UNIT - 2

Salesperson Quality # 1. Personality and Physical Characteristics:

In case of direct selling, a good salesperson must have two basic qualities.
The first one is empathy, which may be defined as the important central ability to
feel as the other fellow does in order to be able to sell a product or service.
The second is the ego drive, which can be described as the need to conquer: a
desire to want and need to make a sale. In many sales situations, life is tough
against aggressive competition.
Sales-people must be motivated by failure, not shattered by it. The ideal is the
person who has lots of empathy and drive. Super sales-people have both the
qualities. Someone who has lots of empathy but is low on drive may lack the killer
touch by being unable to close a sale. Someone with lots of drive but who is low
on empathy is probably the salesperson. Someone with little empathy and low
drive is in the wrong job.
Certain factors which are very important in most selling jobs are: the direct selling
abilities, the territory management skills, the customer service level and the
product and application knowledge of an individual.
On the basis of these factors, we may refer to the following desirable attributes of
a salesperson:
a. Personal energy and initiative
b. The ability to organise and plan (+ flexibility)
c. A moderate level of educational attainment
d. The ability to adapt to a variety of personalities and behaviours
e. Concern with personal and professional development
f. A desire and need for recognition.
A successful salesperson should have the following characteristics:
a. He should be tall, physically impressive and energetic.
b. He should develop good work habits and perseverance, and be willing to work
long hours and enjoy solving problems.
c. He must seek and enjoy recognition from others for selling accomplishments.
d. He must have a broad range of interests but should not be extensively involved
in civic and professional organisations.
e. He should not be highly educated in a formal manner but must be intellectually
capable.
f. He may be emotional and somewhat disorganised but adaptable and flexible in
his work habit.
g. He should not be very much sensitive to the reactions and feelings of others.
h. He should view selling as a professional career and should not have much
interest in achieving status beyond the selling position.
However, the link between personal factors and performance depends on a
number of factors such as the type of product, the market, the buyer or buying
organisation, the characteristics of the firm, its culture and ethos, the type of
manager and management style and the type of sales-person.
Salesperson Quality # 2. Enthusiasm:
Sales-people must be enthusiastic about their job, their product, their company
and themselves. This is the major characteristic which often turns failure into
success in selling. Job involvement can be related to enthusiasm. However, in
reality, people who work long hours show perseverance and determination and
enthusiasm and are more likely to be successful sales-people.
Salesperson Quality # 3. Confidence:
Those people who possess higher levels of self-confidence are more likely to be
successful. No doubt belief in one’s own ability and belief in the product and the
company are conveyed to buyers with positive effect. However, sales-people will
have to adjust their proposal or presentation and be able to make quick,
important decisions. A lack of confidence can lead to loss of opportunities and,
ultimately, sales.
Salesperson Quality # 4. Intelligence:
Higher levels of intelligence do not always lead to higher levels of sales
performance. Sales-people who over analyse or criticise may lack conviction. In
selling, mental and verbal agility, for example, often seems to be preferable to
written or analytical skills.
Salesperson Quality # 5. Self-Worth:
The ability and desire to be motivated by non-monetary incentives such as status,
self-esteem and sociability seem to play a part in effective selling. The most
important motivating factor is the satisfaction obtained by doing a good job.
Salesperson Quality # 6. Knowledge:
A salesperson should have adequate knowledge of the product, company,
customers, competitors, markets and territories. Product knowledge is rated by
sales managers to be the most highly rated feature in successful sales-people.
Salesperson Quality # 7. Product Knowledge:
Knowledge of the product, its benefits and how it is used together affect sales
performance. Detailed product knowledge by itself is not sufficient but is a
necessary pre-condition and a major factor in effective selling.
Salesperson Quality # 8. Competitors:
Along with product knowledge the salesperson must have a detailed knowledge
of competitors’ products. In addition, sales-people must know and understand
their competitors’ sales policies, organisation pricing and promotion strategies.
Such knowledge is very important.
Salesperson Quality # 9. Market Knowledge:
It is the responsibility of the marketing manager to decide marketing strategy and
policies and give proper weight-age to the four Ps of the marketing mix but the
individual salesperson should have the ability to understand and translate the
application of marketing effort to individual customers and circumstances.
