PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP

God never gives you a dream that matches your budget.

He’s not checking your bank account he’s checking your faith.

What is Salesmanship?
- The skills and methods used in selling or promoting commercial products.
- defined as the level of skill you have in convincing people to buy or in persuading people to do
something.

What is Personal Selling?

- Personal selling occurs when a sales representative meets with a potential client for the
purpose of transacting a sale
 PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP

Module 1: FUNDAMENTALS OF SELLING Customers for Life through Service

The Life, Times, and Career of the Professional Salesperson

Learning Objectives
Define and explain the term selling.
Explain why everyone sells, even you.
Explain the relationship between the definition of personal selling and the Golden Rule of Personal
Selling.
Discuss the reasons people might choose a sales jobs.
Define the characteristics that salespeople believe are needed for success in building relationships
with customers.
List and explain the 10 steps in the sales process.

What is selling?

Selling is just one of many marketing components.

Personal selling includes:
-Personal communication of information
-Persuasion
-Helping others
-Goods
-Services
-Ideas

The Golden Rule of Personal Selling

-Refers to the sales philosophy of unselfishly treating others as you would like to be treated.
-Reciprocity is not expected
-The Golden Rule is all about trying to keep somebody else warm even if it means that we get cold
in the process.
What Salespeopleare Paid to Do?
o Sales people are paid to sell
–that is their job
o Performance goals are set for:
o Themselves
–In order to serve others and earn a living and keep their job
o Their employers
–So the companies will survive
o Their customers
o –To fulfil needs and help organizations grow

Major Reasons For Choosing A Sales Career

 Service to others
 Variety of sales jobs
 Freedom
 Challenge
 Advancement
 Rewards
How about you?

Types of Sales Jobs

- Retail Selling
-A retail salesperson sells goods or services to consumers for their personal, non-business use
- Direct Selling
-Face to face sales to consumers, typically in their homes, who use theproducts for their
non-business personal use
- Selling for a Wholesaler
-For resale
-For use in producing other goods
-For use within an organization
- Selling for a Manufacturer
-Working for the firm who manufactures the product
-Usually one of the most prestigious jobs to hold
 Success in Selling

What Does a Salesperson Do?

1. Creates new customers
2. Sells more to present customers
3. Builds long-term relationships
4. Provides solutions to customer’s problems
5. Provides service to customers
6. Helps customers resell products to their customers
7. Helps customers use products after purchase
8. Builds goodwill with customers
9. Provides company with market information

Putting The Customer First Requires Salespeople

To Have Personal Characteristics That Allow Them To:

-Care for the customer

-Take joy in their work
-Find harmony in the sales relationship
-Have patience in closing the sale
-Be kind to all people
-Have high moral ethics
-Be faithful to one’s word
-Be fair in the sale
-Be self-controlled in emotions
The Ten Important Steps in the Customer Relationship Selling

1. Prospecting
. -Locating and qualifying prospects.
2. Pre-approach
.-Obtaining interview.
Planning: determining sales call objective, developing customer profile, customer benefit
program, and sales presentation strategies.
3. Approach
. Meeting prospect and beginning customized sales presentation.
4. Presentation
. Further uncovering needs; relating product benefits to needs using demonstration,
dramatization, visuals, and proof statements.

5. Trial close
. -Asking prospects opinions during and after presentation.
6. Objections
.- Uncovering objections.

7. Meet objections
. -Satisfactorily answering objections.
8. Trial close
. -Asking prospect’s opinion after overcoming each objection and immediately before the close.
9. Close
. -Bringing prospect to the logical conclusion to buy.
10. Follow-up and service
. -Serving customer after the sale.
 PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP

Module 2: RELATIONSHIP MARKETING WHERE PERSONAL SELLING FITS

Relationship Marketing
What is Marketing?
Marketing is an organizational function and set of processes for creating, communicating, and
delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationship in ways that benefit the
organization and its stakeholders.

Marketing involves a diverse set of activities directed at a wide range of goods, services, and ideas.

These activities involve the development, pricing, promotion, and distribution of want-satisfying goods
and services to consumers and industrial users.

Customer Orientation’s Evolution

The Production Concept

Before the great depression of 1930s, a common saying in industry was “Build a better good, and the
world will beat a path to your door”.

Companies were basically production oriented.

In those days, few firms had marketing departments, and many did not even have a formal sales
department.

