The role of Personal Selling in Direct Sales Organizations

1
The role of Personal Selling in Direct Sales
Organizations

• Thomas N. Ingram 1992

Jialin Kewrin
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The purpose of this article

• The framework for defining the role of personal
  selling in direct sales organizations
• Marketing Developments
• Strategic roles of personal selling
• Personal selling tactical implications

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Marketing developments

• Market Fragmentation
• Globalization
• Multiple channels approaches
• Timing Speed
• Trust- based Relationship Selling

4
Marketing fragmentation

• to define market segments into sub-segments and
  it forces direct sales organizations to think
  about two basic options
• Ownership through leadership
• Expeditionary marketing

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Expeditionary marketing

• To lead and not to follow their customers in
  terms of new product ideas and the implementation
  of new ways for consumers to buy.
• Example Mary Kay cosmetics

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Globalization

• The personal selling dimension is particularly
  appropriate for the development of non-domestic
  markets when compared to other elements of the
  promotional mix

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• Example Time life Books
• Because of..
• the language barriers
• cultural differences
• ser-up time is minimal
• sunk channel costs are low

8
Multiple channel approaches

• Market fragmentation and globalization
• To make it easy for shoppers to buy where they
  want to

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• Mary Kay Cosmetics
• -Direct mail
• -Telephone ordering system

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Timing and speed

• The unexpected available Eastern market
• The booming Asian market
• example Avon in 1985

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Trust-basted relationship selling

• Benefits for DSO
• An important issue for sales success
• Has to take responsibility for what transpires
  during the consumer and salesperson interactions
• Has to invest in training and field guidance must
  be made

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Strategic roles of personal selling

• Adding value with information
• Customer service activities
• Revenue generation
• Change processes

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Corporate growth orientation and personal selling

• Intensive growth
• Diversification growth
• Acquisition

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Intensive growth

• focuses on the development of existing business
• extremely active sales function
• the amount of selling effort should be
  intensified for existing products
• training should be priority
• motivational programs

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Generic strategy and personal selling

• Low-cost supplier selling on the basis of a low
  price
• Differentiation perceived uniqueness
• Niche strategies the selection of a particular
  target market

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Personal selling tactical implications

• Trust-based selling
• To achieve trust-based relationships with
  customers, salespeople must be candid,
  dependable, competent, customer-oriented, and
  likable (Hawes et al. 1989).

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Benefits of Trust-based selling for a direct
sales force

• The initial generation of profitable revenue
• A potential lifetime revenue stream
• The referral of prospects from the satisfied
  customer base.

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Trust-based sales roles

• Wrap-around marketing
• The customers must be pre-sold, sold, and then,
  in effect, post-sold.

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Tactical roles

• Counselor/ teacher experts, listeners and
  presenters
• Ombudsman customer oriented problem solver

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Conclusion

• DS organizations are well-positioned
• to capitalize on fast developing and fragmenting
  markets
• to realize the benefits of globalization
• to blend multiple sales channels, with the
  possibility that personal selling could adopt
  different roles over time to match market
  opportunities

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• By focusing more on generating revenue through
  long-term trust-based relationships with customers