November 28, 2021

SALES RESPONSIBILITY AND PREPARATION SALES RESPONSIBILITIES. The primary responsibility of a salesperson is to conclude a sale successfully. This task will involve the identification of customer needs, presentation and demonstration, negotiation, handling objections and closing the sale. These skills will be discussed later in details. In order to generate sales successfully, a number of secondary functions are also carried out by most salespeople. Although termed secondary, they are vital to long-term sales success. These are: Prospecting; Database and knowledge management; Self-management; Handling complaints; Providing service; and Relationship management. Salespeople are also responsible for implementing sales and marketing strategies. This issue will be considered later. Prospecting Prospecting is the searching for and calling upon customers who, hitherto, have not purchased from the company. This activity is not of uniform importance across all branches of selling. It is obviously far more important in industrial selling than retail selling; for example, a salesperson of office equipment may call upon many new potential customers, whereas a furniture salesperson is unlikely to search out new prospects – they come to the shop as a result of advertising and, perhaps, high street location. Sources of prospects Existing customers. This is a highly effective method of generating prospects and yet tends to be under-used by many. A wealth of new prospects can be obtained simply by asking satisfied customers if they know of anyone who may have a need for the kinds of products or services being sold. This technique has been used successfully in life insurance and industrial selling, but also has applications in many other areas. Having obtained the names of potential customers, the salesperson, if appropriate, can ask the customer if they may use the customer’s name as a reference. The use of reference selling in industrial marketing can be highly successful since it reduces the perceived risk for a potential buyer. Trade directories. A reliable trade directory such as Kompass or Dun and Bradstreet can prove useful in identifying potential industrial buyers. The Kompass directory, for example, is organised by industry and location and provides such potentially useful information as: Name, address and telephone number of companies; Names of board members; Size of firm, by turnover and number of employees; Type of products manufactured or distributed. Enquiries. Enquiries may arise as a natural consequence of conducting business. Satisfied customers may, by word-of-mouth create enquiries from ‘warm’ prospects. Many companies stimulate enquiries, however, by advertising (many industrial advertisements use coupon return to stimulate leads), direct mail and exhibitions. This source of prospects is an important one and the salesperson should respond promptly. The enquirer may have an urgent need seeking a solution and may turn to the competition if faced with a delay. Even if the customer’s problem is not so urgent, slow response may foster unfavorable attitudes towards the salesperson and their company’s products. The next priority is to screen out those enquiries that are unlikely to result in a sale. A telephone call has the advantage of giving a personalized response and yet is relatively inexpensive and not time consuming. It can be used to check how serious the enquiry is and to arrange a personal visit should the enquiry prove to have potential. This process of checking leads to establish their potential is known as qualifying. For potential business customers the internet can be useful in qualifying customers. For example, online financial ratings services can be used to check on the prospect’s financial resources. Salespeople may also inspect the prospect’s corporate website and blogs. The press and the internet. Advertisements and articles can provide clues to potential new sources of business. Articles may reveal diversification plans that may mean a company suddenly becomes a potential customer. Advertisements for personnel may reveal plans for expansion, again suggesting potential new business. The internet is also a vast resource for identifying new potential customers. For example, salespeople may use electronic versions of product directories (e.g.Thomson Register) to identify companies that carry out certain types of operations and therefore may need specific products or services. Also, online databases (e.g. ABI Inform) can be used to gather detailed data on industries together with information on trends for products and industries. 5. Cold canvassing/cold calling. These terms are used interchangeably and as the words suggest involve calling on potential new customers ‘cold’ i.e. without prior contact or even an appointment. Although widely used in some forms of selling, such as ‘door-to-door’ or telephone selling, it can be an ineffective and thus frustrating approach to generating sales. In fact, only a relatively small number of individuals are able to cope with the stresses, strains and challenges of cold canvassing, making them very special and valuable types of salespeople. Indeed, the process of cold canvassing can be so stressful that someone once suggested that it was ‘God’s punishment’ for the salesperson. So why is cold canvassing potentially so ineffective and stressful, and, come to that, is it always so? The major problem in cold canvassing lies with the potential reaction, or perhaps lack of it, on the part of the customer.Cold canvassing means approaching customers who at the extreme have never heard of the company, have never heard of its products, have never met or spoken to the salesperson before and may have no conceivable interest in, or need for, the product or service in question. Imagine the difficulties of trying to sell in this situation. Furthermore, the customer may strongly resent being approached without prior warning or permission. This is particularly the case where customers are approached in their own time and/or in their own homes as is the case with much consumer product cold canvassing. In fact, there are major potential ethical and regulatory issues associated with some types of cold calling, especially where the approach to the potential customer is made via the internet or by telephone. Consequently, any marketer intending to use these contact methods for cold calling must be familiar with, and careful to adhere to, any legal or industry regulations and guidelines

