ASSIGNMENT ON SALES MANAGEMENT

COURSE CODE: BUS 417

TOPIC: THE ROLE OF PERSONAL SELLING IN A SERVICE DELIVERY ORGANISATION BY UGOH, GLORIA IJEOMA MATRIC NO. 021003119 (500 LEVEL) DEPARTMENT: BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION FACULTY: DISTANCE LEARNING INSTITUTE

LECTURER:

ADEREMI S. ADELEYE

UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS
JUNE 2008

THE ROLE OF PERSONAL SELLING IN A SERVICE DELIVERY ORGANISATION

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INTRODUCTION: Marketing has been defined as a business system designed to plan, price, promote and distribute want-satisfying goods and services to present and potential customers. In other words, there is marketing of products as well as marketing of services. Certain individuals may believe that there is no such thing as service marketing in which the service element is greater than the product element. In its broadest term, it may be true that product But there are marketing and service marketing are the same. two concepts.

often substantial similarities as well as significant differences in the

Moreso, the aim of every marketing effort is to increase profitable sales by offering want satisfaction to the target market at both short and long run time frame. Personal selling has however been adjudged the best method to achieve this marketing objective. Personal selling creates more job opportunities than any other promotional tool. It consists of individuals and personal communication in contrast to the mass, impersonal communication of advertising, sales promotion and the other promotional tools, hence it has the advantage of being more flexible in operation.
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PERSONAL SELLING: Personal selling is the interpersonal arm of the promotion mix. It is the only promotional mix element that involves two-way personal communication between the seller (sales force) and the buyer (target audience). This could be done face to face, by telephone conversation, through video conferencing or by another means. In other words, personal

selling is the presentation of goods or services to the target market by a sales person or sales force for the purpose of making sales and building customer relationships. On the other hand, presentation is the step in selling process in which the sales person/sales force tells the product story to the buyer, showing how the product will make or save money for the buyer.

In some difficult or complex selling environment, personal selling is always preferable because the sales force can adjust the marketing offer to suit the special needs of the situation and renegotiate the sales terms. The sales person or sales force can probe customers to learn more about their problems. However, the modern sales persons or service rendering organizations adopt a certain approach to achieve their marketing objectives. Whereas there is no one best way to personal selling, most organizations adopt a customer oriented approach. That is the sales force identifies customers needs and gives solution to them. In other words, the modern sales person believes that customer needs
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provide sales opportunities because customers usually remain loyal to those organisations or marketers who they believe have their long term interest at heart. Suffice to say that the problemsolver sales person fits better with the philosophy of marketing concept.

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STEPS IN PERSONAL SELLING: In other to achieve the goals of personal selling in either service delivery organisations or elsewhere, there are certain fundamental steps which the salesperson must follow in his/her selling process. These steps are; 1. Prospecting and qualifying 2. Presale preparation 3. Approach 4. Presentation and demonstration 5. Handling objections 6. Follow up.

PROSPECTING AND QUALIFYING: For effective personal selling efforts, the sales person must first of all identify qualified potential customers. While the company can provide some leads in this direction, the sales person can still ask the existing customers for leads (that is, the names of prospects) or search for names through newspapers or directories or often join clubs or organisations to which prospects belong etc. However, of all the qualified leads, the sales person has the challenge or task of identifying good ones.
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PRESALE PREPARATION: This is the build up or chain of events that lead to a sale. In other words the sales force is given product training, made to acquaint himself/herself with the market situation as well as tutored on the techniques of selling. The sales force must be informed on the nature of competition, the business conditions prevalent in their territories. The sales person should also learn as much as possible about the organization, that is, what it needs; its buying characteristics and buying styles. Suffice to say that presale approach is the step in the selling process in which the sales force learns as much as possible about a prospective customer before making a sales call.

APPROACH: This is the step in which the sales force meets and greets the potential customers to get the relationship off to a good start. It involves the sales force appearance, opening remarks and follow up remarks. It is actually intended to attract the prospects attention, hold his or her interest while building a desire for the product and consequently an action is taken. That is closing the sale. However, several approaches are recommended to attract attention, hold interest and arouse desire such as;
(i)

Greet the prospect; introduce oneself and state what you are Selling.

(ii)

If the sales force was referred to the prospect by a customer, the right approach might be to start out with a reference to the referee before stating what one is selling. This is also known as Joe
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Sent me approach. (iii)

(iv)A

The other approach might be by making a startling statement. sales person to walk in and handover the product to the prospect and while the prospect looks over the product, sales person can now start the sales presentation.

PRESENTATION AND DEMONSTRATION: A situation whereby the sales force tells the story of the product to the potential buyer , showing how the product will make or save money for the buyer, that is, while the sales force describes the product features more concentration is placed on customer benefits. Here again, the sales force must first of all know the potential customer needs. The sales presentation can be improved with demonstration aids such as booklets, flip charts, video tapes and discs as well as product samples. HANDLING OBJECTION: Presentation and demonstration session in selling process always provoke certain questions which desire thoughtful answers. The objections raised by the potential customer could be logical or psychological but it affords the sales person the opportunity to provide more information on the products and to turn the objection to more reasons why the buyer should patronise him or her. Notwithstanding, the sales person should use positive approach to proffer solutions to the objections.

