Chapter 21 Flashcards
Personal Selling
·the two-way flow of communication b/w a buyer & seller, often in a face-to-face encounter, designed to influence a person’s/group’s purchase decision
› Highly human-intensive activity despite the use of technology
Sales Management
involves planning the selling program & implementing/evaluating the personal selling effort of the firm
› Tasks involved: setting objectives, organizing the salesforce; recruiting, selecting, training, & compensating salespeople; & evaluating the performance of individual salespeople
Three Ways the Scope of Selling & Sales Management is Apparent:
- Every occupation that involves customer contact has an element of personal selling
- Selling plays a significant role in a company’s overall marketing effort
- Through relationship selling, salespeople play a central role in tailoring solutions to customer problems as a means to customer value creation
Three Major Roles Personal Selling Plays in a Firm’s Overall Marketing Effort:
- Salespeople are the critical link b/w the firm & its customers
- Requires that salespeople match company interests w/ customer needs to satisfy both parties in the exchange process - Salespeople are the company in a consumer’s eyes
- They represent what a company is or attempts to be & are often the only personal contact a customer has w/ the comp - Personal Selling may play a dominant role in a firm’s marketing program
- This situation typically arises when a firm uses a push marketing strategy
Ways Salespeople Can Create Customer Value
- By being close to the customer, salespeople can identify creative solutions to customer problems
- By easing the customer buying process
- By salespeople who follow through after the sale
Customer Value Creation is made possible by
relationship selling
Relationship Selling
the practice of building ties to customers based on a salesperson’s attention & commitment to customer needs over time
› Involves mutual respect & trust among buyers/sellers
› Focuses on creating long-term customers & long-run customer value
What Relationship Selling does
-Listens
-Expresses genuine concern
-Keeps promises
-Uses knowledge to meet customer needs
Three Types of Personal Selling
- Order Taking
- Order Getting
- Customer Sales Support Activities
Order Taker
processes routine orders or reorders for products that were already sold by the company
- Primary responsibility is to preserve an ongoing relationship w/ existing customers & maintain sales
- Do little selling & engage in modest problem solving w/ customers
- Arises in STRAIGHT REBUY SITUATIONS
2 Types of Order Takers
- outside order takers
- inside order takers
Outside Order Takers
visit customers & replenish inventory stocks of resellers, such as retailers/wholesalers.
-Often provide assistance in arranging displays
Ex: Frito-Lay salespeople call on supermarkets, convenience stores, & other establishments to ensure that the company’s line of snack products is in adequate supply
Inside Order Takers
answer simple questions, take orders, & complete transactions w/ customers
- Often employed by comps that use inbound telemarketing
Ex: Retail clerks, sales clerks, order clerks
Inbound Telemarketing
the use of toll-free telephone numbers that customers can call to obtain information about products or services and make purchases
Order Getter
sells in a conventional sense & identifies prospective customers, provides customers w/ info, persuades customers to buy, closes sales, & follows up on customers’ use of a product/serv
- Involves high degree of creativity/customer empathy & is typically required for selling complex/technical products w/ many options, so considerable product knowledge & sales training are necessary
- In modified rebuy or new buy purchases, order getter acts as a problem solver who identifies how a particular product may satisfy a customer’s need
- Can be inside ( an automobile salesperson) or outside (an IBM salesperson)
Outbound Telemarketing
the practice of using the telephone rather than personal visits to contact current & prospective customers
Virtual Selling
Collection of processes and technologies by which salespeople engage with customers remotely with both synchronous and asynchronous communications.
