UNIT TWO

PERSONAL SELLING MARKET

STRATEGY
 2.1 Introduction to personal selling
• Personal selling means personal communication between
buyer and seller or through the representative of seller.
• Personal selling - is oral communication with potential
buyers of a product with the intention of making a sale
• Personal selling is where businesses use people (the “sales
force”) to sell the product after meeting face-to-face with
the customer.
• The sellers promote the product through their attitude,
appearance and specialist product knowledge.
• In personal selling, any misunderstanding or any doubts will
be clarified by the sales person.
• Personal selling is a direct method of selling the product.

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Saxe and Weitz has identified SIX customer
orientated selling as:
1. The desire to help customers make satisfactory
purchase decisions.
2. Helping customers assess their needs.
3. Offering products that will satisfy those needs.
4. Describing products accurately.
5. Avoiding deceptive or manipulative influence
tactics.
6. Avoiding the use of high pressure sales techniques.

Personal selling is concerned with individuals come in as

contact. The purpose of advertising is to influence and
appeal groups of persons where as sales man talks to person
before him.
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Definition of Personal Selling
 According to American Marketing Association has defined
as “ The oral presentation in a conversation with one or more
prospective purchasers for the purpose of making sales”.

 William .J. Stanton “Personal selling consists in individual

personal communication in contrast with the mass relatively
impersonal communication like advertising, sales promotion
and other tools”.

Richard Buskirk “Personal selling consists of contacting

prospective buyers of the product personally”.

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 Characteristics of personal selling

1. Seller and buyer come in direct contact with one another.

2. It involves conversation between seller and prospective
buyer regarding quality, price, use, characters of the
product.
3. Seller wants to convince the buyers about the goods and
services which he wants to sell.
4. It involves the sale of goods and services personally.
5. It is the most effective tool of increasing sales.
6. It helps in providing important information to the
enterprise regarding market.
7. It is the best means of two-way communication
continuously between the enterprise and its customers.

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 2.2 Qualities SALESPERSON ENGAGED IN
PERSONAL SELLING
• It is very difficult to enlist the qualities of people
engaged in personal selling.
• The quality will vary from time to time and from
situation to situation.
• It also depends upon the customers’ demand and
nature of the product.
• Again a salesman may be effective in one situation but
may fail in another situation.
• So in real life certain qualities may be suitable for a
particular line of product and may be irrelevant in any
other case.
• However, there are certain common qualities, which
every salesman should possess in order to become
successful in their life.
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 • Physical quality: A salesman should have a good
appearance and an impressive personality. He/She
should also have a sound health.

• Mental quality: A good salesman should posses

certain mental qualities like imagination, initiative, self-
confidence, sharp memory, alertness etc. He should be
able to understand the needs and preferences of
customers.

• Integrity of character: A good salesman should posses

the qualities of honesty and integrity. He is to gain the
confidence of the customers. He should be able to
understand their needs and guide them how to satisfy
those needs. His employer too should have faith in him.
A salesman should be loyal both to the employer and
to the customers.
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 • Knowledge of the product : A salesman should have full knowledge of
the product he is selling. He should be able to explain each and every
aspect of the product i.e. its qualities, how to use it, what precautions
to be taken, etc.

• Knowledge of the company: A salesman should have full knowledge of

the company he is representing. He should be able to explain the
business and service record of the company. He should also have
knowledge of products of rival companies. So that he can put across
the superiority of his own products.

• Good behavior: A salesman should be co-operative and polite. Good

behavior enables one to win the confidence of the customers. He
should not feel irritated if the buyer puts up many questions even if the
questions are irrelevant. It is also not necessary that the person he is
trying to convince buys the product. The salesman has to remain and
courteous in every case.

• Ability to persuade: A good salesman should be good in conversation

so that he can engage the person he is attending in conversation. He
should be able to convince him and create the desire in his mind to
posses the commodity.

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 PERSONAL SELLING PROCESS
• The personal selling process consists of creating new
customers and maintaining existing customers.
• Salespeople follow a series of steps in identifying prospects
and turning them into customers. This is called personal
selling process
1.Pre-sales preparation: In this process, salesman identifies
the market segment, customer’s wants and needs. He must
know the product details, and limitations, competition and
price. This is a sort of customer research.
2.Prospecting: - Potential buyers are prospects.
• Finding and identifying them or the process of locating
potential customers is called prospecting.
• Prospects may come as referrals from existing customers,
from suppliers, dealers, etc. Sometimes they come from
analysis of public sources such as directories, newspapers,
or public activities of the firm.
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 Prospecting

