MERITS OF PERSONAL

SELLING
Merits of Personal Selling
• 1. Flexibility and Adaptability:

• Advertisement has a broad sales message. It cannot be adjusted to reactions

and objections of any one prospect.
• By its very nature, personal selling is capable of providing more flexibility being
adaptable.

• A salesman can adjust himself to the varying needs, moods, motives impulses,
attitudes and other behavioural variations of the prospect or prospects to
communicate effectively and effect the sales for his boss with print and benefits
to the class of customers.
Merits of Personal Selling
• 2. Minimum Wastage:
• The efforts put in buy the salesmans are highly focused on a
single customer or a small group of customers. As a result of oral,
face-to-face presentation, the message is likely to reach the
customer or customers without distortion and diffusion.

• This is perhaps, the greatest vent in contrast with advertising

where ad message is relased to thousands and lakhs of prospects
enmass resulting in message diffusion, distortion and cluster
causing much wastage of promotional efforts.

• It is simple and clear that no customer is alike but unique having

his or her own image, personality, needs, wants, preferences and
above all likes and dislikes.
Merits of Personal Selling
• 3. Two way communication/ Feedback:

• Personal selling is the best means of two-way communication

continuously between the company and its customers. Top management
can be fully informed about many vital matters such as competition,
customer reaction and comment, market trend, dealer demands, etc.

• The salesman is, in effect, a marketing researcher. Being in direct

contact with customers, he has the specific advantage of collecting and
transmitting the relevant marketing information affecting his company,
products and services and himself.
• Such a timely and authentic and verifiable data are the bases for vital
decisions, strategies and tactical adjustments as his firm has to
constantly adjust to the changing environment in which his firm works.
Merits of Personal Selling
• 4. It creates Impinging and Lasting Impressions:
• The process of personal selling is so direct and penetrating that long
dashing business relations can be developed between the selling house
and the class of customers. In case of advertising, it acts like a flash of a
thunder bolt from the blue.

• The light through very powerful, lasts only for a few seconds; on the
other hand, the light of salesmanship is like an electric current that lasts
longer as it is under control. Thus, a personal visit by a salesman at door
step has more deep impact than that of an advertisement.

• It is because, ads are continuously octroi, and indirectly excuse duties

because goods are to be produced before sale as per sales specifications.
It is salesmanship that also pays in terms of income tax and professional
tax.

• More government income though taxes will make it to spend for the
overall development of the society. This also leads to good governance-a
major responsibility of every business house.
Merits of Personal Selling
• 5. It generates Gainful Employment Opportunities:

• India and other developing countries have the situation

where people run after jobs rather than jobs running
after people. Hence, there is good scope for self-
employment and ready jobs

• in this line of selling. Direct employment in various

sales persons jobs, roughly 20% of the population, is
engaged in the sales activities. One can imagine these
are self-employed and employed by other organisations
making their livelihood. The selling jobs are thrilling,
challenging having freedom of work opportunity to
know people, places and good and bad times.
Merits of Personal Selling
• 6. Improving the Living Standards of Teeming Millions:

• Salesmen are well known for delivery of standard of living to the

community. It is these people who bring to their notice, their
necessities, comforts and luxuries-in terms of goods and services
according to their needs, moods and purses.

• They are also instrumental in bringing about change in their life-styles.

• Day by day, they make available latest goods, quality goods, sufficient
goods at reasonable prices.

• It means, that they create, maintain and improve the living standards of
millions. Improvement in standard of living is a mark of increase in per
capita income and disposable income individually and national income
at macro level.
 Merits of Personal Selling
• 7. Salesmanship makes the Economic System more Stable:

• Faster economic growth is not only desirable but essential. That is why, each
country is trying her best to use its all resources to get the optimum results.
Though faster economic development is aimed at, there is need for stable
economic development.

• That is, economic ups and downs are not to be too severe as their effects are
hazardous on the different sections of the community. Inflation is the upswing
in the economic tide-waves that make rich richer and poor poorer.

• The problem of business community is to survive successfully particularly

during the period of depression or recession where demand is not picking up.
• Under these circumstances, it is the efforts of salesmanship advertising that
come to help to reduce the ill-effects of depression or recession. It is these
agents that stimulate demand for goods and services and protect the legitimate
interests of business community. If there were no sales-people and advertising,
they are forced to be in deep water.
 Merits of Personal Selling
• 8. Effective in Building Personal Relationships – The interactive
nature of personal selling makes it the most effective promotional
method for building relationships with customers, which is
particularly important when purchases take a considerable
amount of time to complete (e.g., business-to-business
purchasing).

• 9.Important in International Sales – Building relationships is also

a critical part of the personal selling process when doing business
internationally, especially in such area as Asia and Latin America,
where personal relationships between buyer and seller are often
more important than seeking the best business deal.

• 10. Best Promotion for Hard to Reach Customers – Personal

selling is the most practical promotional option for reaching
customers who are not easily reached through other methods.