1. Performance Indicator 4.07
4.07 Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope

2. 5-21 5-22 Selling Vocabulary Define the term selling.
To persuade (another) to recognize the worth or desirability of something
Selling is responding to consumer needs and wants through planned, personalized communication in order to influence purchase decisions and ensure satisfaction.
Because selling is planned and personalized, it goes beyond mere order-taking or customer service.
4.07 Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope

3. Selling Identify individuals, groups, or agencies that sell.
Every business organization sells.
Retailers, real estate agents, B-2-B, wholesalers, etc.
Explain reasons that customers buy goods and services.
To satisfy a want or need for themselves or someone they know
Identify types of items that are sold.
Both tangible and intangible products are sold.
Cars, homes, food, clothes, furnishings, pets, land, raw materials, ideas, dry cleaning, haircuts, airline flights, etc.
4.07 Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope

4. Selling Explain where selling occurs. Describe how products are sold.
Selling happens anywhere person-to-person contact is made.
Retail stores, business showrooms, in offices, outside, over the phone or internet, etc.
Describe how products are sold.
Customer agreeing to the terms of the sale.
Direct and Indirect channels
Describe the role of selling in a market economy.
Critical part of keeping the economy flowing, sales must occur for money and items to change ownership
Promotes competition, affects employment, adds utility, helps customers determine needs, and creates desire for products.
4.07 Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope

5. Selling
Explain personal characteristics of salespeople that are essential to selling.
Enthusiastic and self-motivated
Honest
Well educated in selling techniques and the products being sold
Effective communication skills
Effective emotional intelligence
Solid computer and technical skills
Goal oriented
Empathetic
Persistent
4.07 Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope

6. Customer Service
Distinguish between customer service as a process and customer service as a function.
The process is a set of steps intended to provide satisfaction to the customer
Its function is to make the customer happy with his/her experience
Describe how businesses can use customer service (CS) to beat their competition.
Properly implemented, CS can provide a competitive advantage over competitors that aren’t as good at it.
Happier customers tend to come back to the store/product that made them happy.
4.07 Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope

7. Customer Service
Discuss factors that influence customer expectations of customer service.
Amount of money being charged for the product
Previous experience
With this product and store
With competitors and other purchases
Brand/store reputation
Explain how customer service facilitates sales relationships.
Follow-up can be as or more important than the original sale
Any mistakes that can be corrected immediately enhances the opinion of the customer toward your store and product.
4.07 Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope

8. Customer Service
Identify pre-sales opportunities for providing customer service that can facilitate sales relationships.
Train your staff, consistently build a well made product, offer warranties, build a reputation for excellence
Identify post-sales opportunities when customer service can be provided to facilitate sales relationships.
Deliver on all promises made to the customer
Favorable adjustment and return policies
Quality maintenance and repair services
Readily available credit
Clearly written instruction and users’ manuals
4.07 Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope

9. Customer Service
Discuss actions a salesperson can take to make the most of her/his customer service activities.
Know the product and how to sell
Know your customers
Observe, Listen, Engage and Question (By paying attention to customers)
Act ethically
By showing an interest in customers
By saying thank you
4.07 Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope

10. 5-158 5-159 How does a company benefit from building a clientele?
Increased sales volume
Loyal customers are repeat customers that provide the financial backbone for any business. Repeat business = increased sales.
4.07 Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope

11. How does a company benefit from building a clientele?
Reduced selling cost
To make a first sale a business spends considerable time and money to advertise, determine the customer needs and wants, and build a relationship. Once the relationship is established these costs can be reduced.
4.07 Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope

12. How does a company benefit from building a clientele?
Customer loyalty
Loyal customers are sometimes willing to stay with a company even if it is experiencing problems due to the good relationship previously established.
4.07 Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope

13. How does a company benefit from building a clientele?
Word-of-Mouth Advertising
The best type of advertising because people tend to believe their friends.
Loyal customers promote the business and attract new customers by sharing positive experiences with the business.
4.07 Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope

14. How does a company benefit from building a clientele?
Increased income and profit
All previous benefits contribute to this most important benefit.
Loyal customers encourage others to become customers resulting in higher profits to be reinvested in the business.
4.07 Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope

15. How do salespersons benefit from building a clientele?
Increased earnings
Loyal customers who give a salesperson all their business increase his/her earnings through commissions and bonuses.
Repeat sales
After building a relationship with a customer the salesperson is familiar with his/her needs and wants and can close a sale in less time. This allows the salesperson more time to prospect and grow his/her customer base.
4.07 Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope

16. How do salespersons benefit from building a clientele?
Referrals
Loyal customers provide salespeople with leads to new customers.
They are willing to do this because they are satisfied with the business.
Personal satisfaction
Selling the right product to the right customer is very rewarding because the customers appreciate the service and may develop long-standing professional relationships.
4.07 Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope

17. What are the costs incurred for failing to build a clientele?
Customer turnover will be high.
Time invested in finding customers and working with them will be lost.
Dissatisfied customers will tell others making it harder for the business to cultivate new customers.
The ultimate cost would be business failure.
4.07 Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope

18. Explain Business Ethics in Selling
Performance Indicator 4.07b

19. Explain the importance of business ethics in selling.
Ethics are the basic principles that govern behavior.
Ethics are NOT laws because they are not enforced by governmental statutes.
Ethics go beyond the law. (Think about illegal and immoral)
A high level of ethics will compel you to behave in a truthful and honest way.
People buy from people they trust.

