1000 Business Lessons Every Businessman Must Know

Chapter 25 Promotion Decision: It is an important part of marketing activities (2)
Personal selling is the messenger of information.Personal selling accurately and effectively transmits the information of the company's products to potential customers through sales personnel, so that they can understand the company's products and stimulate their demand for the company's products; , Requirements and other demand information are fed back to the enterprise in a timely manner, so as to promote the enterprise to improve its products or other marketing strategies, and better meet the consumption needs of customers.Personal selling plays a two-way transmission of information.

3. Expand sales

The central task of personal selling is to promote products and expand the sales of the enterprise.The salesmen directly contact with customers and answer their questions face to face, which can enhance customers' confidence in purchasing products; and through the use of sales skills, they can induce customers' desire to buy, so as to achieve the purpose of expanding sales.

4. Provision of services
Service runs through the whole process of personal selling.The services provided by salespersons to customers are divided according to the sales process, including pre-sales, in-sales, and after-sales services.Selling products cannot be regarded as the only and ultimate goal. Not only should we pay attention to pre-sales and in-sales services, but we must also pay attention to and strengthen after-sales services.The services provided by the salesperson include providing advice to customers, giving technical assistance, arranging financing and expediting delivery.

5. Allocation of adjustments
Salespersons can take advantage of their wide range of contact points to "go-between" for both production and demand.For example, for products with tight supply in the market, if the company cannot guarantee to meet the demand of all customers, sales personnel should negotiate and distribute; for products with excess supply, sales personnel should actively search for sales outlets, so as to realize the backlog of products that are out of stock in other places. The balance adjustment.

6. Build relationships
Personal selling plays a unique role in building good relationships with customers, especially long-term relationships.Through the establishment of customer files, regular return visits, regular communication with customers, and providing customers with necessary services, a stable and solid customer base can be established for the company, which is conducive to the long-term development of the company.

200. Marketing is not just about selling products
In the traditional marketing concept, the goal of personal selling is to maximize sales, the task of a salesperson is to sell, sell, sell, and the completed sales are the only criterion for evaluating a salesperson's performance.Issues such as marketing strategy and profit margins are the concern of the marketing department.

The modern marketing concept believes that the goal of personal selling is not the only one.In addition to selling products, salespersons should also pay attention to discovering and helping to solve customer problems, collect and analyze market intelligence, estimate market potential, and participate in the formulation of marketing strategies and plans, etc.Salespersons must not only earn profits for the company, but also provide customers with satisfactory products and services. They must not only understand the art and skills of sales, but also understand the overall marketing strategy.

Different companies have different personal selling goals.For example, the salesmen of AT&T in the United States are tasked with product development, sales and maintenance; the salesmen of IBM are responsible for the sales, installation and improvement of user computer equipment.In general, the establishment of personal selling goals must take into account the influence of factors such as corporate marketing goals, promotional strategies, customer characteristics, and market conditions.

201. Looking for information on potential customers
The first thing salespeople need to do is to find potential consumers who may be willing or ready to buy, that is, to determine the target customers.When looking for customers, you can use segmentation criteria to identify and differentiate customers based on age, gender, income, education level, etc.For example, young parents are customers in the baby clothes, food and toys market, and newlyweds will seek housing, furniture, electrical appliances and bank loans.In addition, target customers can also be selected according to consumers' hobbies and lifestyles. For example, travel enthusiasts are of course ideal customers in the travel goods market.

There are mainly the following ways for salespeople to obtain information about potential customers:
Step [-]: Conduct market research

Market research can be carried out by the enterprise itself, or it can be commissioned by a specialized market research consulting company.Based on the analysis of the survey results, potential customers can be discovered.

Approach [-]: Conduct data query
The existing various information materials are the most convenient sources of information that salespeople can use.Such as industrial and commercial enterprise directories, various statistical materials and yearbooks, telephone directories, relevant information books, newspapers and magazines, etc.

Way [-]: Seek customer introductions
Recommendations and introductions from existing customers are a very important way to attract new customers.The key to this method is that the salesperson must first gain the trust of existing customers, and then use the social relationship of existing customers to find more potential customers.

202. Direct contact with customers

After finding potential customers and determining the target customers, the salesperson must arrange direct contact with customers for sales promotion.This process mainly includes two stages: approach preparation and interview sales.

1. Approach preparation
Before meeting with the target customers, the salesperson should make full preparations.First of all, extensively collect information on target customers, and further understand their various aspects, so as to know ourselves and others; then, formulate a feasible sales plan, including determining the target product, preparing the content of the negotiation, and the time, place, and method of meeting, etc.

2. Interview sales
When the salesperson meets the customer, it enters the critical interview stage.Salespersons introduce and demonstrate products to customers, and use appropriate sales techniques to persuade customers to buy.This is actually a process of information communication between the salesperson and the customer, the purpose is to stimulate the customer's desire to buy, win trust, and finally reach a deal.This stage is the core of the entire sales process.

