Chapter13: Personal Selling And Sales Promotion

Question 1

Personal selling

Answer 1

Personal presentations by a sales force to engage customers, make sales, and build customer relationships.

Question 2

Salesperson

Answer 2

Represents a company to customers by performing the following activities:
- prospecting and communicating
- selling and servicing
- gathering information and building relationships

Question 3

The role of the sales force

Answer 3

Links the company with its customers
Coordinates marketing and sales

A sales force serves as a critical link between a company and its customers.
- prospecting, communicating, selling, servicing, information gathering, and relationship building.

Question 4

Sales force management

Answer 4

Analyzing, planning, implementing, and controlling sales force activities.

Question 5

Major steps in sales force management

Answer 5

Designing sales force strategy and structure —>
Recruiting and selecting salespeople —>
Training salespeople —>
Compensating salespeople —>
Supervising salespeople —>
Evaluating salespeople

Question 6

Designing the sales force strategy and structure

Answer 6

Types of sales force structures: territorial, product, customer (or market).

Salespeople can be specialized by:
- customer and territory
- product and territory
- product and customer
- territory, product, and customer

Question 7

Other sales force strategy and structure issues

Answer 7

Outside sales force (field sales force): travels to call on customers in the field.

Inside sales force: conducts business from their offices via telephone, the Internet, or visits from prospective buyers.
- technical sales support people
- sales assistants
- telemarketers and online sellers.

Team selling: teams of people from different departments used to service large, complex accounts.

Question 8

Recruiting and selecting salespeople

Answer 8

A company should analyze the sales job and the characteristics of its most successful salespeople.

Sources for the recruitment of salespeople:
- referrals from current salespeople
- employment agencies
- internet and online social media
- posting ads and notices
- college placement services
- salespeople at other companies

Question 9

Training salespeople

Answer 9

Goals of training are to teach salespeople:
- about different types of customers
- how to sell effectively
- about the company’s objectives, organization, products, and the strategies of competitors.

Online training builds sales skills using videos, Internet-based exercises, or simulations.
- virtual instructor-led training (VILT)

Question 10

Compensating salespeople

Answer 10

Elements of compensation:
- fixed amount — salary
- variable amount — commissions or bonuses (to be effective, bonuses need to be at least 10% of salary)

Question 11

Supervising salespeople

Answer 11

Help salespeople work smart by doing the right things in the right ways.

Tools of supervision:
1. Call plan (shows which customers and prospects to call on)
2. Time-and-duty analysis (this tool helps salespeople understand how they spend their time and how they might increase their productivity)
3. Sales force automation system (computerized, digitized sales force systems that let salespeople work more effectively anytime, anywhere).

Question 12

Motivating salespeople

Answer 12

Encourage salespeople to work hard and energetically toward sales force goals.

Management can boost sales force morale and performance through its
- organizational climate (e.g., do the sales people feel valued, are they treated well)
- sales quotas
- positive incentives (e.g., sales contests, honors, cash awards, trips).

Question 13

Evaluating salespeople and sales force performance

Answer 13

Management gets information about its salespeople
- from sales, call, and expense reports
- by monitoring the sales and profit performance data in the sales person’s territory
- through personal observation, customer surveys, and talks with other salespeople.

Formal evaluations force management to develop standards for judging performance.

Question 14

Social selling: online, mobile, and social media tools

Answer 14

Social selling refers to: the use of online, mobile, and social media to engage customers, build strong customer relationships, and augment sales performance.

Help sales forces to be more efficient, cost effective, and productive.

Question 15

Steps in the selling process

Answer 15

Prospecting and qualifying —>
Preapproach —>
Approach —>
Presentation and demonstration —>
Handling objections —>
Closing —>
Follow-up

Question 16

The personal selling process

Answer 16

Most companies want their salespeople to practice value selling — demonstrating and delivering superior customer value capturing a return on that value that is fair for both the customer and the company.

Value selling requires:
- listening to customers
- understanding customers’ needs
- coordinating the company’s efforts to create lasting relationships based on customer value.

Question 17

Relationship marketing

Answer 17

Profitable long-term relationships.
Based on customer value and satisfaction.

Question 18

Sales promotion

Answer 18

Short-term incentives to encourage the purchase or sale of a product of a service.
—> whereas advertising offers reasons to buy a product, sales promotion offers reasons to buy now.

Sales promotion targets:
- final buyers — consumer promotions
- retailers and wholesalers — trade promotions
- business customers — business promotions
- members of the sales force — sales force promotions

Question 19

Many factors have contributed to the rapid growth of sales promotion

Answer 19

1. Product managers view promotion as an effective short-run sales tools.
2. Competitors use sales promotion to differentiate their offers.
3. Advertising efficiency has declined because of rising costs, media clutter and legal restraints.
4. Sales promotions help attract today’s more thrift-oriented consumers (consumers are demanding lower prices and better deals).

Question 20

Sales promotion objectives

Answer 20

Consumer promotions: to urge short-term customer buying or boost customer-brand engagement.

Trade promotions: to get retailers to carry new items and more inventory, buy ahead, or promote the company’s products and give them more shelf space.

Business promotions: to generate business leads, stimulate purchases, reward customers, and motivate salespeople.

Question 21

Consumer promotion tools

Answer 21

1. Samples: offers or a trial amount of a product, most effective and expensive.
2. Coupons: certificates that save buyers money when they purchase specified products, price reduction occurs after the purchase.
3. Rebates (cash refunds): customer sends proof of purchase to the manufacturer, which then refunds part of the purchase price by mail.
4. Price packs (cents-off deals): offers consumers savings off the regular price of a product.
5. Premiums: goods offered either free or at low cost as an incentive to buy a product.
6. Advertising specialties: useful articles imprinted with an advertiser’s name, logo, or message that are given as gifts to consumers.
7. Point-of-purchase (POP) promotions: displays and demonstrations that take place at the point of sale.
8. Contests, sweepstakes, and games: give consumers the chance to win something.
9. Event marketing (or event sponsorships): creating a brand-marketing event or serving as a sole or participating sponsor of events created by others.

Question 22

Trade promotions

Answer 22

Used to persuade resellers to carry a brand, give it shelf space, and promote it in ads.

Trade promotion tools:
- contests, premiums, and displays
- discounts and allowances
- free goods
- push money
- specialty advertising items

Question 23

Business promotions

Answer 23

Used to generate business leads, stimulate purchases, reward customers, and motivate salespeople.

Business promotion tools:
- conventions and trade shows
- sales contests

Question 24

Developing the sales promotion program

Answer 24

Sales promotion program design decisions:
- determine the size of the incentive
- set conditions for participation
- determine how to promote and distribute the promotion program
- set the length of the promotion
- evaluate the promotion