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Chapter One—Overview of Personal Selling
Learning Outcomes
After completing this chapter, you should be able to:
1. define personal selling and describe its unique characteristics as a marketing
communications tool.
2. distinguish between transaction-focused traditional selling and trust-based relationship
selling, with the latter focusing on customer value and sales dialogue.
3. understand sales professionalism as a key driver in the continued evolution of personal
selling.
4. explain the contributions of personal selling to society, business firms, and customers.
5. discuss five alternative approaches to personal selling.
6. understand the sales process as a series of interrelated steps.
7. describe several aspects of sales careers, types of selling jobs, and the key qualifications
needed for sales success.
Chapter Outline
I. Introduction
II. Personal Selling Defined
III. Trust-Based Relationship Selling
A. Importance of Customer Value
B. Importance of Sales Dialogue
IV. Evolution of Professional Selling
V. Contributions of Personal Selling
A. Salespeople and Society
Salespeople as Economic Stimuli
Salespeople and Diffusion of Innovation
B. Salespeople and the Employing Firm
Salespeople as Revenue Producers
Market Research and Feedback
Salespeople as Future Managers
C. Salespeople and the Customer
VI. Alternative Personal Selling Approaches
A. Stimulus Response Selling
B. Mental States Selling
C. Need Satisfaction Selling
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D. Problem-Solving Selling
E. Consultative Selling
VII. The Trust-Based Sales Process
VIII. Sales Careers
A. Characteristics of Sales Careers
Occupational Outlook
Advancement Opportunities
Immediate Feedback
Job Variety
Independence
Compensation
B. Classification of Personal Selling Jobs
C. Sales Support
D. New Business
E. Existing Business
F. Inside Sales
G. Direct-to-Consumer Sales
H. Combination Sales Jobs
I. Qualifications and Skills Required for Success by Salespeople
Exercises
Developing Professional Selling Knowledge
1. How is personal selling different from other forms of marketing communications?
The primary difference between personal selling and other forms of marketing
2. What are the key differences between transaction-focused traditional selling and trust-
based relationship selling?
In transaction-focused traditional selling, salespeople are focused on maximizing sales in
the short run and are self-oriented rather than customer-oriented. Little attention is given to
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3. What factors will influence the continued evolution of personal selling?
The continued evolution of personal selling as a profession is necessary in response to the
ever-growing complexity of the dynamic environment. Factors that will influence this
4. How do salespeople contribute to our society? Are there negative aspects of personal
selling from a societal perspective?
Salespeople contribute to society’s goal of economic growth in two basic ways. They
stimulate economic transactions and further the diffusion of innovation—the process
whereby new products, services, and ideas are distributed to the members of society. In a
5. What are the primary contributions made by salespeople to their employers?
Salespeople make three important contributions to their firms. First, they are the direct
producers of revenue in most business firms. Second, they play an important role in market
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6. Most businesses would have a difficult time surviving without the benefits of the
salespeople who call on them. Do you agree?
Yes, because customers benefit from salespeople in many ways. Buyers expect salespeople
7. How are need satisfaction and problem-solving selling related? How do they differ?
Need satisfaction and problem-solving selling are related in that each seeks to uncover and
8. How does the consultative selling approach differ from problem-solving and need
satisfaction selling? Explain the three key roles of consultative salespersons.
Consultative selling differs from problem-solving selling in that this type of selling is
focused on helping customers reach their strategic goals, not merely solving immediate
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9. How important is teamwork between the customer and the sales organization in practicing
consultative selling? How does teamwork within the sales organization factor into
consultative selling?
Teamwork between the customer and sales organization is essential if consultative selling
10. Discuss the final step of the sales process (enhancing customer relationships) as related to
the continuing evolution of personal selling.
The final step of the sales process is enhancing customer relationships, and it is an
Group Activity
Word Association: The Image of Salespeople
Before placing students into teams, ask them to spend two minutes thinking of positive and/or
negative words that come to mind when they hear the word “salespeople.” Instruct the students
to make a list of these words. Now put the students into three-person teams. Allow 10 minutes
for each team to compare thoughts and develop a list of words associated with the word
“salespeople.” Next, ask each team to share their list with the class. Record these responses on
the board in two columns, one positive and the other negative. Continue recording responses
from each team, then discuss the findings. Many students often negatively stereotype
salespeople. This is typically a result of perceptions they have formed about salespeople from
their encounters with retail salespeople, movies negatively portraying salespeople, and accounts
of salespeople in the popular press. Discussion can focus on the characteristics a professional
salesperson should possess and how the negative stereotypes of salespeople can be overcome.
