UNIT-I: SELLING

Selling: Concept

Selling comprises all those personal and impersonal activities involved in finding, securing and developing a demand for a given product or service. In the words of William J. Stanton “Selling is informing and persuading a market about a product or service. It is a function of promotion.” In the words of Still, Cundiff and Govoni, “Selling in its broad sense, is not only the making of  sales, that is, effecting ownership transfers; but also is identifying prospective consumers, stimulating demands and providing information and service to buyers.”

Following are the objectives of selling:

• To sell goods to consumers.
• To “service” existing accounts, that is maintain contracts with the existing consumer.
• To search for new customers,
• To secure consumers’ cooperation in stocking and promoting the product line.
• To keep customers informed about the changes in the existing product line and firm’s marketing strategy.
• To provide technical advice and assistance to customers regarding use of complicated

and technical product.

Selling can be categorized into the following types:

1. Industrial selling.
2. Service selling.
3. Retail selling.

Type 1. Industrial Selling:

Under industrial selling, marketing transactions take place between at least two companies, both of which seek to generate favours from the business. That is why industrial selling is also termed as business-to-business selling. Industrial selling is more complex and time consuming because a sales-person has to negotiate with a number of individuals representing the buying organization, particularly in large firms. Needless to mention, goods that are dealt in this selling are industrial in nature.

In large industrial units, buying decision may not be entrusted with a single individual but with a number of individuals who take the buying decision jointly. But in some cases, each of them may want to satisfy their personalized needs. For example, a purchase manager of a firm may be more interested in price, distribution scheme, credit terms, etc., as compared to the manufacturer or the research and development manager who would focus more on the quality of the product.

The production manager veers on the uninterrupted supply of the product. So, when these three constitute the decision making body of the firm for buying, a salesperson often faces difficulty to satisfy all the three parties. Price may not be an important criteria in industrial buying, rather vendor reliability, quality of the product, periods of warranty, and after-sales service form the major criteria in industrial buying. For installations, importance is given to lifecycle costing constituting purchase cost; startup cost, and post- purchase cost.

Moreover, buying strategies of the firm influence the selling mechanisms of the industrial firms. Morris (1992) illustrated three types of buying strategies, namely – speculative buying, forward buying, and hand to mouth buying. In speculative buying, an organization purchases quantities of goods in excess of its projected or foreseeable requirements. Forward buying involves purchasing in excess an amount of material of what is currently required but not beyond anticipated future requirements.

Under hand- to-mouth buying, a buyer purchases a product or service in quantities that would just satisfy their immediate operating requirements. Different buying strategies demand different logistical operations and sellers must accommodate effectively and efficiently to inventory policies, material handling, production scheduling, and support services of the customers to ensure continuity of business.

Both central and state government departments, government undertakings and agencies (e.g., railway, telecommunication department, etc.,) are bulk purchasers of industrial goods where the scope of industrial selling is enormous. But, procedural complexity of buying in government firms is immense and involves huge formalities. For example, a seller has to be registered with the government firms before it can take part in the selling process.

Tendering is a popular method of buying from government firms. Tendering is the usual process where the government unit invites registered sellers to submit quotations where it applies bidding process and supplies the desired product to the party who quotes the lowest price of a particular commodity.

Institutional buying is a special category of industrial buying. Public and private institutions such as – colleges, universities, hospitals, prisons, etc., deemed as institutional customers have their own buying policies.

An industrial salesperson should rigidly follow the selling guidelines as determined by the buying procedures of these firms to be effective in institutional selling. One common problem of industrial selling is that often the salesperson tends to involve in overselling to the buying organization. They overpromise the customer about product qualities, options for life which are often difficult for these selling firms to attain.

Type 2. Service Selling:

Service selling has some distinctive properties vis-a-vis product selling. One major characteristic feature of service selling is that of service creation, where selling takes place simultaneously. In product selling these two are separate incidents. A doctor or a lawyer advices and suggests remedies to their clients simultaneously. An insurance agent selling insurance products to a customer persuades him to purchase and only then sells it. This is because service is more of an activity or performance designed to evolve and solve specific problems of customers.

Selling service encompasses a number of features and customer satisfaction depends on getting the expected results in performance of all these features. For instance, a transport company can satisfy a customer only by packaging, labelling, delivering, risk taking, insuring, and offering various logistical services. Service selling involves a lot of variability and needs careful manoeuvering of each selling operation. A courier firm provides multiple services like dispatching letters, money orders, delivering parcels, managing cargo operations, etc.

Colleges, universities, hospitals, insurance companies, tourism companies, hotels, etc. are major service organizations. Each renders specific type of service and the selling mechanism for each is unique. Increase in competition in this sector has increased the need for differentiation in service attributes and quality improvements to win and hold customers for a longer time. As service cannot be displayed or demonstrated, need for promotion before selling is very crucial.

However, once a set of satisfied customers is created, word of mouth communication takes a lead role in spreading the information of a service to potential customers. Excellent customer relationship also plays a catalytic role in ingraining a sense of trust amongst present customers.

Experiences and credentials of service providers encourage potential customers to buy services and ease selling efforts.

Today, the service sector has achieved a thrust in the economy as it has contributed much more to the national income and employment of our country than a product sector. In this respect, service selling has gained importance because of a large customer base and competitive clout. Here, customer satisfaction is not only determined by service quality or functionalities but also by human centric or emotional value addition in selling and servicing.

Indeed, service quality is judged both by the technicalities of service and human factors in relation to selling. For example, a patient in a hospital expects reliability in service, assurance from doctors and nurses, personal care, cleanliness of environment, hygienic ambience in addition to quality treatment. Selling a satisfying health care service has a long drawn impact on the image of the organization.

In insurance or tourism selling, creating awareness and interest among potential buyers and converting them to customers depend a lot on the communication skill, conceptual clarity, and

the ability of the seller to infuse conviction among the customers. At the same time, monitoring service quality and measuring service satisfaction should be a continuous process also.