The Selling Concept

By the early 1940’s, it become clear that the attitude and needs of the consumer had changed, a few
years after the war, consumers had may products to choose from and firms found they had to go to the
consumer, instead of waiting for consumers to buy.

Companies still produced goods with little regard for the consumers’ needs. However, they recognized
that personal selling and advertising were important selling methods.

The Marketing Concept

beginning in the 1950s, marketing, rather than selling, became the focus of business sales activities.
As business people recognized that marketing was vitality important to the success of a firm, the
marketing concept has three fundamental beliefs:
- All company planning and operating operations should be customer oriented. - The goal of the firm
should be profitable sales volume and not just volume for the sake of Volume alone.

- All marketing activities in a firm should be organizational coordinated.

SELLING CONCEPT MARKETING CONCEPT

1. Emphasis is on the product. 1. Emphasis on the customer’s wants.

2. Company first make the product and then 2. Company first determines customer’s
Figures out how to sell it. wants and Then figures out how to make
and deliver a product to satisfy those
3. Management is sales-volume oriented. wants.

4. Planning is short-run, in terms of today’s 3. Management is profit oriented.

and markets.
4. Planning is long-run, in term of new
5. Stresses needs of seller. products, Tomorrow’s and future growth.

5. Stresses wants of buyers.

Marketing importance in the firm

Marketing considerations should be the most critical factor guiding all short-range and long-range
planning in any organization.

Marketing group is the link between customers and the organization.

Salespeople are part of marketing. They are in direct contact with customers.

Marketing people typically have these four basic objectives to accomplish:

1. Maximize the sales of existing products in existing markets.

2. Develop and sell new products.
3. Develop new markets for existing or new products.
4. Provide the quality of service necessary for customers to be satisfied with their transactions and to
continue doing business with the organization.

Essentials of a firm’s marketing effort

The essentials of a firm’s marketing effort include their abilities

(1) to determine the needs of their customers and
(2) to create and maintain an effective marketing mix that satisfies customer needs.
Marketing mix consists of four main elements-product, price, place or distribution, and promotion.

It is the marketing manager’s responsibility to determine how to use each element in the firm’s
marketing efforts.

The 4 Ps of Marketing

The four Ps of marketing (product, price, place, and promotion) aid salesperson’s to selling efforts.

The salesperson’s organization provides the product to sell, at a price and place to be delivered or for
pickup.

Often a company’s promotions inform the buyer about the product.

The salesperson personally contacts the buyer to analyse needs, present product benefits, and gain
commitment or close the sale, and to provide service to ensure customer satisfaction.

Together marketing and personal selling provide the needed service for customers to build long-term
relationships.

PRODUCT:
It is more than you think!
A good is a physical object that can be purchase like a house or a car.
A service is an action or activity done for others for a fee like lawyers or teachers.

The term product refers to both goods and services. A product is a bundle of tangible and intangible
attributes, including packaging, color, and brand, plus the services and even the reputation of the
seller.

People buy more than a set of physical attributes, they buy-satisfaction, such as what the product will
do, its quality, and the image of owing the product.

There are two general types of products:

 Consumer Products are produced for, and purchased by, households or end consumers
for their personal use.
 Industrial Products are sold primarily for, use in producing other products.
PRICE:
It is important to success!
The corporate marketing department also determines each product’s initial price.

This process involves establishing each product’s normal price and possible special discount prices.

Since product price often is critical to customers, it is an important part of marketing mix.
Price refers to the value or worth of a product that attracts the buyer to exchange money or something
of value for the product.

Place (Distribution):
It has to be available!
The marketing manager also determines the best method of distributing the product.

Distribution refers to the channel structure used to transfer products from an organization to its
customers.

It is important to have the channel structure used to transfer products from an organization to its
customers.

It is important to have the product available to customers in a convenient and accessible location
when they want it.

Customers can be individuals or organizations, customers fall into one of three groups (1)
household, firms, and governments.

 A household refers to decision-making unit buying for personal use.

Some households consist of a single person whereas others consist of families.

 A firm is an organization that produces goods and services, all producers called firms.

 A government is an organization that has two functions: the provision of goods and services
to households and the redistribution of income and wealth.

Promotion:
You have to tell people about it

Promotion, as a part of the marketing mix, increase company sales by communicating product
information to potential customers.
The four basic parts of a firm’s promotional effort are
1. Personal Selling
2. Advertising
3. Publicly
4. Sales Promotion.

PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES:

Personal Selling : Personal communication of information to unselfishly persuade a prospective

customer to buy something a good service idea, or something else-that satisfies an individual’s needs.

Advertising: non-personal communication of information paid for by an identified sponsor such as

an individual or an organization. Modes of advertising include television, radio, direct mail, catalogs,
and newspapers.

Publicly: Non-personal communication of information that is for by an individual or organization,

Information appears in media such as television, radio, and newspaper.

Sales Promotion: Involve activities or materials used to create sales for goods or services.

Two types of sales promotion are consumer and trade sales promotion.
Consumer sales promotion includes free samples, coupons, contests, and demonstrations to
customers.

Trade sales promotion encourages wholesalers and retailers to purchase and to sell aggressively
using devices such sales contests, displays, special purchase prices, and free merchandise.

Relationship Marketing
- Is the creations of customer loyalty. Organizations use combinations of product, price, distribution,
promotions, and service to achieve this goal.
 PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
Module 3: Building Trust and Sales Ethics

Learning Objectives:
After completing this module, you should be able to explain and understand:
- What trust is.
- Why trust is important.
- How to earn trust.
- Knowledge bases help build trust and relationship.
- Sales ethics.

Trust is earned when an industrial buyer believes and can rely on a salesperson’s
claim or promises when buyer is dependent on salesperson’s honesty and reliability.
One of the keys to a long-term relationship with any client is to create a basis of trust
between the sales representative and the client.
Trust is an integral part of the relationship between customers and suppliers.

Why is trust important?

In this new competitive environment, buyers are demanding unique solutions to their
problems, product solutions that are customized on the basis of their particular
problems and needs.

How to earn trust?

Trust is important to any relationship. Several critical variables help salespeople earn
a buyer’s trust,
expertise, dependability, candor, customer orientation, and compatibility.
A salesperson can build trust by demonstrating dependability when assisting in an
order delivery.
  Expertise – the ability, knowledge and resources to meet customer
expectation.
“Salespeople must be prepared to update their customers on product upgrades
or industry
trends.”
 Dependability – centers on the predictability of the salesperson’s action.
 Candor – deals with the honesty of the spoken word.
 Customer Orientation – means placing as much emphasis on the customer’s
interest as you would on your own. The act of salespeople placing much
emphasis on the customer’s interest as their own.
 Compatibility/ Likability – A salesperson’s commonalities with other
individuals. Customers generally like to deal with sales representatives they
know, they like, and with whom they can feel a bond.

Knowledge Bases Help Build Trust and Relationships

The following are the knowledges that salespeople must have:
Industry and Company knowledge
 Product knowledge
 Service
 Price and Promotion
 Market/ Customer knowledge
 Competitor knowledge
 Technology knowledge
Sales Ethics
Ethics – the right or wrong conduct of individuals and institution of which they
are a part.

Sales ethics is close related to trust, that is why researchers identified

some of the sales practices deemed unethical:
 Image of Salespeople and Sales Executives
 Deceptive Practices
 Illegal Activities
 Non-Customer-Oriented Behavior
 PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
Module 4: Understanding Buyers

Learning Objectives:

After completing this module, you should be able to explain and understand:

- Categorize primary types of buyers.

- Discuss the distinguishing characteristics of business-to-business process.
- List the different steps in business-to-business buying process.
- Discuss the different types of buyer needs.
- Describe how buyers evaluate suppliers.

Types of Buyers

1. Consumer Market – A market in which consumers purchase goods and services for their use
or consumption.
2. Business Market – A market composed of firm, institution and governments who acquires
goods and services to use inputs into their own manufacturing process, for use in their day- to-
day operations or for resale to their own customers.

Distinguishing Characteristics of Business Market

- Concentrated Demand
- Derived Demand
- Higher Level of Demand Fluctuation
- Purchasing Professionals
- Multiple Buying Influence
- Collaborative Buyer-Seller Relationship
The Buying Process

 Phase One: Recognition of the Problem or Need

Types of Buyer Needs

o Situational Needs – the needs that are contingent on, and often a result of, conditions related
to the specific environment, time and place.
o Functional Needs – the need for a specific core task or function to be performed.
o Social Needs – the need for acceptance from and association with others.
o Psychological Needs – the desire for feeling or assurance and risk reduction, as well as
positive emotions and feeling such as success, joy, excitement and stimulation.
o Knowledge Needs – the desire for personal development, information, and knowledge to
increase thought and understanding as to how and why things happen.