An essential component of the selling job is to provide management with
information on competitors, market conditions and trends. Sales-people may
have a narrow outlook but intelligently collected information from various sales
areas can be used to win competition and promote sales.
Salesperson Quality # 10. Customer Knowledge:
Equally vital for the salesperson is the ability to develop and maintain ongoing
customer relationships. The specific tasks include providing technical information,
handling complaints and providing other aspects of customer service as appropri-
ate.
Effective selling can be demonstrated as the ability to meet a buyer’s needs and
wants in preference to any competitor product. Customer knowledge means
being able to distinguish the buyer’s preference correctly identified between two
or more products and, therefore, the salesperson stressing the ‘right’ things in
influencing a customer’s choice.
Salesperson Quality # 11. Territory Knowledge:
Good territory knowledge is also important in effective selling. This requires man-
agement skills by the individual in the efficient allocation of time between
customers, prospects and travelling. Good skills in planning routes and sales calls,
together with an appropriate but not excessive time on non-selling activities, are
all important determinants of sales-force productivity.
While some flexibility in the use of time will always be required, the ability to plan
and manage a territory are also important determinants in effective sales
performance.
Salesperson Quality # 12. Company:
Sales-people should have an adequate knowledge of their own company,
including its history, ownership, direction and aspirations of the owners. This
means knowledge of the organisation, its structure, personalities, rules,
procedures and disciplines.
Salesperson Quality # 13. Skills:
Skills are a combination of factors (personality and knowledge contribute to
these) which can be used to practise the job more effectively. Skills are of three
types — communication skills, matching skills and persuasive skills.
(i) Communication skills:
Personal selling combines with advertising and promotion to from a
communication link among sellers, intermediaries and buyers (final users). The
more complex the distribution channel and the larger the number of
intermediaries, the higher will be the cost of achieving communication objectives.
No one single communication technique can be effective to all participants.
Often, it is the combination of personal selling with other forms of promotion
which is most effective. No doubt the effectiveness of personal selling can be
increased and the cost reduced by support from other promotional expenditure.
Figure 2.14 presents a framework which shows how communications may work in
the sales area.

(a) The communicator is the source or sender of the message represented by the
salesperson, by the firm and by other forms of contact with the public.
(b) The sales message content and the way it is presented should integrate with
other forms of communication.
Promotional objectives will attempt to achieve the following:
1. Create or increase awareness of the company or product.
2. Alter perceptions held by existing or potential buyers about the product or the
company and create or build a favourable image and comparative advantage over
competitors.
3. Encourage a purchase decision.
4. Aid conviction about the purchase decision and reassure buyers.
5. Provide the necessary follow-up and after-sales service.
(c) The means by which the communication is conveyed is usually via a sales-
person at the client’s premises although it may sometimes be at trade shows,
exhibitions, social event, factory visits or other locations. Sales-people are the
most expensive but also the most effective means of communication.
(d) The audience, as represented by buyers and prospects, will be important to
successful outcomes in the sales process. Particularly in industrial companies and
intermediaries, the complexities of organisational buyer must be understood and
evaluated by sales-people.
(e) Communication is a two-way process and personal selling should be adaptive,
flexible and direct.
Salesperson Quality # 14. Marketing Skills:
The characteristics and skills required will be those which best match the role to
be performed and the tasks which must be undertaken. Where this matching can
be extended to the similarity between buyers and sellers, sales performance can
be further improved.
Effective selling also requires a selling style appropriate to the prospect. There is
need to match seller with buyer.
Salesperson Quality # 15. Persuasive Skills:
Understanding the communication process and the ability to appreciate the
importance of matching the benefits of sellers to the needs of buyers are
necessary but not sufficient conditions to complete the sales process.
A third dimension of skill—persuasive abilities — needs to be added. No matter
how well the company has conducted and managed the marketing process, the
customer will still face a variety of options from competing suppliers.
A key aspect of a company’s performance is its ability to generate and close sales.
Most often, this is done in person by the sales-force. An essential part of this
process is not only information about products, service or the company but the
ability to persuade buyers against equally able competitors.
The correct interpretation of buyers’ needs and the application of selling effort is
vitally important. The ability of the salesperson to make effective presentation in
line with buyer’s needs makes the difference between success and failure in
selling.
Experience is important in assessing what has previously worked or, in most
cases, failed to work with prospects. Training, education and basic ability all
contribute to what constitutes persuasive abilities, as does effectiveness in the
selling process itself.