Type 3. Retail Selling:

Retail selling, popularly known as retailing, involves activities both in selling goods as well as services. Thus, it aims to deliver the finished goods to the consumers for personal or business use. Retailing is the last stage of distribution. It facilitates the adoption process of products/services by consumers and aids in creating value-addition to the merchandise to make it more attractive and acceptable to the consumers.

Retail selling may take the form of store retailing or non-store retailing. In store retailing, selling takes place from a physical location in a market whereas non-store retailing is based on door-to- door selling, mail order selling, telephonic selling or selling through the Internet. Some of the common services attached to retail selling involve procuring needed items, arranging transportation, storing and assorting the goods, grading and packaging, labelling, risk taking, selling, servicing, financing, complaints, and returns handling.

Retail selling includes the total bundle of benefits offered to consumers in terms of locational advantage of the store, parking facilities, retail ambience, in stock position, shelf spacing given to brands, product availability, product quality, imparting adequate information to consumers, product customization, logistics support to customers, building customer relationship, and after- sales service where needed.

Direct selling is a kind of non-store retailing. It is an interactive system of selling that uses one or more ways to arouse the demands and encourage the customers to contact sellers to buy.

These ways vary from marketing through sending catalogues or sales letters, flyers, foldouts, etc., to prospective buyers, soliciting the prospective customers to buy products or services contacting them over the phone or subsequent face-to-face interaction, web conferencing, hawking the product on radio or television (teleshopping), web-based selling, or multi-level marketing nr network marketing or multi-tiered marketing where selling of products on the people in the network.

Personal Selling-

Personal selling is a promotional method in which one person (e.g., salesperson) uses skills and techniques for building personal relationships with another person (e.g., a customer or those involved in a purchase decision) that result in both obtaining value. In most cases the “value” for the salesperson is realized through the financial rewards of the sale while the customer’s “value” is realized from the benefits obtained by consuming the product. However, getting a customer to purchase a product is not

always the objective of personal selling. For instance, selling may be used for the purpose of simply delivering information. Because selling involves personal contact, this promotional method often occurs through face-to-face meetings or via a telephone conversation, though newer technologies allow contact to take place over the Internet including using video conferencing i or text messaging (e.g., online chat). The person who sells goods to you in any of the above technique is called a ‘salesman’ and the technique of selling is known as ‘personal selling’ or ‘salesmanship’. Among marketing jobs, more are employed in sales positions than any other marketing-related occupation. In India alone, department of Labour estimates that over 110 million or about 11% of the overall labor force I arc directly involved in selling and sales-related positions.

A personal sales message can be more specifically targeted to individual prospects and easily altered if the desired behavior does not occur. Personal selling, however, is far more expensive than advertising and is generally used only when its high expenditure can be justified. For example, the marketing of a sophisticated computer system may require the use of personal selling, while the introduction Personal Selling of a new product to millions of consumers would not. Two other forms of personal selling that are not used with high-end products are door-to-door selling and home demonstration parties.

These two personal selling methods are primarily used for personal care products, cosmetics, cookware, encyclopedias, books, toys, food, and other items of special interest to homemakers. Ideally, personal selling should be supported by advertising to strengthen its impact.

Importance of Personal Selling

Unlike advertising, personal selling is present in all the three phases of buying namely pre-transactional, transactional and post-transactional. Being a two way form of communication, it cultivates the market, negotiates the transaction and reduces post purchase dissonance. However, it is in negotiation of transaction that distinguishes it from advertising and makes personal selling an effective medium of selling. Besides there are other strengths of personal selling some of which are: Personal selling is more flexible and adaptable to the varying purchase situations. I It is possible for a salesman to adapt himself to the needs, motives, impulses and other behavioral traits of the prospective consumers so as to communicate Communication the message and clinch the deal. In personal selling the possibility of wasted effort is minimal because unlike advertising the whole effort is focused on a specified target consumer. Further there is minimum possibility of message diffusion and distortion. In communication, diffusion arises when a message goes to a large number of unintended audiences and distortion occurs when there is a noise owing to a plethora of messages being transmitted or flashed at consumers. The salesman is better placed to focus his message on qualified customers only and undo distortions by suitably maneuvering the message. When customers have any queries, the sales people are always there to answer them.

Advantages of Personal Selling

One key advantage personal selling has over other promotional methods is that it is a two-way form of communication. In selling situations the message sender (e.g., salesperson) can adjust the message as

they gain feedback from message receivers (e.g., customer). So if a customer does not understand the initial message (e.g., doesn’t fully understand how the product works) the salesperson can make adjustments to address questions or concerns. Many non-personal forms of promotion, such as a radio advertisement, are inflexible, at least in the short-term, and cannot be easily adjusted to address audience questions. The interactive nature of personal selling also makes it the most effective ‘ promotional method for building relationships with customers, particularly in the business-to-business market. This is especially important for companies that either sell expensive products or sell lower cost but high volume products (i.e., buyer must purchase in large quantities) that rely heavily on customers in making repeat purchases. Because such purchases may take a considerable amount of time to complete and may involve the input of many people at the purchasing company (i.e., buying center), sales success often requires the marketer develop and maintain strong relationships with members of the purchasing company. Finally, personal selling is the most practical promotional option for reaching customers who are not easily reached through other methods. The best example is in selling to the business market where, compared to the consumer market, advertising, public relations and sales promotions are often not well received.

Further, personal selling is important from the company’s point of view for the following reasons:

1. Personal selling helps to reduce marketing costs: Since salespeople work in the field, they know where the products are to be made available. This avoids dumping of goods where there is no demand.

• Personal selling reduces the cost of production: Personal selling helps to increase sales, which in turn results in higher production. The fixed cost would, therefore, be spread over a large number of units, thereby reducing the cost per unit.

• Personal selling helps to introduce new products and innovations to the market: Without salespeople this process would be greatly slowed down, because people neither have the time nor the desire to seek out new developments.

• Personal selling facilitates consumption: If goods and services are not bought in sufficient Volume, people producing them lose their jobs. Selling helps people overcome their initial hesitation in buying, thereby increasing consumption. Consumption creates employment.

Characterstics of Successful Salesperson-

Ability to Listen

A good salesperson needs to satisfy a client’s needs. The only way to find out what those are is by listening to what each prospect is saying. The best salespeople aren’t always talking.

