The Evolution and Ethics of Personal Selling**

1. Sales Management 2 Overview of Personal Selling

2. Pretty Old Profession • Plato (429-347 BCE) used the term ___________ in his writings. • Traders preceded Plato by centuries if not millennia. (Phoenicia 1300 BCE) • Sales was probably at the dawn of marketing. • Door-to-door sales during the Middle Ages. (The historical era, not Dr. McDonald’s age.)

3. Sales Eras: Industrial Revolution to Professionalism • Industrial Revolution: Specialization of labor and urbanization. • Late 1800s: Traveling salesmen. • WW I, Depression, & WW II: Aggressive, high-pressure selling to stimulate sales. • After WW II: Professional. • Not manipulative • Respond to customer’s needs

4. Personal Selling • MARKETING MIX • Product • Price • Place • _____________ • PROMOTION • Paid Advertising • Sales Promotions • Public Relations • _______________

5. Role of Personal Sales • Society • Stimulate Economy • Diffuse Innovation • Company • Revenue Producers (Rainmakers) • Market Research/Feedback (Boundary Spanning) • Customers • Represent Customer to Company (Boundary Spanning)

6. What Customers Want in Sales • __________________ • __________________ • __________________ • __________________ • __________________ • __________________ • __________________ • __________________

7. Ethics • Sources of ethics: family, friends, school, neighbors, church, co-workers. • Individual ethics • Corporate ethics • Be able to • Sleep at night • Look in the mirror in the morning • Introduce any client to your family

8. Ethics I • Consequences of unethical sales practices • http://www.carinfo.com/repair2.html • http://www.thecomplaintstation.com/s/_sears/0000049f.htm • http://www.ezl.com/~riverbend/wilner.html • http://www.insurancejournal.com/html/ijweb/breakingnews/national/na0101/na0122011.htm • ..\Boeing Ethics.doc

9. Ethics II • Pressures • Eating • Nasty boss • Quotas/Contests

10. Ethics III • Puffery vs. Pinocchio

11. Ethics IV • Statement of company ethics (more than “Stay out of jail.”) • http://www.president.uconn.edu/~wwwpre/ucethics.htm • http://www.halliburton.com/suppliers/ethics.jsp

12. Personal Selling Jobs • Sales support • New business • Existing business • Inside sales (non-retail) • Direct-to-consumer sales • Combination

13. Sales Support • Perform activities to stimulate sales (missionary sales). Disseminate info. Spread the word. • Detailer: furnish information. (call on physicians who specify prescriptions, or architects who write specifications) • Technical support: called in to help explain product’s advantages, installation, answer highly technical questions, assist in design (space planners, programmers), training.

14. New Business • Responsible for adding new customers, or introducing new products to the market. • Pioneers: constantly looking for new customers, or introducing new products, or both. • Order-Getters: Expand line of products sold to existing customers as well as findings new customers.

15. Existing Business • Maintain relationship with customers. • Order-takers: work a route. (Frito-Lay) • Also need to be creative to sell more productively. • Get higher share of customer. • Service is important in maintaining relationships.

16. Inside Sales (non-retail) • Physically remain in marketing company’s facilities. • Can be passive (catalog sales). • Can be active (telemarketing). • Can supplement or replace field selling. • Customer service often will serve as “add-on” sales.

17. Direct-to-Consumer Sales • Retail: 4.5 million salespeople in USA • Another million in real estate, insurance, and securities. • Yet, another millions selling Tupperware, Mary Kay, Avon, Amway, etc. • Some are part-time, some temporary, some are highly specialized/educated.

18. Combination Sales Jobs • Often, a salesperson has to perform more than one of these tasks as part of her or his job. • New and existing • Inside and outside • Provide/Receive support • It’s not always clear cut. • “Whatever it takes.”

19. Relatively Less Important Characteristics Type of Sales Job Relatively Important Characteristics ______selling (Existing Customers) Age, maturity, empathy, knowledge of customer and business methods Aggressiveness, technical ability, product knowledge, persuasiveness ________ selling (Promotional) Youth, high energy and stamina, verbal skill, persuasiveness Empathy, knowledge of customers, maturity, previous sales experience ________ selling (Highly technical products) Education, product and customer knowledge--usually gained through training, intelligence Empathy, persuasiveness, aggressiveness, age ________ selling (New Business, Rainmaker) Experience, age, maturity, aggressiveness, persuasiveness, persistence Customer knowledge, product knowledge, education, empathy

20. Characteristics of Sales Career • Job security & Mobility • Advancement opportunities (make your own) • Immediate feedback ($, % Quotas) • Prestige (can be very successful) • Job Variety (deal with people all the time) • Independence (Lone Wolf fading) • Compensation (Make your own success) • Boundary-Role effects: Boundary-Spanner

21. Qualifications & Skills for Sales • Empathy: ______________________ • __________: Inner need to succeed, to win, to persuade others • Ego Strength: Self-________ (to deal with rejection) and Self-______ (control own success) • Interpersonal Communication Skills (listening, asking questions, explain clearly) • Enthusiasm (for yourself and customers)

22. Salespeople are Born And Made • ______ and personality are inherent. You cannot develop. Manager can recruit and hire people with desired traits. • _______ can be trained. Take practice. • Enthusiasm ≠ Motivation, but related. • Motivation can influence enthusiasm. • Many things can influence motivation.