The purpose of this exercise is to bring to the surface negative stereotypes associated with
salespeople and selling. Most students will have at least some negative attitudes toward
salespeople and selling because of their limited exposure to professional selling. Instructors
should use this exercise as an opportunity to assure the students that the focus of the course is on
trust-based relationship selling, a type of selling that is markedly different from the stereotypes
permeated by the media and door-to-door selling.
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Experiential Exercises
1. Understanding What It Takes to Succeed in Sales
Objective: Build awareness that sales requires a high knowledge and skill level and that
salespeople must be well-prepared when calling on customers.
Time Required: Two hours outside of class (one hour to conduct an interview with a sales
professional, one hour to write an interview summary).
Teaching Tip: In some instances, this assignment will be better suited to a team approach with
2-3 students per team. Salespeople from organizations that recruit on campus can be a good
source of interview candidates.
Have students interview a salesperson to better understand what it takes to be successful in
professional selling. In addition to the following interview questions, require students to develop
two additional questions for their interviews.
1. What are the key skills required in your job?
2. What do you need to know about your products/services in order to succeed?
3. How has professional selling changed in the past few years?
4. How do you prepare for sales calls with new customers?
Students should write a summary report of their interviews and be prepared to discuss their key
conclusions in class.
Chapter 1 Case
Specialty Sports Inc.
Background
Specialty Sports Inc. (SSI) is a California-based supplier of custom-made novelty sports items
such as bobble-head figures, caps, sunglasses, and sweatshirts. Most of SSI’s sales are to
medium-sized businesses that use SSI products in employee motivation programs or as specialty
advertising giveaways. SSI has been in business for 40 years, and has an excellent reputation as a
reliable, competitive supplier. SSI has built a successful business across the United States. SSI
sales representatives are knowledgeable and can advise their customers about how to use
specialty advertising to build employee morale, introduce new products, and reinforce brand
images.
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Current Situation
Jeff Weatherby had recently been assigned to the Indianapolis territory. Although this was his
first sales job, he felt confident and was eager to begin. Jeff had just completed SSI’s training
program and had a good understanding of SSI’s products and the sales process. For most sales
situations, SSI’s sales trainers had recommended the use of an organized sales presentation in
which the salesperson organizes the key points into a planned sequence that allows for adaptive
behavior by the salesperson as the sales call progresses.
Jeff had been in his territory for 60 days, and he was enjoying his job. Days passed quickly, and
he was never bored. He had landed some major customers, but was frustrated at how long it took
some customers to make a buying decision. Overall, he thought he was doing a good job and the
feedback form Felicia Jameson, his sales manager, had been consistently positive. Jeff tried to be
honest with himself as a way of improving his performance, and he was not happy as he
reviewed today’s last sales call.
Jeff had called on H2G, a large manufacturer of garden tools. He intended to sell H2G several
specialty advertising items to be used as giveaways at major trade shows in the coming year.
After researching H2G on the Internet, he arranged a 4:00 pm meeting with Greg Cox, the
director of marketing. Throughout the day, Jeff was running late due to an unexpected snow
storm and heavy traffic.
He called to let Greg know that he would be late, but the best he could do was to leave a
message. Jeff arrived 15 minutes late, and was relieved to be shown into Greg’s office without
delay.
Jeff apologized to Greg about running late, and was surprised to learn that Greg had not received
his message. Jeff was irritated that his message had not been passed along, but Greg did not seem
to mind, indicating that he had plenty of time to meet with Jeff. Given this signal, Jeff decided to
give Greg an overview of SSI’s capabilities and success stories. Fifteen minutes later, Greg
interrupted Jeff and the following dialogue ensued.
Greg: Thanks for the overview, Jeff. I had a pretty good idea what SSI offers, but some of what
you told me might be helpful. What have you learned about H2G that makes you think that SSI
would be a good fit for our trade show programs?
Jeff: Well, I know that H2G participates in two national shows and several regional shows every
year.
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Greg: That’s right, and we work really hard to stand out at those shows.
Jeff: What works well for you in terms of standing out at the shows?
Greg: Having a terrific, eye-catching product display is key. Doing a lot of pre-show
communications to be sure key buyers visit our booths, and being sure we have enough people
on hand to sustain a high-energy atmosphere during the show.
Jeff: How about specialty advertising to spice things up, maybe add to the fun element?
Greg: I am not sure what you mean. We have wasted a lot of money on giveaways in the past
and I don’t believe that it differentiates us from our competitors.
Jeff: That’s because you haven’t worked with SSI. We’re the best and I can fill you in on how
we can add sizzle to your trade shows.
Greg: O.K., but I just remembered that I need to pick my daughter up after her piano lesson.
With the snow and traffic, that leaves us about 15 minutes.
Jeff proceeded to describe how SSI works with most of their customers to supplement trade
show communications. He felt rushed, as there were a lot of alternatives depending on the
customer’s budget and objectives for each trade show. About 10 minutes into his monologue,
Greg told Jeff: “Thanks for coming today. We will talk about this internally and I will get back
with you if we decide to do more with specialty advertising this year. I really do have to run
now. Sorry.”
