Marketing Communications

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Marketing Communications
Personified Promotion

Noise includes barriers to communication between buyer and seller, such as –

•    Differences in perception: if the buyer and the seller do not share a common understanding

of information contained in the presentation, communication breaks down.

•    Buyer does not recognize a need for product: a salesperson has been unable to convince

the buyer of a need to buy.

•    Selling pressure: a pushy, arrogant selling style can quickly cause the prospect to erect a

communication barrier.

•    Information overload: the salesperson may present the buyer with an excess of information.

This overload may cause confusion, perhaps offend and the buyer will stop listening.

•    Disorganized sales presentation: may cause buyer’s frustration or anger. Buyers expect

salesperson to understand their needs or problems and to customize the sales presentation

to the buyer’s situation.

•    Distractions, such as telephone calls or someone walks into the office, interrupting the

sales presentation.

•    Poor listening: at times, the buyer may not listen to you. This, often occurs, if the salespersons

do all or most of the talking. Interactive participation between buyer and seller should

be encouraged.

•    Not adapting to buyers’ style: salesperson should use different communication styles to

adapt presentation to buyers. (Stanley, 1977; Warshaw and Kinnear, 1983)

SALES FORCE STRATEGY

Sales force strategy is developed by the company through an understanding of the customer buying
process and how the company can best position itself against competitors pursuing the same target
consumers. The first thing to clarify is the types of selling situation that must be handled by the sales
force. Five types of selling situations can be distinguished:

1. SALES REPRESENTATIVE TO BUYER: a single sales representative talks to a single
   prospect or customer using interpersonal communication or telephone.


2. SALES REPRESENTATIVE TO BUYER GROUP: a sales representative appears before a
   buying committee to make a sales presentation about a specific product.


3. SALES TEAM TO BUYER GROUP: a sales team, such as a company officer, a sales
   representative, and a sales engineer makes a sales presentation to a buying group.


4. CONFERENCE SELLING: the sales representative brings resource people from the company
   to meet with one or more buyers to discuss problems and mutual opportunities.


5. SEMINAR SELLING: a company team of technical people conducts an educational seminar
   for a technical group in a customer company about recent state-of-the-art developments.
   The aim is to enhance customer knowledge and loyalty rather than to make a specific sale.