week 10 Flashcards
importance of personal selling
o Personal interaction, means that the communication can be much more effective or much more damaging than other forms of communication
o Critical in ensuring that trade-oriented promotions work in the manner they are intended and that sufficient products are available to support promotions aimed at consumers
o Personal selling builds relationships
o Personal selling helps people understand more about the product/service
advantages of personal selling
o Creates a relatively high level of consumer attention
o Enabling the salesperson to customize the message to the customer’s specific interests and needs
o Yielding immediate feedback
o Enabling a salesperson to communicate technical and complex information
o A greater ability to demonstrate a product’s functioning and performance characteristics
o Developing long-term relationships
disadvantages of personal selling
o Relatively time and cost intensive (one client at a time)
o While more effective, is typically less efficient (e.g.cost & time / sale)
o Greater variability and risk of low consistency in the message
o Potential for dishonesty (agency problem – pushing things unaligned goals)
objectives of personal selling
o Generate and deliver sales
o Develop relationships with customers
o Provide additional / complex information
o Focus on brand benefits and increase brand equity
define relationship marketing
Establish, maintain and enhance relationship with customers
define personal selling
form of person to person communication in which a salesperson works with prospective buyers and attempts to influence their purchase needs in the direction of his or her company’s products or services
explain ‘performing the sale role’ the personal selling process
- lead generation - gaining potential customer details
- qualifying - identifying / filtering lists to focus attention
- pre approach - activities before getting infront of customers
- approach - early stages of getting infant of the customer via salesperson - interested in product
- presentation - identifying needs and presenting a solution
- demonstration - showing product in use
- negotiation - overcoming buyer resistance and addressing concerns
- close - take order
- servicing the sale - developing longterm relationships and providing additional value
step 1 “general sales leads” include:
o Direct marketing campaigns o Seminars and conferences o Directories o Trade shows o Cold calling o Referrals o Networking
step 2 “qualifying the best prospects” includes:
o Is the person financially able to purchase?
o Does the person have purchase authority?
o Does the person currently have a need for your product?
step 3 pre approach includes
Objective of sales calls?
o Give or get information, build relationship, sell
Background research:
o Analyses the customer’s environments to tailor the message
o Match product benefits with needs
Presentation plan:
o to achieve meeting objectives
step 4 approach includes
o Telephone or face to face
o Build rapport by finding common ground
o First impressions are key
o Appearance, compliments, common ground, confidence/authority
things to avoid in the “approach phase” step 4
Approach – things to avoid:
o Treating the receptionist and the secretary with little respect
o Not doing your homewoek on the company and its needs and problems
o Arriving at a sales call ill-prepared
o Being poorly groomed
o Having negative attitudes
o Talking too much, which implies that you are no doing enough listening
o Giving recommendations without asking about your prospect’s needs
step 5 presentation includes
o Don’t talk instead:
o Actively listen to understand needs
o Match needs to products benefits
o Take consultative selling approach
step 6 demonstrate includes
o Reduce perceived risk by demonstrating / showing products
step 7 negotiation includes:
Know the value of your offering – The temptation is always to sell cheap, but if the offering (which includes service) is goods value, then point this out to the customer
Validate the problem – Often price may be stated issue, but this may be masking a concern about other issues, something small (e.g. colour) or something more abstract (the level of performance / quality). Ensure that you are addressing the real concern
Create alternative solutions – A win-win can only be achieved if alternative are provided. Sticking to the same message is not adapting to customer needs, try to find ways around the problem
Finding points of agreement – Confirm that all parties agree on certain points and that they need not to be considered a problem, so that the real issues can be addressed
Do not lose your temper – It can be very easy to become angry with difficult customers. However, successful negotiations cannot be conducted with an unfocused and angry mind
