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CHAPTER 22
PERSONAL SELLING (ONLINE)
Chapter Overview
While certainly an integral part of the promotional mix, personal selling is generally the responsibility
of the sales department rather than the advertising or promotional departments. Given this fact,
personal selling receives less attention in this text than in some others. This does not mean, however,
that we consider this function to be of less importance. Rather, we feel that selling roles and
responsibilities may be better covered in other courses. Personal selling involves selling through a
Learning Objectives
2. To know the advantages and disadvantages of personal selling as a promotional program
element.
4. To know ways to determine the effectiveness of the personal selling effort.
Chapter and Lecture Outline
I. THE SCOPE OF PERSONAL SELLING
Personal selling will take on a more or less important role depending upon the characteristics of the
firm and the marketplace in which it is competing. A few years ago a survey was sent to managers
regarding their perceived importance of this element of the promotional mix relative to other
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II. THE ROLE OF PERSONAL SELLING IN THE PROMOTIONAL MIX
Personal selling offers the marketer a number of advantages not offered by other advertising and
promotional media. The dyadic exchange process allows for direct feedback, tailoring of the message
and increased attention getting capabilities. At the same time, as noted, the efforts of the personal
sales force must be supported and integrated into the overall promotional program. This section of the
chapter discusses the integration of these elements.
A. Determining the Role of Personal Selling—The marketing manager needs to consider the role
that personal selling will assume relative to other promotional mix elements, and the specific
responsibilities that personal selling will assume. To determine what this role should be, four
specific questions must be asked:
1. What specific information must be exchanged between the firm and potential customers?
2. What are the alternative ways of carrying out these communications objectives?
B. The Nature of Personal Selling—the evolution of personal selling. According to Tom
Wotruba, the personal selling area is constantly evolving. Wotruba notes five distinct stages
of personal selling:
• provider stage—activities are limited to accepting orders
• persuader stage—an attempt is made to persuade the market to buy the supplier’s
offerings
Understanding personal selling requires examination in respect to three areas:
1. Relationship marketing—The idea behind relationship marketing is the salesperson
serves as a partner to the client, engaging in problem solving, need satisfaction, etc. The
concept is to develop a long-term mutually profitable relationship.
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2. The costs of personal selling—Personal selling is a very expensive means of
communicating with the consumer. As noted on page 22-9, estimated costs per sales call
3. Personal selling responsibilities—Sales & Marketing Management magazine lists three
categories of salespersons’ responsibilities. These include order taking, creative selling,
and missionary sales. Figure 22– 9 in the text describes these responsibilities in some
detail.
C. Advantages and Disadvantages of Personal Selling
Advantages include:
• the ability to achieve two way interaction
Disadvantages include:
• inconsistent messages
Professor’s Notes
III. COMBINING PERSONAL SELLING WITH OTHER PROMOTIONAL TOOLS
As stated earlier, personal selling must be integrated into the promotional mix to achieve success.
Personal selling efforts should support, and be supported by, other promotional mix elements.
A. Combining Personal Selling and Advertising—A complementary relationship should exist in
which advertising is used to support personal selling efforts and vice versa. The text
demonstrates how both parties could benefit from such a relationship.
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C. Combining Personal Selling and Direct Marketing—One way marketers have found to reduce
the costs of personal selling is by supporting this function with direct marketing. Letters
and/or phone calls may be designed to solicit leads, screen potential customers, close sales, or
as a follow-up to the salespersons efforts. The net result is a more effective, and cost
conscious program. As shown in the chapter, there has been a rapid growth in the use of the
telemarketing/sales combination.
IV. EVALUATING THE PERSONAL SELLING EFFORT
Figure 22-10 in the text can be used to discuss the variety of criteria that may be used to evaluate
personal selling contributions. While these criteria are generally offered as an evaluation of the
sales force itself, an evaluation should be made regarding contributions to the promotional
program objectives also. Criteria that may be used in this regard are:
• providing marketing intelligence
Professor’s Notes
Teaching Suggestions
A key determinant of how this chapter will be taught is the orientation that the instructor wishes to
assume. Some instructors like to emphasize personal selling more than we have done here. Others
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A variety of materials can be obtained to use as illustrations of those discussed in the text. Personal
Answers to Discussion Questions
1. Explain what is meant by customer relationship management. Discuss why CRM has become
such an important practice to marketers (LO1)
Customer relationship management (CRM) requires that the marketer develop and
maintain a significant amount of information about its clients. The aim of CRM is to
2. What is “cloud computing”? What are some of the advantages that cloud computing offers
marketers? Provide some examples. (LO1)
Cloud computing allows marketers to access software packages over the Internet that will
allow them to improve CRM practices, but at a lower cost. Because such software is often
3. Figure 22-5 describes the traits of successful sales people. Discuss these traits and why they
are important in developing and sustaining an effective sales relationship with clients. (LO1)
Page 12 lists the ten traits buyers consider most helpful in salespeople.Without repeating the
list here, one can refer to it in the chapter.
