1. Personal Selling, Sales Management, and Direct Marketing

2. Chapter Objectives
Understand the important role of personal selling within the context of the promotion mix
List the steps in the personal selling process
Explain the role of the sales manager
Understand direct marketing

3. Real People, Real Choices
IBM (Esther Ferre)
IBM must prioritize investment of resources to achieve revenue and profit targets.
Option 1: reduce sales and support resources for a specific customer or business segment.
Option 2: maintain current level
of resources.
Option 3: evaluate lower-cost
ways to provide sales and
support resources.

4. Personal Selling
Occurs when a company representative interacts directly with a (prospective) customer to communicate about a good or service
“Personal touch” is more
effective than mass-media
appeal.
Selling/sales management
jobs provide high mobility,
especially for college grads
with marketing background.

5. The Role of Personal Selling
Personal selling is more important:
--when firm uses push strategy.
--in B2B contexts.
--with inexperienced consumers who need hands-on assistance.
--for products bought infrequently (houses, cars, computers).
Cost per contact is very high.

6. Technology and Personal Selling
Customer relationship management (CRM) software and partner relationship management (PRM)
Teleconferencing, videoconferencing, and improved corporate Web sites
Voice-over Internet protocol
Assorted wireless technologies
SALESFORCE.COM

7. Types of Sales Jobs Order taker Technical specialist
Missionary salesperson (stimulate clients to buy)
New-business salesperson and order getter
Team selling and cross-functional team

8. Approaches to Personal Selling
Transactional selling: Putting on the hard sell
High-pressure process that focuses on making an immediate sale with no concern for developing long-term customer relationship

9. Discussion
Professional selling has evolved from hard-sell to relationship selling.
--Is hard-sell still used? If so, in what types of organizations?
--Can hard-sell still succeed –is transactional
selling still appropriate?
--If so, when?

10. Approaches to Personal Selling (cont’d)
Relationship selling
Process of building long-term customers by developing mutually satisfying, win-win relationships with customers

11. Figure 14.1: Steps in the Creative Selling Process

12. The Creative Selling Process
Step 1: Prospecting and qualifying
--Prospecting: developing a list of potential customers
--Qualifying: determining how likely potential customers are to become customers
LINKEDIN.COM

13. The Creative Selling Process (cont’d)
Step 2: Preapproach
Compiling background information about prospective customers and planning the sales interview
--Purchase history, current needs, customer’s interests
--From informal sources, CRM system, customers’ Web sites, and/or business publications

14. The Creative Selling Process (cont’d)
Step 3: Approach
Contacting the prospect
Learning even more about prospect’s needs, create a good impression, and build rapport
--“You never get a second
chance to make a good
first impression.”

15. The Creative Selling Process (cont’d)
Step 4: Sales presentation
Laying out benefits and added value of product/firm and its advantages over the competition
Inviting customer involvement in conversation

16. Group Activity
Your group are field salespeople for a firm that markets university textbooks.
As part of your training, your sales manager asks you to outline what you’ll say in a typical sales presentation.
--Write that outline.

17. Step 5: Handling Objections
Anticipating why prospect is reluctant to make a commitment
Welcoming objections
Handling objections successfully to move prospect to decision stage

18. Step 6: Closing the Sale
Gaining the customer’s commitment in the decision stage
--Last-objection close
--Assumptive or minor-points close
--Standing-room-only or buy-now close

19. Step 7: Follow-Up Arranging for delivery, payment, and purchase terms
Making sure customer received delivery and is satisfied
Bridging to next purchase

20. Individual Activity
What are the pros and cons of personal selling as a career choice for you?
--List them in two columns, and be as specific as you can in explaining each.