As Jeff drove home, he realized that he had never asked Greg about H2G’s trade show objectives
or their budget. With the abrupt end to the meeting, he also failed to try to get another
appointment with Greg Cox. Jeff realized that his call with H2G was not his best performance.
Questions
1. What problems do you see with Jeff’s H2G sales call?
Following are the problems seen in Jeff’s H2G sales call:
• He failed to confirm if the message to Greg was delivered.
• He spent too much time early in the call talking about SSI without asking Jeff what he
knew about SSI.
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2. If you were Jeff’s sales manager, what would you recommend he do to improve his chances
of succeeding?
First, Jeff should pay attention to conditions that may create delays and plan accordingly. If
he is going to run late, Jeff should make sure his customers know about the delay. Jeff
Role Play
Characters: Jeff Weatherby and four other SSI sales representatives; Felicia Jameson, SSI sales
manager.
Scene:
Location—SSI’s Indianapolis office during a weekly sales meeting shortly after his sales call
with H2G.
Action—Jeff reviews his H2G sales call with other SSI sales representatives and their sales
manager, Felicia Jameson. This is a regular feature of the weekly meetings, with the idea being
that all sales representatives can learn from the experiences of others. Jeff has decided to
compare his call on H2G to some of the material from his sales training with SSI. This material,
which contrasts transaction-focused selling with trust-based relationship selling, is shown in
Exhibit 1.1. His review will analyze whether he did or did not practice trust-based relationship
selling during his call with Greg Cox at H2G.
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Upon completion of the role play, address the following questions:
1. Is Jeff’s review of his sales call accurate?
2. What steps should Jeff take to begin to develop a strong relationship with Greg Cox at
H2G?
Chapter 1 Role Play
Overview of Personal Selling Stars, Inc.
Sales Stars, Inc (SSI) was founded five years ago by Mark Eaton and Sandra Orr as an
employment agency specializing in the placement of professional sales representatives and sales
trainees in a wide variety of industries. SSI is paid by the hiring companies, and job candidates
are never charged fees for SSI’s services. SSI represents college-educated individuals with sales
experience levels ranging from zero (sales trainees) to several years of experience. For SSI to
succeed, the company has to consistently do two things: (1) adapt to the hiring companies’ needs
and specific job descriptions in the sales area; and (2) save the hiring companies time and money
in the hiring process by recommending only prescreened, highly qualified candidates. By
focusing on these core competencies, SSI had grown to a company with fifty employees in five
regional offices across the United States. SSI’s revenues were increasing at an annual rate of 15
percent, which far outpaced revenue growth in the broadly defined employment agency sector.
Mark Eaton and Sandra Orr have a good feel for how SSI can save hiring companies time and
money by recommending only prescreened, highly qualified job candidates. Now that SSI was
getting to be a larger company, Mark and Sandra needed to spread their knowledge to other SSI
staff members who would also be involved in prescreening sales job candidates. In addition to
their own experience over the years, Mark and Sandra had conducted research on the
qualifications and skills needed for success in professional selling. Interestingly, there is a high
correlation between their research findings and the research presented on pages 22–23 of this
textbook. Mark and Sandra noted that some skills needed for sales success would be hard to
assess until the salesperson had been on the job for a while. For example, being honest and
ethical would probably take more time to assess. Even though a complete assessment of all of the
attributes needed for sales success might extend past the job placement process, Mark and
Sandra decided to identify key indicators for each of the twelve attributes shown on pages 22–
23:
1. Active listening—to include asking appropriate questions and not interrupting at
inappropriate times.
2. Service orientation—actively seeking ways to help customers.
3. Oral communications skills—including persuasive communications.
4. Coordination and problem solving—to include bringing others together and reconciling
differences.
5. Written communications skills—including computer and other technologically facilitated
communications.
6. Logical reasoning resulting in rational reasons to take action.
7. Strategic and organizational skills so that work can be planned and executed efficiently.
8. Dependability and attention to detail.
9. Motivation and persistence in the face of obstacles.
10. Integrity—honest and ethical.
11. Initiative—willing to take on responsibilities and challenges.
12. Adaptability—open to change and devoted to continual learning.
In the coming weeks, Mark and Sandra planned to work independently to identify a minimum of
two to three indicators for each of the twelve qualifications and skills needed for sales success.
They would then meet and select the best three indicators for each of the twelve success
attributes and decide how and when each attribute would be assessed as they screened job
candidates. For example, what could be assessed in personal interviews with job candidates?
Alternatively, could some of these attributes be assessed from candidate resumes? Mark and
Sandra were confident that if they could come up with the key indicators for each of the twelve
success attributes, they would be able to train other SSI personnel to effectively prescreen job
candidates and thus contribute to SSI’s future growth.
