Chapter 17
Personal Selling and Sales Management
This chapter begins with the learning outcome summaries followed by a set of lesson plans for
instructors to use to deliver the content.
Lecture (for large sections) on page 3
Company Clips (video) on page 4
Group Work (for smaller sections) on pages 7
Review and Assignments begin on page 7
Review questions
Application questions
Application exercise
Ethics exercise
Video assignment
Case assignment
Great Ideas for Teaching Marketing from faculty around the country begin on page 17
Learning Outcomes
17-1 Understand the sales environment
Salespeople can be consumer-focused (as in the case of retail) or business-focused (selling to
other firms). The sales environment changes constantly as new competitors enter the market and
old competitors leave. The ways that customers interact with salespeople and learn about
products and suppliers are changing due to the rapid increase in new sales technologies. In order
for companies to successfully sell products or services using a sales force, they must be very
effective at personal selling, sales management, customer relationship management, and
technology—all of which play critical roles in building strong long-term relationships with
customers.
17-2 Describe personal selling
Personal selling is a purchase situation involving a personal, paid-for communication between
two people in an attempt to influence each other. In a sense, all businesspeople are salespeople.
Personal selling offers several advantages over other forms of promotion. Generally speaking,
personal selling becomes more important as the number of potential customers decreases, as the
complexity of the product increases, and as the value of the product grows. Technology plays an
increasingly important role in personal selling. If salespeople do not stay well informed about the
products they’re selling, consumers may enter the store knowing even more than they do.
17-3 Discuss the key differences between relationship selling and transactional selling
Relationship selling is the practice of building, maintaining, and enhancing interactions with
customers to develop long-term satisfaction through mutually beneficial partnerships.. That is,
the marketers were most concerned with making a one-time sale and moving on to the next
prospect. In transactional selling, the emphasis shifts from a one-time sale to a long-term
relationship in which the salesperson works with the customer to develop solutions for enhancing
the customer’s bottom line.
17-4 List and explain the steps in the selling process
The actual sales process depends on the features of the product or service, characteristics of
customer segments, and internal processes in place within the firm (such as how leads are
gathered). Some sales take only a few minutes to complete, but others may take much longer.
Like other forms of promotion, the steps of selling follow the AIDA concept. The personal
selling process is composed of seven basic steps: (1) generating leads, (2) qualifying leads, (3)
approaching the customer and probing needs, (4) developing and proposing solutions, (5)
handling objections, (6) closing the sale, and (7) following up. Generating leads can involve cold
calling, in which the salesperson approaches potential buyers without any prior knowledge of the
prospects’ needs or financial status. Lead qualification involves three things: a recognized need,
buying power, and receptivity and accessibility. Need assessment involves the product or service,
customer and their needs, the competition, and the industry. A sales proposal is a written
document or professional presentation that outlines how the company’s product or service will
meet or exceed the client’s needs. The sales presentation is the formal meeting in which the
salesperson has the opportunity to present the sales proposal. To handle objections effectively,
the salesperson should anticipate specific objections (such as concerns about price), and fully
investigate the objection with the customer. Negotiation is the process during which both the
salesperson and the prospect offer special concessions in an attempt to arrive at a sales
agreement. Follow-up is the final step in the selling process, in which the salesperson must
ensure that delivery schedules are met, goods or services perform as promised, and buyers’
employees are properly trained to use the products. Technology helps to improve the
relationship.
17-5 Understand the functions and roles of sales management
The sales manager’s basic job is to maximize sales at a reasonable cost while also maximizing
profits. The sales manager’s responsibilities include (1) defining sales goals and the sales
process, (2) determining the sales force structure, (3) recruiting and training the sales force, (4)
compensating and motivating the sales force, and (5) evaluating the sales force. A quota is a
statement of the salesperson’s sales goals, usually based on sales volume alone. Sales
departments are most often organized by geographic regions, product lines, marketing functions
performed (such as account development or account maintenance), markets, industries,
individual clients, or accounts. Sales managers look for the following traits: ego strength, sense
of urgency and competitiveness, assertiveness, sociable, risk-taking ability, capability to
understanding complex concepts, creativity, and empathy. Only good planning will ensure that
compensation attracts, motivates, and retains good salespeople. The final task of sales managers
is evaluating the effectiveness and performance of the sales force.
17-6 Describe the use of customer relationship management in the selling process
Companies that have customer relationship management (CRM) systems follow a
customer-centric focus or model. The interaction between the customer and the organization is
the foundation on which a CRM system is built. Only through effective interactions can
organizations learn about the expectations of their customers, generate and manage knowledge
about them, negotiate mutually satisfying commitments, and build long-term relationships. Web
users can evaluate and purchase products, make reservations, input preferential data, and provide
customer feedback on services and products. The net promoter score measures how much a
customer influences the behavior of other customers through recommendations on social media.
Point-of-sale interactions are a touch point in stores or information kiosks that uses software to
enable customers to easily provide information about themselves without feeling violated. Vast
amounts of data can be obtained from the interactions between an organization and its customers.
Campaign management involves monitoring and leveraging customer interactions to sell a
company’s products and to increase customer service. If a company has identified its best
customers, then it should make every effort to maintain and increase their loyalty. CRM provides
many opportunities to cross-sell related products. Using transaction and purchase data, a
database allows marketers to track customers’ relationships to the company’s products and
services.