 Phase Two: Determination of the Characteristics of the item and the Quality Needed
Coincident to recognizing a need or problem is the motivation and drive to resolve it by
undertaking a search for additional information leading to possible solutions.

 Phase Three: Description of the Characteristics of the item and the Quality Needed
Using the desired characteristics and quantities developed in the previous phase as a
starting point, buyers translate that general information into detailed specifications
describing exactly what is expected and required.

 Phase Four: Search for and Qualification of Potential Sources

Next, buyers must locate and qualify potential suppliers capable of providing the preferred
solution.
 PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
Module 5: Strategic Prospecting and Preparing for Sales Dialogue

Learning Objectives:

After completing this module, you should be able to explain and understand:

- Discuss why prospecting is an important and challenging task for salespeople.

- Explain strategic prospecting and each stage in the strategic prospecting process.
- Describe the major prospecting methods and give examples of each method.
- Explain the important components of a strategic plan.
- Discuss the types of information salespeople need to prepare for sales dialogue.

The Importance and Challenges of Prospecting

Prospecting is extremely important to most salespeople. Salespeople who do not regularly prospect
are operating under the assumptions that the current business with existing customers will be sufficient to
generate the desired level of future revenue.

The Strategic Prospecting Process

Strategic Prospecting - is a process designed to identify, qualify and prioritize sales opportunities,
whether they represent potential new customer or potential new customers or opportunities to generate
additional business from existing customers.

Strategic Prospecting Process

 Generating Sales Leads

- The first step in the strategic prospecting process is to identify sales leads.
- Sales Leads or suspects are organizations or individuals who might possibly purchase
the product or service a salesperson offers.
 Determining Sales Prospects
- The most productive salespeople evaluate sales leads to determine which ones are
true prospects for their product or service. This evaluation process is usually called
qualifying sales leads.
- Qualifying sales leads – salespeople search for, collect, analyze and use various types
of screening procedures to determine if the sales lead is really a good sales prospect.
  Prioritizing Sales Prospects
- Even though the qualifying process has chosen the least promising sales leads, the
remaining prospects do not all represent the same sales opportunity. The most
productive salespeople prioritize their sales prospects to ensure that they spend most
of their time on the best opportunity.
 Preparing for Sales Dialogue
- The final step in the strategic prospecting process is to prepare for the initial contact
with a sales prospect by planning the sales dialogue.

Prospecting Method

 Cold Canvassing
- Cold Calling
- Referrals
- Introduction
 Networking
- Center of Influence
- Noncompeting Salespeople
- Social Media
-
 Company Sources
- Company Records
- Advertising Inquiries
- Telephone Inquiries
- Trade Shows
- Seminars
 Commercial Sources
- Directories
- Lead Management Sources
Developing A Strategic Prospecting Plan

Gathering Prospect Information to Prepare for Sales Dialogue

 Basic Information about the Prospect

 Information about the Selling Situation
 Sources of Information
 PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
Module 6: Sales Dialogue: Creating and Communicating the Value

Learning Objectives:

After completing this module, you should be able to explain and understand:

- Describe the key characteristics of effective sales dialogue.

- Explain how salespeople can generate feedback from buyers.
- Discuss how salespeople use confirmed benefits to create customer value.
- Describe how verbal support can be used to communicate value in an interesting and understandable
manner.

Effective Sales Dialogue

Preparing and completing this phase of the sales process successfully has been compared to doing
surgery in that it is complex and requires preparation, knowledge, and skill.

Keys to Effective Sales Dialogue

The most effective sales dialogues:

 Are planned and practiced by salespeople.

 Encourage buyer feedback.
 Focus on creating value for the buyer.
 Present value in an interesting and understandable way.
 Engage and involve the buyer.
 Support customer value through objective claims.

Encouraging Buyer Feedback

In a productive sales dialogue, the salesperson continually assesses and evaluates the reactions and
responses of prospective buyers.

.
Check-backs or response checks
Questions salespeople use throughout a sales dialogue to generate feedback from the buyer.

Illustrative Examples of Check-Backs

 How does this sound?

 Would this feature be useful to you in your current operations?
 Isn’t that great?
 Do you like this color?
 Is this what you had in mind?
 Does that answer your concern?

Creating Customer Value

Most products have many features and benefits, but the buyer generally is not interested in all of a
product’s benefits and features. Confirmed benefits are those benefits the buyer has indicated are of
interest.

