. Prospecting 2. Preapproach 3. Approach 4. Handling objections AK, 7e – Chapter 13 13-46 Q: Setting call objectives is done during which of the following stages of the selling process? 1. Prospecting 2. Preapproach 3. Approach 4. Handling objections AK, 7e – Chapter 13 13-47 Q: __________________ is the step in the selling process in which the salesperson meets and greets the buyer to get the relationship off to a good start. 1. Prospecting 2. Preapproach 3. Approach 4. Handling objections AK, 7e – Chapter 13 13-48 Q: Companies employ direct marketing to do all the following except: 1. tailor marketing offers and communications. 2. obtain direct, immediate, measurable responses from consumers. 3. communicate with customers more easily. 4. reach masses of undifferentiated customers. AK, 7e – Chapter 13 13-49 Q: In consumer marketing, a customer database might contain all the following except: 1. competitive suppliers. 2. customers' ages. 3. customers' past purchases. 4. customers' preferences. AK, 7e – Chapter 13 13-50 Q: Suppose you wanted to sell custombuilt cars to consumers using one of the major methods of direct marketing. Which do you think would be the most effective? 1. Telemarketing 2. Direct-mail marketing 3. Catalog marketing 4. Kiosk marketing AK, 7e – Chapter 13 13-51 Q: Together, __________ account for over half of all direct marketing expenditures and sales. 1. face-to-face selling and telemarketing 2. catalogue marketing and kiosk marketing 3. telemarketing and direct-mail marketing 4. face-to-face selling and direct-response TV marketing AK, 7e – Chapter 13 13-52 Q: CDs are among the fastestgrowing media in what area of direct marketing? 1. Catalog marketing 2. Kiosk marketing 3. Telemarketing 4. Direct-mail marketing AK, 7e – Chapter 13 13-53 Q: Web-based catalogue marketing must generally be supported by some other form of marketing, such as advertising, because: 1. Web catalogs are intrusive and therefore need additional marketing support to keep people from deleting them. 2. Web catalogs can contain only limited product information. 3. Web catalogs are passive and must therefore be marketed themselves. 4. most consumers still prefer traditional print catalogs. AK, 7e – Chapter 13 13-54