Empathy

A good salesperson knows how to feel what their customers feel. By getting inside a prospect’s skin, they know just how to sell a product or service. Empathy is a great way to anticipate what a customer wants.

Competitiveness

Salespeople who succeed enjoy measuring their skills against their peers. In a word,

they’re competitive. They don’t just want to get better at what they do. They want to be better than everyone else.

Networking Ability

Good salespeople love to network. They get involved in their community and have many different business relationships. Networking is not so much a part of the job to them but the way they like to spend their time.

Confidence

Believing in the product or service they are selling is essential. That comes across as a confidence that’s infectious and makes customers want to buy more.

Multitasking Skills

An outstanding salesperson knows how to juggle deals they are trying to close with promising leads. They can even respond to queries through emails and on the phone at the same time.

Great multitaskers make excellent additions to any sales team.

Honesty

The folks that are best at selling stuff are also honest. They know that shady deals lead to burned bridges that can multiply and cost a lot more than one client.

Curiosity

Being curious with the clients and the product is only the start. The best of these folks are also on the lookout for changes in the industry and what’s offered by the competition.

Adaptability

An outstanding sales representative can go with the flow. Adapting to the client’s schedule and preferences can make all the difference.

Communications Skills

There’s no way around having excellent verbal skills if you’re trying to sell people goods and services. People who excel here know how to stay away from jargon and hard to understand concepts.

Persistence

Without being rude or pushy, good salespeople know how to get the job done. They know many people face the most challenging obstacle just before they reach their goal. They know how to work through slumping sales numbers.

Passion

When a sales representative loves their company, it shows in their pitch. That’s why the most successful salespeople are the best cheerleaders for their small businesses at the same time.

Tenacity

Sales is hard work. The people who really succeed don’t wait for customers to come to them. Prospecting takes up a lot of their time.

Thoroughness

Sales representatives that position themselves at the top stay in touch with their clients. They send birthday, anniversary and thank you cards. It’s all about looking for new ways to stay in a client’s mind.

Understanding of Value

The real superstars in this line of work understand that selling isn’t just about price. They know how to use a value proposition to full advantage.

Ambition

Setting goals and achieving them is important in every small business. That’s especially true for the quotas that salespeople work towards.

Charm

Charming sales representatives create a good first impressions and open the door to sales. Working on your diction and having a groomed appearance makes a big difference.

Imagination

Salespeople who can think on their feet and fit in with changing situations are worth their weight in gold. Having a strong imagination is a valuable characteristic.

Patience

Some clients need a little more handling than others to close a sale. A good sales representative knows this and takes all the time needed.

Initiative

Taking matters into their own hands is the mark of the real pro here. If there’s a product or services that needs to be sold, they can find a way.

Independence

Being self motivated and working on a commission make the best salespeople really good at working on their own.

Commitment

Finally, the best salespeople know they need to go above and beyond to be successful. They like to set the bar high and are continually try to meet new goals.

Sales Training –

Definitions:

In the words of George R. Collins, “Sales training is an organized activity involving fact finding, planning, coaching, practicing and purposive attempts to develop selling skill and to add these skills to selected native ability, casually acquired knowledge and experience.”

According to National Society of Sales Training Executives, USA, “Sales training is the intentional and sound application of ordinary sense to the problem of helping the sales personnel to make the most of their talents.”

Thus sales training is a process by which an attempt is made to develop the selling skills so as to increase the ability, knowledge and experience of the salesmen.

Characteristics:

1. Sales training is imparted to develop selling skills of the sales persons.
2. It develops principles and practice of selling.
3. Sales training is a planned and organized activity of the sales department.
4. The sales organization and the salesmen, both are benefited from the sales training.
5. Training programmes are organized for the interests of new and old salesmen.
6. Its aim is to provide maximum satisfaction to customers through the knowledge gained by salesmen.
7. Training is given to find out solutions to various problems related with sales.

Importance:

1.  Importance to the Organization:

The sales organization have many advantages; such as – (i) increase in sales, (ii) stability of customers (by their satisfaction), (iii) low supervision costs, (iv) stability of salesmen, (v) lowers advertisement costs, (vi) develop better relations between the customers and salesmen, (vii) organizational stability, (viii) increase goodwill of the firm, (ix) availability of able persons, and

(x) sales employees will be loyal to the firm.

2.  Importance to Sales Personnel:

They includes – (i) increase their efficiency, (ii) more remuneration- by way of commission, (iii) promotion chances- due to increase in efficiency, (iv) high morale- due to increase in remuneration and other benefits, (v) selling maturity- develops thinking power, (vi) others- such

as, opportunity for personal development and advancement, increase in the product knowledge, etc.

3.  Importance to Customers:

On customer’s point of view, the advantages include – (i) proper use of money- proper attention towards the customer’s problems, by the salesmen, (ii) customers get proper advices from the salesmen in their buying decisions.

The details of the training methods are explained below:

1. Lecture Method:

The lecture method, basically, presents the needed information on selling skills and techniques to the trainees. Sales trainees learn ideas about selling as a functional component, managerial practices of selling, different underlying problems of selling, creativity in selling, role of selling in cross-functional interaction, etc. A participative environment is created in the lecture method, where trainees can be actively involved by listening to the lectures, writing notes, asking questions, clearing doubts, and getting suggestions.

Often written materials and instruction manuals are handed to the participants. Some instructors take help of the audio-visual aids to animate the lecture sessions and arouse a deep interest among the trainees. Company executives, senior managers, professional trainers, guest lecturers with huge experience in the marketing discipline are invited to act as speakers in the lecture sessions.

• Conference Training:

Conference is a platform for discussing various issues on a topic. As a training medium, it provides the right ambience for interaction between the trainees and the trainers. It is a group meeting which has pre-planned items for discussion. The discussion can flow on multiple tracks revolving around the issue. The conference coordinator or the leader presents the connective link between these different points of discussion.

In sales training, conference method gives opportunity for an all-round discussion veering around specific product(s) or service(s) that sales trainees will sell in future. Sales management and territory management are also discussed in the conference proceedings. The entire session is controlled by a chairperson who sums up the discussion in the conference.

