Sam101B Student Number S01328: Overview of Personal Selling

SAM101B STUDENT NUMBER S01328
The last part of the sales presentation is closing the sale, yet many salespeople
fail to close the sale. There are three main reasons for this failure to close. Name
and briefly discuss these three (3) reasons.
The corporate ladder from the bottom, and must therefore know more about the
selling process that will be discussed in this
Why must a sales manager be knowledgeable about the personal selling process?
This question can be answered by looking at the requirements of the role of a sales
manager from the organisation’s perspective. A sales manager must be an
accountant, planner, personal manager and marketer; and, at the same time, they
must be responsible for achieving sufficient sales volume, providing the required
contribution to profits and maintaining on-going growth.
The sales manager depends on the salesperson’s abilities and skills to execute their
planning to secure sufficient sales volume, profits and growth. The sales manager
is responsible for the effective deployment of selling efforts and the maintenance
of customer relationships. The sales manager directs, assists and supervises the
salespeople, and evaluates the sales strategies for key accounts.
Overview of personal selling

Personal selling has changed from the peddler who travelled from place to place on
horseback or by wagon selling merchandise to the modern professional salesperson
who uses sales-activity-based tools,2 such as a laptop or tablet and cell phone
designed according to their needs. Personal selling is no longer a slick, fast-talking
job. Instead, it has become a more professional job of identifying customers’ needs,
giving them advice and building long-term relationships with them to ensure repeat
business.
Further changes in personal selling that have contributed to selling becoming a
profession have been triggered by the extensive development of products and
service the population increase and technological improvements.
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There are many different terms used in sales forecasting. Drotsky (2016)
discusses four sales forecasting concepts of importance. Name and briefly
discuss the four (4) sales forecasting concepts.
invalid. Valid objections are concerns that the prospect needs to address before they
buy, for example inadequate discounts or payment terms that are out of line. Invalid
objections are irrelevant, untruthful delaying reasons for not buying, for example
‘Thank you for coming, but we will let you know when we decide to buy from you’.
There are different categories of objections and a salesperson must be prepared to
handle them as they occur. Each will be briefly explained:
■■ Uncommon objections such as, ‘I have heard that company X had problems with
your product’. To be prepared for this, the salesperson must be well informed of
what is going on in the industry.
■■ Hidden objections are indicated by unimportant questions or feelings concealed
under a veil of silence. Hidden objections can be revealed by asking questions such
as, ‘What makes you say that?’; ‘What will it take to convince you that the product
will solve your problem?’ Uncovering hidden objections is not an easy task, but
can be done by closely observing the prospect’s tone of voice and body language,
listening carefully to what the prospect is saying and how it is said, and reading
between the lines to find the real objection. Directly asking what the real objection
is should only be used as a last option.
■■ Stalling objections are a common tactic used by many prospects when they say, for
instance, ‘I’ll think it over’ or ‘I’m too busy to see you now’. Be tactful and friendly,
but remain calm and positive and pursue the issue.
■■ No-need objections are raised when the prospect says that the salesperson has a
good product, but they do not really need it at the moment. This objection is
widely used to politely get rid of the salesperson.
■■ Price objections are the most common and are difficult to handle because buyers
use it as a bargaining tool to ensure the best deal. ‘It costs too much’; ‘your price is
too high’; ‘we don’t have money’ are general excuses made by prospects.
■■ Product objections are remarks like ‘your product is not well known’ or ‘your
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product does not meet our requirements’ and are often raised by prospective
customers.
■■ Source objections relate to loyalty towards a current supplier or dissatisfaction with
your company, possibly because of problems with salespeople from your company
in the past.
Step 7: Handling objections
During the presentation, the salesperson must keep the following basic points in
mind:
■■ Anticipate objections.
■■ View objections as opportunities.
■■ When responding to an objection, reflect a positive attitude and body language,
while showing a sincere interest in the prospect’s opinion.
■■ Listen to the objection carefully, because it can be a request for more information
on the product or service.
Chapter 1 – Sales careers and the selling process
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Sometimes a salesperson has to handle a few objections during a single presentation
and must then decide on the strategy and techniques to handle the objection. A
salesperson must react to an objection by doing the following:
■■ Welcome the objection – this can be used as a closing point of the sale.
■■ Carefully listen to and observe the prospect’s body language for real clues.
■■ Rephrase and repeat the objection when you can do so, acknowledge the prospect’s
viewpoint and obtain agreement on the rephrased question.
■■ Use the boomerang technique – the reasons the prospect gives the salesperson for
not buying can be used as reasons why they should buy.
■■ Overturn the prospect’s objection by stating the correct facts about the product,
but always acknowledging the prospect’s point of view.
■■ Ask the prospect direct questions about what it is they object to; when the
salesperson has heard the reasons, they can provide answers to the objections.
■■ Acknowledge the prospect’s objection and explain how other features and benefits
outweigh the objection.
■■ Let someone else answer the objection, for example another salesperson.
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Discuss the importance of the sales budget in the corporate budget
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Overview of personal selling

Discuss the importance of the sales budget in the corporate budget

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