These, in their own turn, constitute the following stages:
(i) Finding prospects (customers);
(ii) Making contact;
(iii) Defining prospects needs/problems;
(iv) Stimulating a desire for the firm’s offering;
(v) Closing the sale; and
(vi) Retaining the sale and customer.
The relevance of these stages to the communication process is important.
Selling today requires an approach based on insight response or customer prob-
lem-solving rather than selling the available product.
 UNIT – 3
The process of selling involves the following steps:
(i) Pre-Sale Preparations:
A salesman has to serve the customer and must identify a customer’s problems
and prescribe a suitable solution. For this, a salesman must be familiar with the
product characteristics, the market, the organisation and the techniques of
selling. Also he must know the customer, himself and the company. He must
know buying motives and buying behaviour of the customers or prospects. He
should be aware of current competition and market environment.
(ii) Prospecting:
A salesman has to seek potential customers who are his prospects i.e., probable
buyers. A prospect has unsatisfied need, ability to buy and willingness to buy.
Prospecting relates to locating prospects. They can be through present customers,
other salesman, phone directories, or by direct cold canvassing. These prospects
must, of course, be accessible to salesman. Thus, prospecting is similar to the
seeking function for the total marketing activities.
(iii) Pre-Approach:
After locating a prospect, salesman should find out his needs and problems, his
preferences and behaviour etc. The product may have to be tailored to the
specific requirement of customer. On the basis of adequate information of the
customer’s wants and desires, salesman can prepare his plan of sales
presentation or interview. The sales presentation should match to the needs of
the individual prospect. It should enable the salesman to handle his prospect
smoothly through the buying process, i.e., during, the sales talk.
(iv) Approach:
The next step is approach where the salesman comes face to face with the
prospect. The approach has two parts, i.e., obtaining an interview, the first
contact. He may use for this, telephone, reference or an introduction from
another customer; and his business card. The salesman must be able to attract
the prospect’s attention and get him interested in the product. It is very
important to avoid being dismissed before he is able to present his product.
(v) Sales Presentation:
After the salesman has found a prospect and he has matched the customer’s
wants with his product, he becomes ready to make a sales presentation. The sales
presentations is closely related to the buying process of customers. The sales
interview should generally go according to AIDA theory (i.e., Attention, Interest,
Desire and Action).
Attention is attracted and interest is gained. The salesman at this point can
increase the interest through smart and lively sales talk together with proper
demonstration. Sometimes, visual aids are used in sales demonstration. These are
common for capital goods or machineries.
After explaining the product characteristics and expected benefits, the salesman
should find out customer’s reactions. The prospective customer’s all queries and
doubts must be clearly answered. The salesman should find the customer
satisfied. A satisfied sales presentation must be clear, complete, assertive about
product’s superior performance and be able to gain the confidence of the
prospect.
(vi) Objections:
At any stage of sales interview, the prospect may attempt to postpone the
purchase or resist purchase. A good salesman must consider an objection as an
indication of how the prospect’s mind is working. The clever salesman should
welcome an objection, interpret it correctly and will avoid it tactfully, without
arguing with the customer.
(vii) Close:
The close is the act of actually getting the prospects’ consent to buy. It is
culmination of the efforts so far made by the salesman and is the climax of the
entire sales process.
It is very important for salesman to be alert and find out the right moment for
closing the deal. This is the “Psychological or reaction movement”, at which the
minds of salesman and prospect are tuned together.
The salesman watches every sign of prospect willing to buy and shall apply “the
close”. A sale is never complete until the product is finally in the hands of a
satisfied customer.
(viii) The Follow-up:
This stage is the post sale contacts. The salesman after obtaining the order,
arranges for despatch and delivery of the product, facilitate grant of credit,
reassure the customer on the wisdom of his purchase decision, and minimize
dissatisfaction, if any.
The salesman should contact the customer periodically to maintain his goodwill. A
sale is made not in the mind of salesman, nor over the counter, but in the mind of
the buyer. A salesman should have the quality of empathy, i.e., reading
customer’s mind. This will provide the salesman accurate information of buyer’s
motives, feelings, emotions, and attitude etc.
AIDAS Theory of Selling:
This theory, popularly known as AIDAS theory (attention, interest, desire, action
and satisfaction), is based on experimental knowledge. This theory is very
common.