• Case Study:

Case study is a written description about a real life or hypothetical selling situation or a sales problem that is discussed in a classroom. The trainees have to sincerely listen to and understand

the various issues in the case. After this, they need to relate to these issues with personal selling concepts and principles which they have already learnt before they take part in the case study. The case discussion tries to highlight the problem areas, diagnose the inputs of personal selling discipline and offer solutions to the problems. Salespeople are allowed to throw their views to gain confidence.

• On-the-Job Training:

On-the-job training (OJT) is a popular technique that gives opportunities to new employees to gather hands-on learning experience. In the selling context, newly recruited salespeople get a scope to observe the approaches of senior salespeople, sales supervisors when they interact with customers. These new salespeople are asked to minutely watch the discussion from where they can get an idea of how to deal with the present and prospective customers.

Next, the sales trainees are allowed to make sales calls in the presence of senior sales personnel. After the completion of calls, the seniors discuss the mistakes of the salespeople and advise on how to improve a specific sales situation. This, in fact, motivates the trainees to sell more, and learn from their faults. Modern day training programmes are more interactive in nature.

Particularly in the field such as – sales, these newer methods have proved of immense use.

• Audio-Visual Oriented Training:

These training methods are lively and interesting demonstration of films, power points, audio cassettes, videos, etc. It gives the trainees a chance to have a look at the charts, graphs, tables, slides, talk show, buyer-seller interaction, interview of a marketing expert or consultant, a meeting session with the dealers, some realistic buying-selling situations, etc. These methods, when integrated with lecture-based trainings, create a highly stimulating training environment where trainees get the opportunity to learn both theoretical and practical applications of selling. Newly recruited salespeople are exposed to computer-based training (CBT), DVD systems or other multimedia applications that simulate unique buying-selling situations. These training devices, though expensive, are highly effective because of the practical orientation and the short learning time available. In fact, multimedia applications have revolutionized the simulated training methods where the sales trainees get advanced training through e-learning modules and e-performance support system (EPSS).

Videoconferencing is becoming popular today and is effective for long-distance communication. This training method combines video presentations and computer-aided questioning techniques. In this technique, questions are displayed on computers regarding how to manage a particular sales situation, how to take decisions in problem-oriented situations, etc. Web-based training and video conferencing are useful in a decentralized training technique where trainees stay

geographically dispersed and both make possible the live demonstration combining audio and video effects.

• Management Games:

Computerized management games are used by some firms where trainees are divided into groups with each group having five to six participants. Games take place amongst these groups after creating a simulated marketplace situation. The competition judges the teams on the most effective decision taken on sales budget, selling expenses, sales turnover ratio, etc.

• Role Playing:

In role playing, an artificial environment of the realistic sales situation is created and salespeople are asked to sell a product to an imaginary prospect. Trainees are asked to assume the role of salespeople and prospects in rotations. So, the trainees find an opportunity to replicate the buying-selling session that they will face in real-life situations. Trainers closely monitor the session and guide the trainees on how to improve in different scenarios. The objective is to develop skills in trainees in managing and controlling the sales situations. Trainees also learn to handle problems.

Difference between Industrial & Consumer Goods-

Industrial Goods

Industrial goods are based on the demand for the consumer goods they help to produce. Industrial goods are classified as either production goods or support goods. Production goods are used in the production of a final consumer good or product, while support goods help in the production process of consumer goods such as machinery and equipment.

Unlike consumer goods, which are purchased by the general public, there are very specific buyers of industrial goods. They include component part buyers such as car manufacturers, those who purchase and install machinery, and distributors or anyone else who buys for resale.

Characteristics of industrial goods include:

• Rational buying power: The decision and drive to buy industrial goods is rational compared to consumer goods, which are primarily purchased because of an emotional need.
  • Complex product lines: Industrial goods are usually complex in nature because they can be highly technical. Those who use them must be highly skilled.

• Higher purchase value: Industrial goods typically come with a higher price tag because of their complex nature and limited target market.
  • High level of investment: Those who need to will often invest a lot of money to purchase industrial goods.

Companies involved in the industrial goods sector represent a variety of industries including (but not limited to) machinery, construction, defense, aerospace, and housing.

Consumer Goods

Consumer goods are tangible commodities produced and purchased to satisfy the wants of a buyer. That’s why these goods are also referred to as final goods or end products. They are goods that consumers can typically find stocked on store shelves. As such, they can be purchased for use at home, school, or work or for recreational or personal use. Consumer goods are divided into three different types: Durable goods, non-durable goods, or consumer services.

Durable goods have a significant lifespan of three or more years. The consumption of a durable good is spread out over the entire life of the good, which causes demand for maintenance and upkeep. Bicycles, furniture, and cars are examples of durable goods.

Non-durable goods are purchased for immediate consumption or use. These goods generally have a lifespan of fewer than three years. Food, beverages, and clothing are examples of non- durable goods.

Consumer services are also intangible products or services produced and consumed at the same time. Haircuts and car washes are typical examples of consumer services.

Fast-moving consumer goods make up one of the largest consumer goods groups.

Because of consumer buying patterns, consumer goods are typically classified into four different categories including convenience, shopping, specialty, and unsought goods.

• Convenience goods: These products are ready to be purchased. Milk is one example of a convenience good.
  • Shopping goods: These goods require more planning and thought during the purchasing process by consumers. This category includes products like electronics and furniture.
  • Specialty goods: This category, which includes jewelry, is composed of goods that are deemed to be luxuries.
  • Unsought goods: Unsought goods require a niche market and are typically purchased by only a few members in the market, such as life insurance.

Key Differences

There are other key differences between both industrial and consumer goods including buyers. Buyers of industrial goods are generally limited because there are fewer consumers of these products. Consumer goods, on the other hand, have a larger pool of buyers.

Demand also differs between both types of goods. Industrial goods are driven by derived or indirect demand. This demand stems from the need to provide finished products to consumers. Demand for consumer goods, on the other hand, is direct demand which results from the direct usage of a good or service.

