PERSONAL SELLING

PERSONAL SELLING
Personal Selling can be defined as a means for implementing Marketing Programs along with other marketing elements such as Pricing, Advertising, Product Development & Research and Physical Distribution, etc.

Personal Selling Vs Impersonal Selling

Personal Selling involves person to person contact. It requires :

1. To clarify to the buyer the unique benefits he can get by buying the product/service. 2. To satisfy the objections of the customer. 3. To understand the consequences for the buyer; i.e. the hidden, unexpressed reasons for not buying and to offer solutions to overcome these. 4. To convert implicit needs into explicit ones. 5. To give confidence and reassurance to the customer. 6. To educate the customer and to effectively differentiate his company, product/service, from those of the competitors. 7. To solve problems. 8. To get direct feed-back from the market and be close to the customer. 9. To gain a competitive advantage.
Impersonal Selling also does the above but not through person to person contact. These functions/activities are done with the help of Visual, Audio and Audio-Visual aids like information leaflets, advertisements in the print media, advertisements in the audio-visual media, voice-mail service etc.

HOW DIVERSE IS THE PERSONAL SELLING FUNCTION?

A.

Service Selling

Inside Order Taker Counter salesmen inside a Departmental Store etc. e.g. Sales executive at the Walmart store Delivery salesperson mainly engaged in delivering the product/service, e.g. the person filling oil at the Shell Petroleum Service Station, person delivering you your Credit card. Route or Merchandising salesperson a typical toiletries salesman who collects order and ensures proper display of his products at the shop. Missionary salesman the Medical Representative detailing the Doctor about a new formulation. He does not take orders but only disseminates latest information. Door-to-door campaign for participating in the elections/voting. Technical Salesperson strictly speaking he is a consultant to the client, e.g. project consultancy by an Architect.

HOW DIVERSE IS THE PERSONAL SELLING FUNCTION?

B. Developmental Selling Creative Salesperson of tangibles selling a new software, selling a newly invented gadget. Creative salesperson of Intangibles selling insurance policy, Advertisement executive prospecting for accounts.
C.

Basically Developmental Selling, not requiring unusual creativity Political, Indirect or BackDoor Salesperson a salesperson selling one commodity gets orders or another commodity because of his Organizations infrastructure. e.g. an exporter of garments form India gets an order from a client in England for canned apple juice(because of his efficient and ethical dealing with the client) Salesperson Engaged in Multiple Sales e.g. an Advertising Executive giving many presentations to the Agency Selection Committee of a Company. One concept can be accepted /all can be rejected.

THEORIES OF PERSONAL SELLING

a) STIMULUS RESPONSE SELLING Buy One Get one Offer a stimulus to the prospect strongly influences the decision making process and converts him into a buyer. b) MENTAL STATE SELLING {A.I.D.A.S. Model} Attention of the customer is drawn through unique product/service feature; Interest of the prospect is developed; prospect develops Desire and converts to a potential customer; Action takes place (customer buys the product/service); Customer derives Satisfaction from the product/service. c) NEED SATISFACTION SELLING There was a need for a T.V. that will adjust its brightness according to the room luminosity L.G. Television being sold with Golden Eye feature. d) PROBLEM SOLVING SELLING Pollution was a serious problem, CNG concept was sold to the Government. e) CONTINGENCY SELLING Distress Sale.

A TYPICAL PERSONAL SELLING PROCESS

There are five stages in a typical Personal Selling process:
1. Preparation:

Planning the itinerary Time & Territory Management Planning each sales call. Prospecting and evaluating new customers. With new customers(under prospecting) With existing customers - Inventory Check - What is new to offer.

2. Opening a sales call:

3. Presentation of the Product/service:

Features, Advantages and Benefits of the offering/s.

Demonstration, if possible, of the offering

4. Handling objections - Obstacles to sales {customer is convinced but sale is not effected because customer is short of cash/customer cannot carry the product today solution could be credit card/finance option and home delivery next day}- Sales Objections{customer is dissatisfied because of some attribute of the product detailed by the salesperson but not available. e.g. a ceiling fan salesperson details that there are double ball bearings present but the customer finds only one ball bearing and the other is a bush bearing.

Negotiations.

A TYPICAL PERSONAL SELLING PROCESS

5. Closing of the sales call:

Timing of the sales call. Methods of closing.

A TYPICAL PROSPECTING PROCESS

To economize on scarce Productive Selling time, planning work is done to eliminate calls on non-buyers. This Planning work is called prospecting. The steps involved are: 1. Formulating Prospect Definition: Persons/Organizations who have the willingness, the financial capacity and authority to buy the product or service being offered by the personal selling functionary is a PROSPECT. 2. Searching out potential accounts: The sources can be directories of all kind; news and notes in trade magazines/journals; membership list of Associations; friends and acquaintances; etc. 3. Qualifying prospects & determining probable requirements: Prospects above a certain level of requirement are considered as Qualified and are pursued unless otherwise future growth/other factors are of significance. 4. Relating company products/service to each prospects requirements: Final step is to approach the prospect and convince him that his requirement will be satisfied by your Companys product/service.