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Relationship Marketing – Chapter 3Introduction to Sales Management

Relationship Marketing

• What is Relationship Marketing?

- Relationship Marketing (RM) is the

process of creating customer loyalty.

- Places importance to the continuous

sustenance, maintenance and fulfillment

of customers’ needs

Customer Relationship Management

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) values its relationship with the customer

• Throughout the duration of relationship with a customer CRM nurtures, grows, sustains a harmonious and lasting relationship with the customer.

• The quality is a good determinant of customer satisfaction.

• Provided the service provider (salesperson or company) renders good and satisfactory service, the customer will remain loyal.

• If good customer relationship is practice, customers retention will increase, and reduce customers turnover.

Personal selling builds relationship

• The main purpose of personal selling: - To generate increased revenue - provide service to customers - make customers satisfied with their purchases.Thus building relationship is the key to success in today’s competitive marketplace.

• Salespeople Generate Revenue- Once a product is produced it must be

sold. - In competitive business world personal selling is the main promotional method for selling the product. - Salespeople help to make more products available in the market.



• Comparing Advertising against personal selling

Advertising Personal SellingCreate awareness Gets involved with the customer to

close the sale

Creates AIDA – Attention, Interest, Desire & Probable Action

Gets involve to improvise sales presentation to suit individuals and organization.

It may be converted into Sales Chances of closing the sale is very likely.

Advertising is done for a wide spectrum of products.

Choice of more products available – depends on salesperson

Informative, persuasive and costly to maintain

Costly to maintain a sales team

Can be repeated again and again to gain acceptance

May need numerous attempt before a sales is closed.

Difficult to create a personal relationship – one way.

Easy to create personal relationship – interactive, repeat sales can arise.

Salespeople provide service

• Service quality is a customer based assessment that gets its finding (results) by getting customer expectation compared against service offered.

• Excellent service provided by salesperson can bring recurring sales.

• Customer may get the product but unhappy with the after service.

• Quality of service must be continuously upgraded to provide an exemplary service far above customer expectation

Relationship Marketing & Sales Force

• Relationship Marketing is important in the sales force effort to customer retention and maintenance.

• Personal selling is essential element of the marketing mix ( Product, place, price and promotion)

• Personal selling generates revenue and provide service to help make customers satisfied.

• In the market place, most business must make personal selling the main promotional method for selling their products.

• Salespeople help to play an important part in developing a relationship marketing program.

Relationship Marketing & Sales Force

• Good relationship marketing to personal selling means: - Salespeople (SP) are in direct contact with customer

most of the time. - SP are able to find just the right product for their

customers - SP are able to provide good customer service all the

time. - SP are there to provide after sales service. - SP truly value their relationship with their customers - SP act in a consultative manner for their client or

customer.

Levels of relationship marketing

• There are three general levels of selling relationship with customers:

Transaction Selling: Customers are sold goods or service and not contacted again. E.g. At your local McDonalds or KFC.

Relationship Selling: Involves a series of contacts with customers over along period of time, enhancing and improving to gain mutual benefit. This is not a one of transaction .

Partnering: The process where the salespeople of a company work closely with their customers (company) to help them in their progress of business, market and technology achievement.

Key Features of Partnering

• Partnering helps to reduce or remove conflict of interest between business.

• Organization that practice partnering are more responsive.

• They know customers’ requirement even before customer comes to know.

• The Company and its customer can work together and realize greater business growth.

• They can forge a business alliance and move in a forward direction which includes innovation, product development and increased market share.

Criteria for Successful Partnership

• Individual excellence – optimistic in outlook

• Importance – Both value their relationship

• Interdependence – Mutual need for one another

• Investment – Committed resources to it success.

• Integration – Share, teach and learn from another in ways of operating

• Fully structured organization – Formal status with clear responsibility.

• Integrity – Both are trustworthy, sincere to its objective and direction.

Consultative Selling (CS)

• An extension of partnering

• CS is the process of helping the customer achieve strategic short and long term goals through use of the seller's goods and service.

Needs of Consultative Selling

• Customer have three needs that salespeople must be prepared to fulfill:

Customers want salespeople

who are committed in helping

them to succeed. Customer need salespeople who are

prepared to commit with over long time.

Salespeople need to focus on the

customer’s needs when developing

product recommendation and

suggestion.

Types of Consultative Selling Roles

• The Team Leader Role– Salespeople look up to guide or

person who can give direction and purpose to their action or activity.

– The leader coordinates all the information, resources and activities in the team to support customers’ needs

– Groups act as multifunctional teams such as a buying team.

– Buying team consist of various specialist who communicate to convey accurately their buying needs to the seller or seller team.


• The Team Leader Role

Team selling – This group brings together the suitable people and resources needed to make the sales call. The sales call may take place over the phone, in person by video teleconference. The customer may choose to respond accordingly.

Top to Top – This is where the top executives of selling teams interact with the top executive of the buying team via computer technology.


Business Consultant or sales consultant act in position of advisor and consultant to the customer. This person provide valuable information to the customer by gaining access to internal and external resources.

He or she will listen eagerly to gather as much information before making any decision in providing advice to his or her customer. Customer expectation is usually high and expect the salesperson to deliver the results.

What must the salesperson do to become a Sales Consultant?•Understand the customer picture of business.•Showing empathy, trust, reliability and professionalism in their task with customers.•Working to gain as much business knowledge.•Unselfish in their pursuit – putting the customer interest first for the good of the customer.


Long Term Helper Salesperson:Create a win-win situation to bring mutual benefit.

Generate more business for the customer, in turn the salesperson commission will increase.

Always speak in the interest of the customer anytime anywhere.

Help customer to conduct market analysis and research to gain more market information.

Remain loyal to the customer always forging a harmonious long term relationship.

Even after sales is concluded maintaining harmonious relationship, seeing to that there is any additional help or assistance needed.

Relationship Gap

• Relationship Gap is the difference between salesperson pre and post sale concern for the customer.

• Long term success for salesperson and the customer depends on reducing the relationship gap.

• Customer must be receiving on par or above the customer expectation of quality of the service throughout the duration of their relationship.

Role of Technology and Information in Relationship Selling

• Using technology, the salesperson can enhance his or her productivity or work performance to the expectation or surpass the customer’s expectation.

• Examples technology that is in use include:

voice activated computer, email, mobile video phones, faxes, satellite & cable transmission, geographical information system supported via Measat could make a salesperson more responsive to meet customer’s needs

Electronic Selling( E-Selling)

• E-Selling refers to the use of any form of electronic interactive technology as way to transmit, communicate and get feedback from the customer or business with regard to all sales transaction.

E-Selling and problems

What are three factors that

are seen as problems in implementing E-Selling:

•Gathering and organizing information takes time and makes the sales process long.

•New Technologies or cutting edge technology can be costly to operate and maintain.

•Before a business can expect the anticipated ROI (Return on Investment) they need to expedite and cut through the bureaucracy and improve the business process.