203. Do a good job in after-sales tracking service

After the product is sold, the marketing activities are not over. The salesperson should continue to keep in touch with the customer, provide various after-sales services, and solve problems in the use of the product in a timely manner.

At the same time, pay attention to collecting customer suggestions for product improvement.Good after-sales service can improve customer trust and satisfaction, and increase the possibility of product resale.

204. Use salespeople strategically
In the personal selling process, salespeople should be used strategically.For different types of customers, different methods should be adopted to deal with them.

1. Single salesman to single customer
That is, a salesman only talks to one existing customer or potential customer at a time, and conducts one-on-one sales activities.

2. A single salesman to a group of customers

That is, a salesman contacts a customer group, such as a purchasing group, and recommends and introduces the company's products to them.

3. Sales team to customer groups

That is, a group of salespeople sells to a group or group of customers.

4. Sales meeting
That is to say, salespersons, together with personnel from relevant functional departments of the company, sell products to customers in the form of business meetings.

5. Sales Seminar

That is, salesmen and technicians hold lectures or seminars on the development of product technology for customer units, with the purpose of enhancing customers' understanding of the company's technology and cultivating their understanding and goodwill for the company's products.

In modern enterprises, sales work is becoming more and more collective, and the support and participation of other personnel is becoming more and more important.For example, the technical service of technicians, the telephone business processing and sales analysis of office personnel, the delivery and installation of service personnel, and the participation of senior managers, etc., all become part of sales activities.

205. Reasonably determine the scale of personal selling
The scale of personal selling refers to the number of sales personnel in an enterprise.The size decision of personal selling is an important issue in personal selling decision-making.Increasing the number of sales staff can increase the sales volume of products, but at the same time it will increase the cost of sales.It can be seen that the number of salespersons has a direct impact on improving the marketing efficiency of enterprises.Therefore, enterprises must reasonably determine the scale of personal selling.

There are three commonly used methods to determine the size of personal selling: sales ratio method, workload method and marginal profit method.

1. Sales ratio method
The sales ratio method refers to the method in which the enterprise calculates the proportion of sales promotion costs to sales and the average cost of sales personnel based on historical data, and then predicts future sales to determine the scale of sales promotion.The advantage of this method is that it is simple and easy to implement.However, since the proportion calculation uses historical data, and the future situation will change with the market environment and the application of advanced marketing methods, there may be large deviations if the same proportion is used.

2. Workload method
The workload method refers to the method by which the enterprise determines the number of sales personnel according to the workload that the sales personnel need to complete.This method consists of five steps:
- Divide customers into categories according to annual sales.

- Determine the number of visits required per year for each type of customer.

——Multiply the number of customers of each category by the number of visits required to obtain the total number of visits per year, which is the workload of the entire region.

- Determine the average number of sales visits per salesperson per year.

——Divide the total number of visits per year by the average number of visits per salesperson per year to get the number of salespeople required.

Assume that a company has 3000 customers in total, including 500 Type A customers, who need to visit 36 ​​times a year, 1000 Type B customers, who need to visit 20 times a year, and 1500 Type C customers, who need to visit 12 times a year.That means, the business needs to make 56000 visits per year.Assuming that each salesperson averages 800 visits a year, the business needs 70 salespeople.

(3) Marginal profit method
The marginal profit method refers to the method of determining the number of salespersons based on the salesperson's marginal profit.The judgment criterion is that as long as the increased profit after adding a salesperson is greater than zero, it means that the number of salespersons has not reached the optimal scale, and salespersons should be added.The steps to apply the marginal profit method are as follows:
——Find out the relationship between the change in the number of salesmen and the change in sales, that is, how much the sales will increase by adding a salesman;

——Find out the relationship between the change in the number of salesmen and the change in cost, that is, how much will the cost of sales increase by adding a salesman;
- Calculate the profit margin for different numbers of salespeople, which is the increase in sales minus the increase in costs;

——Determine the optimal number of salespersons, that is, the number of salespersons corresponding to the smallest marginal profit greater than zero.

[-]. Promotional activities
206. Establish campaign goals

The goal of promotional activities is restricted by the overall marketing goals of the enterprise, and the specific goals of promotional activities are determined by the different market targets.

In the consumer market, the goals of promotional activities are: to attract new trial users, to reward old customers, and to increase the repurchase rate of casual buyers.It is generally believed that the purpose of promotional activities is to break brand loyalty and win brand switchers from other competitors, while advertising is used to build brand loyalty.

In the reseller market, the goals of promotion activities are: to encourage them to deal in new products, to maintain high inventory, to promote competitively, to build reseller brand loyalty, and to acquire new distribution outlets.

207. Choose campaign tools
When choosing which promotion tools to use to achieve the above goals, promotion planners need to comprehensively consider various factors such as goals, product types, market environment, competition conditions and the benefits and costs of various tools.

1. Objectives of promotion activities
The campaign objective is the primary factor that should be considered when choosing a campaign tool, which determines the selection range and prerequisites for a campaign tool.If the goal of promotion activities is to attract new trial users, promotion tools such as giving samples and free use are generally used; if the goal of promotion activities is to increase the inventory of middlemen, price discounts are the most direct tools.