UNIT-II: SELLING PROCESS

Selling Process

Personal selling is also known as face-to-face selling in which one person who is the salesman tries to convince the customer in buying a product. It is a promotional method by which the salesperson uses his or her skills and abilities in an attempt to make a sale. The selling process refers to the sequence of steps salespeople follow each time they make a sale. The process gives you the power to successfully sell almost anything.

•          The first step of the selling process, prospecting and qualifying, involves searching for potential customers and deciding whether they have the ability and desire to make a purchase. The people and organizations that meet these criteria are qualified prospects.
•          Before making a sales call, it is important to “do your homework” by researching your customer and planning what you are going to say; this is the preapproach.
•          The approach is your chance to make a first impression by introducing yourself, explaining the purpose of your call or visit, and establishing a rapport with your prospect.
•          Your research and preparation pays off during the presentation, when you propose your sales solution to your prospect.
•          Your prospect will naturally have objections, which you should look at as opportunities to better understand and respond to his or her needs.
•          Once you overcome objections, you close the sale by agreeing on the terms and finalizing the transaction.
•          The sales process doesn’t end with the close; follow-up (i.e., ensuring customer satisfaction and working out the logistics of delivery, installation, and timelines) is essential to retaining existing customers and finding new ones.

Highly successful sales people know that effective selling techniques are really about effective questioning, effectively understanding the needs of another, the ability to show empathy, be present, and look for value added solutions to problems.

Effective selling techniques:

A sales technique or selling method is used by a salesperson or sales team to create revenue and help sell more effectively. The technique typically isn’t a one-size-fits all and is often refined through trial and error based on past experiences.

The terms ‘sales process’ and ‘sales method’ are sometimes mistakenly used as synonyms.

A sales process covers all the steps to get from a fresh, unqualified prospect to a customer. It’s all about opportunities, deals and win rates.

A sales method or technique can be applied to virtually any sales process, but it often only covers a piece of that process. Rather than just outlining steps to take, it’s all about skills, focus and communication. For effective sales, following are the key points…

1. Understand Your Market

• Focus on the Right Leads

• Prioritize Your Company above Yourself

• Leverage Your CRM

• Be Data Informed

• Really Listen to Your Prospects

• Build Trust through Education

• Focus on Helping

• End Each Meeting with an Action

1. Use Your Marketing Team

Role of Relationship marketing in personal selling

The goal of relationship marketing is to create strong, even emotional, customer connections to a brand that can lead to ongoing business, free word-of-mouth promotion and information from customers that can generate leads. Personal selling is an oral conversation with potential buyers of a product with the intention of making a sale. The personal selling may concentrate originally on developing a connection with the inherent buyer, but will always eventually end with an endeavor to “close the sale”.

Relationship marketing helps retain customers over the long term, which results in customer loyalty rather than customers purchase once or infrequently. Relationship marketing is important for its ability to stay in close contact with customers. Personal Selling is an essential element of the advertising mix and an efficient promotional tool. However, relationship marketing in personal selling also has the another side because, in order to convince consumers that they need a supplier’s merchandise, agents focus on delivering short-term returns for their businesses by using competitive selling methods to persuade customers to buy goods.

Motivating and Compensating Salespeople

Sales force motivation relates to both monetary and non-monetary incentives, and companies must motivate their sales people at two levels; 1- at the individual level based on the sales person’s own productivity and performance in the field; and 2- the team or the group level which would be in terms of the entire sales force being rewarded, by the organization to keep them motivated. Motivation also plays a very key role in encouraging sales persons towards achieving higher sales performance not only once but continually, and they do so by selling more products and hence, increasing the profitability as well as the market shares of the organization.

Selling is the one of the few jobs in which a sales person has the opportunity to vary his or her earnings, depending on the extent of sales achieved. If a salesperson wants a higher pay check  for a particular month, improving sales volumes can fulfil his desire. The compensation and reward system is the single most important motivating factor for sales personnel in any industry or organisation, all over the world. It is the key to directing the behaviour of sales personnel in alignment with organisational objectives. Therefore, a sales manager needs to be very prudent while establishing compensation plans. A compensation plan must explain clearly what activities a salesperson is expected to carry out, how performance will be measured and how they can increase their compensation. Many organisations spend a lot of time reformulating strategies to take advantage of emerging opportunities in the changing business environment.

Every firm has to formulate a good compensation plan while recruiting salesmen. The salesmen’s compensation plan or remuneration plan means the monetary payment reward by a firm to its salesmen, in consideration of the performance or service rendered by them. A good remunerative plan is a good tonic, with which employees put forth efforts in attaining the goals of the organization and motivate more effectively. The salesmen play a significant role and are important, because they create income for the firm through sales. Moreover salesmen’s role also decides the success or failure of the firm. Therefore, it is an important matter for the management to formulate a good and sound remunerative plan. Compensation plans should direct the sales force toward activities that are consistent with overall marketing objectives

Compensation elements: salary, bonuses, commissions, expenses, and fringe benefits Basic compensation plans:

• Straight salary

• Straight commission

• Salary plus bonus

• Salary plus commission

UNIT-III: ADVERTISING

Advertising :

Any paid form of presenting ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor. Advertising is a means of communication with the users of a product or service. Advertisements are messages paid for by those who send them and are intended to inform or influence people who receive them. It refers to paid form of non personal communication about an organization or its products that is transmitted to a target audience through a mass/broadcast medium.

Scope and Importance of Advertising

Advertising has a very wide scope in marketing and in the social system .Advertising is often regarded as the most important means of marketing a company’s services and tools. The scope of advertising is to communicate a message to current customers or potentially target new customers. It helps a company get a message or a piece of information across to their customer base regarding a new product or special deal.

Advertisements are important for:

• standardized products
• products aimed at large markets
• products that have easily communicated features
• products low in price
• Products sold through independent channel members and/or are new.

