Chapter 14

One-to-One: Trade Promotion, Direct

Marketing, and Personal Selling

Sunday, December 7, 14
Trade Sales Promotion:
Targeting the B2B Customer
Trade Promotions; focus and target the B2B customer, specifically
members of the channel of distribution, such as wholesalers, retailers, and
sometimes even the manufacturer’s own sales force.

Trade Sales Promotions

Sunday, December 7, 14
Trade promotions take two forms:
Incentives which are discounts and deals >> reduce the cost of the product to
the distributor or retailer, or alternately, help defray advertising expenses.

• Allowances, discounts, and deals (Slotting Allowances, Merchandise Allowances, Case Allowance)

• Co-op advertising (manufacturer agrees to pay a portion, or in in the case of unrestricted co-op
advertising, 100% of the cost of a retailer’s local advertising)

Those designed to increase visibility within the industry

• Trade shows (industry events held in large convention centers)

• Promotional products (Use promotional products--mugs, polo shirts, pens that list the name and logo
of an organization-- as favors that are given to prospects or existing clients to build awareness or
create good will.

• Point-of-purchase (POP) displays (signs, banners, floor ads, shopping cart ads and in-store
television, etc)

• Incentive programs (ex. Push money-- may take the form of cash bonuses, trips, or prizes)

Sunday, December 7, 14
Direct Marketing
Any direct communication to a consumer or business recipient designed to generate a
response in the form of an order, a request for further information, and/or a visit to a
store or other place of business for purchase of a product

Key Forms of Direct Marketing

Sunday, December 7, 14
Key Forms of Direct Marketing

• MAIL ORDER

* Catalogs >> Collection of products offered for sale and described in book form
* Direct mail >> A brochure/pamphlet offering a specific good/service at one point in time

• TELEMARKETING (Direct marketing conducted over the telephone)

• DIRECT-RESPONSE ADVERTISING (Allows consumer to respond by immediately

contacting the provider with questions or an order)

* Direct-response TV (DRTV) >> commercials less than 2 minutes long, as well as home shopping networks.
* Infomercials >> half-hour or longer commercials that involve extensive product demonstrations, often with
audience involvement

• M-COMMERCE (Promotional and other e-commerce activities transmitted over mobile

phones/devices)

* Short-messaging system marketing (SMS)

Sunday, December 7, 14
Personal Selling: Adding the Personal
Touch to the Promotion Mix
Occurs when a company representative interacts directly with a prospect or customer
to communicate about a good or service

Factors That Influence a Firm’s Emphasis

on Personal Selling
Sunday, December 7, 14
The Landscape of Modern
Personal Selling
• Types of Sales Jobs > Order takers includes in-store salespeople who essentially
wait for the customer to initiate a transaction, then assist
consumers with transactional aspects of the sale

> Technical specialists support in the selling effort rather than

attempt to close a sale (Ex: “food ladies” in grocery store)

> Missionary sales people (Sales representatives who visit

customers for the purpose of educating them about the benefits
and side effects of products, they do not take orders)

> New-business salespeople Any sales representative that is

responsible for creating new customers. In the context of long-
term-relationship building, they called are as Order Getter.

> Team selling A sales representative, technical specialist, and

perhaps other players all perform a role in the sales process.

Sunday, December 7, 14
Two Approaches to Personal Selling

Transactional selling:
A form of personal selling that focuses on making an immediate
sale with little or no concern for developing long-term customer
relationships

Relationship selling:
Process of building long-term customers by developing mutually
satisfying, win-win relationships with customers

Sunday, December 7, 14
The Creative Selling Process

Steps in the Creative Selling Process

Sunday, December 7, 14
Step 1: Prospect and Qualify
• Prospecting for potential customers, and qualifying whether these
sales leads are truly worth visiting

• Sales Lead >> Business and telephone directories, Commercially

available databases, Web search engines, Referrals, Past customers
who no longer do business with firm, Cold Calling

Step 2: Preapproach

• compiling background information about prospective customers and

planning for the sales interview.

• Information is gathered from informal sources, the CRM system when

the prospect is a current or former customer, customers’ Web sites,
and/or business publications.

Sunday, December 7, 14
Step 3: Approach
• Contacting the prospect. The sales representative seeks to build rapport or common
ground with the prospect.

Step 4: Sales Presentation

• Laying out the benefits and added value of a firm’s product/service and its advantages
over the competition (Invite customer involvement , Listening skills are critical)

Step 5: Handle Objections

• Anticipating why a prospect is reluctant to make a commitment and responding with
additional information or persuasive arguments (Welcome objections, Objections must be
successfully dealt with to move prospect to decision stage)

Sunday, December 7, 14
Step 6: Close the Sale
Gaining the customer’s commitment in the decision stage using a variety of approaches:
* Last-objection close
(Ex: “Are you ready to order, assuming we can prove that our product quality meets your
specifications?”)
* Assumptive or minor-points close
(Ex: “Would you prefer the green or blue model?”)
* Standing-room-only or buy-now close
(attempts to motivate immediate action by implying the quantities are limited and buy run out, or that
a special incentive or price discount is on the verge of expiring)

Step 7: The Follow-Up

Arranging for delivery, payment, and purchase terms

Sunday, December 7, 14
Sales Management
Sales management is the process of planning, implementing, and controlling the personal selling
function of an organization

The Sales Management Process

Sunday, December 7, 14
Setting Sales Force Objectives
• Objectives state what the sales force is expected to accomplish and by when

• Individual objectives may be:

* Performance objectives >> Set in terms of outcomes such as profit, unit sales or dollar sales, either in total
or by product or product line
* Behavioral objectives >> Specify actions that the sales person is expected to accomplish, such as the
average number of sales visits which should be made weekly, the number of prospects which should be
identified

Creating a Sales Force Strategy

• Establishing structure and size of a firm’s sales force

• Setting sales territories is a major responsibility; several forms exist

* Geographic sales force structure >> sales representative is given exclusive control over customer within a
city, state, or other specified geographic region)
* Product-class sales territories >> allows salespeople to develop expertise within a product category)
* Industry specialization >> allows salespeople to focus on the unique aspects inherent in different industries
or different types of buyers
* Key/major accounts >> assign a senior sales representative to what are called key or major accounts, which
are typically high-volume, national accounts that would cause the firm great hardship if lost

Sunday, December 7, 14
Recruit, Train, and Reward the Sales Force

• Recruiting the right people >> Candidates are screened for several skills

• Sales training >> Teaches salespeople about firm, its products, how to develop skills,
knowledge, and attitudes to succeed

• Rewarding sales people >> Paying salespeople well to motivate them

* Straight commission plan (the more the sales person sells, the more he or she earns)
* Commission-with-draw plan (allows a salesperson to draw a regular payment on a weekly basis that will be
charged against future commissions when current earnings are insufficient to cover the draw)
* Straight salary plan (pays a salesperson a fixed amount, regardless of performance)
* Quota-bonus plan (sales representatives are paid a salary, but receive substantial bonuses when their sales
volume exceeds different quota (goal) levels)

• Sales contests >> allow salespeople to compete for cash, prizes, and trips for selling specific
goods or services during a specified period of time

Sunday, December 7, 14
Evaluate the Sales Force

Is the sales force meeting its objectives?

• What are possible causes of failure?
• Individual performance is measured against quotas or other quantitative factors
• Qualitative factors may also be used
• Expense accounts for entertainment and travel may also be monitored

Sunday, December 7, 14