Chapter 20: Presonal Selling and Sales Management

Nature of personal selling

• personal selling is the two-way flow of communication btwn a buyer and a seller, designed to influence the buyer’s purchase

• personal selling take place in variable situations:

  • F2F

  • Telelphone

  • Online meeting

Personal selling as a career

• sales jobs are numerous

• lot of flexibility & variety

• some are highly paid

• can be promoted to management very quickly

What industry has lots of sales jobs

retailing

Personal Selling Process

1. Generate and Qualify leads

2. Pre-approach

3. Sales presentation and overcoming reservations

4. Closing the sales

5. Follow-up

   1. personal selling process is a funnel process!

Generate leads

• generate a list of potential customers (leads) and assess their potential (qualify)

  • without leads, no sales. Try hard to generate leads!

• Outbound- salesperson initiates a contact

  • talking to current customers

  • networking online and offline

  • cold calls/emails

  • the internet

  • attend trade shows

• Inbound - potential buyer initiates as inquiry

Qualify leads

• after generating leads, qualify those leads. Is it worthwhile to pursue them to turn into customers?

• in b2b setting, (i) the costs of preparing and making a presentation are so substantial AND (ii) the success rate of closing the deal is low

Pre-approach

• a qualified lead requires a meeting. “You never get a second chance to make a first impression,” so salespeople must prepare carefully

• Things to do:

  • study customer’s business

  • defined how the customer can benefit from our products/services

  • examine how the customer is currently addressing the needs they are wishing to fulfill

  • set the objectives of the meeting

  • anticipate potential reservations and be prepared to deal with the reservations

  • practice sales presentation

Sales presentation

• During the first part of the meeting, salespersons need to get to know the customer, get the customer’s attention, and create interest in the presentation to follow

• don’t do all the talking. Ask good questions to find out the need and listen attentively

Closing the Sale

• obtain a commitment from the customer to make a purchase

• Often this is the most stressful part of the sales process

• a “no” one day may be the foundation for a ‘yes’ another day

Follow-up

• the sale is just the beginning of a customer relationship

• follow-up involves ensuring that customers are satisfied with their purchases

• handle the dissatisfaction or service failure/problem as soon as possible

Good salespeople

• friendly and sociable

• optimistic

• resilient

• self-motivated

• empathy (care about their customers, their issues and problems)