Personal selling / it’s features or characteristics
Meaning of Personal Selling
or salesmanship are synonymous terms; with the only difference that the former term is of recent origin, while the latter term has been traditionally in usage, in the commercial world.
Since a salesman, in persuading a prospect to buy a certain product, follows a personal approach; salesmanship, in the present-day-times in often popularly called as personal selling.
Personal selling (or salesmanship) is the most traditional method, devised by manufactures, for promotion of the sales of their products. Prior to the development of the advertising technique, personal selling used to be the only method used by manufacturers for promotion of sales. It is, in fact, the forerunner of advertising and other sales promotion devices.
Features of Personal Selling: Some important features of personal selling are given below:
(1) Personal selling involves a face-to-face contact between the salesman and the prospect.
(ii) It is an art of persuading the prospect, to appreciate the need for the product canvassed by the salesman, in a democratic, cordial and social manner. This, then, requires outstanding qualities in a salesman; specially the proficiency in selling skills and techniques.
(iii) In personal selling, the emphasis is on the development of permanent and lasting relations with prospects If a prospect is won; a sales transaction might materialize with him subsequently in future. Obtaining an immediate sale may be the natural ambition of a salesman; it should never be his target.
(iv) A salesman sells product, by first selling his own idea or viewpoint to the prospect. Personal selling, therefore, is the art of convincing the prospect and influencing his mind, in a favorable way.
(v) Personal selling requires a flexible approach; on the part of the salesman i.e. the salesman should modify his approach in persuading the prospect, in view of the psychology, needs and resources of the prospect.
(vi) The ultimate goal of personal selling is mutual satisfaction of the interests of both the salesman and the prospect. Need for Personal Selling: Despite the dominance of advertising, in the present day commercial world, personal selling still occupies its unique place; co-existing with advertising.
Some of the reasons for the need of personal selling are as follows:
(i) Requirements of Product Demonstration: There are certain products which require a demonstration, for purposes of explaining their use, manner of their handling and the precautions required in using them. This requirement for product demonstration necessitates personal selling; as no advertising media cannot undertake this work.
A good instance of products requiring demonstration is a washing machine, used in households. A salesman is required for explaining the operation of a washing machine to housewives.
(ii) Illiterate Prospects: Where a manufacturer is interested in selling some of his products to prospects, who, by and large, are literate; personal selling is necessary. Illiterate prospects could not be expected to appreciate the need and utility for a product-just through advertising.
Salesmen are needed to approach such illiterate prospects, who would explain the usefulness of the products to them, in a convincing style.
(iii) Traditional Necessity of Personal Selling: There are cases of products, where advertising is not usually done; partly due to the technical or specialized nature of products and partly due to traditions. In cases of such products, therefore, personal selling is necessitated to meet the requirements of tradition prevalent in particular trades.
Examples of such products as require personal selling are:
(1) Medicines, where salesmen (called medical representatives) still go from doctor to doctor or from hospital to hospital, canvassing new medicines manufactured by their pharmaceutical companies.
(2) Industrial goods (like new machines or spare parts), where salesmen visit various industrial houses and convince the industrialists, of the utility of the new industrial goods manufactured by their companies.
(iv) Emergence of an Entirely New Type of Product: In case of innovations, i.e. entirely new types of products, manufactured by a producer, salesmen are appointed by the producer to publicize such new products to prepare a base for demand creation. Then, through subsequent advertising, by the manufacturer, demand base is further expanded.
(v) Need to Develop Relations with Customers: Personal selling helps a manufacturer to develop good relations with customers/prospects. Through advertising alone, development of relations with customers is not possible.
This factor again necessitates personal selling and accounts for its survival, in the present-day times.
(vi) Source of Marketing Research Data : Salesmen, because of their interactions with customers, prospects, dealers etc., are able to provide valuable data to the manufacturer about market trends, consumer preferences, degree of market competition etc.; which are utilized for marketing research purposes.
Some of the manufacturers appoint salesmen precisely for this purpose, besides them to create more sales. This factor, therefore, becomes a modern factor necessitating salesmanship; and accounting for its survival under the modern marketing conditions.
(vii) To Remove Misconceptions Caused by Competitive Advertising: In the modern marketing world, competitive advertising has become so aggressive that one competitor would not hesitate in defaming the products of others for the sake of building a reputation for his own product.
A manufacturer, through salesmanship can plan to remove such misconceptions from the minds of prospects (caused by competitive advertising), by making them available true facts and merits of his products through his own salesmen.
