personal selling by Kaushal.

1. A Five Stage Personal Selling Process.
Stage One - Prospecting.
Prospecting is all about finding prospects, or potential new customers. Prospects should be 'qualified,' which means
that they need to be assessed to see if there is business potential, otherwise you could be wasting your time. In order
to qualify your prospects, one needs to:
Plan a sales approach focused upon the needs of the customer.
Determine which products or services best meet their needs.
In order to save time, rank the prospects and leave out those that are least likely to buy.
Stage Two - Making First Contact.
This is the preparation that a salesperson goes through before they meet with the client, for example via e-mail,
telephone or letter. Preparation will make a call more focused.
Make sure that you are on time.
Before meeting with the client, set some objectives for the sales call. What is the purpose of the call? What outcome
is desirable before you leave?
Make sure that you've done some homework before meeting your prospect. This will show that you are committed in
the eyes of your customer.
To save time, send some information before you visit. This will wet the prospect's appetite.
Keep a set of samples at hand, and make sure that they are in very good condition.
Within the first minute or two, state the purpose of your call so that time with the client is maximised, and also to
demonstrate to the client that your are not wasting his or her time.
Humour is fine, but try to be sincere and friendly.
Stage Three - The Sales Call (or Sales Presentation).
It is best to be enthusiastic about your product or service. If you are not excited about it, don't expect your prospect to
be excited.
Focus on the real benefits of the product or service to the specific needs of your client, rather than listing endless lists
of features.
Try to be relaxed during the call, and put your client at ease.
Let the client do at least 80% of the talking. This will give you invaluable information on your client's needs.
Remember to ask plenty of questions. Use open questions, e.g. TED's, and closed questions i.e. questions that will
only give the answer 'yes' or the answer 'no.' This way you can dictate the direction of the conversation.
Never be too afraid to ask for the business straight off.
Stage Four - Objection Handling.

2. Objection handling is the way in which salespeople tackle obstacles put in their way by clients. Some objections may
prove too difficult to handle, and sometimes the client may just take a dislike to you (aka the hidden objection). Here
are some approaches for overcoming objections:
Firstly, try to anticipate them before they arise.
'Yes but' technique allows you to accept the objection and then to divert it. For example, a client may say that they do
not like a particular colour, to which the salesperson counters 'Yes but X is also available in many other colours.'
Ask 'why' the client feels the way that they do.
'Restate' the objection, and put it back into the client's lap. For example, the client may say, 'I don't like the taste of X,'
to which the salesperson responds, 'You don't like the taste of X,' generating the response 'since I do not like garlic'
from the client. The salesperson could suggest that X is no longer made with garlic to meet the client's needs.
The sales person could also tactfully and respectfully contradict the client.
Stage Five - Closing the Sale.
This is a very important stage. Often salespeople will leave without ever successfully closing a deal. Therefore it is
vital to learn the skills of closing.
Just ask for the business! - 'Please may I take an order?' This really works well.
Look for buying signals (i.e. body language or comments made by the client that they want to place an order). For
example, asking about availability, asking for details such as discounts, or asking for you to go over something again
to clarify.
Just stop talking, and let the client say 'yes.' Again, this really works.
The 'summary close' allows the salesperson to summarise everything that the client needs, based upon the
discussions during the call. For example, 'You need product X in blue, by Friday, packaged accordingly, and
delivered to your wife's office.' Then ask for the order.
The 'alternative close' does not give the client the opportunity to say no, but forces them towards a yes. For example
'Do you want product X in blue or red?' Cheeky, but effective.
Personal selling is the process of communicating with a potential buyer (or buyers)
face-to-face with the purpose of selling a product or service. The main thing that
sets personal selling apart from other methods of selling is that the salesperson
conducts business with the customer in person. Though personal selling is more
likely to be effective with certain types of products or services, it has important
applications for nearly all kinds of small businesses. In fact, most of history's
successful entrepreneurs have been skilled salespeople, able to represent and
promote their companies and products in the marketplace.
Personal selling is one part of a company's promotion mix, along with advertising,
sales promotion, and public relations. Advertising is any form of paid sales

