Selling

and
Salespeople

Chapter 1
Important Questions about
Selling
What is selling?
Why should you learn about selling even
if you do not plan to be a salesperson?
What is the role of personal selling in a
firm?
What are the different types of sales
people?
What are the rewards of a selling
career?

2
Relationship building is
definitely the key to business-
to-business selling.
~Jeffrey P. Lynn
 Selling
The exchange of products for an
agreed sum of money
Part of the process by which
organisations persuade customers to
purchase their goods and services
Selling is the process of helping
someone discover something of value

4
 Sales people
Nowadays buying the cheapest is not
important to many companies, they
prefer to develop relationships to be able
to do business on ethical grounds. Sales
people play a pivotal role here.
Sales people identify opportunities to
create value and organise resources of
their company that the company can
exploit.
5
 Why Learn About Personal
Selling?
Time to knock at the door gone
The principles of selling are useful to everyone, not
just people with the title of salesperson.
Sales means more to give potential solutions to the
customers rather than beat the drum of what the
company sells
Internet and other latest technologies involved in
selling and all the possible resources of the company
(support people etc)

6
 Why Learn About Personal

Selling?
Selling is a team activity
Rules of Selling are to be followed by all
Very much similar to convincing as we do in our daily
lives (with the parents, teachers, employers and
friends)
The term Selling was not taken to be a good one,
while now every one tries to engage directly/indirectly
business development personnel to flourish.
Developing mutually beneficial, long-term
relationships is vital to all of us.
People in business use selling principles all the time.

7
echnologies used by Sales Force

8
 Personal Selling
Personal selling is oral communication
with potential buyers of a product with
the intention of making a sale. The
personal selling may focus initially on
developing a relationship with the
potential buyer, but will always ultimately
end with an attempt to "close the sale"
Personal selling is a
person-to-person
business activity in
which a salesperson
uncovers and satisfies
the needs of a buyer to
the mutual, long-term
benefit of both parties.
 PERSONAL SELLING
Definition
Seeking out people who have a
particular need.
Assisting them to recognize the
existence of needs they have that could
be met through your offering.
Demonstrating how your offering fills
that need.
Persuading qualified prospects that
your product will fill their needs.
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Objectives of Personal Selling
Building Product Awareness
Creating Interest
Providing Information
Stimulating Demand
Reinforcing the Brand

11
 Personal Selling Process
Prospecting
Making first contact
The sales call
Objection handling
Closing the sale to flourish

12
 Comparison to other
marketing communications
tools
Use fewer resources
Products tend to be fairly complex (e.g.
financial services or new cars).
There is some contact between buyer and
seller after the sale so that an ongoing
relationship is built.
Client/prospects need specific information.
The purchase tends to involve large sums
of money.
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 Advantages of using
personal
Personal selling selling
is a face-to-face activity; customers
therefore obtain a relatively high degree of personal
attention
The sales message can be customised to meet the
needs of the customer
The two-way nature of the sales process allows the
sales team to respond directly and promptly to
customer questions and concerns
Personal selling is a good way of getting across large
amounts of technical or complex product information
The face-to-face sales meeting gives the sales force
chance to demonstrate the product
Frequent meetings between sales force and customer
provide an opportunity to build good long-term
relationships

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 Main disadvantages of
using personal selling
The cost of employing a sales force. Sales
people are expensive. In addition to the
basic pay package, a business needs to
provide incentives to achieve sales
A sales person can only call on one
customer at a time. This is not a cost-
effective way of reaching a large
audience.

15
 Selling and Marketing
Marketing cycle is completed once the
feedback is received and salespeople play
an important role in bring the feedback
Efforts of the company to provide
solutions to the people could be
accomplished through sales people only
People are informed about the services
and products of a company through the
sales people only

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Communication Methods
 Strengths and Weaknesses of
Communication Methods
Communication Credibilit
Control Flexibility Cost
Method y
Personal selling M to H H L H
Internet website H M to H L M to H
Mass media
H L L M
advertising
Publicity L L H L to M
Word of Mouth L L H L

M = Moderate, H = High, L = Low

18
 Integrated Marketing
Communications
Many companies use a combination of
various communication techniques to
be able to communicate better and
balance out the pros and cons of each
communication technique

19
 Sales people and Marketing
Mix
Sales people are eyes and ears of a
company in the marketplace
Learning organisations acquire
information from the sales people
about environment and make
organisational decisions based on them

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 Types of Organisational
Learning

Adaptive Learning
To develop knowledge to do present
activities better
Generative Learning
To go beyond the present products,
markets, policies and procedures to
develop new insights
Sales people contribute to both by
providing in critical information to the
firms strategic system
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Main Roles of the Sales Force
Prospecting
Communicating
Selling
Servicing
Information gathering
Allocating

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 Contribution from Sales
people
Strategy development
New product development
Pricing
Channel management

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 Qualities of High Sales
Performers
Sell to people
Know when to close
Exchange Information
Regularly establish trust
Engage in certain behaviors
Provide value added to the customer
Be perceived as a genuine advocates of
prospects needs

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 Salespeople are made not
born
They are made with Concentrated
attention
repeated practice goal oriented direction
The skills required to be a successful
salesperson can be learned.
Become a student of your profession
Learn throughout your career
Innate characteristics such as personality
traits, gender, and height are largely
unrelated to sales performance.
Companies spend billions of dollars each
year on training.

