Chapter 17:

Personal Selling and

Sales Promotion

Pride/Ferrell
Foundations of Marketing
Fourth Edition

Prepared by Milton Pressley

University of New Orleans

2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Objectives
1. Define personal selling and understand its
purpose.
2. Describe the basic steps in the personal
selling process.
3. Identify the types of sales force personnel.
4. Understand sales management decisions and
activities.
5. Explain what sales promotion activities are
and how they are used.
6. Recognize specific consumer and trade sales
promotion methods.
2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Personal Selling
Paid personal
communication that
attempts to inform
customers and persuade
them to purchase products
in an exchange situation

Nature of Personal Selling

State Farm provides
professional sales career
opportunities to serve local
communities.

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 Personal Selling in the Promotion
Provides greatest freedom to adjust message
Most precise focus on sales prospects
Usually most expensive element in the
promotion mix
Often the closest relationship with
customers
Sales professionals are gaining respect and
trust as ethical codes of conduct are
enforced

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 Figure 17.1 General Steps in the
Personal Selling Process

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 Prospecting for Customers
Developing a list of potential
customers
- Sources of prospects:
Sales records
Trade shows
Commercial databases
Newspaper announcements
Public records
Telephone directories
Trade association directories

2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Personal Selling
Evaluating prospects
- Find and analyze information about each prospects specific need,
current use of brands, feelings about available brands and personal
characteristics
Preapproaching and approaching the customer
- The manner in which a salesperson researches, then contacts a potential
customer
Making the presentation
-Must attract and hold the prospects attention, stimulate interest and
spark a desire for the product
Overcoming objections
- Anticipate and counter them before the prospect raises them
Closing the sale
- The stage when the salesperson asks the prospect to buy the product
Following up
- Determine if the order was delivered on time and if there were problems
2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Discussion Question
Often when following up on a sale,
salespeople will find that the customer has
one or more complaints. Wouldnt it make
more sense just to skip the follow up step
instead of creating the additional work
necessary to handle such complaints?

2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Types of Salespeople
Order getters
- The salesperson who sells to new customers and increases
sales to current ones
Current-customer sales
New-business sales
Order takers
- Salespersons who primarily seek repeat sales
Inside order takers
Outside/field order takers
Support personnel
- Sales staff members who facilitate selling but usually are
not involved solely with making sales
Missionary salespeople
Trade salespeople
Technical salespeople
2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Types of Selling
Team Selling
- The use of a team of experts from all functional
areas of a firm, led by a salesperson, to conduct the
personal selling process

Relationship Selling
- The building of mutually beneficial long-term
associations with a customer through regular
communications over prolonged periods of time

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 Integrity Issues in Sales and

Source: KPMG Forensic Integrity Survey, KPMG LLP (U.S.), 20082009.

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 Managing the Sales Force
Establishing sales force
objectives
Determining sales force size
Recruiting and selecting
salespeople
Training sales personnel
Compensating salespeople
Motivating salespeople
Managing sales territories
Controlling and evaluating

Recruiting and Selecting Salespeople

Careerbuilder.com assists in recruiting
the right sales professionals.
2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Training Salespeople

Training Sales Personnel

Sales training occurs in numerous ways, such as small groups with
technological support.

2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Compensating Salespeople
Straight salary compensation plan
- Paying salespeople a specific amount per time period,
regardless of selling effort
Straight commission compensation plan
- Paying salespeople according to the amount of their sales
in a given time period
Combination compensation plan
- Paying salespeople a fixed salary plus a commission
based on sales volume

2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Average Salaries for Sales

Source: From Christine Galea, Average Salary for Sales Staffers in 2005, Sales and Marketing Management, May
2006, p. 30. 2004 VNU Business Media, Inc. Reprinted with permission from Sales and Marketing Management.

2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Characteristics of Sales Force
Compensation Methods

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 Discussion Question
If you were the owner of a company that
compensated its salespeople using a
(contribution-to-profit) straight commission
compensation plan, and the commission for
5 of your 32 salespeople was higher than
your salary, what (if anything) would you
do? Why?

2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 What is Sales Promotion?
Sales Promotion
- An activity and/or
material meant to
induce resellers or
salespeople to sell a
product or consumers
to buy it

Sales Promotion
DenTek included a sample and
a coupon in this sales
promotion program.

2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Consumer Sales Promotion
Methods
Ways of encouraging consumers to patronize
specific stores or try particular products
- Coupons and cents-off offers
- Refunds and rebates
- Frequent-user incentives
- point-of-purchase materials and demonstrations,
such as signs and display racks
- Free samples and premiums
- Consumer games, contests, and sweepstakes

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 Top Ten Coupon Categories

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 Younger Consumers Prefer Online
Coupons

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 Trade Sales Promotion Defined
Trade sales promotion methods stimulate
wholesalers and retailers to carry a
producers products and to market those
products more aggressively
Encourage resellers to carry a product or stock more of
it

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 Trade Sales Promotion Methods
Trade allowances
- Buying allowance Temporary price
reduction for purchasing specified quantities
- Buy-back allowance Money given to a
reseller for each unit bought after an initial
promotion is over
- Scan-back allowance Manufacturers
reward based on the number of pieces scanned
- Merchandise allowance Manufacturers
agreement to pay in exchange for providing
special promotional efforts

2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Trade Sales Promotion Methods
Cooperative Advertising Manufacturer
agrees to pay a portion of retailers media costs
for advertising the manufacturers products
Dealer Listings Ads that promote a product
and list the names of retailers of that product
Free merchandise manufacturers reward to
retailers for purchasing a stated quantity of
product
Dealer Loader Gift given to a retailer for
purchasing a stated quantity of product

2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Trade Sales Promotion Methods
(cont)
Premium (push) money Extra
compensation to salespeople for pushing a
product line
Sales contest Used to motivate
distributors, retailers, and salespeople by
recognizing outstanding sales
achievements

2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Discussion Question
Which form of compensation do
you think the very best
salespersons will prefer?

2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 After Reviewing This Chapter
You Should:
Be able to define personal selling and
understand its purpose.
Know the basic steps in the personal selling
process.
Know the types of sales force personnel.
Understand sales management decisions and
activities.
Know what sales promotion activities are
and how they are used.
Be able to recognize specific consumer and
trade sales promotion methods.
2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 After Reviewing This Chapter
You Should:
Be able to examine physical distribution as a
part of supply-chain management.
Know how to explore legal issues in channel
management.

2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Key Concepts
Prospecting Combination compensation
plan
Approach
Sales promotion
Closing
Consumer sales promotion
Order getter methods
Order takers Coupons
Support personnel Cents-off offer
Missionary salespeople Money refunds
Trade salespeople Point-of-purchase (P-O-P)
materials
Technical salespeople
Rebates
Team selling Demonstrations
Relationship selling Free samples
Straight salary compensation Premiums
plan Consumer contests
Straight commission
compensation
2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Key Concepts
Consumer games
Consumer sweepstakes
Trade sales promotion methods
Buying allowance
Buy-back allowance
Scan-back allowance
Merchandise allowance
Cooperative advertising
Dealer listings
Free merchandise
Dealer loader
Premium (push) money
Sales contests

2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.