Advertising acquaints potential customers with a product and thereby makes personal selling easier. Personal selling is a face-to-face sales presentation to a prospective customer. Sales jobs range from salesclerks at clothing stores to engineers with MBAs who design large, complex systems for manufacturers. About 6.5 million people are engaged in personal selling in the United States. Slightly over 45 percent of them are women. The number of people who earn a living from sales is huge compared, for instance, with the nearly 300,000 workers employed in the traditional advertising sector. Personal selling offers several advantages over other forms of promotion: Show
The Selling ProcessSelling is a process that can be learned. Experts have spelled out the steps of the selling process, shown in (Figure), and professional salespeople use them all the time. These steps are as follows:
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Summary of Learning Outcomes
About 6.5 million people in the United States are directly engaged in personal selling. Personal selling enables a salesperson to demonstrate a product and tailor the message to the prospect; it is effective in closing a sale. Professional salespeople are knowledgeable and creative. They also are familiar with the selling process, which consists of prospecting and qualifying, approaching customers, presenting and demonstrating the product, handling objections, closing the sale, and following up on the sale. Glossarypersonal sellingA face-to-face sales presentation to a prospective customer.prospectingThe process of looking for sales prospects.qualifying questionsInquiries used by salespeople to separate prospects from those who do not have the potential to buy.sales prospectsThe companies and people who are most likely to buy a seller’s offerings.Why is personal selling more effective than advertising?Personal selling is more effective than advertising when the customer base is small and widespread. Small because the sales force cannot reach every individual and widespread so that multiple salesmen can cover different areas and sell their products or services to people of that area.
In which case is personal selling more effective or economic than advertising and sales promotion?Product situation: Personal selling is relatively more effective and economical when a product is of a high unit value, when it is in the introductory stage of its life cycle, when it requires personal attention to match consumer needs, or when it requires product demonstration or after-sales services.
Which is better personal selling or advertising?Advertising conveys a message to end number of individual in less time. As against this, personal selling conveys the message to a few customers only in relatively high time. There is a lack of feedback in advertising, whereas, in personal selling, feedback is always present.
Why is personal selling an important aspect of promotion?Personal selling can support advertising, sales promotion, and publicity. It removes the drawbacks of advertising and sales promotion. Advertising increases awareness while personal selling reinforces the advertising message.
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