Personal Selling & Direct Marketing

Personal Selling Personal presentation by the firm’s sales force for the purpose of making sales and building customer relationships.

The Role of the Sales Force The critical link between a company and its customers. Salespeople: represent the company to the customers. represent the customers to the company. strive to achieve customer satisfaction and company profit simultaneously.

Sale Force Organization Territorial Sales force organized by geographic area Product Salespeople assigned to sell only certain product lines Customer Sales force organized by customer or industry Complex Combination of several types of structures

Team Selling Used to service large, complex corporate accounts Main advantages: Can find problems, solutions, and sales opportunities that no single salesperson could Cross-functional expertise Goes beyond simple selling of product More about finding customer solutions to complex issues Used primarily by “deep-pocket” companies Also called “Consultative Selling”

Major Steps in the Selling Process

The Personal Selling Process Prospecting Identifying qualified potential customers (prospecting) Pre-approach Learning as much as possible about a prospect before making the sales call Approach Meeting the customer for the first time Presentation Telling the “product story” to the buyer

The Personal Selling Process Handling Objections Eliciting, clarifying and overcoming customer objections to buying Closing Asking the customer for an order Follow-up Following up after the sale to ensure customer satisfaction & repeat business Transaction orientation vs. relationship orientation

Personal Selling - Movie

Direct Marketing Definition One-on-one communication in which offers are tailored to the needs of narrowly defined segments. Seeks a direct, immediate, and measurable consumer response. Can take many different forms.

Forms of Direct Marketing

Advantages of Direct Marketing Powerful tool for building customer long-term customer relationships Enables “true micromarketing” efforts Can reach prospects at just the right moment Provides access to buyers unreachable through other channels Minimizes “wasted reach” Effectiveness is easily measured

Customer Databases An organized collection of comprehensive data about individual customers or prospects, including geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral data.

Telemarketing Used in both consumer and B2B markets Outbound or Inbound Inbound consumer telemarketing and outbound business-to-business telemarketing remain strong despite DNC legislations

Telemarketing – the end of an industry? Do-Not-Call legislation forbids most telemarketers to contact phone numbers registered on its Web site $11,000+ fine per DNC violation DNC legislation effectively prohibits cell phones telemarketing (cannot call cellphones using auto-dialers)

Direct-Mail Marketing Involves sending a marketing offer to a pre-qualified prospect’s address Addresses obtained from customer lists List sources Companies develop their own databases (i.e. Williams Sonoma) Buy a list from a list broker Internet accounts and warranty or product registrations Higher cost per prospect reached, but yields higher quality prospects than mass media Easy to measure results The “junk-mail” problem

Catalog Marketing Originally a way to reach rural and “off-the-beaten-path” prospects. Nowadays most paper catalogs have gone digital (i.e. online) Expected catalog sales in 2008: $200 billion. Advantages and disadvantages Paper vs. Online

Direct Response TV Marketing Direct-Response Advertising: TV spots that are 60 or 120 seconds long. Infomercials: A 30-minute or longer advertising program for a single product. Home Shopping Channels: Entire cable channels dedicated to selling multiple brands, items, and services. Copyright 2007, Prentice-Hall Inc.

Copyright 2007, Prentice-Hall Inc. Direct Response TV HSN – The Home Shopping Network – is a direct response marketer’s dream. Products shown on the channel can be ordered via a 1-800 number or over the Internet from the HSN Web site. www.hsn.com Copyright 2007, Prentice-Hall Inc.

Kiosk Marketing Ordering machines generally found in stores, airports, and other locations

Question du Jour Why haven’t kiosk marketing and vending machines taken off in the United States?