Chapter 14

Personal Selling and Sales Management

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1. Explain why personal selling is important in brand promotion.

2. Describe the activities besides selling performed by salespeople.

3. Summarize the role of setting objectives for personal selling.

4. Outline the steps involved in personal selling.

5. Describe factors that contribute to a new environment for personal selling.

6. Define the responsibilities of sales force management.

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Personal Selling

• Household consumers and business buyers are frequently confronted with purchase decisions that are facilitated by interaction with a salesperson.

• This is especially true for products that are:• higher priced and complicated to use• require demonstration• tailored to users’ needs• involve a trade-in• judged at the point of purchase

• In many decision contexts, only a qualified and well-trained salesperson can address a potential buyer’s questions and concerns.

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What Salespeople Do

• Often, salespeople are responsible for more than the selling effort; they may also implement various aspects of marketing strategy:

• market analysis• sales forecasting• new product ideas• buyer behavior analysis• communication• sales coordination• customer service• customer relationship management (CRM)

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Personal Selling Roles

• The type of selling and communication requirements vary depending on the customers’ needs and the complexity of the product. The three types of selling are:

• Order taking—inside order takers, outside order takers

• Creative selling—team selling, seminar selling, system selling

• Supportive communications—missionary salesperson, detail salesperson

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Personal-Selling Objectives

• Personal-selling objectives are external in that they all focus on the buyer:

• Create a competitive advantage

• Treat each buyer as unique

• Manage relationships for mutual benefit—product, service, price, source (company), and people superiority

• Control the communication

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The Selling Process

• A well-conceived and well-executed sales effort involves using a series of steps:• Preparation—gathering relevant information in order to deliver a targeted and persuasive sales message• Prospecting—generating leads for new clients• Initial contact—leaving comprehensive information, introducing buyer to corporate selling programs, gathering

information about buyers’ organization and product/service needs• Presentation—face-to-face (consultative selling) or telemarketing

• canned presentation• attention-interest-desire-action (AIDA)• needs satisfaction (need development, need awareness, need fulfillment)

• Handling objections—treat all objections as legitimate and reasonable, counter objections without seeming argumentative

• Closing the sale—only 40% of the time does the salesperson actually ask for the buyer to place the order• Follow-up—ensure that all commitments are fulfilled, deal with post-purchase behavior

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Selling in a New Environment

• Changes in the broad business environment have created a significantly new environment for personal selling. These changes include:

• Better marketing planning

• Sales force automation (SFA)

• More-demanding buyers

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Sales Management

• Sales force management includes the following areas of responsibility: • Situation analysis—external and internal• Setting sales objectives• Setting and managing budgets—based on salaries and benefits, incentive programs, recruiting

costs, training costs, travel expenses, promotional materials• Identifying sales force structure—by product lines, type of customer, geographic territory• Hiring—job recruitments (writing a job description, recruiting, screening and evaluation • Training—content and methods, duration, personnel, location• Motivating the sales force—compensation, task clarity, recognition of goal attainment, job

enrichment, perquisites• Evaluating performance

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