Page 514 - Foundations of Marketing

Personal Selling and Sales

Promotion
O B J E C T I V E S

1. Understand the nature of
personal selling.
2. Describe the basic steps
in the personal selling
process.
3. Identify the types of sales
force personnel.
4. Recognize new types of
personal selling.
5. Understand sales man-
agement decisions and
activities.

6. Explain what sales promo- © iStockphoto.com/egdigital
tion activities are and how
they are used.

M A R K E T I N G I N S I G H T S

Chrysler Masters Selling and Sales Management

A few years ago Chrysler’s prospects looked dim. of Chrysler’s sales, has increased monetary bonuses
The third-largest carmaker in America required a for the best performing dealers. Other bonuses
government bailout and faced increasing competi- include allocating new vehicles for those who
tion from foreign carmakers. Many saw Chrysler exceed expectations. In 2013 Chrysler redesigned
brands as being of low quality. Despite these issues, and reengineered many of its top cars, which were
Chrysler appears to be rebounding with a sig- only distributed to dealers who prove themselves
nificant increase in sales and market share. While through their sales numbers.
part of this gain can be attributed to the develop- Chrysler also began increasing its use of tent
ment of more fuel-efficient vehicles, Chrysler owes sales, an old technique that uses traditional red,
much of its success to selling techniques and sales white, and blue flag-draped tents to indicate
incentives. current sales on new cars to potential customers.
Chrysler has implemented low-cost selling This promotion engages salespeople while also
incentives such as a no payments for 90 days cam- grabbing the attention of customers. Although
paign. The company also carefully manages its sales some considered this to be an old fashioned selling
force by tracking inventory data along with sales of tactic, a massive sales increase has shown it to be
1
each individual salesperson. Reid Bigland, the head effective.

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