PERSONAL SELLING:

What is Personal Selling?

Personal selling is a promotional method in which one party (e.g., salesperson) uses skills and
techniques for building personal relationships with another party (e.g., those involved in a
purchase decision) that results in both parties obtaining value. In most cases the "value" for
the salesperson is realized through the financial rewards of the sale while the customers
"value" is realized from the benefits obtained by consuming the product. However, getting a
customer to purchase a product is not always the objective of personal selling. For instance,
selling may be used for the purpose of simply delivering information.
Because selling involves personal contact, this promotional method often occurs through
face-to-face meetings or via a telephone conversation, though newer technologies allow
contact to take place over the Internet including using video conferencing or text messaging
(e.g., online chat).

A Five Stage Personal Selling Process.

Stage One - Prospecting.
Prospecting is all about finding prospects, or potential new customers. Prospects should be
'qualified,' which means that they need to be assessed to see if there is business potential,
otherwise you could be wasting your time. In order to qualify your prospects, one needs to:

Plan a sales approach focused upon the needs of the customer.

Determine which products or services best meet their needs.

In order to save time, rank the prospects and leave out those that are least likely to
buy.
Stage Two - Making First Contact.
This is the preparation that a salesperson goes through before they meet with the client, for
example via e-mail, telephone or letter. Preparation will make a call more focused.

Make sure that you are on time.

Before meeting with the client, set some objectives for the sales call. What is the
purpose of the call? What outcome is desirable before you leave?

Make sure that you've done some homework before meeting your prospect. This will
show that you are committed in the eyes of your customer.

To save time, send some information before you visit. This will wet the prospect's
appetite.

Keep a set of samples at hand, and make sure that they are in very good condition.

Within the first minute or two, state the purpose of your call so that time with the
client is maximised, and also to demonstrate to the client that your are not wasting his or her
time.
Humour is fine, but try to be sincere and friendly.
Stage Three - The Sales Call (or Sales Presentation).
It is best to be enthusiastic about your product or service. If you are not excited about it, don't
expect your prospect to be excited.
Focus on the real benefits of the product or service to the specific needs of your client, rather
than listing endless lists of features.
Try to be relaxed during the call, and put your client at ease.
Let the client do at least 80% of the talking. This will give you invaluable information on
your client's needs.
Remember to ask plenty of questions. Use open questions, e.g. TED's, and closed questions
i.e. questions that will only give the answer 'yes' or the answer 'no.' This way you can dictate
the direction of the conversation.
Never be too afraid to ask for the business straight off.
Stage Four - Objection Handling.
Objection handling is the way in which salespeople tackle obstacles put in their way by
clients. Some objections may prove too difficult to handle, and sometimes the client may just
take a dislike to you (aka the hidden objection). Here are some approaches for overcoming
objections:

Firstly, try to anticipate them before they arise.

'Yes but' technique allows you to accept the objection and then to divert it. For
example, a client may say that they do not like a particular colour, to which the salesperson
counters 'Yes but X is also available in many other colours.'
Ask 'why' the client feels the way that they do.
'Restate' the objection, and put it back into the client's lap. For example, the client
may say, 'I don't like the taste of X,' to which the salesperson responds, 'You don't like the
taste of X,' generating the response 'since I do not like garlic' from the client. The salesperson
could suggest that X is no longer made with garlic to meet the client's needs.
The sales person could also tactfully and respectfully contradict the client.
Stage Five - Closing the Sale.
This is a very important stage. Often salespeople will leave without ever successfully closing
a deal. Therefore it is vital to learn the skills of closing.

Just ask for the business! - 'Please may I take an order?' This really works well.

Look for buying signals (i.e. body language or comments made by the client that they
want to place an order). For example, asking about availability, asking for details such as
discounts, or asking for you to go over something again to clarify.
Just stop talking, and let the client say 'yes.' Again, this really works.

The 'summary close' allows the salesperson to summarise everything that the client
needs, based upon the discussions during the call. For example, 'You need product X in blue,
by Friday, packaged accordingly, and delivered to your wife's office.' Then ask for the order.

The 'alternative close' does not give the client the opportunity to say no, but forces them towards a yes.
For example 'Do you want product X in blue or red?' Cheeky, but effective.