3. presentation that is not done face-to-face. Television and radio commercials,
newspaper and magazine advertisements, and direct mail inserts are well-known
forms of advertising. Sales promotion is the use of incentives—such as coupons,
discounts, rebates, contests, or special displays—to entice a customer to buy a
product or service. Public relations is the act of building up a company's image in
the eyes of the community in the hopes of translating the feelings of goodwill into
sales. An example of public relations might include a company sponsoring a charity
event.
Personal selling offers entrepreneurs both advantages and disadvantages in
comparison with the other elements of the promotion mix. On the positive side,
personal selling allows the salesperson to target the message specifically to the
audience and receive immediate feedback. In this way, it is more precise than other
forms of promotion and often has a greater persuasive impact. Conversely, personal
selling cannot reach as many potential customers as advertising, plus the cost of
each contact is much higher. Another advantage is that personal selling can be an
important source of marketing information. Salespeople may learn about
competitors' products, for example, or about emerging customer needs that may
lead to the development of a new product. If the sales force is well trained—acting as
problem solvers and advisors for customers rather than using hard-sell tactics—
personal selling may help a small business build loyal, long-term relationships with
customers.
A small business may choose to use any or all of the promotion mix elements in
selling its products. Deciding how to allocate resources for each component involves
a number of factors. Some of the things entrepreneurs should consider when
deciding on the ideal promotion mix include the type of product or service, the
value of the product or service, and the budget allotted for marketing.
Read more: Personal Selling - advantage, type, benefits, disadvantages,
cost http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/small/Op-Qu/Personal-
Selling.html#ixzz1YBiDTURW
The AIDAS theory of selling is one of the widest known theories and is the basis for
training materials across numerous organizations. AIDAS stands for Attention,

4. Interest, Desire, Action, Satisfaction. The AIDAS theory simply states that a prospect
goes through five different stages before finally responding satisfactorily to our product.
thus he should be led comfortably through all five stages.
Attention - Gaining attention is a skill and and just like any skill, gaining attention can
be improved upon with practice. A common phrase applicable over here is “First
impression is last impression”. The initial attempt of the sales person must be to put the
customer completely at ease. Casual conversation is one of the best openers after which
the sales person can gain customer attention by leading him onto the sale. to know
more about gaining attention read my post on how to gain customer attention.
Interest - Once you have gained attention, it is very important to maintain interest.
Some sales people are very good in the opening but as the technicalities take over, they
become uncomfortable while explaining the product. Whereas others who are strong in
the product department might open bluntly but create interest in the second stage.
Maintaining interest is a crucial part of the sales process and hence is included in the
AIDAS theory. Read more on how to maintain customer interest.
Desire - Have you seen the commercials wherein you just have to get out of your house
and get the product? Perhaps a car, an ice cream or a house. The same has to be done
by the sales person in personal selling. He has to create enough desire in the customers
mind such that he immediately has to buy the product. Imagine an aquaguard sales
man or a tupperware sales person. They highlight the product in such a manner that
you might be thinking “Why didnt i buy this product before”. Thus kindling that desire
becomes an integral part of the AIDAS selling theory. Read more on how to create
desire for the product
Action - Although there may be desire for the product, the customer might not act on
it. He might want to buy the product but he might NOT buy it. In such cases the
customer needs to be induced. There are various ways to induce the customer such that
he buys the product. It is important for the sales person to understand whether to
directly induce the customer or whether to push subtle reminders that you are there for
a sales call . Both methods work, but you need to know your customer.
Satisfaction - What would you do after the customer has given the order? Will you
stand up, Point at him and shout “Fooled ya”. I dont think so. The customer has just
parted with his money. Just like you part your money and expect good service, he
expects the same too. So even after he has bought the product, you need to reassure the
customer that he has made the right decision. The product is good for the customer and
you only presented the product. It was his decision and he is right about it. These small
cues post the sales process really give confidence to the customer and he then looks

5. forward to your product rather than thinking whether or not he has made the right
decision. Learn more aboutmeasuring customer satisfaction.
Hope you liked the AIDAS theory. Get more satisfied by subscribing to our newsletter
or our feeds and following us daily with new articles on marketing and sales. Trust me. I
wont stand up and shout “Fooled ya”
Personal selling is used to meet the five objectives of promotion in the following ways:
Building Product Awareness – A common task of salespeople, especially when selling
in business markets, is to educate customers on new product offerings. In fact,
salespeople serve a major role at industry trades shows (see the Sales
Promotion tutorial) where they discuss products with show attendees. But building
awareness using personal selling is also important in consumer markets. As we will
discuss, the advent of controlled word-of-mouth marketing is leading to personal
selling becoming a useful mechanism for introducing consumers to new products.
Creating Interest – The fact that personal selling involves person-to-person
communication makes it a natural method for getting customers to experience a
product for the first time. In fact, creating interest goes hand-in-hand with building
product awareness as sales professionals can often accomplish both objectives
during the first encounter with a potential customer.
Providing Information – When salespeople engage customers a large part of the
conversation focuses on product information. Marketing organizations provide their
sales staff with large amounts of sales support including brochures, research reports,
computer programs and many other forms of informational material.
Stimulating Demand – By far, the most important objective of personal selling is to
convince customers to make a purchase. In The Selling Process tutorial we will see
how salespeople accomplish this when we offer detailed coverage of the selling
process used to gain customer orders.
Reinforcing the Brand – Most personal selling is intended to build long-term
relationships with customers. A strong relationship can only be built over time and
requires regular communication with a customer. Meeting with customers on a regular
basis allows salespeople to repeatedly discuss their company’s products and by doing
so helps strengthen customers’ knowledge of what the company has to offer.