BA230-Marketing Communication

Integrated Marketing

Communications Mix

Public Relations

Direct Marketing

Sales Promotion

Advertising

Personal Selling

Personal Selling

Person-to-person interactive communication used to ultimately persuade a current/prospective

customer to buy something

The Oldest Marketing Communication Function

• # potential customers decrease• Complexity of product increases• Value of the product grows

Personal Selling

Involves two-way,

Personal communication between salespeople and individual customers whether:

• face to face,• by telephone,

• through video conferencing,• or by other means.

Salesperson / peopleAn individual acting for a company by performing one or more of the following activities: prospecting, communicating, servicing, and information gathering.

Salespeople have many names

• Agents• Sales consultants• Sales Representatives• Account Executives

• Sales Engineers• District Managers• Marketing Representatives• Account Development

Representatives

Duties/Responsibilities: • selling, • service, • prospecting, • presentations, • pricing quotes, • terms,

• orders, • marketing research,• advising, • study, • travel, • meetings, • paperwork.

Satisfied customers repeat their purchases because they are satisfied with the value of the relationship– Taking care of existing customers reduces

sales cycle time and increases efficiency

The Role of the Sales Force

Sales force serves as critical link between company and its customers.

– They represent the company to the customers.– They represent the customers to the company.– Goal = customer satisfaction and company profit.

Qualifications And Skills Required For Success By Salespeople

• Empathy: To see things as others would see them• Ego Drive: Determination to achieve goals• Ego Strength: Self-assured and self-accepting• Interpersonal Communication Skills: Including listening and questioning• Enthusiasm: In general, and for sales as a career• Customer Orientation• Use of Truthful and Nonmanipulative Tactics• Focus on Long-Term Satisfaction of Customer and Selling Firm• Understand general business and economic trends, • Provide guidance throughout the sales process• Help the buyer to solve problems

• Have a pleasant personality and a good professional image

Types of SalespersonsORDER

GETTERS

Current customers

New customers

ORDER

TAKERS

Inside Order Takers(via mail, telephone,

internet)

Outside Field Sales

SUPPORT

PERSONNEL

MissionarySalespersons

Technical Specialist

The Four Sales Channels• Personal selling occurs through

several types of communication channels including these four: – Field Selling– Telemarketing– Inside Selling

Advantages• Build, maintain and enhance interactions

with customers to develop long-term satisfaction through mutually beneficial partnerships

• More than just a transaction or one-time sale

• Detailed explanation/demonstration of product

• Sales message can be varied according to motivations/interests of prospect; can respond to objections

• Directed only to qualified prospects• Costs can be controlled by adjusting size of

sales force in one-person increments• More effective in gaining a sale!

• Can not reach mass audience

• Expensive per contact

• Numerous calls needed to generate sale

• Labor intensive

Disadvantages

How salespeople spend their time

Internal Meetings

5%Travel20%

Face-to-Face Selling33%

Phone Selling16%

Account Service

Coordination16%

Administration10%

SOURCE: William A. O’Connell and William Keenan, Jr., “The Shape of Things to Come,” Sales & Marketing Management, January 1990, pp. 36-41.

Prospecting &

qualifying

Pre-approach

Approach

Presentation &

demonstration

Handling objection

sClosing

Follow-up

Identify qualified potential

customers

Learn as much as possible about

customer

Make a relationship

Tell the product “story” & focus on customer

benefits

Overcome customer objections

Ask for an

order

To insure customer

satisfaction & repeat business

The Sales Process

The Sales Process• The AIDA Concept and the Personal Selling Process

Step 1. Prospecting & Qualifying

P: Salesperson identifies potential customers. – Leads– Developing lists of potential customers

Q: Process of identifying good prospects and screening out poor ones.

• Finding and analyzing information about prospects• Evaluating a prospect’s potential

Step 2. Preapproach

Salesperson learns as much as possible about a prospective customer before making a sales call.

HOW DO WE MAKE THEINITIAL CONTACT & BUILD

RAPPORT

There is only one time to make a first impression

Step 3. Approach

Salesperson meets the buyer and gets the relationship off to a good start.

Step 4. Presentation &DemonstrationSalesperson tells the product “story” to the buyer using the need-satisfaction approach.

• Making the sales presentation• Using persuasive communication• Hold attention• Stimulate interest• Desire• “Tell the product’s story”

– Questions– Reservations

• Understand Concern• Counterarguments• Acknowledge concern• Clues to process

Step 5. Handling Objections

Salesperson seeks out, clarifies, and overcomes customer objections to buying.

