The Role of Personal Selling in Direct Sales Organizations

1. The role of Personal Selling in Direct Sales Organizations Thomas N. Ingram 1992 Jialin & Kewrin

2. The purpose of this article The framework for defining the role of personal selling in direct sales organizations • Marketing Developments • Strategic roles of personal selling • Personal selling tactical implications

3. Marketing developments • Market Fragmentation • Globalization • Multiple channels approaches • Timing & Speed • Trust- based Relationship Selling

4. Marketing fragmentation = to define market segments into sub-segments and it forces direct sales organizations to think about two basic options: • Ownership through leadership • Expeditionary marketing

5. Expeditionary marketing • To lead and not to follow their customers in terms of new product ideas and the implementation of new ways for consumers to buy. • Example: Mary Kay cosmetics

6. Globalization • The personal selling dimension is particularly appropriate for the development of non-domestic markets when compared to other elements of the promotional mix

7. Example: Time life Books Because of….. • the language barriers • cultural differences • ser-up time is minimal • sunk channel costs are low

8. Multiple channel approaches • Market fragmentation and globalization • To make it easy for shoppers to buy where they want to

9. Mary Kay Cosmetics -Direct mail -Telephone ordering system

10. Timing and speed • The unexpected available Eastern market • The booming Asian market example: Avon in 1985

11. Trust-basted relationship selling • Benefits for DSO • An important issue for sales success • Has to take responsibility for what transpires during the consumer and salesperson interactions • Has to invest in training and field guidance must be made

12. Strategic roles of personal selling • Adding value with information • Customer service activities • Revenue generation • Change processes

13. Corporate growth orientation and personal selling • Intensive growth • Diversification growth • Acquisition

14. Intensive growth: • focuses on the development of existing business • extremely active sales function • the amount of selling effort should be intensified for existing products • training should be priority • motivational programs

15. Generic strategy and personal selling • Low-cost supplier: selling on the basis of a low price • Differentiation: perceived uniqueness • Niche strategies: the selection of a particular target market

16. Personal selling tactical implications Trust-based selling “To achieve trust-based relationships with customers, salespeople must be candid, dependable, competent, customer-oriented, and likable (Hawes et al. 1989)”.

17. Benefits of Trust-based selling for a direct sales force • The initial generation of profitable revenue • A potential lifetime revenue stream • The referral of prospects from the satisfied customer base.

18. Trust-based sales roles Wrap-around marketing “The customers must be pre-sold, sold, and then, in effect, post-sold”.

19. Tactical roles • Counselor/ teacher; experts, listeners and presenters • Ombudsman; customer oriented problem solver

20. Conclusion DS organizations are well-positioned: • to capitalize on fast developing and fragmenting markets • to realize the benefits of globalization • to blend multiple sales channels, with the possibility that personal selling could adopt different roles over time to match market opportunities

21. By focusing more on generating revenue through long-term trust-based relationships with customers