Use of Advertising

• Promoting Products or Organizations
• Stimulating Primary and Selective Demand
• Offsetting Competitors Advertising
• Making salespersons more effective
• Increasing use of product
• Reminding and reinforcing customers
• Reducing Sales fluctuations

Ethical and Legal Issues in Advertising

The tag line of the ASCI (Advertising Standards Council of India) says “Regulate yourself, or someone else will.” Advertisers should ensure that their ads are not offensive or violating the laws of the land. The greatest worry pertains to how children will perceive and incorporate the meaning of these ads in their young minds. Ads should not violate the basic standards of decency, morality and religious beliefs of viewers. In India, certain ethics must be followed while creating ads.

Legal actions can be taken against advertisements that…….

• Goes against any provision of the Indian Constitution.

• Incite people towards criminal activity

• Cause disorder and/or violence in the country.

• Breach laws and/or glorify violence in any form.

• Glorify terrorism, communal massacres, criminality and so on.

• Exploit and encourage social evils like child marriage, bride burning and dowry system.

Economic role of Advertising

• The advertised products are not always the best products in the market. But advertising helps increase value for the products by showing the positive image of the product which in turn helps convincing customers to buy it.
• Advertising cost may affect the price of the product but if there is more competition in  the market for those products, the prices have to come down.
• Even if the product is heavily advertised, it does not mean that the demand or say consumption rates will also increase. The product has to be different with better quality, and more variety than others.
• Advertising no doubt helps in employing more number of people. It helps collecting more revenues for sellers which they use for betterment of product and services. But there are some bad effects of advertisements on business cycle also. Sometimes, consumer may find the foreign product better than going for the national brand. This will definitely effect the production which may in turn affect the GDP of the country.

Social role of Advertising

• Development of society and growth of technologies

• Employment

• Gives choices to buyers with self interest

• Welcomes healthy competition

• Improving standard of living.

• Give information on social, economical and health issues.

Developing an Advertising Campaign

It refers to the process of designing a series of advertisements and placing them in various advertising media to reach a particular target market. Key points in this process are as follows

• Identify and Analyze the Advertising Target
• Defining Objectives.
• Determine the Advertising Appropriation
• Creating an Advertising Message
• Developing a Media Plan
• Executing the Campaign
• Evaluating the effectiveness of the campaign

Advertising appeals

Advertising appeals are communication strategies that marketing and advertising professionals use to grab attention and persuade people to buy or act. In other words, you appealed to people because you were credible, you affected their emotions, or you made logical sense. Advertising appeals should be meaningful, believable, and distinctive. Meaningful appeals point out benefits that make the product more desirable or interesting to consumers.

The seven major  types  of  advertising  appeals  include  musical,  sexual, humor, fear, emotional, rational, and scarcity, which all have the common goal of influencing the way consumers view themselves and the benefits of the products or services being advertised.

Advertising Design

It refers to the visual artwork created specifically for advertisements. Ad design, which is usually used synonymously with graphic design advertising, differs in the fact that its sole purpose is to sell products and services. It is also important to consider the medium.

• Print (newspapers, magazines, newsletters)
• Broadcast (television, radio)
• Outdoor (billboards)
• Public Service (to inform or educate)
• Product Placement (on cars and buses, in stores)
• Online Advertisement (email, web: social media)

Advertising copy

It is the soul of an advertisement. An advertisement copy is all the written or spoken matter in an advertisement expressed in words or sentences and figures designed to convey the desired message to the target consumers.In print media, an advertisement copy is made-up of head-line, sub-headlines, body of the copy, illustration logo-type, slogan and the brand name. Strictly speaking, written content of an ad copy is the product of the collective efforts of copy-writers, artists and the layout-men. Copy writer and artist must collaborate to provide an advertisement though copy writing precedes or succeeds the art- work and the layout.

Essentials of effective copy:

Whether a copy is effective or ineffective is a matter of personal judgment. It is really very difficult to judge as its evaluation is purely subjective and perceptive. However, a good or effective copy is one that succeeds in reaching the target consumers to create favourable attitudes towards the product and the producers, impelling an action on the part of consumer to buy.

The advertisement copies can be divided into six main types:

• Human interest ad copy
• Educational ad copy
• Reason why? ad copy
• Institutional ad copy

• Suggestive ad copy
• Expository ad copy

Advertising Budget

An advertising budget is an estimate of a company’s promotional expenditures over a certain time period. More importantly, it is the money a company is willing to set aside to accomplish its marketing objectives. When creating an advertising budget, a company must weigh the value of spending against the value of revenue. An advertising budget is part of a company’s overall sales or marketing budget that can be viewed as an investment in a company’s growth. The best advertising budgets and campaigns focus on customers’ needs and solving their problems, not company problems such as an overstock reduction.

Companies can determine the level to set their advertising budget in several different ways, each of which has its own positives and negatives:

1. Spend as much as possible: This strategy, which sets aside just enough money to fund operations, is popular with startups that see a positive return on investment on their advertising spend. The key is anticipating when the strategy will start showing diminishing returns and knowing when to switch strategies.
   1. Allocate a percentage of sales: This is as simple as allocating a specific percentage based on the previous year’s total gross sales or average sales. It is common for a business to spend 2% to 5% of annual revenues on advertising. This strategy is simple and safe but is based on past performance and may not be the most flexible choice for a changing marketplace. It also assumes that sales are directly linked to advertising.
   1. Spend what the competition spends: This is as simple as adhering to the industry average for advertising costs. Of course, no market is exactly the same and such a strategy may not be sufficiently flexible.
   1. Budget based on goals and tasks: This strategy, wherein you determine the objectives and the resources needed to achieve them, has pros and cons. On the upside, this can be the most targeted method of budgeting and the most effective. On the downside, it can be expensive and risky.

Advertising Agency

A firm engaged in providing services of advertisement for clients to create awareness and market for them is known as advertising agency. These agencies involve people with specialized skills and knowledge who are well versed in marketing, advertising and consumer behavior. These experts combine their talent to create advertisement for their clients. Therefore, an advertising agency is a specialized organization helping its clients to adopt advertising for marketing their goods and services in most effective manner.

Functions

1-  Attracting clients

• Advertising agency needs clients i.e. advertisers. Without them, it cannot survive.

