Personal Selling 101

Hannah Eggert
&
Richard Rich
 Why Personal Selling?
 Personal Selling is the oldest marketing
communication and is centered around
person-to-person interactive
communication. The goal of personal selling
is to persuade.
 Whether children are selling lemonade or
George Forman selling grills we are
constantly involved in personal selling.
 How To Personally Sell…
 Acquire New Customers-
 Prospecting- Locating new potential
customers.
 Sales Leads- A person or association
that is identified as a prospect.
 Cold Call- A sales call to a prospect who
is not known and has not shown interest
in the product/service.
 An Example of Acquiring New
Customers.
 Boy Selling Beer...
 Retaining Current Customers
 15 to 20% of customers turnover each year
(leave a company/stop purchasing).
 It is important to maintain relationships to
prevent turnover by creating a trusting and
mutually beneficial relationship.
 In B2B sales, salespeople should be
constantly analyzing new ways to better
service their customers needs.
 Personal Selling Understood
 The best salespeople LISTEN and motivate
their customers to reveal unmet needs or
potential opportunities.
 Salespeople need to have a thorough
understanding of their own
products/services as well as the customer’s
situation and needs.
 Personal Selling Strategies
 Solution/Enterprise Selling- Helping
customers solve problems or take
advantage of opportunities.
 Needs Assessment- Various forms to
uncover these needs and opportunities.
 Customer Relationship
Management (CRM)
 CRM is a type of database software
that allows organizations to track
sales/leads and better serve
customers.
 The Personal Selling Process
 Generating Leads- A salesperson must
first gather leads from responses to
their advertising and publicity. Leads
may also come from referrals from
current or previous customers.
 Qualifying Leads
 Once leads are gathered, they must be
qualified. Qualified leads are those that
possess the (1) real need or opportunity
that the brand can address (2) ability to
buy (3) authority to buy (4) are
approachable.
 Making the Sales Call
 Inside Sales- Salespeople who regularly call
on accounts whose sales do not justify
direct interaction.
 Sales Literature- Helps sales reps make
presentations.
 The end of the sales call/presentation is
centered around “asking for the order”.
 Handling Objections & Closing
the Sale
 Objections need to be clarified to
understand whether the issue can be
resolved through a different
product/service or a different approach.
 Good salespeople can anticipate objections
and will already have answers formulated
for common objections.
 Closing the Sale- Finalizing terms and
making the agreement. “Ask for the Sale”.
 How NOT to ask for the Sale!
 Girlscout Cookies !
Advantages of Personal Selling
 Personal Selling’s greatest advantage is the
two-way dialogue and personalized
presentation. It is the most powerful form
of persuasion. Facilitates feedback to
objections and allows you to read the
person and create rapport and a
relationship.
 Disadvantages of Personal
Selling
 Personal Selling has a high cost due to the
direct interaction of the salesperson.
 Sales commissions can be costly.
 Some salespeople lack the patience and
understanding to maintain long-term
relationships.
 Some are focused solely on short-term
gains instead of CLV.
 7 Steps for BIG results…
 Be Friendly
 Determine what the customer wants
 Put the product in the customers hand
 Allow for the customer to have possession
or control of the product
 Suggest the products importance
 Ask ?’s that get positive responses
 Maintain a positive mood
Highest Cost, Greatest Impact
 Sources
 www.youtube.com
 Duncan, Tom. Principles of Advertising and
IMC. 2005.
 Gladson, Ted. “Personal Selling: Seven
Steps for the Big Results”. 26 June 1989.
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