PERSONAL SELLING

It is a personal communication of information

to persuade a prospective customer to
buy something--- a good, service, or
idea---- that satisfies an individuals
needs.

Broadly classified into industrial, retail and

service selling.

Personal selling:

-- Sales mgmt , personal selling &

salesmanship are all related.

-- Personal selling along with other marketing

elements such as pricing, advertising, product

development & research, marketing channels and
physical distribution, are the means for
implementing marketing programs.

Personal selling is the most effective tool at later

stages of the buying process , particularly in building
up buyer preference ,conviction,& action.

Personal selling has 3 distinctive qualities:

1. Personal

confrontation:

Personal selling involves an immediate & interactive

relationship between two or more persons. Each
party is able to observe the others reactions.

2. Cultivation:
Personal selling permits all kinds of relationships to
spring up, ranging from a matter-of-fact selling
relationship to a deep personal friendship.

3. Response:
Personal selling makes the buyer feel under
some obligation for having listened to
sales talk.

Apart from industrial products selling ,

personal selling can also make a strong
contribution in consumer-goods marketing.

Some consumer marketers use the sales force

mainly to collect weekly orders from
Dealers.

Types of sales person:

Robert Mcmurry distinguished six sales

positions, ranging from the least to the most
creative types of selling:
Group A : (SERVICE SELLING):

1.Deliverer
2. Inside Order taker ( eg. kirana shop
salesman, Bata shop salesperson)
3. Missionary selling

4.Technical sales person

(with high levels of technical knowledge)

5. Demand creators

6. Solution vendor
( expertise in the solving of a customers problem)

7.Route or merchandising salesperson

(eg FMCG. sales person)

Group B ( Developmental selling Order getter): pre-customer contact, prospecting ,initial contact ,
presentation of merchandise , handling objections ,
closing the sales , suggestion selling & sales followup:
Eg:

8.Creative salesperson of tangibles

(vacuum cleaners, automobiles etc)

9.Creative salesperson of intangibles

(insurance, Ad services & educational prog.)

May be classified as (nature of functions they

perform):

ORDER TAKERS

---Inside & field order takers (HANDLES ROUTINE SALES ORDERS &
REPEAT ORDERS)

-- arranging product displays , restocking the products , answering

phone calls & taking orders
-- requires very little training & compensation
-- generates bulk of the firms sale
-- high turnover of these sales personnel

ORDER GETTERS

-- Responsible for the growth of a company by getting orders from

new & existing customers)
-- achieves sales target thru creative selling process (8 steps
mentioned earlier)

SUPPORT PERSONNEL:(FACILITATES SELLING FUNCTION):

--- Identifying prospective buyers, educating them about

the companies products , building goodwill for the

company & providing after sales support to the buyers)

--- usually involved inB2B products or org. products

--- e.g. missionary sales people, trade sales people &

technical sales people

Personal selling process:

--- Prospecting & evaluation (generating sales leads
thru people, events , published information , associations ,
identifying prospects & qualifying prospects)

--- Pre approach

--- Approach
--- Presentation
-------

Handling objections
Closing
Follow-up

Cont
Presentation:---- Canned sales approach (stimulus
response approach):

(when the product is not very technical or sales person is

inexperienced extensively used in door-to-door selling &
in telemarketing programs)

---Formulated approach:
(sales person identifying the buyers needs & his buying styles
& consistently hit with information's till he derives success)

--- Need satisfaction approach:

-

Customizing the sales presentation to cater to the

needs of individual customers

Better suited for experienced & sophisticated sales

personnel

Closing:

Silent close ,Negative close, direct close , assumptive close ,

alternative close ,concession close , cautious close etc. are
some of the close.

-- Assumptive close:
Assumes that the sale is made so that the sales person
proceeds to issues such as spelling of names, proper
address, quantity desired, size, color etc.

--

Negative close:

Occurs when sales person urges the customer to buy

immediately because the product is in short supply or there
is likely for a price rise.

-- Caution close:
The sales person makes the customer cautious about availability of
the product or the period of availability & then suggests the
close.

-- Implied consent method

-- Special induced method
(availability of schemes .etc)

-- Choice narrowing method:

Like Pheriwalas, saree seller do.

IMPROVING PERSONAL SELLING EFFORTS:

Professional training:

---sales-oriented approach-

Presentation oriented skills required

Couldn't-care-less attitude regarding customer satisfaction &
regarding maintaining after-sales relations with the customers

--- Customer-oriented approach

- customer oriented skills desirable

Negotiations

Relationship marketing

SALES FORCE MANAGEMENT:

Establishing Sales Objectives

Fixing the Sales Quotas

Designing the Sales Force

Geographic territory Customer (institutional &

individual customers)
Product

Determining the sales force size

2 common methods are employed:

Equalized workload method

total annual sales calls/average annual sales calls= no of sales
people

Incremental productivity method

Recruiting & selecting sales people

Routing & scheduling

Training sales personnel

Evaluating training

Compensation (straight salary compensation , straight

commission compensation , salary plus commission)

Evaluating the sales force

Motivating the sales force