chapter 14 personal selling, sales management, and direct marketing

Chapter 14

Personal Selling, Sales Management, and

Direct Marketing

Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall14-2

Chapter Objectives

Understand the important role of personal selling and how it fits into the promotion mix

Explain how technology enhances the personal selling effort

Identify the different types of sales jobs Describe two approaches to personal selling List the steps in the creative selling process Explain the role of sales management Understand the elements of

direct marketing


Real People, Real Choices: Decision Time at Woodtronics

Which strategy should Jeffrey pursue? – Option 1: Push the original solution, even

though it is not the best thing for the client– Option 2: Convince the client of Evolution’s

price and functionality superiority – Option 3: Attempt to raise the architect’s

comfort level with Evolution and hope he will recommend it to the client


Personal Selling

Personal selling:Occurs when a company representative interacts directly with a prospect or customer to communicate about a good or service– “Personal touch” helps develop relationships– Salespeople are the eyes and ears of the firm– Selling/sales management jobs provide high

mobility, especially for college grads with marketing background


The Role of Personal Selling

Personal selling is more important:– When a firm uses a push strategy– In business-to-business contexts– With inexperienced consumers who need

hands-on assistance– For products bought infrequently – When goods/services are complex or costly

Cost per contact is very high


Technology and Personal Selling

Numerous technologies help enhance the selling effort:– Customer relationship management (CRM)

software and partner relationship management (PRM)

– Teleconferencing, videoconferencing, and improved corporate Web sites

– Voice-over Internet protocol – Assorted wireless technologies


Types of Sales Jobs

Sales positions vary considerably:– Order taker– Technical specialist– Missionary salesperson (stimulate clients to

buy)– New-business salesperson and order getter – Team selling and cross-functional teams


Approaches to Personal Selling

Transactional selling: A form of personal selling that focuses on making an immediate sale with little or no concern for developing long-term customer relationships– Associated with high-pressure, hard sell

tactics


Approaches to Personal Selling

Relationship sellingProcess of building long-term customers by developing mutually satisfying, win-win relationships with customers– Builds customer loyalty and satisfaction


The Creative Selling Process

Step 1: Prospecting and qualifying– Prospecting:

Developing a list of potential customers– Qualifying:

Determining how likely potential customers are to become customers



Step 2: The preapproachCompiling background information about prospective customers and planning the sales interview– Purchase history, current needs, customer’s

interests– Information is gathered from informal

sources, CRM system, customers’ Web sites, and/or business publications



Step 3: The approachContacting the prospect– Learning even more about the prospect’s

needs, creating a good impression, and building rapport

– “You never get a second chance to make a good first impression”



Step 4: The sales presentationLaying out the benefits and added value of a firm’s product/service and its advantages over the competition– Invite customer involvement in conversation

by encouraging questions and feedback – Listening skills are critical for salespeople



Step 5: Handling objectionsAnticipating why a prospect is reluctant to make a commitment and responding with additional information or persuasive arguments– Welcome objections– Objections must be successfully dealt with to

move prospect to decision stage



Step 6: Closing the saleGaining the customer’s commitment in the decision stage using a variety of approaches:– Last-objection close – Assumptive or minor-points close – Standing-room-only or buy-now close



Step 7: The follow-upArranging for delivery, payment, and purchase terms– Making sure customer received delivery and

is satisfied– Bridging to next purchase


Sales Management

Sales managementProcess of planning, implementing, and controlling the personal selling function of an organization– Setting sales force objectives– Creating a sales force strategy– Recruiting, training, rewarding the sales force– Evaluating the sales force


Sales Management Process

Setting sales force objectives– Objectives state what the sales force is

expected to accomplish and by when– May be stated in terms of customer

satisfaction, loyalty, retention/turnover, new-customer development, new-product suggestions, training, reporting on competitive activity, community involvement

– Individual objectives may be performance or behavior based



Creating a sales force strategyEstablishing structure and size of a firm’s sales force– Setting sales territories is a major

responsibility; several forms exist• Geographic sales force structure• Product-class sales territories• Industry specialization• Key/major accounts



Recruiting the right people– Good listening and follow-up skills– Ability to adapt style from situation to situation– Tenacity – High level of personal organization

Sales training: – Teaches salespeople about firm, its products,

how to develop skills, knowledge, and attitudes to succeed



Rewarding sales people– Paying salespeople well to motivate them

• Straight commission plan • Commission-with-draw plan • Straight salary plan

– Running sales contests for short-term sales boost

– Call reports aid supervisors



Evaluating the sales force– Is the sales force meeting its objectives?– What are possible causes of failure?– Individual performance is measured against

quotas or other quantitative factors– Qualitative factors may also be used– Expense accounts for entertainment and

travel may also be monitored


Direct Marketing

Direct marketingAny direct communication to a consumer or business recipient designed to generate a response in the form of an order, a request for further information, and/or a visit to a store or other place of business for purchase of a product


Direct Marketing

Mail order– Catalogs:

Collection of products offered for sale and described in book form, usually consisting of product descriptions and photos

– Direct mail: A brochure/pamphlet offering a specific good/service at one point in time


Direct Marketing

Telemarketing: Direct marketing conducted over the telephone– More profitable for business than consumer

markets– In 2003, FTC established National Do Not

Call registry


Direct Marketing

Direct-response advertising: Allows consumer to respond by immediately contacting the provider with questions or an order– Direct-response TV (DRTV):

Short commercials, 30-minute-plus infomercials, and home shopping networks


Direct Marketing

M-Commerce: Promotional and other e-commerce activities transmitted over mobile phones/devices– Short-messaging system marketing (SMS) – Spim: instant-messaging version of spam– Adware: software that tracks Web

habits/interests, presenting pop-up ads, and resetting home page


Real People, Real Choices: Decision Made at Woodtronics

Jeffrey chose option 2– Jeffrey felt that his job as a sales

representative was to uncover customer needs and provide the correct solutions

– Implementation: Showed client a mock-up of the Evolution platform; told architect only when client was satisfied with product. Client purchased the product

– Measuring success: Sales


Keeping It Real: Fast-Forward to Next Class Decision Time at Darden

Meet Jim Lawrence, Sr. VP Supply Management & Purchasing

Darden Restaurants is the world’s largest casual dining operator

The decision to be made: What steps should be taken to ensure that Darden restaurants have access to the volume and quality of food needed?


Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice HallPublishing as Prentice Hall

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,

mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America.

chapter 14 personal selling, sales management, and direct marketing

Documents

personal selling relationship

personal selling effort

personal selling list

form of personal selling

pearson education

prentice hall14

client slide

creative selling process