Lesson Overview

Throughout this lesson, we will focus on strategies that takes us through the personal selling process as we learn how to discover customers' needs and subsequently provide a presentation about matching features, finishes, and benefits to help satisfy those needs. Modern salespeople think of themselves more like consultants than salespeople—there to help prospects rather than only to sell them something. This is relevant not only from an ethical standpoint but also from the perspective of creating lifetime customers and generating referrals. If we practice a personal selling strategy, we will not only get return customers but also word-of-mouth referrals, which are the strongest form of positive communication involved with our marketing efforts.  Nonetheless, sometimes we may not make the sale. However, with a qualified rejection, the prospect may be likely to spread the news about what we have to offer, and therefore we may increase our customer base in that way.

Personal selling is indispensable to marketing. In this lesson, we will learn how personal selling’s significance in marketing and how key salespeople roles (i.e., financial contributors, change agents, communication agents and customer value agents) are substantial roles in a team. We will also explore the difference between a trust-based relationship selling process and transactional selling. In line with that, we will discuss the selling strategies and the key elements of customer value, together with alternative personal selling approaches. These alternative approaches and adaptive selling methods are stimulus response, mental states, problem solving, needs satisfaction, and consultative. Finally, we will discuss the current trends in professionalism, which are complexity, collaboration, and accountability.

Lesson Objectives

After completing this lesson, you should be able to do the following:

• Describe the role of personal selling in marketing.

• Discuss the key roles of salespeople as financial contributors, change agents, communications agents, and customer value agents.

• Explain the trust-based relationship selling process and how it differs from transactional selling.

• Explain the concept of selling strategy with its key elements of customer value and alternative personal selling approaches.

• Explain adaptive selling and the five alternative approaches to selling: stimulus response, mental states, problem solving, needs satisfaction, and consultative.
• Discuss current trends in sales professionalism: complexity, collaboration, and accountability.

Lesson Road Map

By the end of this lesson, make sure you have completed the readings and activities found in the Lesson 2 Course Schedule.