SALES DISPLAY AND DEMONSTRATIONS Once the problems and needs of the buyer have been identified, the presentation follows as a natural consequence. The first question to be addressed is presentation of what? The preceding section has enabled the salesperson to choose the most appropriate product(s) from their range to meet customer requirements. Second, having fully discussed what the customer wants, the salesperson knows which product benefits to stress A given product may have a range of potential features which confer benefits to customers, but different customers place different priorities on them. In short, having identified the needs and problems of the buyer, the presentation provides the opportunity for the salesperson to convince the buyer that they can supply the solution. The key to this task is to recognize that buyers purchase benefits and are only interested in product features in as much as they provide the benefits that the customer is looking for. Examples of the relationship between certain product features and benefits. Training programs and personal preparation of salespeople should pay particular attention to deriving the customer benefits which their products bestow. Benefits should be analyzed at two levels: those benefits that can be obtained by purchase of a particular type of product, and those that can be obtained by purchasing that product from a particular supplier. For example, automatic washing machine salespeople need to consider the benefits of an automatic washing machine compared with a twin-tub, as well as the benefits that their company’s automatic washing machines have over competitors’ models. This proffers maximum flexibility for the salesperson in meeting various sales situations. The danger of selling features rather than benefits is particularly acute in industrial selling because of the highly technical nature of many industrial products, and the tendency to employ sales engineers rather than salespeople Perkins Diesels found this to be a problem with their sales team after commissioning market research to identify strengths and weaknesses of their sales and marketing operation, but it is by no means confined to this sector. Hi-fi salespeople who confuse and infuriate customers with tedious descriptions of the electronic wizardry behind their products are no less guilty of this sin. A simple method of relating features and benefits in a sales presentation is to link them by using the following phrases: ‘which means that’ ‘which results in’ ‘which enables you to’. For example, an estate agent might say, ‘The house is situated four miles from the company where you work (product feature) which means that you can easily be at work within fifteen minutes of leaving home’ (customer benefit). An office salesperson might say, ‘The XYZ photocopier allows stream feeding (product feature) which results in quicker photocopying’ (customer benefit). Finally, a car salesperson may claim, ‘This model is equipped with overdrive (product feature) which enables you to reduce petrol consumption on motorways’ (customer benefit). The term ‘presentation’ should not mislead the salesperson into believing that they alone should do all the talking. The importance of asking questions is not confined to the needs and problem identification stage. Asking questions as part of the presentation serves two functions. First, it checks that the salesperson has understood the kinds of benefits the buyer is looking for. After explaining a benefit it is sound practice to ask the buyer, ‘Is this the kind of thing you are looking for?’ Second, asking questions establishes whether the buyer has understood what the salesperson has said. A major obstacle to understanding is the use of technical jargon that is unintelligible to the buyer. Where a presentation is necessarily complicated and lengthy, the salesperson would be well advised to pause at various points and simply ask if there are any questions. This gives the buyer the opportunity to query anything that is not entirely clear. This questioning procedure allows the salesperson to tailor the speed and content of their presentation to the circumstances. Buyers have different backgrounds, technical expertise and intelligence levels. Questioning allows the salesperson to communicate more effectively because it provides the information necessary for the seller to know how to vary the presentation to different buyers. Technological advances have greatly assisted the presentation. For example, laptops allow the use of online resources such as video material and the ability to get a response from a sales office during a presentation. Access to company websites permits the carrying of masses of product information, including sound and animation. Many sales situations involve risk to the buyer. No matter what benefits the salesperson discusses, the buyer may be reluctant to change from the present supplier or present model because to do so may give rise to unforeseen problems – delivery may be unpredictable or the new model may be unreliable. Assurances from the salesperson are, of themselves, unlikely to be totally convincing – after all, they would say that, wouldn’t they! Risk is the hidden reason behind many failures to sell. The salesperson accurately identifies customer needs and relates product benefits to those needs. The buyer does not offer much resistance, but somehow does not buy; a likely reason is that the buyer plays safe, sticking to the present supplier or model in order to lessen the risk of aggravation should problems occur. How, then, can a salesperson reduce risk? There are four major ways: (a) Reference selling; (b) Demonstrations; (c) Guarantees; and (d) Trial orders. Reference selling Reference selling involves the use of satisfied customers in order to convince the buyer of the effectiveness of the salesperson’s product. During the preparation stage  Sales technique a list of satisfied customers, arranged by product type, should be drawn up. Letters from satisfied customers should also be kept and used in the sales presentation in order to build confidence. This technique can be highly effective in selling, moving a buyer from being merely interested in the product to being convinced that it is the solution to their problem. Demonstrations Chinese proverb: Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand. Demonstrations

PROCESS OF SELLING This can be defined as the last step in chain of commerce where a buyer exchanges cash for a sellers good/service or the activity of trying to bring this about. Refers to give or handing over something in exchange for money.it involves persuading someone of the merits of a particular product or service. IMPORTANCE /PURPOSE OF SELLING The customer can know why they need the product-benefits Helps the product become more relatable to customer. Leads to customer loyalty. To make money for self and company one works for. Source of income. PROCESS OF SELLING This is the complete set of steps that must take place in order to execute a sales transaction from beginning till the end. The process involves the following steps. Initial contact. Product demonstrations. Trial periods. Bidding price. Negotiations. Signing of contracts Delivery of product/service being sold. FACTORS AFFECTING THE SELLING PROCESS Holidays/life events-Christmas, birthdays speeds up or slows down the selling process. Job market-If individuals seeking employment opportunities are more selling dwindles. Financing availability-shortage of funds from lenders can negatively impact small and medium sized businesses. Stock market and investments-When faced with alternatives, investors put their money where they expect the best combination of high return and low-risk. Consumer confidence. World events ie politics, landscape and natural disaster.