2-  Account Management

• Within an advertising agency the account manager or account executive is tasked with handling all major decisions related to a specific client.
  • The account manager works closely with the client to develop an advertising strategy.
  • The principle role of account managers is to manage the overall advertising campaign for a client, which often includes delegating selective tasks to specialists.

3-  Creative Team

• Advertising agency put the advertising-plan into action under its creative function. Creation of ads is the most important function of an ad agency. Generally, it involves activities like: Copy writing, Drawing photographs, Making illustrations, layouts, an effective ad message, etc.

• These jobs are done by experts like copy writers, artists, designers, etc. These people are highly skilled and creative. They make an advertisement more appealing. Attractive ads help to increase the sales of the product.

4-  Research

• Full-service advertising agencies employ market researchers who assess a client’s market situation, including understanding customers and competitors, and also are used to test creative ideas.

• Advertising agency gathers information related to the client’s product. It collects following information about a product under its research function:

• Ad agency analyses (studies) all this collected information properly and draws conclusions for its research. It helps in planning an advertising campaign, selecting proper media and creation function.

5-  Media Planning

• Advertising agency helps an advertiser to select a proper media to promote his advertisement effectively.

• Media selection is a highly specialized function of an ad agency.
  • Advertising agency plans the entire ad campaign of its client. Advertising planning is a primary function of an ad agency. It is done when its research function is completed. That

is, after analyzing the client’s product, its competitors, market conditions, etc. It is done by experts who use their professional experience to make a result-oriented advertising- plan.

• Once an advertisement is created, it must be placed through an appropriate advertising media.

6-  Advertising budget

• Advertising agency helps an advertiser to prepare his ad budget. It helps him to use his budget economically and make the best use of it.
  • Without a proper advertising budget, there is a risk of client’s funds getting wasted or lost.

7-  Coordination

• Advertising agency brings a good coordination between the advertiser, itself, media and distributors.

8-  Sales promotion

• Advertising agency performs sales promotion. It helps an advertiser to introduce sales promotion measures for the dealers and consumers. This helps to increase the sales of the product.

9-  Public relations

• Advertising agency does the public relations work for its clients. It increases the goodwill between its clients and other parties like consumers, employees, middlemen, shareholders, etc. It also maintains good relations between the client and media owner.

UNIT-IV: ADVERTISING –COMPONENT OF IMC

Integrated Marketing Communications is a simple concept. It ensures that all forms of communications and messages are carefully linked together. Integrated marketing communications is a process of managing customer relationships that drive brand value primarily through communication efforts. Such efforts often include cross-functional processes that create and nourish profitable relationships with customers and other stakeholders by strategically controlling or influencing all messages sent to these groups and encouraging data-driven, purposeful dialog with them. IMC includes the coordination and integration of all marketing communication tools, avenues, and sources within a company into a seamless program in order to maximize the impact on end users at a minimal cost. Ideally, IMC is implemented by developing comprehensive databases on customers and prospects, segmenting these current and potential customers into groups with certain common awareness levels, predispositions, and behaviors, and developing messages and media strategies that guide the communication tactics to meet marketing objectives.

In doing this, IMC builds and reinforces mutually profitable relationships with customers and other important stakeholders and generates synergy by coordinating all elements in the promotional mix into a program that possesses clarity, consistency, and maximum impact.

According to American Association of Advertising Agencies IMC is a “concept of marketing communication planning that recognises the added value of a comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a variety of communication discipline”

Integrated Marketing Communication Tools

Advertising: Advertisement is a non-personal presentation of an idea or a product.  Advertisement supplements personal selling to a great extent. Advertising has, acquired great importance in the modern India characterized by tough competition in the market, fast changes in technology, fashion and taste of customers. It creates an active role in integrated marketing communication mix as it creates. • Good image • Top of the mind awareness • Counterclaim the competitors • Reinforce positive attitude

Publicity : Publicity is the non-personal presentation. It originates from the desk of the editor. It aims at only informing the public about the events, person, firm etc. There is no control on the publicity by the advertiser as it comes from the media owner. Publicity can be favorable or unfavorable. Large firms have separate publicity / public relation departments for publicity and

cordial public relation. The secret of the publicity is to get placement in the desired media. Thus the use of publicity provides various advantages to the seller they are: • It is available free of cost

• It provides more information than advertising as it comes from the editors desk • Consumer believe publicity more than advertising

Public relation: Public relations is defined as a management function which identifies, establishes, and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the publics. Public relations consider multiple audiences (consumers, employees, suppliers, vendors, etc.) and uses two-way communication to monitor feedback and adjust both its message and the organization’s actions for maximum benefit. It is used to generate goodwill for the organization. Public relations help the company and its public by relating each other for mutual benefits. The main objective of public relation is: • To remove misunderstanding, doubts, confusion, and wrong impression in the minds of different social groups • To maintain good corporate image. • To have the public support to the future of the company. • To fulfill social responsibility.

Sales Promotion: Sales promotions are direct inducements that offer extra incentives to enhance the product’s movement from producer to consumer. Sales promotion constitutes devices like contests, coupons, free samples, premium, and point of purchase material. Sales promotion is action oriented. It motivates customers to buy the goods under incentive plans. Sales promotion not only covers consumers but also dealers and wholesalers. It acts as a connecting link between advertising and salesmanship. Thus in a competitive marketing, sales promotion act as effective tool to an advertiser to solve several short term hurdles in marketing.

Personal Selling: Personal selling includes all person-to-person contact with customers with the purpose of introducing the product to the customer, convincing him or her of the product’s value, and closing the sale. The role of personal selling varies from organization to organization, depending on the nature and size of the company, the industry, and the products or services it is marketing. Personal selling is the most effective way to make a sale because of the interpersonal communication between the salesperson and the prospect. Messages can be tailored to particular situations, immediate feedback can be processed, and message strategies can be changed to accommodate the feedback.

