Integrated Marketing

Communication

P. Sabari Raghavendran (Fellow), XLRI

Need
What is IMC ?
Why IMC?
How IMC will impact a company?
Personal Selling
Selling is being viewed today as an Art
and a Science, with an emphasis on
practicing Agility to enhance
Performance
The Nature of Personal Selling

Involves an individual acting for a company by

performing one or more of the following activities:
 Prospecting,
 Communicating,
 Servicing,
 Information Gathering.

The term salesperson covers a wide spectrum of

positions from:
 Order Taking (department store salesperson)
 Order Getting (someone engaged in creative selling)
 Missionary Selling (building goodwill or educating buyers)
Building Relationships

Satisfied customers repeat their purchases

because they are satisfied with the value of
the relationship
 Taking care of existing customers reduces

sales cycle time and increases efficiency

B2B and B2C Selling

Business-to-Business (B2B) Selling

 The salesperson represents a company and

sells to other companies

Business-to-Consumer (B2C) Selling
 The salesperson sells directly to the

consumer
Principles of Personal Selling
Situation questions
Problem questions
Implication questions
Need-payoff questions
Steps in Effective Selling
Prospecting/qualifying
Preapproach
Approach
Presentation
Overcoming objections
Closing
Follow up
The Role of the Sales Force

Personal selling is effective because

salespeople can:
 probe
 adjust
 negotiate
 build
Elements in the
Communication Process
Components of IMC ?
Integrated Marketing Communications

Advertising Personal selling

Sales promotion

Public relations

Direct marketing
 Evaluating
Evaluating Salespeople
Salespeople
Supervising
Supervising Salespeople
Salespeople
Compensating
Compensating Salespeople
Salespeople
Training
Training Salespeople
Salespeople
Recruiting
Recruiting and
and Selecting
Selecting Salespeople
Salespeople
Designing
Designing Salesforce
Salesforce Strategy
Strategy and
and Structure
Structure
Managing the Salesforce
Designing Sales Force Strategy and
Structure

of Sales
Types of
Types Structure
Force Structure
Sales Force

Territorial
Territorial
Exclusive
ExclusiveTerritory
Territoryto
to
Sell
Sellthe
theCompany’s
Company’s
Full Product
Product
FullProduct
ProductLine
Line Sales
SalesForce
ForceSells
SellsAlong
Along
Product
ProductLines
Lines Customer
Customer
Sales
SalesForce
ForceSells
SellsAlong
Along
Customer/
Customer/Industry
IndustryLines
Lines

of Above
Combination of
Combination Types of
Above Types Sales Force
of Sales Structures
Force Structures
Complex
Complex
Designing Sales Force Strategy
and Structure

Sales Force
Sales Size
Force Size

Other Sales
Other Force Strategy
Sales Force and Structure
Strategy and Issues
Structure Issues

Who
WhoWill
WillBe
BeInvolved
Involvedininthe
the How
HowWill
WillSales
Salesand
andSales
SalesSupport
Support
Selling
SellingEffort?
Effort? People
PeopleWork
WorkTogether?
Together?
Outside
OutsideSales
SalesForce
Force Team
TeamSelling
Selling
Inside
InsideSales
SalesForce
Force
Recruiting and Selecting Salespeople

•Enthusiasm
•Enthusiasmand
andSelf-Confidence
Salespeople
ofSalespeople
of Self-Confidence
Characteristics
SomeCharacteristics
Some •Persistence
•Persistence
•Initiative
•Initiative
•Job
•JobCommitment
Commitment

•Current
•CurrentSalespeople
Procedures
RecruitingProcedures Salespeople
Recruiting •Employment
•EmploymentAgencies
Agencies
•Classified Ads
•Classified Ads
•College
•CollegeCampuses
Campuses

Process •Sales
•SalesAptitude
Aptitude
Process
•Analytical
•Analytical&&Organizational
OrganizationalSkills
Selection
SalespersonSelection
Salesperson Skills
•Personality Traits
•Personality Traits
•Other
•OtherCharacteristics
Characteristics
Understand
UnderstandField
FieldProcedures
Procedures
and
andResponsibilities
Responsibilities
Learn
LearnHow
How to
toMake
Make
Effective
EffectivePresentations
Presentations
Learn
LearnAbout
AboutCompetitors’
Competitors’
and
andCustomers’
Customers’Characteristics
Characteristics
Learn
LearnHow
Howthe
theProducts
ProductsWork
Work
Help
HelpSalespeople
SalespeopleKnow
Know&&Identify
Identify
With
Withthe
theCompany
Company
Training Salespeople
Compensating Sales People

Salary
Bonus
Incentives
Benefits
Promotion
Supervising Salespeople

Directing Salespeople Motivating Salespeople

• Identify Customer Targets • Organizational Climate

& Set Call Norms • Sales Quotas
• Develop Prospect Targets • Positive Incentives
– Honors
• Use Sales Time Efficiently
– Annual Call Schedule – Awards
– Time-and-Duty Analysis – Merchandise/ Cash
– Sales Force Automation
– Trips
How Salespeople Spend Their Time

Administrative
Service Calls Tasks
12% 17%
Companies Look For
Ways to Increase the
Telephone Amount of Time
Selling Salespeople Spend
21% Selling
Face-to-Face
Selling
30%
Waiting/
Traveling
20%
Evaluating Salespeople

Expense
Expense Sales
Reports Sales
Reports Report
Report

Sources
Sources
of
of
Call
Call
Information
Information Work
Work
Reports Plan
Plan
Reports

Annual
Annual
Territory
Territory
Marketing
MarketingPlan
Plan
Assignment
Prepare a Sales Force plan
Territory – Chennai (Metro)
No. of outlets 22000
CRM
What Is “CRM”

Customer Relationship Management

Becoming a common and important concept in many
industries
Beyond mere ‘Contact Management’
Knowing the customer and the Touch points
Single undertaking view of customers
Most industries have CRM software to help sales
process, on-going service, and even accounting
The Value of CRM
Gain more control in interaction with
customers
Manage expectations better
Increase trust
Competitive advantage
Provide products that better serve customers
Understand what customers really want
Understand the nature of customer service
Customer Definitions

External Customers
- Customers we do business with outside our
organization.