Advantages of Personal Selling

One key advantage personal selling has over other promotional methods is that it is a twoway form of communication. In selling situations the message sender (e.g., salesperson) can
adjust the message as they gain feedback from message receivers (e.g., customer). So if a
customer does not understand the initial message (e.g., doesnt fully understand how the
product works) the salesperson can make adjustments to address questions or concerns.
Many non-personal forms of promotion, such as a radio advertisement, are inflexible, at
least in the short-term, and cannot be easily adjusted to address audience questions.
The interactive nature of personal selling also makes it the most effective promotional
method for building relationships with customers, particularly in the business-to-business
market. This is especially important for companies that either sell expensive products or sell
lower cost but high volume products (i.e., buyer must purchase in large quantities) that rely
heavily on customers making repeat purchases. Because such purchases may take a
considerable amount of time to complete and may involve the input of many people at the
purchasing company (i.e., buying center), sales success often requires the marketer develop
and maintain strong relationships with members of the purchasing company.
Finally, personal selling is the most practical promotional option for reaching customers who
are not easily reached through other methods. The best example is in selling to the business
market where, compared to the consumer market, advertising, public relations and sales
promotions are often not well received

Disadvantages of Personal Selling:

Possibly the biggest disadvantage of selling is the degree to which this promotional method is
misunderstood. Most people have had some bad experiences with salespeople who they
perceived were overly aggressive or even downright annoying. While there are certainly
many salespeople who fall into this category, the truth is salespeople are most successful
when they focus their efforts on satisfying customers over the long term and not focusing
own their own selfish interests.

A second disadvantage of personal selling is the high cost in maintaining this type of
promotional effort. Costs incurred in personal selling include:

High cost-per-action (CPA) As noted in the Promotion Decisions tutorial, CPA can
be an important measure of the success of promotion spending. Since personal selling
involves person-to-person contact, the money spent to support a sales staff (i.e., sales
force) can be steep. For instance, in some industries it costs well over (US) $300 each
time a salesperson contacts a potential customer. This cost is incurred whether a sale is
made or not! These costs include compensation (e.g., salary, commission, bonus),
providing sales support materials, allowances for entertainment spending, office
supplies, telecommunication and much more. With such high cost for maintaining a
sales force, selling is often not a practical option for selling products that do not
generate a large amount of revenue.
Training Costs Most forms of personal selling require the sales staff be extensively
trained on product knowledge, industry information and selling skills. For companies
that require their salespeople attend formal training programs, the cost of training can
be quite high and include such expenses as travel, hotel, meals, and training equipment
while also paying the trainees salaries while they attend.

A third disadvantage is that personal selling is not for everyone. Job turnover in sales is often
much higher than other marketing positions. For companies that assign salespeople to handle
certain customer groups (e.g., geographic territory), turnover may leave a company without
representation in a customer group for an extended period of time while the company recruits
and trains a replacement.

Objectives of Personal Selling

Personal selling is used to meet the five objectives of promotion in the following ways:

Building Product Awareness A common task of salespeople, especially when

selling in business markets, is to educate customers on new product offerings. In fact,
salespeople serve a major role at industry trades shows (see the Sales
Promotion tutorial) where they discuss products with show attendees. But building
awareness using personal selling is also important in consumer markets. As we will
discuss, the advent of controlled word-of-mouth marketing is leading to personal
selling becoming a useful mechanism for introducing consumers to new products.

Creating Interest The fact that personal selling involves person-to-person

communication makes it a natural method for getting customers to experience a
product for the first time. In fact, creating interest goes hand-in-hand with building
product awareness as sales professionals can often accomplish both objectives during
the first encounter with a potential customer.

Providing Information When salespeople engage customers a large part of the

conversation focuses on product information. Marketing organizations provide their
sales staff with large amounts of sales support including brochures, research reports,
computer programs and many other forms of informational material.
Stimulating Demand By far, the most important objective of personal selling is to
convince customers to make a purchase. In The Selling Process tutorial we will see
how salespeople accomplish this when we offer detailed coverage of the selling process
used to gain customer orders.
Reinforcing the Brand Most personal selling is intended to build long-term
relationships with customers. A strong relationship can only be built over time and
requires regular communication with a customer. Meeting with customers on a regular
basis allows salespeople to repeatedly discuss their companys products and by doing
so helps strengthen customers knowledge of what the company has to offer.

Types of Selling Roles

As we noted above, worldwide millions of people have careers that fit in the personal selling
category. However, the actual functions carried out by someone in sales may be quite
different. In general there are four major types of selling roles:

Order Getters
Order Takers
Order Influencers
Sales Support

The objectives of each role are often very different and within each role there are serveral
sub-classifications. A detailed discussion of each role can be found in the Types of Selling
Roles tutorial.

Trends in Selling
While the basic premise of personal selling, building relationships, has not changed much in
the last 50 years, there are a number of developments that are impacting this method of
promotion including:

Controlled Word of Mouth

Customer Information Sharing
Mobile and Web Computing
Electronic Sales Presentations
Electronic Sales Training
Use of Customer Teams

Personal Selling consists of the following steps.