According to this theory potential buyer’s mind passes through the following
stages:
1. Attention Getting:
It is the crucial step in the AIDAS process. The objective is to put the prospect into
the right state of mind to continue the sales talk. The salesperson has to convince
the prospect for participating in the face-to-face interview. A good beginning of
conversation may set the stage for a full sales presentation. The salesperson must
apply his social and psychological skills to draw the attention of the prospect to
his sales presentation.
2. Interest Creating:
The second step is to intensify the prospect’s attention so that it involves into
strong interest. To achieve this, the salesperson has to be enthusiastic about the
product. Another method is to hand over the product to the prospect and let him
handle it. Brochures and other visual aids serve the same purpose. Throughout
the interest phase, the hope is to search out the selling appeal that is most likely
to be effective.
3. Desire Stimulating:
After the attention getting and creating interest, the prospect must be kindled to
develop a strong desire for the product. This is a ready-to-buy point. Objection
from the prospect will have to be carefully handled at this stage. Time is saved
and the chances of making a sale improved if objections are anticipated and
answered before the prospect raises them.
4. Action Inducing:
If the presentation has been perfect, the prospect is ready to act, that is, to buy.
Very often there may be some hesitation on the part of the prospect at this stage.
The salesperson should very carefully handle this stage and try to close the deal
effectively. Once the buyer has asked the seller to pack the product, then it is the
responsibility of the seller to reassure the customer that the decision was correct.
5. Satisfaction:
The customer should be left with the impression that the salesperson merely
helped in deciding. After the sale has been made, the salesperson should ensure
that the customer is satisfied with the product. The salesperson should sense the
prospect’s mind and brief his talks.
“Right set of circumstances” Theory of Selling:
It is also called the “situation-response” theory. It has its psychological origin in
experiments with animals. The major emphasis of the theory is that a particular
circumstance prevailing in a given selling situation will cause the prospect to
respond in a predictable way. The set of circumstances can be both internal and
external to the prospect. This is essentially a seller-oriented theory and it stresses
that the salesman must control the situation in such a way as to produce a sale
ultimately.
“Buying Formula” Theory of Selling:
The buyer’s needs or problems receive major attention, and the salesperson’s
role is to help the buyer to find solutions. This theory purports to answer the
question: What thinking process goes on in the prospects’s mind that causes the
decision to buy or not to buy? The name “buying formula” was given to this
theory by strong.
The theory is based on the fact that there is a need or a problem for which a
solution must be found which would lead to purchase decision, as shown below:

Whenever an individual feels a need, he is said to be conscious of a deficiency of

satisfaction. The solution will always be a product or service or both and they may
belong to a producer or seller. The buyer develops interest in buying a solution.
In purchasing, the “solution” involves two parts:
1. Product or service or both,
2. The brand name, manufacturer or the salesperson of the particular brand
name:

The product or service (Brand name) must be considered adequate to satisfy the
need and the buyer must experience a pleasant feeling or anticipated satisfaction.
This ensure the purchase.
Behaviour Equation Theory of Selling:
This theory is a sophisticated version of the “right set of circumstances” and this
theory was proposed by Howard, using a stimulus response model and using large
number of findings from behavioural research. This theory explains buying
behaviour in terms of purchasing decision process, viewed as a phase of the
learning process, four essential elements of learning processes included in the
stimulus response model are drive, cues, response and reinforcement, which are
given below, in brief:
1. Drive is a strong internal stimuli that impel buyers’ response. Innate drives
stem from psychological needs and learned drives such as striving for status or
social approval.
2. Cues are weak stimuli that determine when the buyer will respond. Triggering
cues activate the decision process whereas new triggering cues influence the
decision process.
3. Response is what the buyer does.
4. A reinforcement is any event that strengthens the buyers’ tendency to make a
particular response.
Howard believed that selling effort and buying action variables are multiplicative
rather than additive.
Therefore, Howard incorporated these four elements into a behavioural
equation that is:
B=P×D×K×V
P = Response or internal response tendency, i.e. the act of purchasing a brand or a
particular supplier.
D = Present drive or motivation level
K = “Incentive potential” that is, the value of product or brand or its perceived
potential value to the buyer.
V = Intensity of all cues: triggering, product or informational.