Exam 14: Personal Selling and Customer Database Marketing

The conditions necessary for effective database marketing are: verifying that there is a substantial number of good prospects, having a realistic chance of persuading them, estimating an expected profit which is higher than without database marketing, and having a database marketing program that is difficult for competitors to duplicate with your customers.

Telemarketing is best regarded as a relational exchange between the company and its customers.

Personal selling and telemarketing have different brand positioning and communication objectives.

All personal selling campaigns follow the six stages of selling: prospecting, approach, benefit presentation, de-resistance, closing, and follow-up.

To establish rapport with a customer, a salesperson can use two tactics - speech rate convergence (salesperson adjusts his or her speech to a slower speed than the customer), and neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) matching.

According to studies of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), approximately 70% of the population are auditory processors (respond best to auditory communication).

Conscientious, experienced salespeople over 35 years of age are the most successful in trade selling (selling within channel of distribution).

Attractive, well-groomed salespeople tend to sell more products in high-end retail selling (e.g., automobiles, electronics, household furnishings).

Trade selling has the highest proportion of pay in the form of commission, typically a 60:40 ratio of fixed salary to variable commission.

Lifetime value calculation is required for managing an LFG database marketing program.

Personal selling campaigns should take about three salesperson-customer exchanges to achieve their communication objectives.

Rapid speech (20 words per minute), higher than average voice pitch and an accent that is equal or higher in status than the person called are all desirable hiring characteristics of a successful telemarketer.

Small business selling exchanges are transactional.

We can distinguish five main types of selling.

Most trade selling, telemarketing, and technical selling is informationally based and the salesperson's ethical obligation is to make a benefit claim that does not go beyond the objectively determinable level.

The amount that companies in the U.S. spend on direct selling and telemarketing combined is less than the estimated expenditure on media-based advertising and promotion.

Because of the stressful nature of telemarketing, the salesperson should ideally have strong pessimism.

Professional technical salesperson hiring requires professional knowledge and an externalizing attributional style.

The approach takes place in the first few minutes of the sales call and is usually opened with a statement about yourself, your company and a brief industry-specific positioning statement (ISPS) followed with a compliment or a question as to the prospect's interest.

The most important hiring factors for staff for regular retail selling (transactional, over-the-counter selling to customers) are mathematical ability, followed by social skills.