Communication Strategy:

Personal Selling and Sales Promotion

UNIT 12
CHAPTER 16 KOTLER & ARMSTRONG (2018)

MARKETING I COURSE 2020/21 1

The Promotion Mix
A company´s total promotion mix – also called marketing communications mix – consists of the
specific lend of advertising, sales promotion, public relations, personal selling, and direct and
digital marketing tools that the company uses to engage consumers, communicate customer
value, and build customer relationships.

Direct and digital

Advertising Public relations Sales promotion Personal selling
marketing

Tools must be blended into an overall integrated marketing communications (IMC) program

MARKETING I COURSE 2020/21 2

1. Personal Selling
Personal selling is the personal presentations by the firm´s sales force for the purpose of engaging
customers, making sales, and building customer relationships.
 Good salespeople listen to customers, advise them and organize the work of the company to solve
their problems They look for the benefit of both parties
 Salesperson. An individual who represents a company to customers by performing one or more of
the following activities; prospecting, communicating, selling, servicing, information gathering, and
relationship building.
 The term salesperson covers a wide range of positions:
- At one extreme, a salesperson might be an order taker (e.g., department store salesperson
sanding behind the counter)
- At the other extreme are order getters, whose position demand creative selling, social selling,
and relationship building

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 3

1. Personal Selling
Personal selling involves two-way communication between the seller and the customers,
whether face-to-face, by phone, by email, by videoconference, or by any other means.
• In B2B companies, very important role with customers.
• In B2C companies, a very important role with intermediaries (wholesalers and retailers).
The sales force serves as a link between the company and its customers, achieving value for
consumers and benefit for the company, through
• Representing the company to customers
• Representing customers to the company
• Collaboration with the rest of the marketing department to develop greater value for
customers

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 4

Contents
1. Personal Selling
1. Managing the Sales Force
2. Social Selling
3. The Personal Selling Process
2. Sales Promotion
1. Major Sales Promotions Tools
2. Developing the Sales Promotion Program

MARKETING I COURSE 2020/21 5

1.1 Managing the Sales Force
The sales force management is the process of analyzing, planning, implementing, and
controlling sales force activities.

Designing the Sales Recruiting and

Training
Force Strategy and Selecting
Salespeople
Structure Salespeople

Supervising and
Compensating Evaluating
Motivating
Salespeople Salespeople
Salespeople

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 6

1.1 Managing the Sales Force
Designing the Sales Recruiting and
Training
Force Strategy and Selecting
Salespeople
Structure Salespeople

Supervising and
Compensating Evaluating
Motivating
Salespeople Salespeople
Salespeople

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 7

Designing the Sales Force Strategy and Structure
3 considerations
1. Sales Force Structure
2. Sales Force Size
3. Outside vs. Inside Sales Forces

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 8

Designing the Sales Force Strategy and Structure
1. The Sales Force Structure
Territorial sales force
structure
Organization that assigns
each salesperson to an
exclusive geographic
territory in which that
salesperson sells the
company´s full line.
Product sales force structure
Organization in which
salespeople specialize in selling
only a portion of the company´s
products or lines.
MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21
Customer (or market) sales force
structure
Organization in which
salespeople specialize in selling
only to certain customers or
industries.
9
Designing the Sales Force Strategy and Structure

Complex sales force structure

When a company sells a wide variety of products to
many types of customers over a wide geographic By customer By territory
area, it often combines several types of sales force Examples: CVS Examples: territory
structure. Health, representatives,
Walmart, etc. territory managers,
Example: specialized salespeople by customer and
regional managers,
territory or by territory, products and customers.
etc.

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 10

Designing the Sales Force Strategy and Structure
2. Sales Force Size
The salespeople of a company are one of the most productive- and most expensive- assets of
the company
• The increase in the number of salespeople increases both the sales and the costs of the company

Main approach to set sales force size:

• Workload approach
◦ Classification of customers by homogeneous groups
◦ Determine the desired frequency of visits
◦ Determine the average number of visits that a salesperson can make per year
◦ Divide the total number of visits per year/ average number of visits of a salesperson per year

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 11

Designing the Sales Force Strategy and Structure
3. Outside vs. Inside Sales Forces
Outside. Salespeople who travel to call on customers in the field.
Inside. Salespeople who conduct business from their offices via telephone online and social
media interactions, or visits from prospective buyers. Functions such as:
- Support activities for outside sales force (information, technical sales-support responses to
clients, administrative backup for outside salespeople, etc.)
- Finding new customers, customer service and direct selling
Example: an outside salesperson can make an average of four contacts a day with customers
A telemarketing salesperson can make between 20 and 33 contacts a day.