Internet: Just as direct marketing has become a prominent player in the promotional mix, so too has the Internet. Web sites provide a new way of transmitting information, entertainment and advertising and have generated a new dimension in marketing: electronic commerce. E- commerce is the term used to describe the act of selling goods and services over the Internet. In other words, the Internet has become more that a communication channel; it is a marketing channel itself with companies such as Amazon.com, eBay, and others selling goods via the Internet to individuals around the globe. The interactivity of the Internet is perhaps its greatest asset. By communicating with customers, prospects, and others one-on-one, firms can build databases that help them meet specific needs of individuals, thus building a loyal customer base.

AIDA is a functional formula devised by E.K. Strong. It is the acronym for Attention (A), Interest (I) Desire (D), and Action (A). Strong postulated that before becoming a user of a product to an Interest in it. Form this stage he develops a Desire for the product and this then result in.

1. Attention: The main function of an advertisement is to attract attention of the consumers. It is because of this fact that the advertiser will use various devices like the use of attractive colour, headlines display and overall layout.
2. Interest: An advertisement is designed to create interest for the goods or services of the advertiser; interest is closely related to attention. An advertiser has to take note of these two aspects while developing an advertisement. A good advertisement starts with a point of interest to the reader and proceeds to a point of interest to the advertiser. Advertising aims at stimulating primary demands for a new product. It is used for existing product to bring a greater bit of the marketing share. It is also used to remind the consumers about their needs. A good advertisement should arouse interest of the prospects in the advertised product.
3. Desire: A good advertisement should be able to create desire in the minds of the readers about the product. It is not enough for a good advertisement to attract attention create interest but also arouse desire in the heart of the prospect to have the product. The advertiser should make use of proper appeals and selling points while creating desire for the product.
4. Action: This is an important stage where the advertiser can study the impact of his advertisement. If the advertisement has attracted attention, aroused interest, created desire, then the advertisement should appeal the prospect to act i.e., to come forward for making purchases. The advertiser should tell the prospect about the product, their main features, how they can be consumed and where they are available. For example, the prospect who wants to book new scooter should get such information in the advertisement as: place of display, place and date of booking. Every advertisement normally carries such basic information to guide the prospective buyers. It is this stage which plays a decisive role in generating the sale of the advertiser’s product.

DAGMAR model for arousing consumer interests was developed by Russen Colley in his study entitled “Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results.” The name DAGMAR model is derived from the study’s title. The study begins from a point where the prospect is not aware about the existence of the product. From this point of non-awareness the prospect advances ahead towards awareness. He will have to go through the following steps:

1. Awareness : When the prospect is asked to mention the name of a brand of product, perhaps he is in a position to recollect the name of a specific brand only.
2. Comprehension : The prospect is conscious about the main sales theme of a brand of product. When asked upon, he is able to associate a brand with the sales theme, which is already known to him.
3. Conviction : At the stage of conviction, the prospect is able to foresee how the benefits of the brand of goods will serve his need. He is convinced that if he purchases this brand of goods it would be a right decision.
4. Motivation : Having been convinced, the prospect is motivated to buy a specific brand of goods. DAGMAR model suggests that all consumers will not be at the same stage but  they would be at different stages. DAGMAR model also illustrates the success of means of communication. After advertisements have been carried out, how people associate themselves with a specific brand of product.

Media Planning

Media planning is an exercise to find the best medium or combination of media that will produce the best overall effect relative to the needs of the advertised brand. Media planning in general should involve optimum benefits in the long run. The media mix, in terms of balance of usage  for TV, radio and print media or other types of media vehicles, should be such that the best  utility of the advertising budget is obtained, and duplication of audience is avoided as far as possible. There is no single best media strategy that is applicable in varied situations or sometimes even in similar situations. Media strategies also differ because of changing situations. Advertisements for luxurious cars would therefore not be effective during times of economic depression. Similarly, advertisements about jeans, when jeans are not in fashion, would not have much impact. To select the right media and to search the right target audience for a desired response the advertiser or his advertising agency should go for a systematic media planning.

Problems in reaching rural and remote audience

The rural Indian market is growing at a rapid pace for many products and simultaneously, the tastes and choices of rural consumers are getting transformed drastically. So, rural advertising is gaining ground in today’s competitive advertising market. The services and products that are being offered to rural folks may or may not be different from the ones in urban areas. But the strategic way they are promoted and marketed has a point to research. To face these challenges, marketers are using a combination of advertising and promotional techniques and also unique media communications for rural areas. However the major problem areas are as follows

• Adoptability
  • Accessibility
  • Awareness
  • Affordability

Advertising Effectiveness

Advertisement testing deals with the measurement of advertisement effectiveness. An advertisement can be tested at two stages namely: (a) prior to the commencement, and (b) after the commencement of the advertising campaign. The former stage is called pre-testing and the latter post-testing.

What constitutes effectiveness? Which variables (s) should be tested, or, measured to know the degree of advertising effectiveness?

In practice, the following four categories of variables are, generally, tested viz. (1) message variables, (2) media variables, (3) scheduling variables and (4) budgeting variables.

1. Message Variables: In the case of an advertising message in a typical print advertisement the variable to be tested would be the headline, the illustration, the body test, the layout, and the typography etc. In the case of television commercials, the variables to be tested would be appeals, themes, propositions, audio-visual devices, format illustration technique, music, sound effects, etc.
2. Media Variables : The media testing opportunities are considered at the following four levels, viz., (i) The advertiser must decide the type of media, such as, newspapers, magazines, television, radio or direct-mail, etc., he intends to use. (ii) The advertiser then, must decide the sub-class of media, he is to use. (iii) The advertiser, then must selected specific media vehicles, what newspapers in Mumbai, which television channels in Chennai, and what media mix is to be used? (iv) Finally, he must determine space units i.e. full page, or, half pages, or, quarter pages broadcast time units, such as 60 seconds, 30 seconds, and the position of the ad in print media as well as in television.
3. Scheduling Variables: Consumer behaviour is generally influenced by the time factor, such as season of the year, occasions like Diwali, Christmas etc. timing of television commercials, frequency and continuity are also important factors.
4. Budgeting Variables: Budget affects, and is affected by all other advertising variable. How much money should be spent on advertising? How should be the total amount of money be

allocated to markets, to media to sales territories and to specific items in the product line? The advertiser must measure the relationship between budgeting variables and profit yields