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Selling is a dyadic process. Just like any other relationship, you are most responsive to people
with whom you trust, that have empathy toward you, and know what they are talking about
4. Explain what is meant by “the new role of personal selling.” How does this new role differ
from what personal selling has involved in the past? (LO1)
The days of just being a salesperson are slowly disappearing. Now salespeople are being
asked to perform a multitude of roles. In addition to being information providers, influencers,
and demonstrators, salespeople will also engage in:
a. Surveying—educating themselves more about their customers’ businesses and
regularly assessing these businesses to achieve a position of knowledgeable and
authority.
b. Mapmaking—outlining both an account strategy and a solutions strategy for the
customer. This means laying out a plan, discussing it with the customer, and
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5. Figure 22-4 describes three types of sales positions. Discuss each of these. Describe some of the
industries in which each might play a more important role. (LO1)
Figure 22-4 on page 10 lists the various sales jobs, including:
Creative selling—to fulfill the requirements of creative selling, it is necessary to conduct a
situation analysis, determine needs to be met, prospect and get the order. Many jobs like
insurance sales, real estate and mortgage banking employ these positions.
6. Explain why the high cost of personal selling might be warranted. Give a specific example of
a situation where this is the case.(LO4)
In many business to business situations, the high cost of personal selling is often warranted.
For major purchase decisions like heavy equipment, contract services, etc., no other form of
communications will suffice. Terms must be explained, specifications must be identified, and
other formalities that require face to face interaction are necessary
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7. Discuss how companies have successfully integrated the Internet into their personal selling
programs. Provide additional ways this might be done. (LO3)
The lead-in to the chapter mentions a few of many companies who’s role now is to
assist the personal selling effort and customer relationship management. Companies like
SAS , SAP and SalesGenie.com. have become quite successful in fulfilling the needs of
personal sales forces in a variety of companies.
Order taking—the Net has become a cost-effective tool for order placing. Imagine a
straight rebuy situation, where stocks need only to be replenished. This action hardly
requires a sales visit. By having a Website, the provider makes it very easy for clients to
make purchases—either first time or rebuys. This makes it convenient for the customer,
saving them time, as well as the salesperson, who can be utilizing his/her time more
effectively.
8. The chapter notes that successful companies use their customers as public relations tools. Explain
what this means and how it can be accomplished. (LO3)
The text discusses the integration of personal selling and public relations efforts. Exhibit 22-
5 shows how one company’s sales force assisted Katrina hurricane victims rebuild. A number
of examples are cited, and a few more can be added:
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2. Computer sales teams helped earthquake victims get re-established by assisting them in
setting up new computer systems, installing networks, etc.
4. Companies encourage their employees to become involved in community efforts through
the Little League, joining organizations and supporting charities.
9. While marketers acknowledge that customer relationship management is important in both
business to consumer and business to business markets, some believe that it is even more
important in the B to B market. Explain why they might feel this way. Are they right? (LO1)
As the text notes, relationship marketing is becoming more and more important to companies.
This is particularly true in respect to the b to b markets, where personal relationships are critical.
B to B relationships often require more personal interactions than B to C, they may be more
10. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of personal selling versus other IMC program
elements. When should personal selling assume a dominant role?(LO2)
Personal selling brings a number of advantages to the promotional program. First of all it
allows for a direct, interactive communication link between the buyer and the seller. This
dyadic exchange allows the firm to attain direct and immediate feedback, which in turn
allows for evaluation of the effectiveness of the message and/or promotional strategy.
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11. Three are many who believe that allowing pharmaceutical companies to advertise and
promote their products directly to consumers should not be allowed. Others counter by noting
that using the push strategy of marketing to doctors leads to the same results, as doctors will
then push the product onto the patient. Discuss both sides of this issue. (LO3)
Proponents argue that such advertising helps consumers become aware of some medical
conditions that otherwise would have been unknown to them. By being more informed, they
say, they can discuss these conditions with their doctors.
Critics, on the other hand, contend that consumers may request drugs they do not need, and
put pressure on the doctor to have them. This issue has been confirmed by more than one
doctor.
The outcry against this advertising has been deafening, leading the industry to adopt
standards and restrictions on the practice. However, this has not slowed down the advertising,
with critics contending that the companies either ignore or find a way to get around them.