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 12

Designing the Sales Force Strategy and Structure
3. Outside vs. Inside Sales Forces
In such a digital environment, more and more buyers are more receptive to online or telephone
contacts versus personal contact.

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 13

1.1 Managing the Sales Force
Designing the Sales Recruiting and
Training
Force Strategy and Selecting
Salespeople
Structure Salespeople

Supervising and
Compensating Evaluating
Motivating
Salespeople Salespeople
Salespeople

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 14

Recruiting and Selecting Salespeople
 Why a good selection of salespeople is important?
• Sales it generates
• High replacement cost
• A sales force with many new salespeople is less productive
• Turnover disrupts relationships with important clients
 Characteristics of a good salesperson
• Four key talents: intrinsic motivation, a disciplined work style, the ability to close a sale, and the
ability to build relationships with customers
“The salespeople who sold with noble purpose, who truly want to make a difference to customers,
consistently outsold the salespeople focused on sales goals and money”
 There is no one right way to sell. Each successful salesperson uses a different approach, one that
best applies his or her unique strengths and talents.

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 15

1.1 Managing the Sales Force
Designing the Sales Recruiting and
Training
Force Strategy and Selecting
Salespeople
Structure Salespeople

Supervising and
Compensating Evaluating
Motivating
Salespeople Salespeople
Salespeople

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 16

Training Salespeople
 From a few weeks to months or more in training
 Afterwards, continuous training (seminars, sales meetings, etc.)
 Training can be expensive but can provide great returns
 Goals of training programs:
• Knowledge and identification with the company
• Product knowledge
• Knowledge of customers and competitors
• Presentation techniques
• Management and control of their own activity
 Nowadays, online training

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 17

1.1 Managing the Sales Force
Designing the Sales Recruiting and
Training
Force Strategy and Selecting
Salespeople
Structure Salespeople

Supervising and
Compensating Evaluating
Motivating
Salespeople Salespeople
Salespeople

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 18

Compensating Salespeople
 To attract good salespeople, appealing compensation plan
 Elements of compensation plans:
◦ Fixed amount (salary)
◦ Variable amount (commissions or bonuses)
◦ Other rewards
◦ Expenses or allowances
◦ Extras or social benefits

 The compensation plan has to motivate salespeople. It has to depend on the objectives:
- If the objective of the company is to increase market share, the compensation plan could include a large
element of commissions along with a premium for new accounts
- If the goal is to maximize the actual profitability of the accounts, the compensation plan could include a
large fixed salary element with incentives for sales to current accounts or customer satisfaction.

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 19

1.1 Managing the Sales Force
Designing the Sales Recruiting and
Training
Force Strategy and Selecting
Salespeople
Structure Salespeople

Supervising and
Compensating Evaluating
Motivating
Salespeople Salespeople
Salespeople

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 20

Supervising and Motivating Salespeople
 The goal of supervision is to help salespeople “work smart” by doing the right things in the
right ways:
◦ Call plan
◦ Time-and-duty analysis (objective to be more effective, sales force automation systems)
 The goal of motivation is to encourage salespeople to achieve their proposed sales force goals.
How to do it?
• Organizational climate. Feeling about your opportunities, value, and rewards.
• Sales quotas. Standards that states the amount a salesperson should sell.
• Positive incentives. Sales meetings, sales contests, awards, prizes, travel, or profit-sharing
plans.

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 21

Supervising and Motivating Salespeople
 How salespeople spend their time

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 22

1.1 Managing the Sales Force
Designing the Sales Recruiting and
Training
Force Strategy and Selecting
Salespeople
Structure Salespeople

Supervising and
Compensating Evaluating
Motivating
Salespeople Salespeople
Salespeople

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 23

Evaluating Salespeople

Call Sales
Salesreports
reports
Callreports
reports
Work
Workplans
plans

Sources
Sourcesof
ofinformation
information

Expense
Expensereports
reports

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21

Evaluating Salespeople
Other sources of information:
 Personal observation
 Customer surveys
 Conversations with other salespeople
Questions that companies have to ask themselves:
- Is the sales force accomplishing its customer relationship, sales and profit objectives?
- Is it working well with other areas of the marketing and company organization?
- Are the costs of the sales force in line with outcomes?

