Personal Selling:

Personal selling is promotional presentation by the firm’s sales force conducted on a person-to-person basis
with the buyer for the purpose of making sales and building customer relationships. Personal selling is the oldest
form of promotion. This direct form of promotion may be conducted face-to-face, over the telephone, through
videoconferencing, or through interactive computer links between the buyer and the seller. This direct contact
with the customer gives the salesperson the opportunity to be flexible and modify the sales message to coincide
with the customer’s needs. The salesperson can get immediate feedback from the customer. This form of
promotion has a high cost per contact with the customer. The average sales call costs about $300. It is difficult
to ensure consistency of message when it is delivered by many different company representatives. The
credibility of salespeople often depends on the quality of their company’s image, which has been created by
other promotion strategies. About 14 million people in the U.S. are employed in personal selling.

Today, most salespeople are well-educated, well-trained professionals who work to build and maintain long-
term customer relationships by listening to their customers, assessing customer needs, and organizing the
company’s efforts to solve customer problems. The term salesperson covers a wide range of positions. At one
extreme, a salesperson might be largely an order taker, such as a department store salesperson standing behind a
counter. At the other extreme are order getters, whose positions demand the creative selling of products ranging
from appliances, industrial equipment, and airplanes to insurance, advertising, and information technology
services.

The Role of Personal Selling:

 Generally, a personal sales effort is more important when a firm engages in a push strategy, in which the goal is
to push the product through the distribution channel so that it is available to consumers. Personal selling also is
likely to be crucial in B2B contexts when direct interaction with upper-level management is required to secure
an important sale—and often when intense price negotiations occur before the sale is made. In addition,
inexperienced buyers may need the hands-on assistance that a professional salesperson can provide. Firms
selling products that consumers buy infrequently, such as computers, lawn mowers, and college educations,
often rely heavily on personal selling, as do firms selling complex or very expensive products that need a
salesperson to explain, justify, and sell them.

 Personal selling, however, has some disadvantages that limit the role played by personal selling in the
promotion mix. First, when the dollar amount of individual purchases is low, it isn’t economically feasible to
use personal selling. The cost per contact with a customer is high compared to other forms of communication,
such as advertising. Salespeople can also only make a limited number of sales calls a day. Reliance on personal
selling is effective only when the success ratio is at its highest. Because the cost of utilizing salespeople is high,
telemarketing is growing in popularity.

 The types of salespeople and their functions vary considerably. The person who processes a computer purchase
over the phone is an order taker, a salesperson whose primary function is to facilitate transactions that the
customer initiates. Order takers include both inside and outside salespeople. Most retail salespeople are inside
order takers, but often wholesalers, dealers, and distributors employ salespeople to wait on customers. In
contrast, a computer technician is a technical specialist, a sales support person with a high level of technical
expertise who assists in product demonstrations, recommendations for complex equipment, and setup of
machinery. The technical specialist’s job is to provide sales support rather than actually closing the sale. The
technical specialist promotes the firm and tries to stimulate demand for a product to make it easier for
colleagues to actually make the sale. Sometimes a person whose job is to lay the groundwork is known as a
missionary salesperson. This is a salesperson who promotes the firm and tries to stimulate demand for a
product, but does not actually complete a sale. Many firms find that the selling function is best handled by team
selling, using teams of people from sales, marketing, engineering, finance, technical support, and even upper
management to service large, complex accounts. Finally, the person who actually convinces the customer to buy
is an order getter, a salesperson who works creatively to develop relationships with customers or to generate
new sales.
 

Approaches to Personal Selling:

 Personal selling is one of the oldest forms of promotion, but its image has been tarnished by smooth-talking
pitchmen who have sometimes said anything to make a sale. In more recent years, personal selling has begun to
redeem itself as a profession and has moved from a transactional, hard-sell technique to a relationship marketing
approach.

 Transactional Marketing

The hard sell is a high-pressure process. Hard-sell tactics are a form of transactional selling, a form of personal
selling that focuses on making an immediate sale with little or no attempt to develop a relationship with the
customer. As customers, the hard sell makes us feel manipulated and resentful. This technique also contributes
to the negative image many of us have of obnoxious salespeople.
Relationship Marketing

Today’s professional salesperson is more likely to practice relationship selling, a form of personal selling in
which the salesperson seeks to develop a mutually satisfying relationship with the consumer. Relationship
selling involves winning, keeping, and developing customers. Winning a customer means converting an
interested prospect into someone who is convinced that the product holds value for him or her. Keeping a
customer means ensuring that the customer gets what he or she paid for. Developing a customer means
satisfying the customer so that he or she will be counted on to provide future business. The professional
salesperson who genuinely adheres to the principles of relationship marketing is a relationship builder and a
customer problem solver.

The Creative Selling Process:

 Selling is seldom boring. Every customer, every sales call, and every salesperson are unique. Some salespeople
are successful primarily because they know so much about what they sell. Others are successful because they
have built strong relationships with customers who look forward to their visits. Most salespeople understand and
engage in a series of activities necessary to bring about a transaction. Complex or expensive sales require
careful planning, and successful selling in these cases is more likely if the salesperson undergoes a systematic
series of steps known as the creative selling process. These steps require the salesperson to seek out customers,
analyze their needs, determine how product attributes provide benefits, and then decide how best to
communicate this to the prospects. The steps in the process include prospecting, qualifying, preapproach,
approach, sales presentation, demonstration, handling objections, closing, and follow-up.

