Sales & Distribution Management

Assignment- 2

Chirag vinayak 6A Evening

00421401717
BBA- 310

Q. 1 Write an essay on ‘Personal Selling’, bringing out clearly the concept, desirable qualities of
sales persons and the process involved therein. Also explain the importance of training a sales
person with an appropriate example.

Ans. Personal selling is an act of convincing the prospects to buy a given product or service. It
is the most effective and costly promotional method. It is effective because there is face to face
conversation between the buyer and seller and seller can change its promotional techniques
according to the needs of situation. It is basically the science and art of understanding human
desires and showing the ways through which these desires could be fulfilled. According to
American Marketing Association, “Personal selling is the oral presentation in a conversation
with one or more prospective purchasers for the purpose of making sale; it is the ability to
persuade the people to buy goods and services at a profit to the seller and benefit to the buyer”.
In the word of Professor William J. Stanton, “Personal selling consists in individual; personal
communication, in contrast to mass relatively impersonal communication of advertising; sales
promotion and other promotional tools”.

 Concept of Personal Selling:

Personal selling is a face-to-face contact between the salesman and the prospect; through which
the salesman persuades the prospect, to appreciate the need for the product canvassed by him –
with the expectation of a sales-transaction, being eventually materialized.
The concept of personal selling consists of the following features-
(i) Personal selling involves a face-to-face contact between the salesman and the prospect.

(ii) It is an art of persuading the prospect, to appreciate the need for the product canvassed by the
salesman, in a democratic, cordial and social manner. This, then, requires outstanding qualities in
a salesman; specially the proficiency in selling skills and techniques.

(iii) In personal selling, the emphasis is on the development of permanent and lasting relations
with prospects. If a prospect is won; a sales transaction might materialize with him subsequently
in future. Obtaining an immediate sale may be the natural ambition of a salesman; it should
never be his target.

(iv) A salesman sells product, by first selling his own idea or viewpoint to the prospect. Personal
selling, therefore, is the art of convincing the prospect and influencing his mind, in a favourbale
way.

(v) Personal selling requires a flexible approach; on the part of the salesman i.e. the salesman
should modify his approach in persuading the prospect, in view of the psychology, needs and
resources of the prospect.

(vi) The ultimate goal of personal selling is mutual satisfaction of the interests of both – the
salesman and the prospect.
 Desirable qualities of a sales person-

1. Personality and Physical Characteristics:

In case of direct selling, a good salesperson must have two basic qualities. The first one is
empathy, which may be defined as the important central ability to feel as the other fellow
does in order to be able to sell a product or service. The second is the ego drive, which can be
described as the need to conquer: a desire to want and need to make a sale. In many sales
situations, life is tough against aggressive competition.
2. Enthusiasm:
Sales people must be enthusiastic about their job, their product, their company and
themselves. This is the major characteristic which often turns failure into success in selling.
Job involvement can be related to enthusiasm. However, in reality, people who work long
hours show perseverance and determination and enthusiasm and are more likely to be
successful sales-people.
3.  Confidence:
Those people who possess higher levels of self-confidence are more likely to be successful.
No doubt belief in one’s own ability and belief in the product and the company are conveyed
to buyers with positive effect. However, sales-people will have to adjust their proposal or
presentation and be able to make quick, important decisions. A lack of confidence can lead to
loss of opportunities and, ultimately, sales.
4. Product Knowledge:
Knowledge of the product, its benefits and how it is used together affect sales performance.
Detailed product knowledge by itself is not sufficient but is a necessary pre-condition and a
major factor in effective selling.
5.  Market Knowledge:
It is the responsibility of the marketing manager to decide marketing strategy and policies
and give proper weight-age to the four Ps of the marketing mix but the individual salesperson
should have the ability to understand and translate the application of marketing effort to
individual customers and circumstances.
 6. Customer Knowledge:
Equally vital for the salesperson is the ability to develop and maintain ongoing customer
relationships. The specific tasks include providing technical information, handling
complaints and providing other aspects of customer service as appropriate.
7. Territory Knowledge:
Good territory knowledge is also important in effective selling. This requires management
skills by the individual in the efficient allocation of time between customers, prospects and
travelling. Good skills in planning routes and sales calls, together with an appropriate but not
excessive time on non-selling activities, are all important determinants of sales-force
productivity.
8. Marketing Skills:
The characteristics and skills required will be those which best match the role to be
performed and the tasks which must be undertaken. Where this matching can be extended to
the similarity between buyers and sellers, sales performance can be further improved.
Effective selling also requires a selling style appropriate to the prospect. There is need to
match seller with buyer.