Customer Sales Support Personnel
augment the selling effort of order getters by performing a variety of services
Two Types of Customer Sales Support Personnel
- Missionary Salespeople
- Sales Engineers
Missionary Salespeople
do not directly solicit orders but rather concentrate on performing promotional activities & introducing new products
Ex: Used in pharmaceutical industry, where they encourage physicians to prescribe a firm’s product. Actual sales a made through wholesalers or directly to pharmacists who fill prescriptions
Sales Engineers
specialize in identifying, analyzing, & solving customer problems. Bring the know-how & technical expertise to the selling situation but often do not actually sell products/servs
Ex: Popular in selling business products such as chemicals & heavy equipment
Cross-Functional Team Selling
the practice of using an entire team of professionals in selling to & servicing major customers
- Is used when specialized knowledge is needed to satisfy the different interests of individuals in a customer’s buying center
Two Forms of Selling Teams
- Conference Selling
- Seminar Selling
Conference Selling
a salesperson and other company resource people meet with buyers to discuss problems and opportunities
Seminar Selling
a company team conducts an educational program for a customer’s technical staff, describing state-of-the-art developments
Personal Selling Process
sales activities occurring before, during, & after the sale itself, consisting of six stages: (1) prospecting, (2) preapproach, (3) approach, (4) presentation, (5) close, (6) follow-up
Personal Selling Process Stages
- Prospecting
- Preapproach
- Approach
- Presentation
- Close
- Follow-up
- Prospecting Stage
the search for & qualification of potential customers
- Prospects produced through advertising, referrals, social selling & cold canvassing
- Prospecting Stage
- Finding Leads
- Qualifying Prospects
Social Selling
utilizing websites, email, & social networks to connect to individuals & companies that may be interested in their products/servs
Cold Canvassing
a salesperson may open a directory, pick a name, & contact that individual/business
Three Types of Prospects
- lead
- prospect
- qualified prospect
Lead
the name of a person who may be a possible customer
Prospect
a customer who wants or needs the product
Qualified Prospect
if an individual wants the product, can afford to buy it, & is the decision maker
- Preapproach Stage
gathering further information & deciding how to approach the prospect
› Information sources include personal observations, other customers, & own salespeople
- Preapproach Stage
-Gathering info
- Setting Sales Call Goals
- Preparing Presentation
- Practice, Practice, practice
- Approach Stage
the initial meeting b/w the salesperson & the prospect, where the objectives are to gain the prospect’s attention, stimulate interest, & build the foundation for the sales presentation itself and the basis for a working relationship
› First impression is critical, gain attention & interest through reference to common acquaintances, a referral, or product demonstration
- Approach Stage
-Making a good impression
- Building Rapport: see what ppl are interested & bon w/them through that
-Asking Questions: digging deeper & understand the customer
-Listening: listen to customer’s needs
-Discovering Needs
- Presentation Stage
converts a prospect into a customer by creating a desire for the product/serv
- the actual pitch
- Presentation Stage
- Determine format to be used
- Deliver content: make it as part of a story/storytelling
-Use of visual aids: visuals that don’t require reading
- Product demonstrations: put the product in the hands of someone/interaction
- Handling objections: digging deeper into what’s bothering customers
Three Presentation Formats
- Stimulus-Response
- Formula Selling
- Need-Satisfaction
Stimulus-Response presentation
assumes that given the appropriate stimulus by a salesperson, the prospect will buy. The salesperson tries one appeal after another, hoping to hit the right button
Ex: Counter clerk at McDonald’s asks if you want French fries or dessert w/ your meal
Suggested Selling
counter clerk suggesting fries & dessert
Formula Selling
based on the view that a presentation consists of information that must be provided in an accurate, thorough, & step-by-step manner to inform the prospect
-Popular version is the canned sales presentation
Canned Sales Presentation
a memorized, standardized message conveyed to every prospect. Used frequently by firms in telephone & door-to-door selling of consumer products
- Lacks flexibility/spontaneity & doesn’t provide for feedback from the prospective buyer
Three Types of Canned Selling
Ingratiation
Foot-in-the-door
Door-in-the-face
Ingratiation
go on a little too much about how good you are, tries to hype you up before selling you the product
-Tends to be ungenuine
Ex: Hyping someone up based on their accomplishments
Foot-in-the-door
starting with small asks & building up to what you really want (big ask)
Ex: Ask if you can show them the product, then something else, & then the sale
Door-in-the-face
opposite from foot-in-the-door
ask for something huge knowing the person’s going to say no & make it into a joke, followed by small asks
Ex: Are you ready for the order of 1 million units? Just Kidding. So, we will start with 100 units. That makes more sense right
Need-Satisfaction Format presentation
emphasizes probing & listening by the salesperson to identify the needs/interests of prospective buyers. Once those are identified, the salesperson tailors the presentation to the prospect & highlights product benefits that may be valued by the prospect
- Emphasizes problem solving & customer solutions
- Most consistent w/ the marketing concept & its focus on relationship building
Two Styles of Need Satisfaction Format
Adaptive Selling
Consultative Selling
› In both types of selling, the underlying intent is to create greater value for customers
Adaptive Selling
adjusting the presentation to fit the selling situation, such as knowing when to offer solutions & when to ask for more information
-Fine tunes the presentation based on what customer tells you, understands customer needs/asks questions
Ex: AT&T/Gillette use this
Adaptive Selling Format
- Determine customer needs & perceptions
- Determine strategy to solve customer problems & meet customer needs
-Whole point is to really understand what your customer needs
-A lot more listening, a lot less talking, then you go into your pitch
Consultative Selling
focuses on problem identification, where the salesperson serves as an expert on problem recognition & resolution. Novel solutions arise, thereby creating unique value for the customer
Ex: Customers asking IT experts for help in setting up their new IT system
Upselling & Cross-selling are possible when
a salesperson is an expert on problem recognition & resolution
Upselling
the practice of introducing a higher-end product solution than the one in question
Cross-selling
the practice of proposing related or complementary products/servs
outlined presentation
the main highlights/things that are really important to get to
Objections in Presentation Stage
excuses for not making a purchase commitment or decision
Six Techniques to Handle Objections
- acknowledge and convert the objection
- postpone
- agree and neutralize
- accept the objection
- denial
- ignore the objection
Acknowledge & convert the objection
involves using the objection as a reason for buying
Postpone
when the objection will be dealt w/ later in the presentation
Agree & Neutralize
a salesperson agrees with the objection, then shows that it is unimportant
Accept the Objection
Sometimes the objection is valid. Let the prospect express such views, probe for the reason behind it, and attempt to stimulate further discussion on the objection.
