Chapter Thirteen
Communicating Customer Value: Personal Selling
Roadmap:
Previewing the Concepts
1. Discuss the role of a company’s
salespeople in creating value for customers and building customer relationships.
2. Identify and explain the six major sales force management steps.
3. Discuss the personal selling process,
distinguishing between transaction-oriented marketing and relationship marketing.
4. Define direct marketing and discuss its benefits to customers and companies.
Background
Nation’s largest reseller of technology products and services to small and mid-size businesses.
Since 2000, sales up 48% to $5.7 billion and profits up 15% annually. Highly devoted to
customer with “Circle of
CDW – Relationship Building
CDW – Relationship Building
Success
Success
Case Study
Case Study
Personal Selling’s Role
“Clicks & people” strategy combines personal selling with strong Web presence. Salespeople build and
manage relationships by being trusted advisors. Training is extensive as
The Nature of Personal Selling
Most salespeople are well-educated,
well-trained professionals who work to build and maintain long-term customer relationships.
The term salesperson covers a wide
range of positions:
– Order taker: Department store clerk
The Role of the Sales Force
Personal selling is a paid, personal form
of promotion.
– Involves two-way personal communication between salespeople and individual
customers.
Salespeople:
– Probe customers to learn about problems.
– Adjust marketing offers to fit special needs.
The Role of the Sales Force
Sales force serves as critical link
between company and its customers. – They represent the company to the
customers.
– They represent the customers to the
company.
Sales Force Management
The analysis, planning, implementation, and control of sales force activities.
Includes:
– Designing sales force strategy & structure – Recruiting and selecting salespeople
– Training salespeople
– Compensating salespeople – Supervising salespeople
Sale Force Structure
Territorial:
– Salesperson assigned to exclusive area and sells full line of products.
Product:
– Sales force sells only certain product lines.
Customer:
– Sales force organized by customer or industry.
Complex:
Outside & Inside Sales Forces
An outside sales force travels to call on customers in the field.
An inside sales force conducts business from their offices via telephone or visits from perspective buyers.
– Includes:
• Technical support people • Sales assistants
Team Selling
Used to service large, complex accounts. Can find problems, solutions, and sales
opportunities that no single person could.
Can include experts from different areas of
selling firm.
Pitfalls:
– Can confuse or overwhelm customers.
Successful Salespeople
Careful selection can greatly enhance
overall sales force performance while minimizing costly turnover.
Key talents of successful salespeople:
– Intrinsic motivation.
– Disciplined work style.
– Ability to close a sale.
Recruiting Salespeople
Searching the
Web
Recommendations
from current sales force
Employment
agencies
Sales Force Training Goals
Learn about different types of
customers and their needs, buying motives, and buying habits.
Learn how to make effective sales
presentations.
Learn about and identify with the
Compensating Salespeople
Fixed amount:
– Salary
Variable amount:
– Commissions or bonuses
Expenses:
– Repays for job-related expenditures
Fringe benefits:
Supervising Salespeople
Goal of supervision is to encourage
salespeople to “work smart.”
– Help them identify customers and set call norms.
– Specify time to be spent prospecting: • Annual call plan
• Time-and-duty analysis
Motivating Salespeople
Goal of motivating sales force is to
encourage salespeople to “work hard.” – Organizational climate.
– Sales quotas.
– Positive incentives:
• Sales meetings • Sales contests
• Recognition and honors
The Personal Selling Process
Prospecting:
– The salesperson identifies qualified potential customers (called prospects).
Preapproach:
– The salesperson learns as much as possible about a prospect before making a sales call.
Approach:
– The salesperson meets the customer for the first time.
Presentation:
The Personal Selling Process
Handling Objections:
– The salesperson seeks out, clarifies, and overcomes customer objections to buying.
Closing:
– The salesperson asks the customer for an order.
Follow-up:
– The salesperson follows up after the sale to ensure customer satisfaction and repeat
business.
The selling process is transaction oriented;
Direct Marketing
Direct marketing consists of direct
connections with carefully targeted
individual consumers to both obtain an immediate response and cultivate
lasting customer relationships.
– One-on-one communication in which offers are tailored to needs of narrowly defined segments.
The New Direct-Marketing Model
Some firms use direct marketing as a
supplemental medium.
For many companies, direct marketing
constitutes a new and complete model for doing business.
Some firms employ the direct model as
their only approach.
Some see this as the new marketing
Benefits of Direct Marketing
Benefits to Buyers:
– Convenient.
– Easy to use.
– Private.
– Ready access to products and information.
Benefits of Direct Marketing
Benefits to Sellers:
– Powerful tool for building customer relationships. – Can target small groups or individuals.
– Can tailor offers to individual needs.
– Can be timed to reach prospects at just the right moment.
– Gives access to buyers they could not reach through other channels.
Customer Databases
An organized collection of
comprehensive data about individual customers or prospects, including
geographic, demographic,
Direct Marketing Forms
Telephone marketing Direct-mail marketing Catalog marketing
Direct-response TV marketing Kiosk marketing
Telemarketing
Used in both consumer and B2B
markets.
Can be outbound or inbound calls.
Do-Not-Call legislation has impacted
Direct-Mail Marketing
Involves sending an offer, reminder,
announcement, or other item to a person at a particular address.
Permits high target-market selectivity. An be personalized, and is flexible.
Higher CPM yields better prospects
than mass media.
Catalog Marketing
With the Internet, more and more
catalogs are going digital.
Print catalogs still the primary medium. Expected sales in 2008 = $175 billion.
Web catalogs have specific advantages
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:
Kiosk Marketing
Information and ordering machines
generally found in stores, airports, and other locations.
– Example: In-store Kodak kiosks allow
Integrated Direct Marketing
Involves carefully coordinated
multiple-media, multiple-stage campaigns.
– Marketers try to improve response rates and profits by adding media and stages that contribute more to additional sales than to additional costs.
– Example: Integrating a paid ad with
Public Policy and Ethical
Issues in Direct Marketing
Irritating to consumers
Taking unfair advantage of impulsive or
less sophisticated buyers
Targeting TV-addicted shoppers Deception, fraud
Rest Stop:
Reviewing the Concepts
1. Discuss the role of a company’s salespeople in creating value for customers and building customer relationships.
2. Identify and explain the six major sales force management steps.
3. Discuss the personal selling process,
distinguishing between transaction-oriented marketing and relationship marketing.
4. Define direct marketing and discuss its benefits to customers and companies.