21. Figure 14.2: The Sales Force Management Process

22. Sales Management Setting sales force objectives
What sales force is expected to accomplish and when
Customer satisfaction, loyalty, retention/turnover, new-customer development, new-product suggestions, training, reporting on competitive activity, community involvement

23. Creating a Sales Force Strategy
Establishing structure and size of a firm’s sales force
Sales territory: a set group of customers
Geographic sales force structure
Product-class sales territories
Industry specialization and
key/major accounts

24. Recruiting, Training, and Rewarding the Sales Force
Recruiting the right people
Good listening and follow-up skills
Ability to adapt style from situation to situation
Tenacity
High level of personal organization
Sales training: teaches salespeople about firm, its products, how to develop skills, knowledge, and attitudes to succeed

25. Discussion
Will sales training and development needs vary based on how long salespeople have been in the business? Why or why not?
Is it possible (and feasible) to offer different training programs for salespeople at different career stages? Why or why not?

26. Recruiting, Training, and Rewarding the Sales Force (cont’d)
Paying salespeople well to motivate them
Straight commission plan
Commission-with-draw plan
Straight salary plan
Running sales contests for short-term sales boost
Call reports: which customers were called on and how call went

27. Discussion
Based on the compensation figures in the chapter, do you think professional salespeople are appropriately paid? Why or why not?
What do salespeople do that warrants the compensation indicated?

28. Discussion
What is a sales manager’s best approach for determining the appropriate rewards program?
What issues are important in developing the program?

29. Evaluating the Sales Force
Is sales force meeting its objectives?
What are possible causes of failure?
Measuring individual salesperson performance
Monitoring salesperson’s expense account for travel and entertainment

30. Direct Marketing
Any direct communication to a consumer or business recipient designed to generate a response in the form of an order, a request for further information, and/or a visit to a store or other place of business for purchase of a product
DIRECT MARKETING
ASSOCIATION

31. Direct Marketing (cont’d)
Mail order
Catalogs: collection of products offered for sale and described in book form, usually consisting of product descriptions and photos
Direct mail: a brochure/pamphlet offering a specific good/service at one point in time

32. Discussion
Some experts think consumer catalog shopping has increased because of poor service in retail stores.
Evaluate the quality of most retail salespeople you meet.
How can retailers can improve the quality of their sales associates?
LANDSEND.COM

33. Direct Marketing (cont’d)
Telemarketing: direct marketing conducted over the telephone
More profitable for business than consumer markets
In 2003, FTC established National Do Not Call registry
FEDERAL DO NOT CALL REGISTRY

34. Direct Marketing (cont’d)
Direct-response advertising: allows consumer to respond by contacting the provider with questions or an order
Direct-response TV (DRTV): short commercials, 30-minute-plus infomercials, and home shopping networks

35. Direct Marketing (cont’d)
M-Commerce: promotional and other e-commerce activities transmitted over mobile phones/devices
Short-messaging system marketing (SMS)
Spim: instant-messaging version of spam
Adware: software that tracks Web habits/interests, presenting pop-up ads and resetting home page

36. Discussion
M-commerce allows marketers to pinpoint where consumers are and send them messages about a local store.
--Do you think consumers will respond positively to m-commerce?
--What benefits do you think it offers them?

37. Real People, Real Choices
IBM (Esther Ferre)
Esther chose option 3: evaluate lower-cost ways to provide sales and support resources.
Minimized impact to customer and improved cost structure of sales team.
Maintained customer satisfaction with lower cost.
Resulted in increased revenue over time.
IBM.COM

38. Marketing Plan Exercise
In developing her marketing plan, Esther Ferre at IBM must use marketing communication mix elements (1) in an integrated way that (2) best invests her promotional dollars.
--Should personal selling be a high priority in Esther’s marketing plan? Why or why not?
--Is there a role for direct marketing in her plan? If so, what is it?

39. Marketing in Action Case: You Make the Call
What is the decision facing Eli Lilly?
What factors are important in understanding this decision situation?
What are the alternatives?
What decision(s) do you recommend?
What are some ways to implement your recommendation?

40. Keeping It Real: Fast-Forward to Next Class, Decision Time at Darden Restaurants
Meet Jim Lawrence, Vice President, Supply Management & Purchasing.
Volatility in the supply chain threatened food supplies to restaurants.
The decision: A new model for supply chain management?