This is a promotional tool. It is the oldest and a very lucrative and effective tool of promotion. Here the foot soldiers have the responsibility of promoting the product.
Personal Selling
This is a promotional tool. It is
the oldest and a very lucrative and effective tool of promotion. Here the foot
soldiers have the responsibility of promoting the product. Sales people form
the very important part of a marketing group. According to ‘AMA’ :
Personal selling is oral
presentation to a buyer for the purpose of making sales’.
Basically, it is an art to
persuade the customer to buy the product. A sales person should have the
persuasive power. In addition a good sales person must have a detailed
knowledge about four things :
1.Company
2.Competitors
3.Consumer
4 .
Product
A
sales person should have positive
attitude. Personal selling involves personal confrontation, i.e., presentation
should be lively. We can make changes according to the feed back and therefore
it is a bit flexible tool as compared to advertisement.
In personal selling, some kind of
a lasting and social relationship develops. This personal touch can only come
in personal selling. Another advantage in the personal selling is that it can
be used for consumer as well as for industrial goods.
When
Personal selling is required
1. When the
product requires some kind of demonstration. 2. When the
market under consideration is comparatively smaller. 3. For the
specific needs of the customer, i.e., in case industrial goods. 4.
For selling a service, e.g., five
star hotels, banking etc., sales people have got an edge. 5. When you
have got an edge.
6. When you
have got big orders. 7. When
confidence is to be built up in the minds of customers. Objectives of Personal Selling
Personal selling has been defined
as the oral presentation to prospective customers of one’s goods and services
for the purpose of ultimately making a sale. All selling processes contain the
same basic steps, though the detail of each step and time required to complete
it, will vary according to the product that is being sold. For example, a door –to
– door sales representative may go through all the steps from prospecting to
closing of sale in a matter of ten to fifteen minutes ; in contrast, the
selling process for computer or electronic typewriter may take several visits,
even years, for getting an order. The selling process is shown below :
Source : Sales Management Concepts, Practices and
Cases by Eugene M. Johnson, David L. Kurtz, Eberhard. E. Scheuing, McGrow- Hill
Book Company.
Objectives of personal selling
can be briefly stated as sales, profits and growth for the organization in a
continuum in order to ensure its survival. The following objectives are
achieved through personal selling : 1.
To carry out the complete selling
job when some elements of the promotion mix are missing. 2. To serve
the existing customers efficiently and effectively. 3. To look
for new perspective customers for new / more orders. 4.
To encourage the existing
customers for their co-operation in the promotion of the various products of
the company.
5.
To keep the consumers informed
time after time about the various changes in aspects of the marketing strategy
and the product line of the company.
6. To provide complete assistance to the customers for selling the product
line.
7.
To provide proper assistance and
advice to the customers regarding certain complicated products and the products
for specific uses. 8.
To assist and advise regarding
the training programmes for the sales personnel of the middlemen / dealers.
9. To help
the dealers in their management and related problems. 10. To
collect recent information regarding the market and report this to the company ( Information of company’s use) The quantitative objectives are
assigned for a short term and they keep on changing depending upon the market
situation from time to time. They are : 1. To retain
the existing market share and try for increasing it. 2.
To increase the sales volume and
hence the profits. It also includes the striking of a proper balance between
the different elements of the marketing mix of the different products of the
company.
3.
To make attempts to open new
accounts and maintain the existing ones properly, effective and efficiency.
4.
To exercise expense management
and to keep the expenses within limits.
5. To
achieve the targets and try to exceed them.
Tags : MARKETING MANAGEMENT - PROMOTION DECISION
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