2. Product type
Different products face different target customers, so the promotion tools used should also be different.For daily necessities, samples can be presented to consumers; for production materials, quantity or price discounts are usually used.

3. Market environment
Targets of promotional activities in different markets respond differently to different promotional activities due to differences in the market environment.For example, for lottery activities, some markets responded enthusiastically, while others responded coldly.Therefore, we should choose promotion tools in a targeted manner for different markets.

4. Competitive conditions
One is to choose the promotion tools that are conducive to the competition of the enterprise according to the promotion tools used by competitors.The second is to analyze whether the company will trigger a strong reaction and tough countermeasures from competitors after adopting a certain promotion tool.

5. Costs and benefits of various promotional tools
How much of the company's marketing budget is used for promotion, and how much of the promotion budget is used for promotional activities is a hard constraint on the selection of promotional tools.In addition, the cost-effectiveness of each campaign tool and the overall benefits of different tool combinations are also different.

208. Formulate a promotion plan
The promotional activity plan refers to the specific arrangements for the implementation of the promotional activities, that is, the enterprise makes specific arrangements for the intensity, objects, methods, time and budget of the promotional activities.

1. Intensity of motivation
The intensity of incentives refers to the size or scale of the stimulus generated by corporate promotion activities.Generally speaking, the higher the intensity of the promotion activity, the greater the stimulation to the promotion target, and the greater the possible effect of the promotion activity.However, the intensity and effect of promotional activities are not in a linear relationship. Generally, as the intensity of promotional activities increases, the effect of promotional activities increases in a law of decreasing.Therefore, the decision on the intensity of promotion activities should be based on the principle of achieving the expected promotion goals.

2. The object of motivation
Since different promotional tools have different effects on promotional objects, after a specific promotional tool is determined, customers, intermediaries or salespersons who respond strongly to this tool should be selected to carry out promotional activities.For the scope of promotional activities, you can choose a part of the target market, or you can choose the entire target market; you can choose to apply the same promotional activity tool to the entire promotional activity object, or you can use different promotional tools to carry out promotional activities for different objects Activity.

3. Ways to promote activities
Specific ways of promoting activities can often be implemented through multiple ways, and different implementation methods often produce different effects.For example, to carry out promotional activities for consumers with bonuses, cash can be packed in packaging bags, and coupons marked with specific signs or amounts can be attached to the packaging bags, or it can be promoted through advertising media. Consumers give rewards, etc.Each approach has different costs and efficiencies.Therefore, in the face of a variety of promotion channels to choose from, enterprises must make appropriate decisions so that promotion activities can be delivered to target customers.

4. Timing of promotion activities

Timing decisions for promotional activities include the initiation and duration of promotional activities.The starting time of promotional activities should be determined according to the characteristics of the product and the overall production and promotion strategy. For example, for products with high demand during holidays, the selected time should be a certain date before the holiday. Reduce the effect of promotional activities; the hot summer is a good time for promotional activities of refreshing drinks.The length of general promotion activities should be the same as the length of the average purchase cycle, and comprehensively consider product characteristics, consumer buying habits, promotion goals, competitor strategies and other factors.

5. Budget for promotional activities
Two methods can be adopted to determine the budget of promotional activities: one is the comprehensive analysis method, that is, according to the objectives, methods and other factors of the promotional activities, the expenses required for each link of the promotional activities are calculated separately, and this cost includes management expenses and stimulus expenses; the second is The percentage method of the total promotion budget, that is, according to the promotion combination strategy of the enterprise, the total promotion budget is allocated according to a certain proportional relationship in different promotion methods. This is currently a widely used method for determining the promotion activity budget.

209. Think carefully before discounting
Discount sales means that enterprises or merchants reduce the price of products to attract consumers and promote product sales.Because this method means that enterprises or businesses directly benefit consumers. Through comparison, the benefits can be seen and touched, so it is very popular with consumers. The effect of promotion is very obvious, and it is also a method that enterprises and businesses like to adopt A method of resemblance.

Discount sales are generally ordered directly by the manufacturer, while dealers and retailers are responsible for execution.Retailers also conduct discount sales directly, but they must greet manufacturers and distributors in advance, because this kind of behavior is very easy to impact the price system of manufacturers and distributors, causing market confusion and bringing huge losses to manufacturers and distributors. Trouble and loss, and even caused the rebound of manufacturers and distributors, causing conflicts between manufacturers, distributors and retailers.

We often see that Gome, as a home appliance retailer, is at odds with manufacturers such as Changhong and TCL, which are home appliance manufacturers. This is often the reason.As a retailer, Gome cut prices sharply without warning, making Changhong and TCL as manufacturers very passive, so they fought back, and the two sides fought hard.

There are also several types of discount sales:
(1) Direct discounts, such as direct discounts, such as [-]% off, [-]% off.

(2) Indirect discounts, such as additional gifts.

(3) Package-style discounts, such as bundling the goods together and selling them to consumers at a discounted price.

(End of this chapter)