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• Once prospects have been identified, they need to be
qualified or screened to see if they are good prospects.
Qualifying is identifying good customers and
screening out poor ones by looking at:
 Financial ability
 Volume of business
 Needs
 Location
 Growth potential
Identifying the right prospects assist the
salesman’s efficiency in the sales vey much.
3.Pre-approach:- This is the efforts in finding
needs, problems, preference, alternatives,
interest, weakness if any, of prospect.
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 Pre-approach
This includes all the activities a sales representative
would perform before actually meeting the prospect.
These activities may include the following:-
• Knowing the details about the product/ service which
is to be sold
• Knowing about the company which the product/
service represents
• Knowing the details of the prospect like name, family
background, income status, employment, credit history
etc
• Knowing the right place and time to meet the customer
• Knowing the right approach in getting an appointment
with the prospect
• Identifying which products/ services are to be
presented to the prospect and keeping sufficient
manuals/ technical documents
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4. Approach:- After identifying the prospect and
gathering necessary information, it is time to interact.
• It is said that the first impression would last longer and
is critical for any future meetings.
• The aim of the sales representative should be in gaining
attention of the customer and stimulate his interest in
the product/ service.
• Each prospect is unique. Here separate/unique strategy
(approach) is planned for each prospect based on
knowledge gained in pre-approach stage. Types of
approaches are
Preference approach: - getting reference/ introduction by known friend
of buyer.
Benefit Approach: - This indicates sharing benefit of product.
Sample approach: - By giving sample to influence prospect.
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Mutual approach: - Here prospect is considered supreme.
The task of a sales representative in this
stage can be summed up as following:-
• Gaining prospect attention
• Interest creation in the product/ service
• Gathering more information about the
prospect
• Successful transition to the presentation
stage
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5. Sales presentation:-There are certain modern
approaches like
• AIDAS theories are influencing the prospects and in
addition to that the following other approaches are
also there.
• Canned approach (Window shopping):-Memorized
sales talk convincing the buyer. This is also known as
stimuli-reaction approach.
• Formulated approach: - Identify buyers need and style
and meet both.
• Need satisfaction:- Here the salesman holds
discussion and debate with buyer and convinces him.
Buyers want solutions, and salespeople should listen and
respond with the right products and services to solve
customer problems

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 While much goes into planning and delivering sales presentations,
14 core principles for presentation success stand out.
Successful salespeople
• Are prepared.
• Believe what they have to say is important.
• Know their call’s purpose and make sure it fits the buyer’s reality.
• Identify the fundamental message and associated key points.
• Know their audience and speak only to issues of concern for
them.
• Summarize at the start of the presentation.
• Throughout the presentation, continually reinforce ideas and key
points.
• Pay close attention to details when making presentations.
• Test presentations by performing dry runs.
• Make their presentation a performance.
• Remain flexible, being able to adjust the presentation as it
evolves.
• Remain ready for questions.
• Keep their perspective and enjoy the presentation.
• Always remember that they are selling, not conversing.

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 6. Handling objections:
Handling sales objections is as important as making a good
presentation for the prospect. Objection handling is about
handling the objections of the prospect when he/she refuses the
product/ service stating a reason. The prospect may refuse, due
to some of the following reasons:-
• The product/ service which is offered is more expensive than
other similar products in the industry.
• Prospect may not interested in particular feature of the product/
service.
• Prospect may not have fully understood the benefits.
• Prospect might not be interested in making a decision in buying
a product in the first meeting itself.
• Prospect might be willing to test you or need more information
on the product/ service to be satisfied

• It is the job of the sales representative to know the exact reason

for the objection and handle it carefully.
• “Prevention is better than cure”, it makes sense in this context as
it is better to handle the presentation well, before discussions
lead to the above mentioned objections by the prospect.
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7. Closing: - He should look for the right moment to
clinch the deal. This is called closing. Proper
gestures/ gesticulation or body language must be
read carefully. Unnecessary prolonging presentation
may be counter productive.
 Sales representative can know the right time by observing
the prospect carefully and looking for some buying signals
from prospect such as:-
• Positive statements about the product/ service
• Enquiry about other customers who are using the product/
service
• Willingness to test the product/ service
• Discussion with finance team about the product
• Enquiry about the warrant period, price, installation time,
after sale service etc
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• Playing with the company order form and a pen
• Enquiry about the discount rates
• Enquiry about the terms, mode of payment
and any installments provided.
• Enquiry about any loan facility is available
with the product
8.Follow up: - Begins when prospect signs
order. He dispatches the item, arranges
delivery, arranges grant of credit, assures
about his wisdom of buying and ensures after
sales service.
• Proper follow up assists second purchase
and recommendation to friends
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 precautions that sales persons should
know during personal selling
Buyers dislike salespeople that are:
• Pushy
• Late
• Deceitful
• Disorganized/Unprepared
Buyers appreciate salespeople that are:
• Good listeners
• Empathetic
• Honest
• Dependable
• Thorough
• Follow-up types 16-42
 Tips

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 2.4 Direct Marketing
• Self reading ?

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 !! !
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