Prospecting

Prospecting is the step of the selling process that includes identifying and developing a list of potential or
prospective customers. Prospects or sales leads can come from existing customer lists, telephone directories, or
commercially available databases. Sometimes companies generate sales leads through their advertising or sales
promotions by letting customers request more information. One way to generate leads is through cold calling,
when the salesperson contacts prospects without prior introduction or arrangement. Salespeople also rely on
referrals. Current clients who are satisfied with their purchase often give referrals.

Qualifying

Salespeople next need to qualify their prospects, the step of the selling process that determines how likely
prospects are to become customers. Prospects can be qualified by looking at their financial ability, volume of
business, special needs, location, and possibilities for growth.

Preapproach

The preapproach is the step in the selling process in which the salesperson learns as much as possible about a
prospective customer before making a sales call. Salespeople try to learn as much as possible about qualified
prospects early on. They may probe prior purchase history, current needs, or information about their interests.
The salesperson can consult industry and online sources, acquaintances, etc. to learn about the prospect. Another
task is to decide on the best approach, which might be a personal visit, a phone call, or a letter. The best timing
should be considered carefully because many prospects are busiest at certain times. Finally, the salesperson
should give thought to an overall sales strategy for the account.
 

Approach

The approach is the step in the selling process in which the salesperson usually meets the customer for the first
time. He or she should start building the relationship during the approach. The salesperson should know how to
meet and greet the prospect and get the relationship off to a good start. This step involves the salesperson’s
appearance, opening lines, and the follow-up remarks. The opening lines should be positive to build goodwill
from the beginning of the relationship. If the salesperson made contact with the prospect through a referral, the
salesperson should probably say so up-front. This opening might be followed by some key questions to learn
more about the customer’s needs or by showing a display or sample to attract the prospect’s attention and
curiosity. As in all stages of the selling process, listening to the customer is crucial.

Sales Presentation

The sales presentation is the step in the selling process in which the salesperson seeks to persuasively
communicate the product’s features and the benefits it will provide after the sale. Proof statements, such as data
on past sales, testimonials, guarantees, or research results, help to make the salesperson’s presentation credible.
Some sales presentations are canned, meaning a script has been written in advance, and the same message is
delivered to many prospects. This technique often provides a series of verbal prompts to which there are
expected customer responses. A similar approach called a formulated approach identifies a prospect’s needs and
then provides a scripted sales pitch keyed to that kind of prospect. These standardized approaches work fine in
some cases, but the most effective sales presentations are those that are tailored to the specific customer.

Increasingly, sales presentations are going high-tech. Computer-based multimedia presentations are considered
the next wave in sales-force automation. With a multimedia-ready notebook computer or LCD projection
computer, salespeople can bring color, animation, video, audio, and interactivity—as well as the latest product
and pricing information—to their presentations.

Demonstration

One important advantage of personal selling over most advertising is the ability of salespeople to provide a
demonstration of the product to the potential buyer. Many firms use new technologies to make their
demonstrations more effective. Multimedia interactive demonstrations are now common. The key to a good
demonstration—one that gains the customer’s attention, keeps his or her interest, is convincing, and stays in the
customer’s memory—is planning. The salesperson should check and recheck all aspects of the demonstration
prior to its delivery.

Handling Objections

Handling objections is the step in the selling process in which the salesperson seeks out, clarifies, and
overcomes customer objections to buying. Customers almost always have objections during the presentation or
when asked to place an order. The problem can be either logical or psychological, and objections are oftentimes
unspoken. The salesperson should handle objections using a positive approach, by seeking out hidden
objections, asking the prospect to clarify any objections, and taking objections as opportunities to provide more
information—turning the objections into reasons for buying. Every salesperson needs training in the skills of
handling objections.

 
Closing

Closing is the step in the selling process in which the salesperson asks the customer for an order. Some
salespeople do not get around to closing or do not handle it well. They may lack confidence, feel guilty about
asking for the order, or fail to recognize the right moment to close the sale. Salespeople should know how to
recognize closing signals from the buyer, including body language, comments, and questions. Salespeople can
use several closing techniques. They can ask for the order, review points of agreement, offer to help write up the
order, ask whether they buyer wants this model or that one, or note that the buyer will lose out if the order is not
placed now. The salesperson may also offer the buyer special reasons to close, such as a lower price or an extra
quantity at no charge.

Follow-Up

Follow-up is the last step in the selling process, in which the salesperson follows up after the sale to ensure
customer satisfaction and repeat business. Right after closing, the salesperson should complete any details on
delivery time, purchase terms, and other matters. The salesperson then should schedule a follow-up call when
the initial order is received, to make sure there is proper installation, instruction, and/or servicing. This visit
should reveal any problems, assure the buyer of the salesperson’s interest, and reduce any buyer concerns that
might have arisen since the sale. Follow-up also allows the salesperson to bridge to the next purchase. Once a
relationship develops, the selling process is only the beginning. Even as one cycle of purchasing draws to a
close, a good salesperson is already laying the foundation for the next one.