• Closing signals• Trial close• Asking the prospect to buy

Step 6. Closing the Sale

Determining the terms of the transaction and getting the prospects agreement to those terms. Salesperson asks the customer for an order.

• Commitments met– Shipment– Performance

• Satisfied customers rebuy & recommend• Supporting the buying decision• Managing implementation• Dealing with dissatisfaction• Enhancing the relationship

Step 7. Following Up

Occurs after the sale and ensures customer satisfaction and repeat business.

Sales (Force) Management

Activities of planning, organizing, staffing, motivating compensating, and evaluating and controlling a sales force to ensure its effectiveness

The analysis, planning, implementation, and control of sales force activities.

Designing Salesforce Strategy and StructureDesigning Salesforce Strategy and Structure

Recruiting and Selecting SalespeopleRecruiting and Selecting Salespeople

Training SalespeopleTraining Salespeople

Compensating SalespeopleCompensating Salespeople

Supervising SalespeopleSupervising Salespeople

Evaluating SalespeopleEvaluating Salespeople

Major Steps in Sales Force Management

Motivating SalespeopleMotivating Salespeople

Territorial Exclusive Territory to Sell the Company’s Full Product Line

ProductSales Force Sells Only a Portion of The Company’s Products or Lines

CustomerSales Force Sells Only to Certain

Customers or Industries

1. Designing Sales Force Strategy and Structure

Complex Forms Are a Combination of

Any Types of Sales Force Structures

Sales Force Size• Salespeople are one of a company’s most productive

and expensive assets.• Sales forces have been shrinking in size because of:

– Advances in selling technology,– Recent merger mania.

• Many companies use some form of workload approach to set sales force size:– Group accounts into different size classes,– How many people are needed to call on them.

Inside SalesForce

Inside SalesForce

Outside Sales Force

Outside Sales Force

Travel to Call on Customers

Travel to Call on Customers

Sells to MajorAccounts

Sells to MajorAccounts

Finds MajorNew

Prospects

Finds MajorNew

Prospects

Conduct Business From Their Offices Via Phone or Buyer VisitsConduct Business From Their

Offices Via Phone or Buyer Visits

TechnicalSupportPeople

TechnicalSupportPeople

Tele-Marketing

OrInternet

Tele-Marketing

OrInternet

Other Sales Force Strategy and Structure Issues

SalesAssistants

SalesAssistants

Recruiting involves:• Soliciting applications• Screening candidates

– Interviews– Sales aptitude, personality, analytical

and/or organizational tests– References, work history, etc.

2. Recruiting and Selecting Salespeople

Careful recruiting can: • Increase overall sales force performance• Reduce turnover• Reduce recruiting and training costs

3. Training Salespeople

• Average training period is 4 months• Training is expensive, but yields strong returns• Many companies are adding Web-based sales

training programs• Training programs have many goals:

Learn about different types of customers and their needs, buying motives, and buying habits.

Learn how to make effective sales presentations. Learn about and identify with the company, its

products and its competitors.

Fixed Amount

Usually a Salary

Fixed Amount

Usually a Salary

VariableAmount

UsuallyCommissionsor Bonuses

VariableAmount

UsuallyCommissionsor Bonuses

To Attract Salespeople, a Company Must Have anAttractive Plan Made Up of Several Elements

To Attract Salespeople, a Company Must Have anAttractive Plan Made Up of Several Elements

Expense Allowance

For Job Related Expenses

Expense Allowance

For Job Related Expenses

4. Compensating Salespeople

Fringe Benefits

Vacations,sick leave, pension, etc.

Fringe Benefits

Vacations,sick leave, pension, etc.

5. Supervising Salespeople

Effective supervisors provide direction to the sales force• Help them identify customers & set call norms• Develop prospect target• Use sales time efficiently

Annual Call PlanTime-and-Duty AnalysisSales Force Automation

Goal of supervision is to encourage salespeople to “work smart.”

6. Motivating Salespeople

• Organizational Climate

• Sales Quotas

• Positive Incentives Sales Meetings Sales Contests Honors and Trips Merchandise/ Cash awards, trips, profit

sharing

Goal of motivating sales force is to encourage salespeople to “work hard”

7. Evaluating Salespeople• Management gets information about its salespeople in

several ways:– Sales reports, call reports, expense reports, and– Personal observations, customer surveys, etc.

• Formal evaluation of performance can be done qualitatively or quantitatively.

• Evaluation methods of performance include:– Comparing salespeople’s performance to others,– Comparing current sales with past sales.

Final Note:

The critical balance of personal sales:

It’s the most costly way to reach customers…

It’s the most costly way to reach customers…

…It has the most powerful one-on-one impact

…It has the most powerful one-on-one impact