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Personal Selling

PERSONAL SELLING
Personal selling, sometimes called professional selling or
professional personal selling, is the person-to-person
interaction between the representatives of a sales organiza-
tion and the representatives of a buying organization
resulting in the sale of a good, such as a product, service,
or idea. Selling can take place through a retail transaction,
a business-to-business transaction, or through telemarket-
ing. Business-to-business professional selling is a process
beginning with the sales representative identifying poten-
tial customers and potentially culminating in a long-term,
mutually beneficial relationship between the seller and
buyer. This process, called the sales process, can be sepa-
rated into seven specific steps: prospecting, preparation,
the approach, the presentation, handling objections, clos-
ing the sale, and the follow-up.

PROSPECTING
Prospecting involves identifying and qualifying potential Appliance sales is one area where person-to-person selling plays
an important role. © DON MASON/CORBIS
customers. Several techniques are available to sales repre-
sentatives to help them identify potential customers, such
as the endless chain, center of influence, and cold calling
mental process. The better prepared sales representatives
methods. The endless chain prospecting method is where
the sales representative, at the end of a call, asks the buyer are for each call, the greater their success.
for names of other buyers who might be interested in the
product. When the sales representative gains additional APPROACH
contacts by getting to know the most influential buyers in The third step of the sales process is the approach step.
the sales territory, this is known as the center of influence The approach is the sales representative’s first face-to-face
prospecting technique. In the cold calling method, the interaction with the customer. There are several tech-
sales representative goes through the territory knocking niques available for effectively approaching customers,
on doors to identify potential customers. such as the premium approach, the question approach,
When qualifying a prospect, a sales representative and the product approach. The premium approach, some-
needs to determine if there is a want or a need for a prod- times called the free gift approach, involves the sales rep-
uct, if the company is financially able to buy, if the com- resentative giving the buyer something of value at the
pany is eligible to buy, and if the person interacting with beginning of a call. The question approach is when the
the sales representative has the authority to buy. sales representative’s presentation begins with a question
to get the buyer involved. In the product approach, the
sales representative hands a sample of the product to the
PREPARATION
buyer at the beginning of the presentation, once again
The second step of the sales process is the preparation involving the buyer right away.
step. In this step, the sales representative prepares for the
An important aspect of the approach step is the con-
sales call in two ways. First, the sales representative gath-
cept of personal space. Sales representatives need to be
ers general knowledge that is needed to make any call,
such as product information, prices, delivery information, aware of cultural differences and not make the buyer feel
uncomfortable during the sales call. In some countries, it
and competitive information. Second, the sales represen-
may be natural for the buyer and seller to communicate
tative prepares a plan for calling on each individual cus-
tomer. The precall plan is often called a sales call plan, almost nose to nose, while this is completely unacceptable
in other countries.
essentially an outline of how the sales representative
would like the sales presentation to flow. During a sales
representative’s early tenure with a company, the sales call PRESENTATION
plan is often a written process; as a sales representative The fourth step of the sales process is the presentation.
gains experience, however, planning the call becomes a Sales representatives need to realize the importance of pre-

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BUSINESS AND FINANCE, SECOND EDITION 593