Personal selling

PERSONAL SELLING

Personal selling is virtually an oral presentation of ideas in conversation with one or more prospective purchasers or buyer in order to create sales and patronage for products and service. It is therefore a face to face communication with one or more persons with the intention of making immediate sales or even with the aim of developing a long term relationship that will eventually lead to a patronage.

In other words, due recognition and attention are given to the salesmen in their persuasive nature and merit of being flexible in their mode of operation. Personal selling serves as a two way communication system which gives and receives information on the spot of selling.

The management of selling functions is better carried out with the utterance personal selling. It helps in bridging the gap between the buyer and the seller through a collective bargaining effort of both parties. Personal selling can also be seen as a personal interaction between the source and the destination, in this case, production point and final consumer. As such, it involves personal communication between the salesman and his prospects. It is concerned with the development at latent need (a need that is no seen) into a positive need through personal interaction.

Therefore, it should be noted that as one of the major goals of marketing operation, an increase or sales profitability is guaranteed when the desired level and quality of sales force is been used by ensuring that market demands are satisfied in a more permanent way. Thus, it is evident that no company would make profit when maintaining a profitable sales force. The realization of this express on the percentage funds allocation to personal selling.

Personal selling requires all the qualities that will extol and enhance the image of the company, the product and the sales persons who are viewed as “rapport builders” sales people with area of operations are categorized as public men, as such they must have their convincing power to interact to the fullest extent with their prospects. They must therefore have the ability to identify themselves to diverse social group.

For any organization to survive and grow effectively it therefore, pertinent to identify consumer behavior by conducting research to answer question like who are they? These question if answered will give light to effective marketing communication. Marketing has been variously defined given by Philip Kotler.
“Marketing is a human activity directed by satisfied needs and want through exchange process”.

Marketing communication is however commonly used as a collective term, including projection of press, television, cinema, radio, postal and other form of face to face sales promotional massage which include personal selling promotion model outline display of tools available for the communication whose major role is that of persuasive communication. The promotional mix constitute the following component. Advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relation and direct mailing. However, this project work writer up shall be restricted to personal selling as an organization tools for survival and growth.

According to Etzel Walker and Stanton, personal selling is the personal communication of information to persuade some body to buy something. Also personal selling is a promotion method that involved direct or face to face relationship between seller and potential and existing customers or oral presentation in a conversation with one or more perspective purchasers for the purpose of mailing sales.

At this point, of the selling has become a key variable of the promotional mix. Personal selling is adopted by many firms small, medium and large so as to obtain higher sales volume through satisfaction.

Personal selling is unique in nature, the quality include personal confrontation, cultivation of personal relation between the seller and the buyers for immediate response. The degree at which personal selling is used might depends on the nature of product. This product in question can be categorized into two consumers or industrial product.