Personal Selling &

Sales Promotion

Dr. Suraj Kushe Shekhar

surajk.shekhar@vit.ac.in
Personal Selling
 Companies around the world use sales forces to s
ell products and services to business customers a
nd final consumers.
 But sales forces are also found in many other kin
ds of organizations.

surajk.shekhar@vit.ac.in
The Nature of Personal Selling

• We define personal selling as personal presentations by the

• Salesperson is anfor
firm’s sales force individual who of
the purpose represents a company
making sales and to
customers by performing
building customer one or more of the following
relationships.
• activities:
People hold prospecting, communicating,
many stereotypes selling, servicing,
of salespeople─including
information gathering,
some unfavorable ones.and relationship building.
• At one extreme,
Today, a salesperson
most salespeople might be largely
are well-educated and an order taker.
well-trained
• At the other extreme
professionals who add arevalue
orderforgetters, whose
customers andpositions
maintaindemand
creative
long-term selling and relationship
customer relationships.building for products and
services ranging from appliances, industrial equipment, and
airplanes to insurance and information technology services.

surajk.shekhar@vit.ac.in
The Role of the Sales Force

Salespeople can probe custome

rs to learn more about their pro
blems and then adjust the mark
eting offer and presentation to f
it each customer’s special needs
.
In most firms, however, the sale
s force plays a major role.
It works with wholesalers and r
etailers to gain their support an
d help them be more effective i
n selling the company’s product
s to final buyers.

surajk.shekhar@vit.ac.in
Managing the Sales Force
 We define sales force management as analyzing, plannin
g, implementing, and controlling sales force activities.
 It includes designing sales force strategy and structure, as
well as recruiting, selecting, training, compensating, supe
rvising, and evaluating the firm’s salespeople.

surajk.shekhar@vit.ac.in
 Sales force structure
• Territorial sales force
• Product sales force
• Customer sales force
• Complex sales force

surajk.shekhar@vit.ac.in
Other Sales Force Strategy and Structure I
ssues
• A company may have an outside sales force (or field sales
force), an inside sales force, or both.
• Outside sales force─Salespeople who travel to call on
customers in the field.
• Inside sales force─Salespeople who conduct business from
their offices via telephone, the Internet, or visits from
prospective buyers.

• Team Selling─Using teams of people from sales, marketing,

engineering, finance, technical support, and even upper
management to service large, complex accounts.
• Instead, most companies now use team selling to service
large, complex accounts.

surajk.shekhar@vit.ac.in
Recruiting and Selecting Salespeople
 Its research suggests that the best salespeople pos
sess four key talents:

Intrinsic motivation

A disciplined work style

The ability to close a sale

The ability to build relationships

with customers
surajk.shekhar@vit.ac.in
Training Salespeople
 Training programs have several goals.
• Salespeople need to know about customers and how to build r
elationships with them.
• An effective training program teaches them about the compan
y’s objectives, organization, products, and the strategies of ma
jor competitors.
• Online training may range from simple text-based product trai
ning and Internet-based sales exercises that build sales skills t
o sophisticated simulations that re-create the dynamics of rea
l-life sales calls.

surajk.shekhar@vit.ac.in
Compensating Salespeople
 Compensation consists of four elements: a fixed amount,
a variable amount, expenses, and fringe benefits.
 Different combinations of fixed and variable compensatio
n give rise to four basic types of compensation plans:

Salary
Straight Salary
Salary
Straight Straight plus
Salary
Straight commiss plus
plus
salary commiss commiss
plus
salary ion bonus
commiss
ion bonusion
ion
 Compensation should direct salespeople toward activities
that are consistent with the overall sales force and market
ing objectives.

surajk.shekhar@vit.ac.in
Supervising and Motivating Salespeople
 The goal of supervision is to help salespeople “work smar
t” by doing the right things in the right ways.
 The goal of motivation is to encourage salespeople to “w
ork hard” and energetically toward sales force goals.
 If salespeople work smart and work hard, they will realiz
e their full potential—to their own and the company’s ben
efit.

surajk.shekhar@vit.ac.in
Supervising Salespeople
 One tool is the weekly, monthly, or annual call pl
an that shows which customers and prospects to c
all on and which activities to carry out.
 Another tool is time-and-duty analysis.

surajk.shekhar@vit.ac.in
Evaluating Salespeople and Sales Force Per
formance
• The most important source is sales reports, including weekly
or monthly work plans and longer-term territory marketing
plans.
• Salespeople also write up their completed activities on call
reports and turn in expense reports for which they are partly
or wholly reimbursed.

• Formal evaluation forces management to develop and

communicate clear standards for judging performance.
• It also provides salespeople with constructive feedback and
motivates them to perform well.

surajk.shekhar@vit.ac.in
The Personal Selling Process
 Selling process is the steps that salespeople follo
w when selling, which include prospecting and q
ualifying, preapproach, approach, presentation an
d demonstration, handling objections, closing, an
d follow-up.

surajk.shekhar@vit.ac.in
Steps in the Selling Process
 The selling process consists of seven steps: prosp
ecting and qualifying, preapproach, approach, pre
sentation and demonstration, handling objections,
closing, and follow-up.

surajk.shekhar@vit.ac.in
Sales Promotion
 Sales promotion consists of short-term incentive
s to encourage the purchase or sales of a product
or service.
 Whereas advertising offers reasons to buy a prod
uct or service, sales promotion offers reasons to b
uy now.

surajk.shekhar@vit.ac.in
Sales Promotion Objectives
 Sellers may use consumer promotions to urge short-term
customer buying or boost customer brand involvement.
 Objectives for trade promotions include getting retailers t
o carry new items and more inventory, buy ahead, or pro
mote the company’s products and give them more shelf s
pace.
 Business promotions are used to generate business leads,
stimulate purchases, reward customers, and motivate sale
speople.

surajk.shekhar@vit.ac.in
Major Sales Promotion Tools
 Many tools can be used to accomplish sales prom
otion objectives.
 Descriptions of the main consumer , trade, and bu
siness promotion tools follow.

surajk.shekhar@vit.ac.in
Consumer Promotions
 Consumer promotions are sales promotion tools
used to boost short-term customer buying and inv
olvement or enhance long-term customer relation
ships.
• Samples
• Coupons
• Cash refunds/rebates
• Price packs
• Premiums
• Ad specialties
• POP promotions
• Contest, sweepstakes, games
surajk.shekhar@vit.ac.in
Trade Promotions
 Trade promotions can persuade resellers to carry a bran
d, give it shelf space, promote it in advertising, and push i
t to consumers.
 Shelf space is so scarce these days that manufacturers oft
en have to offer price-offs, allowances, buy-back guarant
ees, or free goods to retailers and wholesalers to get prod
ucts on the shelf and, once there, to keep them on it.

surajk.shekhar@vit.ac.in
Business Promotions
 Business promotions are used to generate business leads,
stimulate purchases, reward customers, and motivate sale
speople.
 Many companies and trade associations organize conventi
ons and trade shows to promote their products.
 A sales contest is a contest for salespeople or dealers to m
otivate them to increase their sales performance over a gi
ven period.

surajk.shekhar@vit.ac.in