Personal Selling

Required skills

Week 6 Self-Management Communication Styles International Issues SalesForce Automation “A professional selling position encompasses a wide range of tasks … and therefore salespeople must possess a variety of skills.”

Manning and Reece (2000, p 31)

Interpersonal skills

Communication

– Questioning and listening – Explanation – Spoken and written – Formal and informal – At all levels of manage me nt/society

Problem-solving skills

Being able to match customer needs with product solutions Perhaps requiring applications, logistical and/or technical expertise Individually or as a team member

Negotiation Persuasion Relationship building

Computing skills

Ability to use a range of software packages … … from presentation packages to customer data bases to inventory management systems

A salesperson “spends a lot of time qualifying customers … “We used to have to look in manufacturers’ directories. “Now, you can easily pull this kind of information off the Internet, and you can do it quickly.”

Shanley, cited in Melia (2000)

1

Knowledge

“Effective sales professionals must be knowledgeable about their Product, their Industry, their Company, and the Competition … “Additionally, they have to know their customers.”

Gretz, Drozdeck and Wiesenhutter (1996, pp 166)

Sales call planning

“The professionalism of planning the sales call allows the specialized knowledge of the salespeople to solve the customers’ problems and fulfil their needs.”

Jackson and Hisrich (1996, p 138)

Sales call planning

Understanding buyer behaviour models Recognising which stage a specific prospect has reached … … and what selling approach this requires … customised for specific prospects Undertaking customer analysis as part of pre-approach

In an international sales role … – Foreign distributors, agents and – dealers – Company sales force located overseas … Having cross-cultural awareness … Having an ability to operate alone … requiring judgment and...