Marketing & Selling Concepts

Traits of Successful Salespersons

Theodore Levitt: Marketing Myopia

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Selling has a product focus and mostly producer
driven.
It is the action part of marketing and has a short
term goal of achieving market share.
This short term focus does not consider a
prudential plan for building the brand in
the market place and winning competitive
advantage through a loyal set of customers.
The end means of any sales activity is
maximizing profits through sales maximization.
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When the focus is on selling, the organization
thinks that after production has been completed
the task of the sales force starts.
It is also the task of the sales department to sell
whatever the production department has
manufactured.
Aggressive sales methods are justified to meet
this goal and customer’s actual needs and
satisfaction are taken for granted.

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Marketing as a concept and approach is much
wider than selling and is also dynamic as the
focus is on the customer rather than the
product.
While selling revolves around the needs and
interest of the manufacturer or marketer,
marketing revolves around the needs and
interest of the consumer.

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Marketing consists of all those activities that are
associated with product planning, pricing,
promoting and distributing the product or
service.
The task commences with identifying consumer
needs and does not end till feedback on
consumer satisfaction from the consumption of
the product is received.
Consumer needs become the guiding force
behind all these activities.
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 Traits of Successful Salespersons
Attitude Determines Success
Pride in Performance and the Profession of
Selling
Ability teaches us how to do
Motivation decides why we do
Attitude determines how well we do.

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Attitude – Mental Toughness
Ambition – Burning desire with clarity of goals
Action – Translating dreams into reality or
potential into profits

Discipline
Is doing what ought to be done, when it is to be
done, whether we like it or not.
There is no substitute for hard work

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Character – Makes ethics a way of life
Courage – Courage to continue despite setbacks
Conviction – Has beliefs in product, profession
and organization
Clarity – Has clear goals and purpose of life
Competence – Has the skills and the will to sell
Communication – Persuasion skills and ability to
convince

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Pleasing Personality
Confidence without arrogance
Friendliness without being over friendly
Expertise without the ‘I know it all attitude’
Make a Great First Impression. Why?
Because we never get a second chance to create
a first impression
The Way we Dress
Manners & Courtesy
Rapport Building
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 Selling is a Rejection Business
In the selling profession there are more
rejections than acceptances
Rejection is stressful and often people are
unable to handle it

Success is not measured by how high we go up

in life, but how many times we bounce back
after we fall down
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Fear of Rejection
Fear of Failure
Self Image is the way we see ourselves
Self Esteem is the way we feel about ourselves
Persistence or Pest
Persistence is the ability to bounce back after
every rejection, prevents a rejection from
becoming a dejection

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Being a Pest is when a salesperson becomes too
pushy, starts nagging and irritating the prospect,
does not get the message that the buyer wants
to be left alone
Be persistent not a pest
Lack of Persistence can cause you to lose the
deal

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Obstacles
None of us can escape trials
There is a prayer “God don’t lighten my burden
in life, just give me stronger shoulders”

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Transactional Selling vs.
Relationship Selling

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Sincerity is the Foundation of Relationship
Selling
Relationship Selling means:
People buy people first
Then they buy from the people
Then they buy from the company

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What Buyers Need & Want of Salespersons

Positive Attitude, Empathy

Reliability, Dependability
Credibility, Enthusiasm, Knowledgeable
Timely Service e.g. responding to calls
Personalized / Individualized Service – i.e. that
buyers are not a statistic at your company
Professionalism, Sincerity
Good Communicator / Listener
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Thank You!

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