Professional Selling Overview

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Professional Selling Overview

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Professional Selling Overview

KeyPoints to develop in your own time!

Introductory concepts @ OxfordCambridge.Org all for free and free for all.The information gathered here are under KeyPoints format and may be use:- Either to give the reader an overview before deciding for a full scale study of the subject.- Or to guide readers in expanding their knowledge on the given topic. Some recommendations, perhaps:- Identify all the KeyPoints on which you feel a need to expand your knowledge.- Choose a good book or two and/or info from Internet.- And then work towards gaining that knowledge.Please enjoy!





Aim of publicationTo introduce the reader or the learner to the fundamentals of professional selling.





After developing the KeyPoints outlined in this publication, you should mainly be able to:☺ explain the scope of selling☺ describe what sales staff do☺ explain how companies communicate☺ identify the needs of different types of customers☺ explain the steps involved in an organisational buying process☺ identify different types of buying decisions

Learning Objectives





After developing the KeyPoints outlined in this publication, you should mainly be able to:☺ respond to different types of organisational buyers☺ explain buying motives☺ explain how needs develop☺ deduce what a buyer can afford☺ begin a relationship properly☺ deal effectively with grievances☺ know how to build trust

Learning Objectives





☺ Defining Personal Selling

☺ Buying Processes☺ Customer Needs☺ Cultivating

Relationships

Effective Business Meetings - Sections list





☺ Scope of selling☺ Sales activities☺ Communication

Defining Personal Selling

To explain what personal selling is.




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Defining Personal Selling - Highlights☺ After going through these KeyPoints

you should be able to:

• discuss the changing role of the salesperson

• discuss organisational learning• describe the activities common to

all types of sales jobs• discuss the changing role of the

sales force• discuss organisational change• outline the different methods that

organisations use to communicate with customers

• discuss the strengths and weaknesses of different communication methods

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Defining Personal Selling - Summary☺ Personal selling is an interpersonal

communication process, that involves satisfying the needs of customers and building long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with them.

☺ Sales personnel should be able to analyze customer needs and effectively explain these needs to the organisation.

☺ Adaptive learning occurs when an organisation uses knowledge acquired from the sales force to improve its current activities.

☺ Generative learning, on the other hand, occurs when an organisation uses this knowledge to develop new products.

☺ Sales personnel are involved in finding new customers, increasing sales to existing customers, demonstrating products, negotiating, and writing orders.




Defining Personal Selling - Summary☺ Sales personnel work with other

company employees to make sure that the product meets the customer's demands.

☺ Because the role of the sales force is changing to accommodate long-term relations with customers, organisations are changing their structures.

☺ Hierarchies structures tend to be replaced with flatter, more efficient ones that focus on core processes such as customer relations, and multifunctional teams are becoming more important in organisations.

☺ Sales personnel work with other company employees to make sure that the product meets the customer's demands.




Defining Personal Selling - Summary☺ Because the role of the sales force is

changing to accommodate long-term relations with customers, organisations are changing and will change their structures.

☺ Hierarchies structures tend to be replaced with flatter, more efficient ones that focus on core processes such as customer relations, and multifunctional teams are becoming more important in organisations.

☺ Organisations use marketing communications to provide customers with information about a product and how it can be purchased.




Defining Personal Selling - Summary☺ The main methods of marketing

communications are personal selling, advertising, sales promotion, publicity, and word of mouth.

☺ The methods differ in terms of the control, flexibility, and credibility they offer, and in terms of their cost to the organisation.




☺ Types of customers☺ Organisational buying concept☺ Organisational buying decisions☺ Selling to organisations

Buying Processes

To explain how buying decisions are made in organisations.





Buying Processes - Highlights☺ After completing these KeyPoints


• describe the role of customers who are producers and re-sellers

• describe customers from government agencies and institutions as well as the general consumer

• describe how Sales personnel negotiate with customers

• describe the buying process• describe new-task decisions• describe straight and modified re-

buys• identify the strategies required in

organisational selling




Buying Processes - Summary☺ Customers that Sales personnel

encounter include producers, resellers, government agencies, institutions, and consumers.

☺ Producers can act as original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) or as end-users and resellers.

☺ Government agencies and institutions such as churches, hospitals, and colleges have intricate purchasing procedures that Sales personnel need to acquaint themselves with before negotiations can begin.

☺ Selling to an organisation requires more skill than selling to ordinary consumers because negotiations are more complex.

☺ Sales personnel need to interact with a wide variety of people in the customer's company and coordinate various departments in their own companies.