CLOSE-UP: After explaining the product and its benefits, the sales force tries to close the sale and write up an order. The salesperson
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may ask certain questions in this regards such as Do you prefer the blue colour model or the red type and when would you want it delivered to you? FOLLOW UP OR POST SALE ACTIVITIES: An effective selling job does not end when the order is written up. Normally, sales success depends upon repeat business or purchase and a satisfied customer will always be ready to give lead to other potential customers or prospects. The post-purchase or post-sale services can build customer goodwill and lay the grand work for many years of profitable business relations. It is also intended to reduce the customers post -purchase anxiety, that is, cognitive dissonance.

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SERVICE PROVIDING ORGANISATIONS: In the broadest term, it may be true that product marketing and service marketing are the same but at the same time significant differences do exist between them. Services are growing even faster in the world economy today. Whereas service industries vary greatly, not only are there traditional service industries but also new ones keep propping up daily. For instance, government offer services through Courts, organisations offer services through Churches, Hospitals, Military, Police, Fire Service etc while the private and non-profit Mosques, Banks, Airlines, Hotels, Insurance etc.

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WHAT IS SERVICE?
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According to Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong (1996) a service is any activity or benefit that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything. William J. Stanton (1978) defined services as those separately identifiable, essentially intangible activities which provide want satisfaction and which are not necessarily tied to the sale of a product or another services. To produce a service may or may not require the use of tangible goods. However, when such use is required, there is no transfer of the title to these tangible goods. In other words, service organisations are those which do not have as their principal aim the production of tangible products which buyers will possess permanently.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF SERVICES There are certain characteristics peculiar to services which make them substantially different from those found in products. Such characteristics are intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity, perishability and fluctuating demand. Intangibility Services are essentially not tangible. It is also

almost impossible for customers or potential customers to taste, feel, see, hear or smell services before they buy them. In stead, patronage of services is based on trust of the sales force who rather lay more emphasis on the benefits derivable from the services than the service itself. Therefore, the service providers task should be to make the service tangible in one or more ways. It is often said that while product marketers try to add intangibles to

their tangible offers, service marketers try to add tangibles to their intangible offers. Inseparability Service inseparability means that services cannot be separated from their providers whether the providers are people or machines. This is to say that both provider and customer affect the service outcome. Moreso, it is said that the physical products are first produced then stored, later sold and still consumed while services are first sold then produced and consumed at the same time. Heterogeneity It is a difficult task in a service industry to output standardize or result among several sellers of presumably the same service. In fact, it is nearly impossible to standardize completely the output of one seller. For instance, an airline cannot give the same quality of service on each trip nor two different airlines give the same quality of service. the quality of a service. Perishability and Fluctuating demand Services are majorly perishable hence the chances of being stored is very slim. For instance, unused electricity power and empty seats in a stadium represent businesses which are lost forever. Furthermore the market for services fluctuates considerably by seasons, by days of the week and by hours of the day. For example, use of city buses fluctuates greatly during the day. The combination of the above factors offers product planning, pricing and promotion challenges to the chief executives of service organisations.
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It becomes more

problematic when you consider the fact that it is difficult to judge

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THE ROLE OF PERSONAL SELLING IN SERVICE DELIVERY ORGANISATIONS: Selling is one of the oldest professions in the world while personal selling is the interpersonal arm of promotion mix and its role in service delivery organisations vary greatly from one company to another. It has been argued that advertising consists of one way, nonpersonal communication with the target audience and in contrast personal selling involves a two-way personal communication between the sales force and individual customer or potential customers, whether face to face, by telephone etc. Therefore, in a service delivery organisation personal selling builds goodwill as well as educating the audience. The sales force or personal selling serves as a critical link between a company and its target audience. In some organisations it plays an important behind the scene role in which case customers rarely know about the company. Sales persons, sales force or personal selling represent the company to customers. They find and develop new customers and communicate information about the companys products and services. They sell their company services by approaching customers, presenting their services and products, answering and handling objections on the spot, negotiating prices and terms and consequently closing sales. They provide services to customers, carry out market research and intelligent work as well as fill out sales call reports.
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On the other hand, sales persons represent customers to the company. They relay customers concern about company services back to those who can handle them. They learn about customer needs and work with others in the company to develop greater customer value. The sales force is often regarded as relationship managers between the organisation and customers. The sales force is also concerned with more than producing sales; they also are concerned with producing customer satisfaction and company profit. They as well develop marketing strategies and plans. Beyond winning new customers and making sales, they help their organisations to create long term profitable relationships with customers. Moreover, the burden of intangibility of services mainly falls on the companys sales force or personal selling who must lay more emphasis on the benefits to be derived from the service rather than emphasising the service itself to customers. Perhaps the most important role of personal selling is its ability to increasing efficiency in service industries by its personal ministration and attendance on others. Personal selling is by far the major promotional method used to achieve long term marketing objectives of profitable sales. Compared with other promotional tools, personal selling has the advantage of being more flexible in operation, because sales persons can tailor their sales presentations to fit the needs, motives and behaviour of individual customers. More importantly sales people can see the customers reactions to a particular sales approach and then make the necessary
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adjustments right on the spot. Personal selling also allows for a minimum of wasted efforts. In most cases, it can be used to make the actual sales. Though personal selling sustains a high cost, yet sales force can perform for management many other services which are not strictly selling jobs. References:
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Philip Kotler & Gary Armstrong, (1996), Principle of Marketing William J. Stanton, (1978), Fundamentals and Marketing Aderemi S. Adeleye, (2006), Marketing Principle and Practices

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