YPRIMAR – CHAPTER 11: PERSONAL SELLING AND SALES PROMOTION
Personal selling – paid personal communication that attempts to inform
customers and persuade them to buy products in an exchange situation
ELEMENTS OF THE PERSONAL SELLING PROCESS
General steps in the personal selling process:
1. Prospecting – developing a database of potential customers
2. Preapproach – involves identifying key decision makers, reviewing account
histories and problems, contacting other clients for information, assessing
credit histories and problems, preparing sales presentations, identifying
product needs, and obtaining relevant literature
3. Approach – the manner in which a salesperson contacts a potential
customer
4. Making the presentation
5. Overcoming objections
6. Closing the sale
 Closing – the stage in the personal selling process when the salesperson
asks the prospect to buy the product
7. Following up
TYPES OF SALESPEOPLE
A. Order getter – a salesperson who sells to new customers and increases
sales to current customers
 Creative selling – the task to increase sales by selling to new customers
and increasing sales to present customers
Two categories of order getting:
1. Current-customer sales – seeking more sales from existing customers
by following up previous sales
2. New-business sales – locating prospects and converting them into
buyers
B. Order takers – salespeople who primarily seek repeat sales
Two groups of order takers:
1. Inside order takers – order takers who work in sales offices, receive
orders by mail, telephone, and the internet
2. Field order takers – order takers who travel to customers
C. Support personnel – sales staff members who facilitate selling but usually
are not involved solely with making sales
Three most common kinds of sales support personnel:
1. Missionary salespeople – support salespeople, usually employed by a
manufacturer, who assist the producer’s customers in selling to their
own customers
 Detail reps – salespeople used by manufacturers of medical supplies
and pharmaceuticals
2. Trade salespeople – salespeople involved mainly in helping a
producer’s customers promote a product
3. Technical salespeople – support salespeople who give technical
assistance to a firm’s current customers
SELECTED TYPES OF SELLING
A. Team selling – the use of a team of experts from all functional areas of a
firm, led by a salesperson, to conduct the personal selling process
B. Relationship selling or consultative selling – the building of mutually
beneficial long-term associations with a customer through regular
communications over prolonged periods of time
MANAGING THE SALES FORCE
Eight general areas of sales management:
1. Establishing sales force objectives
2. Determining sales force size
3. Recruiting and selecting salespeople
 Recruiting – developing a list of qualified applicants for sales positions
4. Training sales personnel
5. Compensating salespeople
Three basic compensation methods:
 Straight salary compensation plan – paying salespeople a specific
amount per time period, regardless of selling effort
 Straight commission compensation plan – paying salespeople according
to the amount of their sales in a given time period
 Combination compensation plan – paying salespeople a fixed salary plus
a commission based on sales volume
6. Motivating salespeople
Source: Marketing, 2013 ed. (Ferrell, Hult, & Pride)
7. Managing sales territories
8. Controlling and evaluating sales force performance
Sales promotion – an activity and/or material intended to induce resellers or
salespeople to sell a product or consumers to buy it
CONSUMER SALES PROMOTION METHODS
Consumer sales promotion methods – sales promotion techniques that
encourage consumers to patronize specific stores or try particular products
A. Coupons – written price reductions used to encourage consumers to buy
a specific product
B. Cents-off offer – a promotion that allows buyers to pay less than the
regular price to encourage purchase
C. Money refund – a sales promotion technique that offers consumers a
specified amount of money when they mail in a proof of purchase,
usually for multiple product purchases
D. Rebate – a sales promotion technique in which a consumer receives a
specified amount of money for making a single product purchase
E. Frequent-user incentives – reward customers who engage in repeat
(frequent) purchases and foster customer loyalty to a specific company
or group of cooperating companies
F. Point-of-purchase (POP) materials – signs, window displays, display
racks, and similar devices used to attract customers
G. Demonstration – a sales promotion method a manufacturer uses
temporarily to encourage trial use and purchase of a product or to show
how a product works
H. Free sample – a sample of a product given out to encourage trial and
purchase
I. Premium – an item offered free or at a minimal cost as a bonus for
purchasing a product
J. Consumer contests – sales promotion methods in which individuals
compete for prizes based on their analytical or creative skills
K. Consumer games – sales promotion methods in which individuals
compete for prizes based primarily on chance
L. Consumer sweepstakes – a sales promotion in which entrants submit
their names for inclusion in a drawing for prizes
TRADE SALES PROMOTION METHODS
Trade sales promotion methods – methods intended to persuade wholesalers
and retailers to carry a producer’s products and market them aggressively
A. Buying allowance – a temporary price reduction to resellers for
purchasing specified quantities of a product
B. Buy-back allowance – a sum of money given to a reseller for each unit
bought after an initial promotion deal is over
C. Scan-back allowance – a manufacturer’s reward to retailers based on the
number of pieces scanned
D. Merchandise allowance – a manufacturer’s agreement to pay resellers
certain amounts of money for providing special promotional efforts, such
as setting up and maintaining a display
E. Cooperative advertising – an arrangement in which a manufacturer
agrees to pay a certain amount of a retailer’s media costs for advertising
the manufacturer’s products
F. Dealer listing – an advertisement that promotes a product and identifies
the names of participating retailers that sell the product
G. Free merchandise – a manufacturer’s reward given to resellers that
purchase a stated quantity of products
H. Dealer loader – a gift, often part of a display, given to a retailer that
purchases a specified quantity of merchandise
I. Premium money or push money – extra compensation to salespeople
for pushing a line of goods
J. Sales contest – a sales promotion method used to motivate distributors,
retailers, and sales personnel through recognition of outstanding
achievements
v3.0 Prepared by: Acidera, Jaypaul O.