Question

Define personal selling and discuss its role in a company’s promotion mix. Provide an example. Needs to be one page long and two references.

Answer 1

Personal selling is a process in which an individual salesperson works one-on-one with a

customer to try to match a product to her needs. This sales discipline is practiced by many

companies in the retail industry and in business-to-business sales.

The roles of personal selling are:

(1) Prospecting – trying to find new customers

(2) Communicating – with existing and potential customers about the product range

(3) Selling – contact with the customer, answering questions and trying to close the sale

(4) Servicing– providing support and service to the customer in the period up to delivery and

also post-sale

(5) Information gathering– obtaining information about the market to feedback into the

marketing planning process

(6) Allocating– in times of product shortage, the sales force may have the power to decide how available stocks are allocated

The sellers promote the product through their attitude, appearance and specialist product knowledge. They aim to inform and encourage the customer to buy, or at least trial the product.

A good example of personal selling is found in department stores on the perfume and cosmetic counters. A customer can get advice on how to apply the product and can try different products. Products with relatively high prices, or with complex features, are often sold using personal selling. Great examples include cars, office equipment (e.g. photocopiers) and many products that are sold by businesses to other industrial customers.

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