Denial
when a prospect’s objection is based on misinformation & clearly untrue, it is wise to meet the objection head on w/ a firm denial
Ignore the Objection
used when the objection is a stalling mechanism or is clearly not important to the prospect
- Close Stage
obtaining a purchase commitment from the prospect & create a customer
- Most important & most difficult stage bc the salesperson must determine when the prospect is ready to buy
-knowing when it’s the right time to close
- Close Stage
- Summarize Benefits: summarize how you answered the customer’s needs
Ex: after an interview conclude why you are best person for the job
-Ask for the sale: get the definite answer
Ex: can I send you the contract
-Confirm the sale: make sure/confirm
Ex: specify the terms and make sure they agree
-Show appreciation: thank you so much for your time & let me know if you have any questions
Telltale signals
indicates a readiness to buy include body language (prospect reexamines the product/contract closely), statements (“This equipment should reduce our maintenance costs”), & questions (“When could we expect delivery?”)
Three Closing Techniques
- trial close
- assumptive close
- urgency close
Trial Close
asking the prospect to make a decision on some aspect of the purchase
Ex: “Would you prefer the blue or gray model?
Assumptive Close
asking the prospect to consider choices concerning delivery, warranty, or financing terms under the assumption that a sale has been finalized
Urgency Close
commits the prospect quickly by making reference to the timeliness of the purchase
Ex: “The low interest financing ends next week” or “That’s the last model we have in stock”
- Follow-Up
makes certain the customer’s purchase has been properly delivered/installed & addresses any difficulties experienced with the use of the item
- Ensures that the customer is satisfied with the product/serv
-keeps the connection going
- Follow-Up
-Ensure on-time delivery
-Ensure customer satisfaction
-Pursue add-on sales
-Build/sustain relationship
Joint Value Creation (JVC)
partnership selling, especially in enterprise sales (B2B)
Ex: Apple & Best Buy communicating ideas/working together
Sales Management Consists of Three Interrelated Functions
- Sales Plan Formulation
- Sales Plan Implementation
- Salesforce Evaluation
Sales Plan Formulation
- setting objectives
- organizing the salesforce
- developing account management policies
Sales Plan
a statement describing what is to be achieved and where & how the selling effort of salespeople is to be deployed
Setting Objectives
specifies what is to be achieved
-what your goals are
Three Types of Objectives
Output related
Input Related
Behaviorally Related
Output Related
focus on dollar or unit sales volume
Input Related
emphasize the number of sales calls & selling expenses
Behaviorally Related
specific for each salesperson & includes his/her product knowledge, customer service satisfaction ratings, & selling/communication skills
Organizing the Salesforce
on the basis of
(1) geography
(2) customer or
(3) product/service
Geographic (Regional) Sales Organization
simplest structure, where the U.S./the globe is first divided into regions & each region is divided into districts/territories
Customer Sales Organization
used when different types of buyers have different needs, means that there are different salesforce calls on each separate type of buyer/marketing channel
Key Account Management
the practice of using team selling to focus on important customers to build mutually beneficial, long-term, cooperative relationships
Type of Account
organizes by who you are selling to
Ex: ppl handling Best Buy, target, Amazon
Product Sales (Product Line) Organization
used when specific knowledge is required to sell certain types of products
Ex: Selling iPhones to Best Buy is different than selling iPads to Best Buy
Three questions are related to organizing the salesforce
- Should the company use its own salesforce, or should it use independent agents such as manufacturer’s representatives?