Internal Customers
- The people we work with throughout our
organization.
Demographic Information
 Characteristics such as:
age
 Gender
income
 Pin code
marital status
 occupation
education
 household size
stage in the family life-
 mobility patterns
cycle  ethnic background
home ownership  religion
Psychographic Information

lifestyles culture
modes of living social class
needs family influences
motives hobbies
attitudes political affiliation
Firmographic Information
Characteristics about a company such
as:
 how many employees they have;
 the kind of business they are in;
 whether they are retail, wholesale, or a
service provider;
 their hours of operation
Why Is Excellent Customer Service so
Rare?

It requires two things that the average

person and organization are unwilling to
commit to:
 Spending money

 Taking action
From the Customer’s Perspective

What Is Customer Service?

- Anything we do for the customer that enhances the customer
experience.

What is Customer Satisfaction?

- The customer’s overall feeling of contentment with an
interaction.

What is Customer Expectations?

- Customer’s personal vision of the result that is based on their
experience.

What is Customer Perceptions?

- The way customer’s see something based on their experience
Levels of Expectations

Primary expectations: the customer’s most

basic requirements of an interaction.
Secondary expectations: expectations based
on our previous experiences that are
enhancements to our primary expectations.
Reputation Management

The process of identifying how a

company is perceived and establishing
an action plan to correct, maintain, or
enhance the company’s reputation.
A Company with a Good Reputation

Is very responsive to customers

Is a company you can trust
Delivers on its promises to customers
Provides excellent value to customers
Has excellent communications
Is ethical and honest
Conducts business in a human/caring way
Has excellent top management
Is able to adapt to changes in the industry
Is a technological leader in the industry
Is committed to the environment
Techniques for Exceeding Customers’
Expectations

Become familiar with your customers.

Ask your customers what their expectations
are.
Tell your customers what they can expect.
Live up to their expectations.
Maintain consistency.
Credibility

The combination of our current knowledge,

reputation, and professionalism.
For Cultivating Credibility…

Practice consistency
Keep your word
Develop your expertise
Become a teammate with your co-workers
Show your dedication to customers
Treat all of your customers and co-workers
with the same high level of respect
Apologize if you are wrong
Remember that credibility is much harder to
regain than it is to keep
New Trends in Customer Service
Accessibility for the customer
Immediacy of response
Feedback from customer to customer
service provider
Outsourcing of all or part of customer
service functions
Nontraditional examples of customer
service
Cost of Losing a Customer

lose the current financial that our business

relationship create.
lose the jobs that our clients provide.
suffer from a loss of reputation.
lose the intangible variable of future
business.
Customer Intelligence

The process of gathering information;

building a historical database; and developing
an understanding of current, potential, and
lapsed customers.
Sources of Customer Intelligence

Method by which customers choose to

conduct business
Time of day that customers have questions
Depth of their expected interactions
Purchasing patterns
Expectations
Methods of Communication
Listening: The ability to hear and understand
what the speaker is saying.
Writing: Communicating by using the written
word so that others can understand the intended
message.
Talking: Speaking, using words and terminology
that others can comprehend.
Reading: The ability to look at and comprehend
the written word.
Nonverbal communication: Tone and inflection
of voice, facial expressions, posture, and eye
contact. Nonverbal communication can contradict
the message conveyed through another method of
communication.
Challenging Customers

Those customers with problems, questions,

fears, and personalities that require us to
work to achieve true communication.
Respect
To give someone special recognition or
regard.
Empathy
The ability to understand what
someone is experiencing and to take
action to assist in resolving the
situation.
Responsibility Check
Assessing a situation and determining
who should have responsibility and
who really does have the responsibility.
What to do When You Are Wrong

Review the situation.

Observe the customer’s reaction.
Admit the mistake.
Apologize for your actions or error.
Find a solution and implement it.
Six ways to Cope with Challenging
Customers

1. Listen
2. Ask questions
3. Show empathy
4. Solve the problem
5. Follow up
6. End on a positive note
Payoffs of Coping with Challenging
Customers

By learning to cope with challenging

customers, we become more effective and
efficient assets to our company and the job
that we were hired to perform!
Relationship Marketing
Cultivating a lasting and mutually
beneficial connection with customers.
Customer Retention
The continuous attempt to satisfy and
keep current customers actively
involved in conducting business.
Churn (or Churn Rate)
The number of customers who leave a
business in a year’s time divided by the
number of new customers in the same
period.
Defection Rate
The percentage of customers who leave
a business in one year.
Customer Lifetime Value
The net present value of the profits a
customer generates over the average
customer life.
Guidelines for Establishing a Customer-
Relationship Program

1. Examine who your customers are and what

specific needs they have.
2. Identify specific objectives to be realized by
the program.
3. Create a manageable program of customer
retention.
4. Create a culture that stimulates customer
interest.
5. Determine a timetable for evaluation.
Thank You