IMPORTANCE OF PERSONAL SELLING

IMPORTANCE OF PERSONAL SELLING

Personal selling is the face-to-face interaction between a sales person and prospective customer to persuade the customers in making an order.

The importance of personal selling is to being the most effective marketing tool which is as follows:

1. It is a flexible tool: Personal sellings involves individual and personal communication as compared to the mass and impersonal communication of advertising and sales promotion. Therefore, personal selling is most flexible in operation.

A sales man can tailor his sales presentation to fit the needs, motives and attitudes of individual customers can observe the customer reaction to a particular sales approach and thus make necessary adjustments right on the sport. face-to-face contact with customers is the most effective means of communication and persuasion.

2. It results in actual sales: Advertising and sales promotion techniques can only attract attention and arouse desire. By themselves they cannot create actual sales. Personal selling in most cases leads to actual sales.

A salesman can find prospective buyers, demonstrate the product, explain its operation, and convince customers to buy it, install it at the customers place and provide after sales service. No other method of promotion can perform all these functions.

Therefore personal selling does the entire job of selling. personal selling is a complete promotional techniques of keeping customers satisfied.

3. It provides feedback – Personal selling involves two-way flow of communication between the buyer and the seller. It is a useful method of understanding knowledge about the taste, habits and attitude of the prospective customers.

4. It complement advertising – In most situations, there is a need for explaining the quality, uses and price of a product. Salesmen can persuade the prospective customers to buy a product. Advertising attracts customers but their doubts and questions about the product are answered by salesmen. In this way personal selling supports advertising. Salesmen educate the consumers about new products and about new uses of existing products.

5. It educates customers – salesmanship is not simply a tool of convincing people to buy certain products. It assists customers in satisfying their wants. A salesman provides information, education and guidance to customers.

He handles their complaints and assists them in getting value for their money. He can clear their doubts on the spot.

6. It assists the society – Salesman help to increase aggregate sales and production in the country thereby increasing employment opportunities. They help to maintain equilibrium between demand and supply.

Despite the above advantages, personal selling suffers from several disadvantages. Firstly personal selling is the costliest method of promotion. Secondly, it can cover only limited number of customers at a time. Thirdly, it is not very effective for creating consumer awareness about a product or service. Fourthly, many consumers are suspicious of personal selling at the retail level and they criticize salesmen for lack of honesty. Poor knowledge, strong pressure, etc lastly, it is difficult to recruit, train and motivate competent sales persons.