The Marketing Book 5th Edition

Selling and sales management 363

(Autonomy and Melting Pot are examples of this
kind of service). Information itself is the market
opportunity, and the facilitation between source
and consumer the new challenge.
The incredible success of the Internet in
terms of access and users has not yet been
matched by sales effectiveness. If anything,
telephone, e-mail and fax are more essential
and powerful at present. In terms of informa-
tion provision, the Internet is unrivalled. It can
reach an audience cheaply with the message
you want to convey and allows full interaction

• the ultimate in communication. However,
  unless the website is properly designed and
  maintained it may prove damaging. To create a
  website, identify the information you want to
  communicate and which the users will need,
  ensure that it is effectively linked to other
  databases and that as a communication vehicle
  it conveys the image as well as the content you
  wish to get across.
  Just as telemetry (automatic reordering)
  and electronic data interchange (bar coding,

etc.) have removed many mundane order pro-

cessing tasks such as stock checking, inventory

management and order filling and processing,

so the Internet is removing much of the more

mundane information role that salespeople

perform. The result will be a changing role for

salespeople to a more highly skilled, more well

informed, computer literate person operating

as customer account manager and co-ordinat-

ing the difficult interface between customer

and company.

What we expect salespeople to do – the sales process

Despite what has been said, the correct

approach and technique in selling is still, and

always has been, vitally important. While

cautioning against the idea of the one best or

universal way to sell, nevertheless there are

Table 14.1 Choice of communication: comparing advertising, direct

marketing and personal selling

Personal selling Direct marketing Advertising

Individual directionality Individual directionality Mass audience directionality

Personal, direct contact Personal, indirect contact Impersonal, indirect contact

Highly adaptable Adaptable but relatively fixed

format

Fixed format

Working in-depth Working on one-to-one Working in breadth

Two-way Two-way One-way

Direct feedback Indirect feedback Organized feedback (MIS, market

research)

Expensive per contact Inexpensive per contact Relatively inexpensive (cost per 1000

criteria)

Push effect Pull effect Pull effect