Chapter Summary

As part of their jobs, salespeople perform a wide variety of activities. The majority of their time is spent in selling activities, which revolve around the eight steps of the personal selling process.

The first step is prospecting, which involves identifying and qualifying leads. There are a number of possible methods of generating leads. The most frequent source of leads is existing customers. In order to qualify a prospect—to decide if the prospect is a good one—it must be determined whether the prospect has a need for the product, can afford to buy the product, and is receptive to being called on by the salesperson.

The second step is preapproach planning. This includes all of the information-gathering activities salespeople perform to learn about their prospective customers. Then, based on this research, salespeople plan their presentations. As a part of their plan, they must decide on the objective for the call as well as on how they are going to approach the buyer and what kind of questions they will ask.

The third step is the approach, during which salespeople meet the buyer, introduce themselves, engage in momentary small talk, and, most important, gain the buyer’s agreement to move forward into the need assessment part of the presentation.

During the fourth step, identified as "need assessment," the salesperson must discover, clarify, and understand the buyer’s needs. The salesperson uses a variety of questions to encourage buyers to reveal their needs.

The presentation of the product or service and its features and benefits is the next step. The general goal for salespeople is to convince their customers that their company’s products and services will satisfy the customers’ needs better than those of a competitor. Today many salespeople use computers to help them make effective presentations.

The sixth step is handling the buyer’s objections. Buyers often question the price or value of the product, or they may not believe that the product will improve their operations. The salesperson must be able to overcome these objections as well as others. Sometimes salespersons will find it necessary to adapt their presentations in order to move the presentation forward.

At the seventh step, the salesperson must ask the buyer to commit to some action that will move the buyer closer to the sale. Often it takes multiple calls before the buyer is ready to commit to the sale.

The final step of the personal selling process is follow-up, which takes place after the purchase. Given that selling today is consistent with relationship marketing concepts, follow-up is arguably the most important step. To effectively build relationships, the salesperson must ensure customer satisfaction by following through with value-added service after the sale.