20. The importance of business ethics in selling.
Ethics are highly valued because salespeople are the face of the company.
Customer’s evaluate the company’s ethical standards.
Salespeople should acknowledge that trust is the foundation of customer relationships.

21. What happens when there is a low level of selling ethics?
The business can experience legal issues.
Customers may become distrustful of the company and stop purchasing its products.
The company’s profits can decrease.
NOTE: The unethical behavior of just one salesperson can undermine the whole company! You need to know WHERE the line is drawn before you determine how close to the line you want to position yourself.

22. Illegal selling activities – Crossing the line!
Misrepresenting the truth (bold-faced lie)
Saying something unfair or untrue about another business or product.
Participating in bribery.
Neglecting to provide accurate information to the customers.
Unfairly competing within the marketplace such as: making price deals, requiring exclusive dealership, tying- in sales (making the purchase of another product mandatory), requiring reciprocity (doing business only with those who buy from you.)

23. Customer-oriented ethical issues in sales:
While working with customers salespersons must be cautious with:
Gift-giving: One of the most widely disputed issues. Bribe versus gift?
Entertaining: can be viewed as favoritism or bribery.
Answering questions - without really knowing the answers could lead to legal issues of misrepresentation.
Communicating product information – some salespeople are tempted to without negative product information OR exaggerate its performance.

24. Competitor-oriented ethical issues in sales:
Some salespeople are tempted to “do what it takes” to hurt their competitors.
Tampering with or hiding competitor’s products.
Belittling competitor’s products or questioning reliability.

25. Employer-oriented ethical issues in sales:
Questionable activities that employers might participate in are as follows:
Putting unreasonable pressure on salespeople like setting unrealistic sales quotas, etc.
Neglecting to pay commission due when a territory is split and distributed among other sales personnel.
Being a poor role model for ethical behavior.
Looking the other way when staff members behave unethically.

26. Coworker-oriented ethical issues in sales:
In employee-to-employee relationships, a salesperson might be tempted to behave in an overly competitive way by:
Manipulating sales contests for personal gain
Declaring sales totals completed for a previous month as completed at the beginning of the month.
Encouraging other coworkers to behave unethically.

27. YOUR personal code of ethics
Your ethical standard is your personal code of ethics.
Ethical sales behavior comes from this code.
What you do in ethical situations in your personal life determines what you’ll do in sales situations.
Your reputation will develop and you will be judged based on your decisions and actions.

28. Technology
Describe capabilities that the use of technology provides salespeople.
Accurate tracking of customers and sales
Details tracked and available (birthdays, last purchase date, etc.)
Increased productivity
Explain how technology impacts a salesperson’s planning skills.
Can set a calendar of activities in advance and have reminders pop-up
Important details can be tracked
4.07 Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope

29. Technology
Describe how technology can impact a salesperson’s targeting skills.
Can track successful sales and unsuccessful and figure out which types of customers are buying
Discuss how technology can impact a salesperson’s presentation skills.
Multiple ways to show the customer information (DVD’s, Prezi, PPT, sound, and combinations)
Explain how technology can impact a salesperson’s ability to adapt or tailor a sales presentation to a particular customer.
Prepackaged presentations for different customer types
4.07 Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope

30. Technology
Explain the use of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software in selling.
Tracks customer information and then reminds the salesperson of important dates and information
Stores more details than might be effectively stored on paper
Discuss the use of tablet PCs in selling.
Small and easy to carry
Wireless technology allows use throughout the store
4.07 Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope

31. Technology
Explain the use of web-based visits between customers and sales staff.
Asynchronous communication (don’t have to be on at the same time)
Questions can be answered from a distance
Product information can be posted and viewed anytime
Describe the use of the Internet in sales administration activities.
Easy contact information
Track the number of hits on a website
Follow-up
4.07 Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope

32. Sales Regulations
Identify reasons that sales activities are regulated.
Some variance between states
Customers can feel safe making a buying decision
Standardizes expectations
Describe unfair or deceptive sales practices that are regulated. Truth in advertising
Actual false statement in advertisements about a products quality, ingredients, or effectiveness
Fake testimonials and endorsements
Pictures of the wrong merchandise in ads trying to sell some other item that imply the picture is of the item being sold
4.07 Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope

33. Sales Regulations
Faked pictures of the product performing in a way that it cannot actually perform
Use of prices in ads that are not the real price of the merchandise described or pictured
Advertising sale items that are not actually available to convince people to visit the sellers store or business or sending flyers with some sale items and some sale items where the actual items that are on sale are not clearly identified.
"Bait and Switch" advertising
Deceptive statements of guarantees in advertisements
4.07 Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope

34. Sales Regulations
Explain state and federal regulations that affect sales activities.
The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) is a set of laws governing commercial transactions. The purpose of the UCC was to establish a uniform set of rules to govern commercial transactions, which are often conducted across state lines. The goal of the UCC law is to create a body of rules that would realistically and fairly solve the common problems occurring in everyday commercial transactions.
4.07 Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope

35. Sales Regulations A sales presentation is an invitation to negotiate.
Sales people are agents when they have the authority to make offers.
An offer happens when the agent (salesperson) quotes specific terms to the customer.
A sale is defined as the transfer of title to goods by the seller to the buyer for consideration which is price.
An order happens when the offer is put in writing and both parties agree. However, it does not always have to be in writing to be binding.
4.07 Acquire a foundational knowledge of selling to understand its nature and scope