 Process involved in Personal Selling-

1. Prospecting and evaluating:
The effort to develop a list of potential customers is known as prospecting. Sales people can find
potential buyers, names in company records, customer information requests from advertisements,
telephone and trade association directories, current and previous customers, friends, and
newspapers. Prospective buyers predetermined, by evaluating (1) their potential interest in the
sales person’s products and (2) their purchase power.

2. Preparing:
Before approaching the potential buyer, the sales person should know as much as possible about
the person or company.

3. Approach and presentation:

During the approach, which constitutes the actual beginning of the communication process, the
sales person explains to the potential customer the reason for the sales, possibly mentions how
the potential buyer’s name was obtained, and gives a preliminary explanation of what he or she
is offering. The sales presentation is a detailed effort to bring the buyer’s needs together with the
product or service the sales person represents.

4. Overcoming objections:
The primary value of personal selling lies in the sales person’s ability to receive and deal with
potential customers’ objections to purchasing the product. In a sales presentation many
objections can be dealt with immediately. These may take more time, but still may be overcome.

5. Closing the sale:

Many sales people lose sales simply because they never asked the buyer to buy. At several times
in a presentation the sales person may to gauge how near the buyer is to closing.

6. Follow up:
To maintain customer satisfaction, the sales person should follow up after a sale to be certain that
the product is delivered properly and the customer is satisfied with the result.

 Importance of Sales Training-

In today’s extremely competitive business environment, having any advantage over the
competition is useful. One of the most important tools that a company can have to ensure that
stay one step ahead is a strong sales team. According to a study cited on the Sales Force Training
website, the caliber of the salesperson, in a B2B environment, is the most important factor
influencing prospects’ decisions to buy. In the U.S., more than $5 billion is invested in sales
training and improvement. It is extremely important that your company is making the right
training investments.

A trained sales team can generate new opportunities which can lead to huge returns for a
company. The better trained your sales team is, the better results for your entire company. Use
the following sales tips and sales training insights to make your sales team stronger.

 Sales training enhances the person-to-person connection which is necessary to gain loyal

consumers. According to impactcommunicationsinc.com, 71 percent of people base their
 buying decisions on trust and believability. All salespeople need to thoroughly
understand their audience’s wants and needs while also being able to communicate to that
audience what the benefits of the products and services their company offers are so that
they can truly appeal to the audience and build that necessary loyalty.

 Look for sales training courses that will enable your staff to build pleasure into their
interactions with clients so that the purchase occurs in a win-win situation, allowing the
client to walk away feeling understood.

 Communication skills are essential in sales because salespeople must ensure that
customers understand the products and services offered. Effective communication skills
successfully connect people and processes and are useful for not just the sales
professionals but business professionals overall. It is important to note that when offering
training to any employee you want them to gain knowledge not just in their field, but also
for them to have the opportunity to work on their overall interpersonal and
communication skills as well. These abilities are constantly developing and are extremely
important. A person can be average in their field, but an excellent communicator with
fantastic people skills is an asset to any company.

 Sales professionals must learn how to recognize what techniques and strategies are not
yielding the returns they had hoped for. Ensure that there is some sort of review process
in place so that you can pinpoint for yourself strategies and tools that are not effective.