Explain key factors in building a clientele

Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope1

Performance Indicator 4.14-4.16

How does a company benefit from building a clientele?

Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope2

Increased sales volumeLoyal customers are repeat customers that

provide the financial backbone for any business. Repeat business = increased sales.

How does a company benefit from building a clientele?

Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope3

Reduced selling costTo make a first sale a business spends

considerable time and money to advertise, determine the customer needs and wants, and build a relationship. Once the relationship is established these costs can be reduced.

How does a company benefit from building a clientele?

Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope4

Customer loyaltyLoyal customers are sometimes willing to

stay with a company even if it is experiencing problems due to the good relationship previously established.

How does a company benefit from building a clientele?

Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope5

Word-of-Mouth AdvertisingThe best type of advertising because people

tend to believe their friends. Loyal customers promote the business and

attract new customers by sharing positive experiences with the business.

How does a company benefit from building a clientele?

Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope6

Increased income and profitAll previous benefits contribute to this most

important benefit.Loyal customers encourage others to become

customers resulting in higher profits to be reinvested in the business.

How do salespersons benefit from building a clientele?

Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope7

Increased earningsLoyal customers who give a salesperson all their

business increase his/her earnings through commissions and bonuses.

Repeat salesAfter building a relationship with a customer the

salesperson is familiar with his/her needs and wants and can close a sale in less time. This allows the salesperson more time to prospect and grow his/her customer base.

How do salespersons benefit from building a clientele?

Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope8

ReferralsLoyal customers provide salespeople with

leads to new customers.They are willing to do this because they are

satisfied with the business.

Personal satisfactionSelling the right product to the right customer

is very rewarding because the customers appreciate the service and may develop long-standing professional relationships.

What are the costs incurred for failing to build a clientele?Customer turnover will be high.

Time invested in finding customers and working with them will be lost.

Dissatisfied customers will tell others making it harder for the business to cultivate new customers.

The ultimate cost would be business failure.Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope9

ETHICS in MarketingThe importance of business ethics in selling:Ethics are the basic principles that govern behavior.Ethics are highly valued because salespeople are the face of the company.Customer’s evaluate the company’s ethical standards. Salespeople should acknowledge that trust is the foundation of customer relationships.Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope10

Illegal selling activities – Crossing the line!Misrepresenting the truth (bold-faced lie)Saying something unfair or untrue about

another business or product.Participating in bribery.Neglecting to provide accurate information to

the customers.Unfairly competing within the marketplace

such as: making price deals, requiring exclusive dealership, tying-in sales (making the purchase of another product mandatory), requiring reciprocity (doing business only with those who buy from you.)

Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope11

Customer-oriented ethical issues in sales:While working with customers salespersons

must be cautious with: Gift-giving: One of the most widely disputed issues.

Bribe versus gift?Entertaining: can be viewed as favoritism or bribery.Answering questions - without really knowing the

answers could lead to legal issues of misrepresentation.

Communicating product information – some salespeople are tempted to without negative product information OR exaggerate its performance.

Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope12

Competitor-oriented ethical issues in sales:Some salespeople are tempted to “do what

it takes” to hurt their competitors.

Tampering with or hiding competitor’s products.

Belittling competitor’s products or questioning reliability.

Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope13

Employer-oriented ethical issues in sales:

Questionable activities that employers might participate in are as follows:Putting unreasonable pressure on salespeople like

setting unrealistic sales quotas, etc.

Neglecting to pay commission due when a territory is split and distributed among other sales personnel.

Being a poor role model for ethical behavior.

Looking the other way when staff members behave unethically.

Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope14

Coworker-oriented ethical issues in sales:In employee-to-employee relationships, a

salesperson might be tempted to behave in an overly competitive way by:Manipulating sales contests for personal gainDeclaring sales totals completed for a

previous month as completed at the beginning of the month.

Encouraging other coworkers to behave unethically.

Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope15

YOUR personal code of ethicsYour ethical standard is your personal code

of ethics.

Ethical sales behavior comes from this code.

What you do in ethical situations in your personal life determines what you’ll do in sales situations.

Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope16