Personal Selling and Sales Management

1. Personal Selling and Sales Management • Define personal selling. • Explain the roles of personal selling. • List the three categories of personal selling. • Describe five major personal selling strategies. • Explain the steps in the sales process. • Describe the seven possible strategies for closing sales.

2. Personal Selling and Sales Management • Define sales management and explain its functions. • Describe the characteristics of the successful salesperson. • Describe the contents and role of the sales plan. • Explain the four characteristics of personal selling in the hospitality and travel industry.

3. Definition of Personal Selling Personal selling involves oral conversations, either by telephone or face-to-face, between salespersons and prospective customers.

4. Roles of Personal Selling • Identifying decision makers, decision processes, and qualified buyers • Promoting to corporate, travel trade, and other groups • Generating increased sales at the point of purchase • Providing detailed and up-to-date information to the travel trade • Maintaining a personal relationship with key clients • Gathering information on competitors’ promotions

5. Three Categories of Personal Selling • Field sales • Telephone sales • Inside sales

6. Five Major Personal Selling Strategies • Stimulus response • Mental states • Formula • Need satisfaction • Problem solving

7. Steps in the Sales Process • Prospecting and qualifying prospective customers: • Blind prospecting • Cold calling or canvassing • Sales blitz • Lead prospecting • Preplanning prior to sales calls: • Pre-approach • The approach

8. Steps in the Sales Process • Presenting and demonstrating services: • Sales presentation • Demonstration • Handling objections and questions: • Restate the objection • “Agree and neutralize” tactic

9. Steps in the Sales Process • Closing the sale. • Verbal closing clues • Non-verbal closing clues • Following up after closing the sale.

10. Seven Possible Strategies for Closing Sales • Trial closes • Assumptive close • Summary or summary-of-the-benefits close • Special concession close • Eliminating-the-single-objection or final-concern close • Limited-choice close • Direct-appeal close

11. Definition of Sales Management Sales management is the management of the sales force and personal selling efforts to achieve desired sales objectives.

12. Functions of Sales Management • Sales-force staffing and operations • Sales planning • Sales performance evaluation

13. Characteristics of the Successful Salesperson • Sales aptitude: The extent of an individual’s ability to perform a given sales job, consisting of mental abilities and personality traits. • Skill levels: Skills obtained in personal communication and knowledge of services, obtained through sales training and previous sales and operational experience.

14. Characteristics of the Successful Salesperson • Personal characteristics: Demographic profile, psychographic and lifestyle characteristics, physical appearance and traits.

15. Contents of the Sales Plan • Sales objectives • Sales activities • Sales budget

16. Roles of the Sales Plan • Preparing sales forecasts • Developing sales department budgets • Assigning sales territories and quotas

17. Four Characteristics of Personal Selling in Hospitality and Travel • Importance of personal selling varies • Inside selling closely related to service levels • No generally accepted qualifications for industry sales positions • Importance of missionary sales work