Many feel that cigarette advertising type bans must be implemented.
Additional discussion questions (not in text)
12. Explain why the combination of personal selling and advertising may provide benefits that
exceeds just personal selling alone. (LO3)
Personal selling and advertising both offer their own advantages and disadvantages to the IMC
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By combining personal selling with advertising, the marketer may more effectively and
efficiently reach customers and or potential customers. As noted, advertising can be used at the
early stages of the response process to achieve the objectives of reach, creating interest, etc.
13. Describe some of the criteria used to evaluate qualitative aspects of the effectiveness of the
salesperson. How might these be used to support the IMC program? (LO4)
Figure 22-10 provides a comprehensive list of criteria used to evaluate the sales force. Note that
some of the qualitative criteria listed therein specifically relate to the use of promotional tools. In
addition, the text lists some other criteria that may be useful including:
• gathering and providing marketing intelligence—salespeople should be the “eyes and ears” of
the company. As such they should be evaluated and rewarded for information provided in
regard to the marketplace, competitive activities, etc.
14. Companies attempt to motivate salespersons in various ways, including offering them monetary
incentives. Following up on this, give some examples of how integrating other program elements
might also be effective in motivating the sales force. (LO3)
As noted in the text, the old standard of paying more money to incent sales people is no longer as
effective as it was in the past. There are a variety of reasons, and a variety of new motivators
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Jupiter Media Metrix— after Forrester Research, a competitor, hung a sign in its head quarters’
office inspiring employees to “Beat Jupiter,” Jupiter responded by initiating a motivation of its
own. They showcased boxing gloves in the lobby of their offices that the sales rep that “scores the
biggest knockout” of a Forrester account got to autograph each quarter.
15. It has been said that the importance of the sales force varies at various stages in the
communication hierarchies. Discuss this idea, providing examples to support your position.
(LO1)
Various elements of the IMC program assume more or less importance at various stages of the
communications hierarchies. For example, advertising may take on the most important role in the
first stage of the hierarchies, as awareness is the primary objective, and cost per exposure is low
with this medium. Personal selling may be used more in the later stages to demonstrate products,
were 2 to 28 percent lower if the buyer had received an advertising message before the
salesperson’s arrival. In another example, Gateway recently launched a $50 million dollars IMC
campaign using advertising, direct marketing, sales promotions, and the Internet to create
awareness that Gateway is interested in companies’ business, that is, that they are also in the
business to business market. This effort may lead to sales leads through the newly created
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16. The text describes a number of ways that sales personal selling can use advertising to help them
sell more. Discuss these, providing examples of each. (LO2)
Figure 22-7 in the text discusses 12 ways that advertising can support the personal selling effort.
Without explaining each here, we will list them and provide an example:
a. Save sales force time—ads can provide information or awareness prior to the sales
call
e. Personal refreshers—sometimes the ad serves as a “cheat–sheet” helping the sales rep
in the presentation
f. Clues to prospect’s interests—inquiries may tip off the benefits the potential
customer is seeking. “Do you have that new_____available?”
g. Prove a point—advertising reinforces the sale pitch, adding credibility
h. Nudge indecisive prospects—the ad may be the closer that leads clinches the deal
17. One of the advantages of personal selling is the ability for dyadic communication. Explain
what this term means. Why is this advantage over other media? (LO2)
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The term means direct (one on one) communication between two people. This offers the
marketer an advantage over other media for a number of reasons:
(1). It allows for tailoring of the message. While other media, particularly mass media, have a
(2). Lack of distraction. Another advantage of this form of communication is the fact that in a
one to one situation, (hopefully) there are no distractions. For example, in a selling situation,
(3). Direct feedback. In this form of communication, the sender can directly gage the
feedback from the receiver. If the receiver is appearing bored and or disinterested, the sender
can change the message. If the receiver does show interest, the sender can continue on the
path taken. Direct feedback will allow the sender to know how well the message is being
communicated, when to ask for the sale, etc.
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IMC Exercise
Have students make a sales presentation to the class for a product/service of their choice. In the
presentation, promotional materials (ads, sales promotions, and advertising specialties) should be
included to aid the presentation. Have the student discuss how other tools support the sales effort.
Have other class members critique the presentation.
AdForum Exercise: “Using Advertising to Support the Personal Selling Effort”
(See Advertising and Promotion Playlist, Chapter 22)
As noted in Chapter 22, IMC media are often used to support the personal selling effort. On the
playlist to this chapter are a number of business to business commercials. Review these and discuss:
1. What are the objectives being sought by these advertisements?
3. Could these commercials also serve other purposes? In other words, could