Buying Processes - Summary☺ The buying process involves

recognizing the need for a product; defining and specifying the product; soliciting, analyzing, and evaluating proposals from suppliers; placing the order; and evaluating performance.

☺ It is in the interests of the salesperson to be involved in the early stages of the buying process and to stay involved in the evaluation of a product for future business opportunities.

☺ A customer makes new-task, straight re-buy, or modified re-buy decisions for different types of products at different stages of a company's life.

☺ These decisions focus on different areas of the buying process and entail different strategies on the part of the salesperson.




☺ Defining needs☺ How needs develop

Customer Needs

To differentiate between types of buying needs and their roles in large and small sales.





Customer Needs - Highlights☺ After developing these KeyPoints


• differentiate between business needs, personal needs, and task needs

• describe rational and emotional motives for buying and how they relate to product attributes

• describe the differences in customer needs development in small and large sales

• explain the value of implied and explicit needs as buying signals in small and large sales

• discuss the effect of the value equation on customers' buying decisions




Customer Needs - Summary☺ The awareness of a lack of

something provides the initial stimulus to buy. This lack or shortage - whether tangible or intangible - is called a need.

☺ It is often useful to differentiate between needs and wants - a want arises from a need.

☺ Personal needs satisfy basic human behavioral needs, while business needs are the goods and services required for conducting a business.

☺ Task needs are tools and resources that enable people to do their work.




Customer Needs - Summary☺ Customers base their buying

decisions on rational or emotional buying motives, or on a combination of these.

☺ Sales personnel need to relate their products to the rational and emotional needs of customers at the levels of product features, advantages, and benefits.

☺ Needs develop differently in large and small sales.

☺ For example, in large sales, customers consider more closely the risks of wrong buying decisions.

☺ They also must justify their purchases rationally and tend to involve others in their buying decisions.




Customer Needs - Summary☺ Implied needs are expressed in the

form of problems or difficulties, while explicit needs are stated as wants or desires.

☺ Small sales become more likely when customers express many implied needs.

☺ To increase the likelihood of large sales, however, Sales personnel need to encourage their customers to voice as many explicit needs as possible.

☺ The value equation - or "value for money" - compares the seriousness of a problem to the cost of its solution.




☺ Beginning the relationship☺ Dealing with grievances☺ Handling customer complaints☺ Building trust

Cultivating Relationships

To demonstrate how sales personnel cultivate relationships with customers and clients.





Cultivating Relationships - Highlights☺ After developing these KeyPoints

you should be able to:• describe the value of satisfied

customers• explain how to build a

relationship properly• discuss good after-sales service• discuss how to deal with

grievances• explain techniques for

establishing the facts of a customer's claim

• identify solutions that Sales personnel can offer customers

• discuss the importance of following through with action




Cultivating Relationships - Highlights• discuss ways sales staff can

demonstrate dependability• explain how sales staff can prove

competence and customer direction

• describe how sales professionals can demonstrate honesty and geniality




Cultivating Relationships - Summary☺ Successful companies can maintain

a competitive edge by developing partnerships with customers.

☺ When customers need to make buying decisions, they are more likely to return to companies with whom they have a good relationship.

☺ When establishing a good customer relationship, the salesperson should set realistic expectations, monitor order processing, and ensure proper use of the product.

☺ The salesperson may need to provide technical assistance or training to make sure that the customer is able to use the product effectively.

☺ Successfully handling complaints at the beginning of the buyer-seller relationship is particularly important.




Cultivating Relationships - Summary☺ The salesperson should encourage

the customer to present his or her problem in detail so that the grievance can be fully understood.

☺ Once the nature of a customer's problem has been established, the salesperson should put forward a solution and explain the reasons for the action.

☺ Following through with action improves customer satisfaction and supports the salesperson's previous assurances that the company is dedicated to customer service.

☺ Trust develops from a combination of five factors - dependability, competence, customer direction, honesty, and geniality.




Cultivating Relationships - Summary☺ Dependability refers to the

customer's perception of whether or not the salesperson, the product, and the company will meet expectations.

☺ Sales personnel can demonstrate dependability by fulfilling their promises.

☺ Sales personnel demonstrate competence by showing that they know what they are talking about and can carry out their tasks quickly and efficiently.

☺ Customer orientation describes the way in which a salesperson places the customer's needs above the need to make a sale.

☺ Honesty is related to dependability and competence; customers tend to rely on Sales personnel who are truthful and know what they are talking about.

☺ Geniality is conveyed by pleasant and friendly communication.





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Professional Selling Overview