Key Terms
Campaign management Lead qualification Relationship selling
(consultative selling)
Cold calling Needs assessment
Customer-centric Negotiation Sales presentation
Follow-up Networking Sales process (sales cycle)
Interaction Point-of-sale interactions Sales proposal
Knowledge management Preapproach Touch points
Lead generation (prospecting) Quota
Referral
Lesson Plan for Lecture
Suggested Homework
The end of this chapter contains assignments for the New Balance Hubway video and a case
assignment on protecting customers.
This chapter’s online study tools include flashcards, visual summaries, practice quizzes, and
other resources that can be assigned or used as the basis for longer investigations into
marketing.
Lesson Plans for Video
Company Clips
Segment Summary: New Balance Hubway
New Balance Hubway is a bike-sharing system located in Boston, Massachusetts, designed to
augment existing transportation systems in the greater Boston area. In this clip, Hubway
discusses how they generate buzz and get funding to build their bike share network.
These teaching notes combine activities that you can assign students to prepare before class, that
you can do in class before watching the video, that you can do in class while watching the video,
and that you can assign students to complete as assignments after watching the video in class.
During the viewing portion of the teaching notes, stop the video periodically where appropriate
to ask students the questions or perform the activities listed on the grid. You may even want to
give the students the questions before starting the tape and have them think about the answer
while viewing the segment. That way, students will be engaged in active viewing rather than
passive viewing.
Pre-class Prep for You Pre-class Prep for Your Students
Preview the Company Clips video
segment for Chapter 17. This exercise
reviews concepts for LO1–LO6.
Review your lesson plan.
Stream the video HERE.
Have students review and familiarize themselves
with the following terms and concepts: personal
selling and relationship selling.
Have students bring written definitions of the
above terms to class.
Have students call a retailer of choice and ask the
manager what reps the store works with to buy its
inventory. If a store does not use reps, the students
should try calling other stores until they find one
that does. They should also query the manager
about the benefits of using reps.
Video Review Exercise
Activity
Warm-up
Briefly discuss students’ findings from the final activity in the Pre-class Prep.
Review the types of products sold at the store, the number of reps the store works
with, and the benefits derived from working with reps.
In-class
Preview
Review Exhibit 17.1, Comparison of Personal Selling and Advertising/Sales
Promotion.
Discuss the steps in the selling process. Focus on generating leads, qualifying
leads, approaching the customer and probing needs, closing the sale, and
following up.
Discuss the issues involved in sales force management. Pay special attention to
sales force structure, recruiting and training the sales force, compensating and
motivating the sales force, evaluating the sales force, and the impact of
technology on personal selling.
Have copies of the Company Clips questions (below) available for students to
take notes on while viewing the video segment.
Viewing
(solutions
below)
1. How do you know that Hubway strongly encourages relationship selling?
2. Discuss the importance of social media to Hubway. What impact does it have
on customer relationship management?
Follow-up
Discuss the role of relationship selling at Scholfield Honda.
Ask students, “How is the recruiting process similar to the selling process?”
Divide students into groups of three to five, and have them devise a
compensation and motivation program for Scholfield Honda. Give them 10 to
15 minutes to develop a proposal. Have as many groups as time allows, and ask
them to share their outlines with the class.
Solutions for Viewing Activities
1. How do you know that Hubway strongly encourages relationship selling?
Answers will vary, but the discussion about focusing on one-to-one interaction either
face-to-face or through social media to develop a close relationship with that one person,
who then becomes a brand ambassador, signals that Hubway relies on relationship
marketing to spread the word.
2. Discuss the importance of social media to Hubway. What impact does it have on
customer relationship management?
Hubway relies on social media for the bulk of its ability to spread the word (sharing user
posts about Hubway), keep customers discussing the service (engage customers through
social media posts and messages), and provide excellent customer service (Spotcycle and
letting people know about station maintenance etc.). This also provides a great place to
identify customer interactions, understand the customer base, and send out targeted
marketing messages.
Lesson Plan for Group Work
In most cases, group activities should be completed after some chapter content has been covered,
probably in the second or third session of the chapter coverage. (See “Lesson Plan for Lecture”
above.)
Application question 1 translates well to group work. Divide the class into small groups of four
or five people. Each group should read the question and then use their textbooks, or any work
that was completed previously, to perform the exercise. Then each group should discuss or
present their work to the class.
Class Activity: Sales Force Structure and Compensation
The purpose of this exercise is to determine the best structure for a sales force in a variety of
industries. Divide the class into teams. Each team will represent a new company that is creating a
sales force to sell the product or service to a national market. The teams can represent one of the
following product categories (no two teams should have the same category): (1) a video game
targeted to kids ages 8 to 12; (2) a book about budget travel around the world, targeted to college
students; (3) a smartphone; (4) an ergonomic backpack targeted to high school and college
students; and (5) sneakers with rollers targeted to the teen market.
The following should be determined by each team:
A realistic distribution channel for the product
How to structure the sales force across the entire United States (each team should assume
that the product will be sold nationally)
How should the sales force be compensated
When all the teams complete the above, they should present their ideas to the class.