Understand the role of personal selling with marketing strategy - Essay Example

?UNDERSTAND THE ROLE OF PERSONAL SELLING WITH MARKETING STRATEGY Personal selling can be said to be the process through which the sales force of a particular company sell products to customers after meeting with them on a face-to-face basis (Kotler et al, 2006, p.251). This form of selling can take many forms ranging from door-to-door, exhibitions or even trade fairs. The face-to-face interactions experienced in this type of selling allow the sales people to observe the specific reactions of consumers to specific products. Sales people act as product introducers, brilliant communicators and demand pushers as they add exclusive utility to the commodities and services they are selling. These people play a very important role in determining the success of the marketing strategy of the company that they work for (Marks, 2008, p.5). Personal selling can be considered to be a form of product or service promotion (The Times 100, 2012). As they meet with the clients/consumers, sales people are expected to carry out a product promotion exercise through the employment of the right attitude, proper appearance and above all share some specialist knowledge about the product with the customer. They can tell the customer about the importance of using the product and how to use it. Personal selling is happens every day and everywhere, for instance, things that are sold through the counter like cosmetics or on the departmental stores. According to Balsley and Birsner (2007, p. 88), products which are highly priced and with technical features such as photocopiers, fridges and cars, require personal selling where a customer can get a chance to ask questions on the usage of the product. Promotion mix strategies do not aim at satisfying only the prospective or regular customers, but also aim at other customers who are ignorant of the product as well as those who are aware of the product and have the ability to buy it (Kotler, 2006, p.248). Let us consider a person who is unaware of computer operations but wants to buy a computer. Such a person will go out in search of computer information; he/she will pay attention to computer adverts, will attend computer exhibitions, computer company reputations or even contact sales people from different computer companies. Consequently, the aim of promotions is to reach out for new customers, retain the current customers, reward loyal customers and even induce the buying action (Marketing Knowledge Center, 2009). Personal selling may be the most appropriate in achieving this since it involves direct contact between the sales people and the consumers. For any marketing strategy to succeed, a thorough understanding of consumer buying behavior has to be done (Balsley and Birsner, 2007, p. 91). Without such type of understanding a company may not know what exactly their customers want or even how much they supply to the market. Buying can take two forms: the common consumer buying and also the organizational buying such as retail outlets. Consumers buy their products specifically for personal use thus most companies are usually concerned about consumers’ reactions to their marketing efforts. For instance a company needs to know how pricing their products may affect their consumers (The Times 100, 2012). In cases where the consumer market is very price sensitive which means a small alteration on price will have a very high impact on sales, a company will need to adopt appropriate pricing strategies. A lot of theories have been put forward in order to explain consumer buying behaviors. The buying behavior model which studies the buyer’s black box (Zandl and Leonard, 2002, p. 106). The black box contains external stimuli which influence his/her buying decisions as well as buying characteristics. Moreover, it contains buyers’ responses that are determinants of his/her attitude, product choice and amount to purchase and when. The model presents some of the key factors that influence a buyer’s buying decision. To start with, are the sociological factors which include things such as culture, roles and status and reference groups. Culture instills people with different attitudes and perceptions which highly influence their buying behaviors. Roles and status on the other hand influences people to assume some lifestyles/behaviors that are distinct in reflection to their status. Also reference groups affect people’s buying decisions in that if a person who is considered a role model to many promotes a product, many people are likely to buy it. This is because they believe in such individuals and always their desire is to be associated with them. Personal/psychological factors include age, personality, occupation, lifestyles and level of importance (The Times 100, 2012). While personality reflects a person’s attitudes and preferences, lifestyle is the life that one chooses to lead. They both affect buying since you find other people preferring to buy some colors over others while others choose to go to some hotels and avoid others. Occupation is connected directly to income; those people of low incomes prefer low prices over quality while those of high income prefer quality over price. Lastly, is the importance attached to a particular need as explained by Maslow’s theory (Marketing Knowledge Center, 2009). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory explains that people start from satisfying almost up to 70% of the basic needs before moving on to satisfy other needs; from physiological (basic needs), safety (security and protection), social needs (sense of belonging), esteem (status for ego purposes) and finally self actualization (achievement and realization). Kotler, P. et al (2006, p.152) contends that perception is the process by which people view situations and attach different meanings into them. Two people who are having equal purchasing power may prefer to buy or not buy a product due to the way they perceive it. The process of perception may take three forms: selective attention, selective distortion or selective retention. Similarly, beliefs and attitudes which are brought about due to the individual’s socialization process or experiences, also affect buying behaviors. Attitudes exist within individual’s lives and form feelings of liking or disliking which is very difficult to erase (Marketing Knowledge Center, 2009). Thus it is the duty of producers to provide products to customers that fit their beliefs and attitudes. Organizational buying behavior on the other hand is the process through which formal organizations use to establish their buying needs as well as choose an appropriate supplier (Berkowitz, Kerin and Rudelius, 2003, p.202). First an organization needs to understand its objectives, its demand, distributors, technical information about the products they are about to buy and finally consider the many purchasing influences. The model of organizational buyer behavior emphasize that organizations will highly be influenced by the 4ps (price, product, promotion and place) of marketing and also by other environmental factors such as technology, political, economic, competition and social. All these factors interact with the interpersonal and individual attributes of the parties involved in the buying decision process to settle on a single decision (Marks, 2008, p.55). Understanding the characteristics of the decision making unit (DMU) in an organization is very important for marketers. Berkowitz, Kerin and Rudelius (2003, p.205) asserts that it is through this they will be able to design marketing strategies which are meant to attract their attention. DMU is usually composed of people from various departments who have varied objectives in the process of buying and they must all reach an agreement before a decision is made. For instance, if a company wishes to buy office equipment, an expert on the equipment has to be there and his aim is to settle for the purchase of the best equipment. On the other hand, the purchasing manager will be concerned on how to minimize cost during the buying process. An effective DMU will ensure the buying objectives of an organization are meant thus it is important for managers to know how to come up with the best DMU (The Open University, 2012). Sales teams comprise of the sales people who have come together in order to join forces in the execution of their work. Marks (2008, p.10) explains that the overall goal of the sales people is to promote their companies, products to their consumers so as to increase the company’s sales. Companies tend to form sales teams when they what to execute a certain project. The sales team is expected to make maximum use of the intimate and good relationship it has with the customers for the company’s success. Just like a surgical team in a theater trying to save the life of a patient, a sales team fights to ensure the success of a company’s activities. It knows the exact needs and preferences of customers, since they interact with them closely. For the sales team to perform remarkably, it must have good public relational skills, excellent communication skills and above all be very social (The Open University, 2012). Through this they will provide the necessary information to their company, which in turn a company will use to formulate strategic marketing strategies. References Balsley, D. and Birsner, E 2007, Selling: Marketing Personified, Hinsdale: Dryden Press. Berkowitz, N., Kerin, A. and Rudelius, W 2003, Marketing, Irwin: Boston. Kotler, P. et al, 2006, Marketing management, Paris: Pearson Education. Marketing Knowledge Center, 2009, Buyer Behavior: Introduction to Consumer Behavior, Retrieved on 7th Nov. 2012 from: http://www.multimediamarketing.com/mkc/buyerbehaviour/ Marks, B., 2008, Personal Selling: An Integrative Approach, Boston: Allyn & Bacon. The Open University 2012, The Decision Making Process, Retrieved on 7th Nov. 2012 from: http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=399417§ion=6.3 The Times 100, 2012, Engaging Consumers through Word of Mouth, Retrieved on 7th Nov. 2012 from: http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/red-bull/engaging-consumers-through-word-of-mouth-marketing/evaluating-promotional-activities.html Zandl, I. and Leonard, R 2002, Targeting the Trendsetter Consumer, Boston: Homewood. Read More