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 25

 1.2 Social Selling: Online Mobile, and
Social Media tools
Social selling. Using online, mobile, and social media to engage customers, build stronger customer
relationships, and augment sales performance.
Sellers go "where the customers are", that is to say "on social media, forums, virtual communities, blogs, etc.,
to be able to connect with buyers.
Digital tools are used to learn about new trends, identify potential customers and find out what consumers
would like to buy, how they feel about a seller, etc. Some functions of digital tools:
- Lists of potential customers through online databases and
social networks such as LinkedIn
- Live chats via WebEx, Zoom, etc. to talk about products and services
- Videos on YouTube and Facebook to provide information
Video explaining social selling
Social selling statistics

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 26

1.3 The Personal Selling Process
The selling process consists of several steps that salespeople must master, with the goal of
getting new customers and obtaining orders from them.
Steps

Presentation
Prospecting and
Preapproach Approach and
Qualifying
Demonstration

Handling
Closing Follow-up
objections

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 27

1.3 The Personal Selling Process

Presentation
Prospecting and
Preapproach Approach and
Qualifying
Demonstration

Handling
Closing Follow-up
objections

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 28

Prospecting and Qualifying
Prospecting. Identifying qualified potential customers. Best sources are referrals:
• Other customers
• Suppliers
• Dealers
• Noncompeting salespeople
• Directories
• Internet

Qualifying. Distinguishing between good and bad customers. Based on things such as:
• Financial capability
• Business volume
• Special needs
• Location
• Potential growth

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 29

1.3 The Personal Selling Process

Presentation
Prospecting and
Preapproach Approach and
Qualifying
Demonstration

Handling
Closing Follow-up
objections

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 30

Preapproach, Approach and Presentation
Preapproach. Step in which a salesperson learns as much as possible about a prospective customer
before making a sales call.
• Industry data, online sources, asking acquaintances, company website, social media, etc.
Approach. Step in which a salesperson meets the customer for the first time.
• The salesperson should know how to meet and greet the buyer
• Might be online or face-to-face
Presentation. Step in which a salesperson tells the “value story” to the buyer, showing how the
company´s offer solves the customer´s problems. Things to consider:
• Using a customer-solution approach. Requires good listening and problem-solving skills.
• Being able to convey the message in an attractive way (sophisticated software, online technologies,
interactive whiteboards, digital projects, etc..)

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 31

1.3 The Personal Selling Process

Presentation
Prospecting and
Preapproach Approach and
Qualifying
Demonstration

Handling
Closing Follow-up
objections

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 32

Handling Objections, Closing and Follow-Up
Handling Ojections. The step in which the salesperson clarifies, and overcomes any customer
objections to buying
Closing. The step in which a salesperson asks the customer for an order
Follow-up. Step in which a salesperson follows up after the sale to ensure customer satisfaction
and repeat business. Schedule follow-up calls.

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 33

2. Sales Promotion
 Short-term incentives to encourage the purchase or sale of a product or service
 Offers reasons to buy the product "now"

Promotions might be targeted to:

◦ Final buyers (consumer promotions)
◦ Retailers and wholesalers (trade promotions)
◦ Sales force members (sales force promotions)
◦ Prescribers (professionals who advise the purchase,
they are not opinion leaders like celebrities)

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 34

2. Sales Promotion
The increasing use of sales promotion has led to "promotion congestion"
It should not be used continuously over time because it would cease to be an incentive, it
should be temporary, discontinuous and sporadic.
 Highly recommended to use in the form of frequent consumer marketing programs and loyalty
cards (and not as quick promotions).

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 35

2. Sales Promotion
Causes of using sales promotion
 It helps to differentiate the products, since the quality is almost the same.
 Salespeople demand means of immediate support to sell more
 “Product manager” paid by objectives, just like the sales manager.
 Immediate results compared to other techniques such as advertising.
 Greater sensitivity to the price of consumers, they look for "bargains"
 Retailers decide the brand based on the incentives.

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 36

2.2 Major Sales Promotion Tools
TARGET PUBLIC TOOLS
- Exhibitions, trade shows (paid for by the manufacturer)
- Competitions, contests and awards
Intermediaries - Discounts, premiums
- Samples (small quantity of the product, VAT exempt), free products
- Advertising at the point of sale
- Cooperative advertising and promotion.
- Bonuses by objectives(the most used)
Salespeople - Contests, awards, trips
- Honors
- Free samples
- Technical documentation
Prescriptors
- Gifts
- Attendance at congresses, seminars and conferences
- Sales, discounts
- Greater product content for the same price
- Coupons, discount vouchers
Final consumers
- Contests, awards
- Samples, tastings
- Gifts

MARKETING I CURSO 2020/21 37