Page 517 - Foundations of Marketing

484 Part 6 | Promotion Decisions

Prospecting
Companies often engage in
prospecting at trade shows,
which allow representatives to
demonstrate the latest company
products and collect informa-
tion on consumers who might
be interested in the firm’s
offerings. Company salespeople
can later use this information in
the preapproach and approach
steps of personal selling.

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performance. Such contact gives salespeople an opportunity to generate additional sales and
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offers them a good vantage point for evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the com-
pany’s products and other marketing mix components. Their observations help develop and
maintain a marketing mix that better satisfies both the firm and its customers. Sales is no
longer an isolated function in a global business world. The sales function is becoming part of
a cross-functional strategic solution to customer management. This requires salespersons with
both managerial and strategic skills.
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LO 2 . Describe the basic steps STEPS OF THE PERSONAL SELLING
in the personal selling process.
PROCESS

The specific activities involved in the selling process vary among salespeople, selling situa-
tions, and cultures. No two salespeople use exactly the same selling methods. Nonetheless,
many salespeople move through a general selling process. This process consists of seven
steps, outlined in Figure 17.1 : prospecting, preapproach, approach, making the presentation,
overcoming objections, closing the sale, and following up.

Prospecting

Developing a database of potential customers is called prospecting . Salespeople seek names
of prospects from company sales records, trade shows, commercial databases, newspaper
announcements (of marriages, births, deaths, and so on), public records, telephone directories,
trade association directories, and many other sources. Sales personnel also use responses to
traditional and online advertisements that encourage interested persons to send in information
request forms. Seminars and meetings targeted at particular types of clients, such as attorneys
or accountants, may also produce leads.
Most salespeople prefer to use referrals—recommendations from current customers—to
prospecting Developing a find prospects. For example, salespeople for Cutco Cutlery, which sells high-quality knives
database of potential customers and kitchen cutlery, first make sales calls to their friends and families and then use referrals

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