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 THE SALES EDGE -
EVERYBODY SELLS
Human relation skills are basic selling
skills.
Skills are learned and practiced from
birth.
Everyone has a base upon which to
build their selling abilities.

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 Activities of Salespeople
Selling
Servicing Customer
Reporting

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 Selling
Prospecting for new customers
Increasing sales to existing customers
Making sales presentations
Demonstrating products
Negotiating prices and delivery terms
Writing orders
and many more

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 Servicing Customer
To work with employees of other
departments to make sure that the
customers get full benefit of what they
have bought
Coordinate during meetings to resolve
the problems of the customers

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 Reporting
Time and money spent
Future schedules
Activities of competitors
Business conditions
Unsatisfied needs of the customers

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What do Salespeople
do?
Client relationship
manager
Account team manager
Vendor and channel
manager
Information provider
to their firm
How Salespeople Spend
Their Time
Each Week
 Types of salespeople
Selling products to the customers over
the counter
Selling products to the customers in
the showrooms
Selling parts to producers to make the
products
Selling material to the producers to
make parts
this chain could be very long..

33
 Selling and Distribution
Channels
Business to
business A distribution
channel is a set of
Direct sales people and
Sales through organizations
distributors responsible for the
flow of products
Business to and services from the
customer producer to the
ultimate user.
Direct sales
Sales through
Retailers
Sales through
Retailers and
distributors
Selling and Distribution
Channels
Business-to-business channels
Selling and Distribution
Channels (continued)
Consumer channels

1-36
 CLASSIFICATION OF
SALES JOBS

Trade selling

Missionary selling

Technical selling
 Trade selling

Taking orders and field service.

Largely involves delivering orders and
replenishing inventory.
Expected to persuade customers to
provide additional shelf space or more
favorable placement of stock.
Opportunity to increase sales comes most
often through assisting the customer to
move a larger volume of inventory.
Often actually set up product displays in
retail stores
 Missionary selling
Educate those who ultimately decide
what product will be used by the
consumer.
Often does not see immediate results
from their efforts in the way of
products sold.
Still accountable for sales.
 Technical selling
Salespeople must also be competent in
some technical specialty related to the
products being sold.
Usually called in by another
salesperson who has already contacted
the prospect and stimulated some
interest.
Often conducted by a sales team.
Still need real sales skills because their
role is more than just explaining the
technical aspects of the product.
The Sales Job Continuum
 The Customer is at the
Center of the Sales System

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 Major Reasons For
Choosing A Sales Career

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PERSONAL SELLING
Definition

45
A Sales Personnel Career
Path

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 Rewards in Selling

Independence and responsibility

Financial rewards
Management opportunities
Variety and Independence
No set routine
Each sales situation has a unique character
The variety of prospects and their needs.
Professional salespeople are never
unemployed.
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 Average Annual
Compensation for
Salespeople and Managers

Source: 2004 Salary Survey, Sales & Marketing Management, May 2004, p. 29.
 Success of Selling
S

S U

Ssuccess
S S C

E C
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 Opportunity for
Advancement
Advancement in Direct Selling
Entrepreneurship
Promotion to Sales Management
Involvement in Sales Training
Moving Into Top Management

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DISADVANTAGES OF A
SALES CAREER

Variable income
Long hours
Travel
 Characteristics of
Successful Salespeople
Motivation Enthusiasm
Dependability and
trustworthiness
Sincerity
Ethical sales behaviour Goal Direction
Customer and product Resourcefulness
Resourcefulnes
knowledge
Pleasant
Communication skills
Personality
Flexibility
Initiative
Administrative Ability
Ability to Ask
Emotional intelligence
Questions
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 Other characteristics
Willing to do what it takes to attain
goals.
Ability to find satisfaction in contributing
to achievement of the goals set by their
company.
Enjoy serving the needs of others.
Able to stay focused on daily activities.
Strong positive self image
High ethical standards
Sensitivity to the needs of others.
Able to win the trust of others
 Personal Characteristics
Needed to Sell for Building
Long-term Relationships

54
 The Building
Partnerships Model
 Summary
You should study personal selling because
we all use selling techniques.
Salespeople play a vital role in business
activities.
Salespeople engage in a wide range of
activities.
The specific duties and responsibilities of
salespeople depend on the type of selling
position.
Research on the characteristics of effective
salespeople indicates that many different
personality types can be successful in sales.
End of Chapter 1
Thank you