-Make it myself or buy? - If the decision is made to employ company salespeople, then should they be organized according to geography, customer type, or product/serv?
-Organization/structure - How many company salespeople should be employed? -
-Size of salesforce
-Determined by workload method
- How many company salespeople should be employed? -
Workload Method
A formula-based method for determining the size of a salesforce that integrates the number of customers served, call frequency, call length, and available selling time to arrive at a figure for the salesforce size.
Workload Method
NS = (NC x CF x CL) / AST
NS= # of salesppl
NC= # of customers
CF= Call Frequency (# per year)
CL= AVG length of sales call
AST= AVG amount of salesperson selling time available annually
- Developing Account Management Policies
Account Management Policies: policies that specify whom salespeople should contact, what kinds of selling & customer service activities should be engaged in, & how these activities should be carried out
Sales Plan Implementation
Putting the plan into action
-Recruiting
-Training
- Motivating
- Compensating
- Evaluating
Three major tasks involved in implementing a sales plan
- Salesforce Recruitment & Selection
- Sales Enablement
- Salesforce Motivation & Compensation
Salesforce Recruitment & Selection
finding people who match the type of sales position required by a firm
- Begins with a job analysis & job description followed by job qualifications
Job Analysis
study of a particular sales position, including how the job is to be performed & the tasks that make up the job
Job Description
a written document that describes job relationships & requirements that characterize each sales position. It explains (1) whom a salesperson reports, (2) how a salesperson interacts w/ other company personnel, (3) the customers to be called on, (4) the specific activities to be carried out, (5) the physical & mental demands of the job, (6) the types of products/servs to be sold
Job Qualifications
the aptitudes, knowledge, skills, & a variety of behavioral characteristics considered necessary to perform the job successfully
Qualifications: (1) imagination & problem solving ability, (2) strong work ethic, (3) honesty, (4) intimate product knowledge, (5) effective communication & listening skills, (6) attentiveness reflected in responsiveness to buyer needs & customer loyalty & follow-up
Emotional Intelligence
the ability to understand one’s own emotions & the emotions of people with whom one interacts with on a daily basis
Sales Enablement
the process of providing the sales organization w/ the information, content, & tools that help salespeople sell more effectively
- Training & Coaching is a critical element
- Involves identifying, sharing, & delivering content that closely aligns w/ specific questions that prospects have as they make their way through the purchase decision process/customer journey
- Relies on salesforce automation, marketing automation, & customer service and support automation
Salesforce Motivation & Compensation
motivated salespeople
Four Things that Produce a Motivated Salesperson
- A clear job description
- Effective sales management practices
- A personal needs for achievement
- Proper compensation, incentives, rewards
Three Compensation Plans
Straight Salary
Straight Commission
Combination of Salary & Commission
Straight Salary
a salesperson is paid a fixed fee per week, month, or year
-guaranteed going to get no matter what
Straight Commission
a salesperson’s earnings are directly tied to the sales/profit generated
Combination of Salary & Commission
contains a specified salary plus a commission on sales/profit generated (Most preferred plan)
-Salary + Commission
-Salary + Bonus
Nonmonetary Rewards
trips, honor societies, distinguished salesperson awards, & letters of commendation
Salesforce Evaluation
measuring results, salespeople are assessed as to whether sales objectives were met & account management policies were followed
-› Quantitative & Behavioral Measures are used to tap diff selling dimensions
Salesforce Evaluation Methods
- Conversion Rate
2: Meeting Quota
Conversion Rate
Sales / # Calls
Meeting Quota
$ actual sales / $ sales goal
Quantitative Assessments
based on input- & output-related objectives set forth in the sales plan. Input-related measures focus on the actual activities performed by salespeople (sales calls, selling expenses, & account management policies). Output measures appear in a sales quota.
Sales Quota
contains specific goals assigned to a salesperson, sales team, branch sales office, or sales district for a stated time period
Behavioral Evaluation
assessments of a salesperson’s attitude, attention to customers, product knowledge, selling & communication skills, appearance, & professional demeanor
Customer Relationship Management Systems & Technology
-Salesforce Automation
-Marketing Automation
-Customer Service & Support Automation
Salesforce Automation
the use of various technologies to make the selling function more effective & efficient
Ex: computer hardware/software for account development & analysis, time management, order processing, deliver & follow-up
Marketing Automation
applies systems & technologies, including AI algorithms, to provide insights to salespeople
Customer Service & Support Automation
processes & technologies that supply customers w/ information about post sale activities, including installation, repair, replacement, replenishment, & technical expertise pertaining to products
Ex: Live Chat for customer problem solving
