Unit 1

SELLING AS A PROFESSION
MM161- PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP

Michael C. Lumabao
Business Administration Department
College of Business Economics and Accountancy
Mariano Marcos State University
Unit 1
SELLING AS A PROFESSION
A) The Life, Times, and Career of the
Professional Salesperson
B) Relationship Marketing:
C) Where Personal Selling Fits
D) Ethics First . . . Then Customer
Relationships
Learning outcomes
At the end of the unit, the
student must have:

explained at least 85% of all the concepts of

the topic life, times, and career of the
professional salesperson, relationship
marketing, and customer relationship
1
1 How Do You View Salespeople?
◼ Some people have a negative view of
salespeople.
◼ What is your view of salespeople?
◼ How many of you have a viewpoint that is
 Positive?
 Negative?
 No opinion?
◼ How many of you are interested in a sales
career?
1 What is Selling?
➢ Selling is just one of many marketing
components
Personal selling includes
- Personal communication
of information
- Persuasion
- Helping others
Goods
Services
Ideas
1 A New Definition of Personal Selling
◼ Personal Selling
Refers to the personal communications of
information
 To unselfishly persuade someone
To buy something – a good, service, idea, or
something else – that satisfies that individual’s
needs.
Prof. Philip Kotler has defined personal selling
as, "Personal selling is face to face interaction with
one or more prospective purchasers for the purpose
of making presentation, answering questions, and
procuring orders."
1 The Golden Rule of Personal Selling

 Refers to the sales philosophy of unselfishly

treating others as you would like to be treated
 Reciprocity is not expected

◼ The Golden Rule is all about trying to keep

somebody else warm, even if it means that we
get cold in the process
1
◼ Comment on the following statement,

"Only professional salespeople sell."

1 Everybody Sells!
◼ Each of us develops communication
techniques for trying to get our way in life
◼ You are involved in selling when you want
someone to do something
◼ You use persuasion skills to persuade
someone to act
1 What Salespeople are Paid to Do

◼ Salespeopleare paid to sell – that is their job

◼ Performance goals are set for:
Themselves – In order to serve others and earn a
living and keep their job
 Their employers – So the companies will survive
Their customers – To fulfill needs and help
organizations grow
1 How Do You Sell Someone and Remain Friends?

 Salespeople need to close sales and at the same

time maintain a great relationship with their
customers
1 Major Reasons For Choosing A Sales Career
1 Types of Sales Jobs

◼ Retail Selling
A retail
salesperson sells goods or services to
consumers for their personal, non-business
use
◼ Direct Selling
Face to face sales to consumers, typically in
their homes, who use the products for their non-
business personal use
1 Types of Sales Jobs

◼ Selling for a Wholesaler

 For resale
 For use in producing other goods
 For use within an organization

◼ Selling for a Manufacturer

Working for the firm who manufacturers the
product
 Usually one of the most prestigious jobs to hold
1 Sales Personnel Career Path
1 Rewards
 Non-financial
 Intrinsic reward of knowing you’ve skillfully delivered
a sales presentation
 Quick path to managing large amounts of responsibility
 Quick path to managing others
 Financial
 Higher average salary than that of other workers at
same level within the organization
 Based upon performance, not tenure
1 Success in Selling–What Does it Take?
Love of Selling is the Heart of Helping Others
1 Putting The Customer First Requires
Salespeople To Have Personal
Characteristics That Allow Them To:
◼ Care for the customer
◼ Take joy in their work
◼ Find harmony in the sales relationship
◼ Have patience in closing the sale
◼ Be kind to all people
◼ Have high moral ethics
◼ Be faithful to one’s word
◼ Be fair in the sale
◼ Be self-controlled in emotions
1 The Customer is at the Center of
the Sales System:
1 What Does A Salesperson Do
◼ Creates new customers
◼ Sells more to present customers
◼ Builds long-term relationships
◼ Provides solutions to customer’s problems
◼ Provides service to customers
◼ Helps customers resell products to their
customers
◼ Helps customers use products after purchase
◼ Builds goodwill with customers
◼ Provides company with market information
1 The Future of Salespeople: Skills Required

◼ Learning conceptual skills

 Example: planning
◼ Learning human skills
 Example: working with customers
◼ Learning technical skills
 Example: selling skills
1 Selling is Both an Art and a Science

 Selling takes practice.

 Selling is also a science because a growing

body of knowledge and objective facts
describe selling
1
strategy that emphasizes
➢ customer retention
➢ Satisfaction and loyalty
➢ Long-term engagement.

The primary aim of customer relationship marketing is

to develop emotional customer connections to the
brand that can increase long-term sales transactions.
1
1 Benefits of Relationship Marketing

➢ Consistent Customer Experience

➢ Customer Reviews and Feedback
➢ Loyal Customers are your Marketers
➢ Consumers are Part of Business Decision
1 Implementation of Relationship Marketing
Strategy

➢ Customer Service
➢ Content Marketing
➢ Social Media
➢ Feedback System
➢ Email Marketing
1 Social responsibility:

To be management’s obligation to make

choices and take actions that contribute to
the welfare and interests of society as well
as to those of the organization
1 Major Stakeholders in the Organization’s
Performance
1 An Organization’s Main
Responsibilities

Economic : Be profitable
Legal : Obey the law
Ethical : Do what is right
1 An Organization’s Main Responsibilities
1 How to demonstrate social responsibility

✓ Taking corrective action before it is

required
✓ Working with affected constituents to
resolve mutual problems
✓ Publicly admitting mistakes
✓ Helping to correct environmental
problems
1 Management’s Ethical Responsibilities
✓ Ethics is the code of moral principles and
values that govern the behaviors of a
person or a group with respect to what is
right or wrong.
✓ Ethics sets standards as to what is good
or bad in conduct and decision making
✓ Ethical behavior refers to treating others
fairly
1 What is an Ethical Dilemma?
✓ A situation in which each alternative
choice or behavior has some undesirable
elements due to potentially negative
ethical or personal consequences
1 Ethics in Dealing with Salespeople
✓ Level of sales pressure
✓ Decisions affecting territory
✓ To tell the truth
✓ The ill salesperson
✓ Employee rights + Privacy +
Discrimination in Employment ( Race or
color; Religion; Sex; Age; etc)
1 Salespeople’s Ethics in Dealing with Their
Employers
✓ Misusing company assets
✓ Moonlighting - a job in addition to one’s
regular employment
✓ Cheating
✓ Affecting other salespeople
✓ Technology theft