Selling Concept

The tasks to be performed by the personal sales force need to be outlined. The selling process prospecting for customer leads, approaching customers, determining customer wants, giving a sales presentation, answering questions,closing the sale, and following up.  Figure 4 shows examples for each of these stages.

There are two basic techniques for selling: the canned sales presentation and the need-satisfaction approach. The canned sales presentation is a memorized, repetitive presentation given to all customers interested in a particular item.

A sales-expense budget allocates expenditures among salespeople. products, customers, and geographic areas for a given period of time. A budget is usually based on a sales forecast and relates selling tasks to the achievement of sales goals. It should have some flexibility in the event the forecasted sales level is not reached or is exceeded.

The development of a personal selling plan can be broken down into the seven steps shown in Figure 1. The steps are highlighted in the following subsections Personal selling objectives are demand or image oriented. Illustrations of each type of objective appear in Figure 2.

Personal selling has a number of positive and negatise atributes, On the positive side, personal selling provides individual attention for each consumer and is able to pass along a lot of information. There is a dynamic, rather than passive, interaction between buyer and seller. This enables the firm to apply the concept of a buyer-seller dyad. which is a two- way flow of communication between both parties. This is not possible with advertising. Personal selling approaches can be flexible and adapted to the needs of specific consumers. For example. a real estate broker would use a different sales presentation for a couple looking for their first home than for a couple looking for their second home. The salesperson can use as much persuasion as necessary and balance it against the need for information. There is less waste with most forms of selling than with advertising. Personal selling centers on a more defined and concentrated target market. In addition. customers who walk int...

Personal selling is stressed when orders are large, special handling is needed, a direct chanel is used, consumers are geographically concentraded,  items are expensive or new, or service is required.  Professional sales personnel generate account, emphasize knowledge, and offer service.  Clerical sales personnel answer inquiries, obtain goods, and complete transaction.

As defined , personal selling is that part of promotion involving an oral presentation in a conversation with one or more prospective buyers for the purpose of making a sale. Unlike advertising and publicity, selling relies on personal contact. The goals of personal selling are similar to other promotion types: information, persuasion, and/or reminding. Personal Selling utilizes pral presentations to prospective buyers for the purpose of making a sale.  In the United States, more than six million people are employed in the sales positions defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Included are professional sales personnel and clerical sales personnel, Salesworkers may be involved with complex selling arrangements or perform routine Task. Professional sales personel generate customer accounts, ascertain needs, interact with consumers, emphasize knowledge as well as persuasion, and provide substantial service. They usually dress in business attire and are well compensat...

After obtaining his MBA in 1977, Robert Taaffe joined the Xerox Corporation as a sales representative. He began by selling small copiers valuedal under $20.000 to doctors, lawyers. and shop owners. By 1980 Taaft had become a sales specialist for $100.000+ Xerox machines that could generate 25.000 to 500.000 copies each month. A typical sale would involve several months, joint sales presentations with other Xerox personnel, and a number of meetings with a customer’s executives.  An important part of  sales analysis was uncovering the customer’s decision process:  H’s a mistake to leave any stone unturned One thing  I‘m always trying to hang out is the decision-making process within a given company: who the key people arc. Ii often has nothing to do with a person’s  title,’In 19g0, three years after entering the Xerox sales force,  was earning between $40.000 and $50.000 One third was in salary and the remainder in commission.