Nature, Scope and Objectives of Personal Selling

1. Nature, Scope and Objectives
of
Personal Selling

2. NATURE OF PERSONAL SELLING
1. PART OF PROMOTIONAL MIX: Personal selling is a part of promotional mix, or the
communication mix, in the company's marketing program. The major elements in the
promotional mix are the company's advertising, sales promotion, and personal selling
efforts.
2. INDIVIDUAL, PERSONAL COMMUNICATION: Personal selling is the individual and personal
communication of information, in contrast to the mass, impersonal communication of
advertising, sales promotion, and other promotional tools.
3. FLEXIBLE TOOL: Personal selling is more flexible than these other tools. Salespeople can
see their customer's reaction to a particular sales approach and make adjustments on
the spot."
4. FOCUSED ON CUSTOMERS: Personal selling is usually focused or pinpointed on
prospective customers. It considers the needs, desires and buying problems of the
customers.
5. ALIVE INTERACTION: Each party observes the other's needs at close hand and makes
immediate adjustments.
6. LONG-RUN RELATIONSHIP: Personal selling permits all kinds of relationship to spring up. It
establishes a selling relationship and also a deep personal friendship. It keeps
customer's best interests at heart. It maintains long-run relationships.

3. 7. RESPONSE: Personal selling is based on buyer's reactions and response. It makes the
buyer feel that he is listened to, and his needs are considered.
8. PERSUASION: It is concerned with persuasive communication. A salesperson in personal
selling tries to persuade the prospect so that he can take a decision to acquire the
product which the salesperson is talking about.
9. HUMAN ELEMENT INTO MARKETING: It is a major factor in creating sales volume. It brings
human element into marketing transactions and increases the customer's confidence
in the supplier
10. CREATIVE: Personal selling is creative by nature. The salespeople try to create needs,
make the customers aware of these need and try to persuade them to buy the
product. The salesman "does not sell, but he creates in the other man the urge to buy."
11. SERVICE ELEMENT: Personal selling is not getting rid of a thing or cheating the customers.
It is necessarily an act of assisting the customers to buy wisely. Today, it has become a
symbol for honesty and dependability. In fact, it is a service that is serving the customer
for the good cause of humanity.

4. SCOPE OF PERSONAL SELLING
There are two kinds of personal selling:
1. Across-the-Counter Selling: In this kind of selling Customers come to the salespeople.
It involves retail store selling. It also includes the salespeople at catalogue retailers
who take telephone orders. Most salespeople fall into this category. (Just like we go
to shop to buy products).
2. Field Selling: It is the selling where the salespeople go to the customers. These people
sell in person at a customer's place of business or home. These outside sales-forces
are engaged in field selling. These people sell in person at a customer's place of
business or home. Outside sales-force usually represent producers or wholesaling
middlemen, selling to business users. Today, some companies have a sales-force that
goes to the customers in person. Some outside selling is becoming electronic.

5. OBJECTIVES
 Building Product Awareness – A common task of salespeople, especially when selling
in business markets, is to educate customers on new product offerings. In fact,
salespeople serve a major role at industry trades shows where they discuss products
with show attendees. But building awareness using personal selling is also important in
consumer markets. As we will discuss, the advent of controlled word-of-mouth
marketing is leading to personal selling becoming a useful mechanism for introducing
consumers to new products.
 Creating Interest – The fact that personal selling involves person-to-person
communication makes it a natural method for getting customers to experience a
product for the first time. In fact, creating interest goes hand-in-hand with building
product awareness as sales professionals can often accomplish both objectives
during the first encounter with a potential customer.
 Providing Information – When salespeople engage customers a large part of the
conversation focuses on product information. Marketing organizations provide their
sales staff with large amounts of sales support including brochures, research reports,
computer programs and many other forms of informational material.

6.  Stimulating Demand – By far, the most important objective of personal selling is to
convince customers to make a purchase.
 Reinforcing the Brand – Most personal selling is intended to build long-term
relationships with customers. A strong relationship can only be built over time and
requires regular communication with a customer. Meeting with customers on a
regular basis allows salespeople to repeatedly discuss their company’s products and
by doing so helps strengthen customers’ knowledge of what the company has to
offer.

7.  Some people have bad experience with salesperson

8.  Stimulating Demand – By far, the most important objective of personal selling is to
convince customers to make a purchase.
 Reinforcing the Brand – Most personal selling is intended to build long-term
relationships with customers. A strong relationship can only be built over time and
requires regular communication with a customer. Meeting with customers on a
regular basis allows salespeople to repeatedly discuss their company’s products and
by doing so helps strengthen customers’ knowledge of what the company has to
offer.