Interesting and Understandable Sales Dialogue

Once confirmed benefits have been identified, the salesperson needs to present key selling
points in a manner that is interesting and understandable to the buyer.

Using Verbal Support elements, it can produce interesting and understandable dialogue.

Verbal elements include voice characteristics, examples and anecdotes, and comparisons and analogies.

 Voice Characteristics – the pitch and speed of speech, which salespeople should vary to
emphasize key points.
 Examples and Anecdotes – An example is a brief description of a specific instance used
to illustrate features and benefits. An anecdote is a type of example presented in a form of a
story describing a specific incident or occurrence.
 Comparisons and Analogies – Comparison is a statement that points out and illustrates
the similarities between two points. Analogy is a special and useful form of comparison that
explains one thing in terms of another.
 PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
Module 7: Sales Dialogue: Creating and Communicating the Value

Learning Objectives:

After completing this module, you should be able to explain and understand:

- Discuss how sales aids can engage and involve buyers.

- Explain how salespeople can support product claims.
- Discuss the special consideration involved in sales dialogue with groups.

Engaging and Involving the buyer

Simply informing the prospect about the benefits and their value to the buyer is seldom sufficient to
generate the level of interest and desire required to result in a purchase decision. To maximize the
effectiveness of the sales dialogue, salespeople utilize various sales aids to engage and involve the buyer
throughout the sales interaction.

Reasons for Using Sales Aids

 Capture prospective buyer’s attention.

 Generate interest in the recommended solution.
 Make presentation more persuasive.
 Increase the buyer’s participation and involvement.
 Provide supportive evidence and proof to enhance believability.
 Enhance the professional image of the salesperson and selling organization.

Types of Sales Aids

 Visual materials
 Electronic materials
 Product demonstration
Supporting Product Claims

Claims of benefits and value produced and provided to the buyer need to be backed up with evidence
to high light their believability.

 Statistic
 Testimonials
 Case Histories

Group Sales Dialogue

Sales Tactics for Selling to Groups:

 Arrival Tactics – try to arrive at the location for the meeting before the buying group
arrives.
 Eye Contact – for both small and large groups, establish periodic eye contact with
individuals is important.
 Communication Tips – it is essential to make all members of the group feel that their
opinions are valuable.
 Handling Questions in Group Dialogue – questions from the buyers in group are an
important part of the buyer-seller interaction and very much needed to entertain and
accommodate.
 PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
Finals Module: Addressing Concerns and Earning Commitment & Adding Value:
Self Leadership and Teamwork

Learning Objectives:

After completing this module, you should be able to explain and understand:
- Explain why it is important to anticipate and overcome buyer concerns and resistance.
- Understand why prospects raise objections
- Describe the five major types of sales resistance
- Describe the recommended approaches for responding to buyer objections
- The five sequential stages of self-leadership
- Increasing customer value through teamwork

Addressing Concerns

An objection or sales resistance is anything the buyer say or does that slows down or stops the
buying process. The salesperson’s job is to uncover these objections and answer them to the prospect’s or
client’s satisfaction.

Why Prospects Raise Objections and Strategies for Dealing with Them

- Buyers wants to avoid the sales interview

Strategy: Set appointment to become part of the buyer’s daily routine

- Salesperson has failed to prospect and qualify properly

Strategy: Ask questions to verify prospect’s interest

- Buyer will not buy on the first sales call

Strategy: A regular call on the prospect lets the prospect know the salesperson is serious about the
relationship
 - Prospect does not want to change the current way of doing business
Strategy: Salesperson must help the prospect understand there is better solution than the one the
prospect is currently using

- Prospect has failed to recognize a need

Strategy: Salesperson must show evidence that sparks the prospect’s interest

- Prospect lacks information on a new product or on the salesperson’s company

Strategy: Salesperson must continually work to add value by providing useful information

Types of Objection

- No Need
- Product or Service Objection
- Company Objection
- Price is too high
- Time/ Delaying

Techniques to Answer Sales Resistance

Self-Leadership – A critical requirement for success in any career – has been described as doing the right
things and doing them well. It is not simply the amount of effort that determines am achievement, but rather
how well the effort is honed and aligned with the one’s goal

Increasing Customer Value through Teamwork

- Internal Partnership and Teams

- Sales Partnership
- Marketing Partnerships
- Design and Manufacturing Partnerships
- Administrative Support Partnerships
- Shipping and Transportation Partnerships
- Customer Service Partnerships