1. Pre-sale preparation: The first step in personal selling is the selection, training and
motivation of salespersons. The salespersons must be fully familiar with the product, the
firm, the market and the selling techniques. They should be well-informed about the
competitors products and the degree of competition. They should also be acquainted with the
motives and behavior of prospective buyers.
2. Prospecting : It refers to locating or searching out prospective buyers who have the need
for the product and the ability to buy it. Potential customers may be spotted through
observation, enquiry and analysis of records of existing customers. Social contacts, business
associations and dealers can be helpful in the identification of potential buyers.
3. Approaching : Before calling on the prospects, the salesperson should fully learn their
number, needs, habits, spending capacity, motives, etc. Such knowledge helps in selecting the
right sales appeal. After such learning, the salesperson should approach the customer in a
polite and dignified way. He should introduce himself and his product to the customer. He
should greet the customer with a smile and make him feel at home. He should introduce
himself and his product to the customer. In case he is busy with some other customer, he
should assure the new customer that he would be attended very soon. The salesperson has to
be very careful in his approach as the first impression is the last impression.
4. Presentation : For this purpose, the salesperson has to present the product and describe its
features in brief. The presentation should be matched with the attitude of the prospect so that
the salesman can continuously hold his attention and create interest in the product.
5. Demonstration: In order to maintain customers interest and to arouse his desire, the salesperson must display and demonstrate the product. He has to explain the utility and distinctive
qualities of the product so that the prospect realizes the need for the product to satisfy his
wants. He should not be in a hurry to impress the customer and should avoid controversy. He
may suggest uses of the product and may create an impulsive urge to possess the article by
appealing to human instincts.
6. Handling objections: A sale cannot be achieved simply by creating interest and desire.
Every customer wants to make the best bargain for the money he is spending. Presentation
and demonstration of the product are likely to create doubts and questions in his mind. The
salesman should clear all doubts and objections without entering into a controversy and

without losing his temper. Testimonials, money-back guarantee, tact and patience are popular
means of winning over s hesitant buyers. The salesman should convince the customer that he
is making the best use of his money by purchasing the product. For this purpose, the salesman
should prove the superiority of his product over the competitive products. He should not lose
patience if the customer puts too many queries and takes time in arriving at any decision. If
the customer does not buy even after meeting rejections, the salesman should let him go
without showing temper. He must believe in the universal rule that the customer is always
right.
7. Closing the sale: This is the climax or critical point in the personal selling process.
Completing the sale seems to be an easy task but inappropriate handling of the customer can
result in loss of sale. The salesman should not force the deal but let the customer feel that he
has made the final decision. He should guide the customer in making the choice without
imposing his own view. Some adjustment in price or other concession may sometimes be
necessary for a successful closing. The salesman should show the same interest in the
customer which he exhibited during approach stage. Sales should be closed in a cordial
manner so that the customer feels inclined to visit the shop again. In closing the sale, the
article should be packed properly and handed over to the customer with speed and accuracy.
Once the customer has purchased the article, the salesman should show and suggest an allied
product. For instance, he may suggest socks, ties, handkerchiefs, vests, etc., to a customer
purchasing a shirt. This is known as additional sales and requires great skill and tact.
8. Post-sale follow-up : It refers to the activities undertaken to ensure that the customer is
satisfied with the article and the firm. These activities include installation of the products,
checking and ensuring its smooth performance, maintenance and after-sale service. It helps to
secure repeat sales identify additional prospects and to evaluate salesmans effectiveness.

Personal selling strategies:

Personal selling strategies should be derived from the marketing strategy and should be
consistent with other elements of marketing mix. The following variables should be
considered while formulating sales strategy.
Call rates: If the intensity of competitive rivalry is high in the industry, salespersons should
be calling on their customers more frequently. If the rate of technological changes in the
industry is high, the customer is more likely to change equipments frequently and may
require the services of the sales team more often to evaluate options. Also when the buyer is
expanding his facilities or is venturing into new business, salespersons should be calling on
the buyer more often.

Percentage of calls on existing and potential accounts: a salesperson has to divide his time
between existing and potential customers in a way that maximizes sales. Some salespeople
fix some formula for themselves so that they do not spend excess time with either type of the
customers, i.e. he will spend 40 pc of his time with existing customers and rest with
prospective customers. But this may not be a good strategy all the time. Division of time
between the existing and potential accounts should depend upon the type of industry and the
state of business in the industry.
Discount policy: Salespeople are prone to announcing discounts at every hurdle in the selling
process. It is important to provide flexibility in prices that salesperson can offer to customers
because many deals can be clinched by offering small discounts. Many a time discounts have
to given to demonstrate to customers that they are important. But there should be guidelines
prescribing the amount of discounts that can be offered to customers under exceptional
circumstances. When discounts become pervasive, customers start expecting discounts as
routine part of their buying process and the list price loses its sanctity.
The company should reduce its list price under such circumstances to restore the sanctity of
its list price. The company will be a better position to know the realized price. Salespeople
should be able to sell on the merits of the product and on the strength of the relationship that
they have with the customers. Discounts should be provided in exceptional circumstances.