Marketing Communications

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Marketing Communications
Personified Promotion

COMPLEX SALES FORCE STRUCTURE: when a company sells a wide variety of products to many
types of customers over a broad geographical area, it often combines several principles of sale force
structure. Sales representatives may be specialized by territory-product, territory-customer, product-
customer or ultimately, by territory-product-customer. A sales representative may then be responsible
to one or more line managers and one or more staff managers. The essential tasks of personal selling
consist of:

1. Locating and meeting prospective customers.


2. Discovering customers’ needs and attitudes.


3. Recommending a product package to fill the needs of customers.


4. Developing a sales presentation aimed at informing the customers of product attributes and
   persuading them to buy the recommended package.


5. Closing the sale and securing an order for the product.


6. Following up to ensure total satisfaction with the purchase.

Effective selling, either in a commercial or non-commercial context requires a very clear understanding
of the nature of dyadic communication when one party is attempting to influence the response of the
other. (Still, Cundiff and Govoni, 1988)

PEDDLER AND PROFESSIONAL SALESPERSON’S CHARACTERISTIC DIFFERENCES

CHARACTERISTICS OF A PEDDLER

1. A peddler will sell to you anything he can without the customer’s needs, wants or satisfaction.


2. A peddler will use high pressure sales tactics to try and force the consumer to purchase
   even when the consumer is at a disadvantage of such purchase.


3. A peddler is often lacking in product knowledge that might be of assistance to the customer.


4. A peddler is a one-time salesperson who does not care about customer’s repeat purchase.
   He provides no follow-up to ascertain customer’s satisfaction.


5. A peddler does not have business ethics, may refuse genuine customers’ complaints.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A PROFESSIONAL SALESPERSON

1. He is customer-oriented than self-oriented. He protects customers’ needs, wants and
   satisfaction in making a sale.


2. He has vast valuable information and advice. Customers depend on him for such product
   information he can provide.


3. He does not use high pressure sales tactics.


4. He depends upon repeat business, provides follow-up on sales, ensures customers’
   satisfaction and attends to their complaints.