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Personified Promotion
THE COMMUNICATOR: the salesperson is the communicator in the process. His or her message is
transmitted to the prospect and the channel of message delivery consists of the spoken word or verbal
presentation of product information and sometimes written proposals.
THE MESSAGE: in personal selling communication, the message is the sales presentation or the series
of efforts which the salesperson puts together to provide information to the prospect.
The purpose of the message is to persuade the prospect that product and corporate offering is beneficial
and the ability of the salesperson to design a customized sales presentation to the perceived needs of the
prospect is one advantage that personal selling has over advertising. Additionally, sales presentation can
be altered or modified to align with feedback received by the communicator or the source.
THE RECEIVER: the receiver of the message is the prospective customer or prospect. This is usually
an individual when selling a consumer product or a group during the sale of industrial product. The
skill of salesperson will be demonstrated by the ability to identify those individuals to whom the sales
message should be directed to decide whether the recipients should be seen individually or in groups.
THE RESPONSE: for communication to have taken place some form of response must have been
drawn out from the receiver. This response may be in the form of overt behaviour like a refusal to buy
or more positive response such as a decision to buy. The response may also be psychological, in which
case the receiver’s awareness and comprehension of the message may be increased, effecting a change
in the receiver’s attitude toward the product offering.
FEEDBACK: this is the reverse flow of information the receiver now sends as reaction back to the
source. Feedback allows message modification by the salesperson during the period of interaction with
the prospect. It also enables the company to alter the content of its suggested sales message to conform
better to customer information need to meet competition more effectively. Feedback also serves the
purpose of monitoring the level of noise in the communication system and of indicating how clearly
the message is coming through.
NOISE: Noise or distraction can occur in the communication process at the stated stages in the
following ways:
- SOURCE: if the product is technical or the message contains technical information not
broken down to the understanding of the receiver or consumer. - TRANSMISSION: a poor sales presentation can cause message distraction or distortion.
- RECEIVER OR CONSUMER: the strength of appeal built in competitor’s sales message can
cause a serious distraction to the communication process. - CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR: a negative attitude from the prospect towards the product, idea
or the selling company can cause a substantial distraction to the communication process.