Role Play
Situation: Review the above SSI case. Working in teams of two, select at least two success
attributes from the list of twelve.
Characters: Mark Eaton and Sandra Orr, cofounders of SSI, Inc.
Scene 1: After Mark and Sandra have independently developed two to three indicators for two of
the twelve success factors, they meet to choose the best three indicators for each success factor
and to determine how and when each indicator will be assessed. Both Mark and Sandra should
distribute their written lists to each other and to others who will observe the role-play.
Upon completion of the role-play, address the following questions:
1. How would you rate Mark and Sandra in terms of preparedness? Can you identify any
overlooked indicators for the chosen sales success attributes?
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Students’ answer to this question will vary. Students answer should point that the research
2. How well did Mark and Sandra work together to find the three best indicators for each
success attribute?
Students’ answers to this question will vary.
Chapter 1 Continuing Case
Introduction
The National Copier Company (NCC) sells a variety of copiers to small and medium-sized
businesses. NCC has been in business for five years and has been growing at a steady pace. NCC
differentiates itself from other copier companies by customizing its products to meet the specific
needs of each customer and by providing excellent customer service. The company’s salesforce
plays a key role in creating value and managing customer relationships.
Brenda Smith has been a NCC salesperson for the past three years. She has steadily improved
her sales performance during her time with NCC, and now is in the top one-fourth of all NCC
sales representatives as measured by two key metrics: overall sales volume and customer
satisfaction. Brenda has been especially successful with small professional firms, such as
attorneys, architects, accountants, and medical professionals. She is excited to begin her fourth
year with NCC and has established challenging goals to increase sales from existing customers
and to generate new customers.
Brenda recently met with Pat Brady, her sales manager and was quite excited about the
upcoming year. Pat had told Brenda that she was progressing toward a possible promotion into
sales training if she had another good year in her sales position. In addition, Pat gave Brenda this
feedback: “Brenda, I think you are doing a fine job with your customers, but I would like to see
you become more of a consultative salesperson in the coming year. I would also like for you to
sharpen your group communications skills, as that will be important if you are promoted into
sales training. We will talk about the specifics more as the year goes along. Meanwhile, thanks
for your results to date and good luck with the upcoming year.”
Questions
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1. Brenda had been thinking about Pat Brady’s feedback that directed her to become more of
a consultative salesperson. In thinking about her own selling approaches, she knew that she
had been concentrating on the needs satisfaction and problem-solving approaches. What
must Brenda do to become a more consultative salesperson?
To become more of a consultative salesperson, Brenda needs to shift her focus from
helping her customers solve copier-related problems to helping her customers reach their
2. Three months later, Brenda was having mixed results with the consultative selling
approach. She was finding that some of her customers just wanted the convenience of
having a copier in their offices and did not seem eager to discuss their strategic goals. She
was beginning to wonder about the consultative selling model, thinking it was not such a
good idea after all. What recommendations do you have for Brenda?
First, Brenda needs to maintain a consultative relationship with only those customers with
whom she is likely to generate enough revenue (now or in the future) or to make the
3. A month before the annual meeting for all NCC sales representatives, Pat Brady told
Brenda, “For the upcoming meeting, I want you to prepare a 10-minute presentation about
the pros and cons of the basic selling approaches that we use at NCC compared to our
competitors.” NCC’s sales training program advocated the use of needs satisfaction,
problem solving, and consultative selling. Many of NCC’s key competitors used the same
approaches. However some of the toughest competitors used stimulus response and mental
states (AIDA) approaches. This latter category of competitors often stressed lower prices
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and utilized telemarketing instead of field sales representatives in selling their products.
Put yourself in Brenda’s role and prepare the presentation requested by Pat Brady.
Students’ answers will vary, but they should include some discussion of the idea that
stimulus response and mental states approaches are transaction-focused traditional selling
approaches and not trust-based relationship approaches. These approaches combined with
4. Early in the year, Pat Brady told Brenda that her efforts were needed to gain more exposure
for NCC’s college recruiting program: “Brenda, I want you to be part of a two-person team
to help with recruiting on two college campuses in your territory. The other team member
will be an experienced recruiter who had sales experience before moving into recruiting.
The two of you should seek out opportunities as guest speakers for classes and student
organizations. Your role will be to talk about how sales can be a great place to start a
career, and for some, a great career path. Think about the future of selling and what it takes
to be successful and share your thoughts with students.” Acting as Brenda, make note of
ten key points you would like to make about the future of professional selling and what it
takes to be successful.
(Hint: Be sure you read the online Appendix to Chapter 1 along with Chapter 1 before you
undertake this task.)
Students’ answers will vary, but it may include the following: Advantages resulting from