MARKETING MANAGEMENT(Subject Code: MBADS1-126) → LESSON 5:Topic: Personal Selling Personal Selling is also known as the door to door selling which is face to face communication between the buyer and the seller. In simple words, It is an art of persuasion in which the salesperson tries to win the confidence of the customer and also tries to know the importance of marketing strategies. However, personal selling has become consultative selling where the seller has become. It is face to face communication between buyers and sellers. This selling also helps to interact with the seller and the customer and at the same time tries to know the queries and the benefits of the product through the customers. Definition of Personal Selling- Some basic definitions are given below: 1. A famous writer Philip Kotler says, “Personal selling is a type of personal or local presentation by the firm’s sales force for the motive of making sales and building customer relationship.” 2. A famous writer W.J.Stanton says, “Personal selling involves individual personal communication in contrast to mass relatively impersonal communication of sales promotion, advertising, and other promotional tools.” 3. A famous writer Cundiff and Still, “Personal selling is kind as a method of communication. It includes not only individual but social behavior each of the individual in face contrast salesperson a prospect influence the others.” Features of Personal Selling- The features of personal selling help to educate the seller with their respective points like immediate feedback, two-way conversations, etc. The features of personal selling define the particular characteristics which are related to personal selling. It includes various points such as:- 1.Face to Face Interaction- This is the first features of personal selling and it means that there is face to face interaction between buyers and sellers. The seller tries to understand the needs of the buyers and provide the product matching the customer needs. Through this feature, the salesman helps to tries to persuade the customers for a particular product and make a healthy relationship between them. 2. Two Way Dialogue:- This is the second features of personal selling and it means that there is a two-way dialogue between the customers and the sellers in personal selling. The customer will respond in case he has certain objections while the seller will respond with an appropriate solution to customer problems. A salesman always thinks that whenever I talk to a customer, I can completely satisfy the customer for my product so that my customer gives me a positive response to my product. So this is the reason that two-way dialogue is a very effective feature for any selling procedure. 3. Immediate Feedback- This is the third most important merit or features of personal selling as compared to other forms of promotion is that various immediate feedback of consumers that will help the salesman to act accordingly. In this feature, the seller is always trying to receive the feedback of the consumers because a consumer is the only person who can tell us well about our product whether it is his goodness or the badness. 4. Art of Persuasion- This is the fourth features of personal selling and it means that in personal selling, salesperson persuades the customers to buy the product he convinced the customer and win his confidence so that sales are achieved. In any company or real life, a good salesman is considered to be a person who should influence or satisfy a customer to his product so that the customer is induced to buy and use the particular product. 5. Flexible- This is the fifth features of personal selling and it means that the nature of the product will be varied, personal selling will be also depending upon the consumer preferences. For Example– Personal selling styles will be different for industrial products. If personal selling technique is not flexible, then it will fail to persuade the customer towards our product or service. 6. Satisfaction: This is the sixth and unique feature or characteristic of personal selling that due to the effective communication between the seller and the targeted buyer a seance of satisfaction takes place in them that the products are either sold or the information is acquired from the targeted buyer about the modification and changes of the products and services. Importance of Personal Selling- The importance of personal selling in marketing includes various points for determining the selling procedure:- 1.Goal-Oriented Activity- This is the first importance of personal selling and it means that the ultimate objective of personal selling activity is that all the sales activities right from prospecting, pre-approach, approach, presentation and demonstration, handling objections, closing, follow-up are attained in a synchronous manner and ultimate objective of revenue generation is possible. It is very important for any object to be goal and objective because it explains the nature or purpose of that thing. Similarly, personal selling also has an objective that in some way I have to execute sales and earn the profit. 2. Consultative Selling- This is the second importance of personal selling and it means that this selling has become consultative selling. Nowadays, salespersons have become consultants who guide customers to purchase decisions. Through this strategy, the salesman improves the communication pattern, relationship strategies, and also improve the trust of their products. For Example– Relationship Manager helping the customer to buy an insurance policy. 3. Win-Win Approach- This is the third importance of personal selling and it means that this selling results in a “win-win” approach or philosophy. A salesman provides the right product to the customer, customer needs are fulfilled he gets desired satisfaction while on the other hand salesman sells his product and his sales targets are attained. Through this strategy, the company or salesman improves trustworthy relations, cordial relations, and other social relations with the customers because if your customer won then did you mean that you also won… 4. Helps in Relationship Building- This is the fourth importance of personal selling and it means that this selling not only helps in identifying the prospects but it also helps in building the relationship with the customers through continuous follow-up activities from the company side. This importance is very essential for the salesperson because, without a relationship-building strategy, no one salesman or company can achieve the customer’s trust and power. Through this, the salesman achieve these things like:- • Customer Trusts, • Relations, • Customers Action, • Goal or object, • and then profit. 5. Winning the Confidence of Customer- This is the fifth importance of personal selling and it means that this selling is an art of winning the confidence of the customer and inducing him/her to buy the product. This concept helps the salesman to develop or change the ‘official customers‘ into the ‘target or permanent customers‘. This is the last or most important point of personal selling because confidence is known as an assurance about handling something such as work, family, social events, and so on. Objectives of Personal Selling- The objectives of personal selling indicate how the sellers persuade or motivate our customers to buy a particular product or service. The objectives of personal selling include various points such as:- 1. To persuade the customers- The personal selling is an art of persuasion in this salesperson persuade and insist on the customer to buy the product. This objective plays a very perfect role for any personal seller. 2. To Increase sales- The ultimate objective of personal selling is to increase the sales of a particular company so that maximum revenue can be generated by the company. 3. To build long term relationship- Personal selling only helps to acquire the customers but also to grow and retain the customers. 4. To meet the specific needs of the people- Personal selling can help in meeting the specific need of the customer. For Example– Beauty and health-related products which require personal selling to match customize needs. 5. To maintain regular communication with the customers- Personal selling involves two-way dialogues between the buyers and sellers and a buyer can share his thoughts about a particular purchase with the salesperson keeping in mind the taste and preference of the consumer salesman (an offer the product an ensure communication is maintained with the customer throughout the lifetime of the company. Managing the Sales Force Creating Sales Force Structure, Territories, and Goals Creating the proper sales force structure, territoires, and goals leads to customer, sales force and firm satisfaction. Introduction Sales operations are a set of business activities and processes that help a sales organization run effectively, efficiently, and in support of business strategies and objectives. Sales operations may also be referred to as sales operations, sales support, or business operations. The set of sales operations activities vary from company to company but often include these nine categories: • Sales strategy: design, planning, execution; • Measurement of results: reporting, analytics and sales data; • Compensation, sales quota, policies; • Technology and tools, including CRM; • Training and sales communication; • Sales territory design and optimization; • Contests/spiffs; • Lead generation/sales programs; and • Customer segmentation. Creating The Sales Force Structure How will the sales process be structured? The answer to that question, an important one, depends on the company’s strategy. The resulting structure will guide the sales force and their actions and will, therefore, impact the company’s bottom line. When developing the sales force structure, sales managers must: • Figure out the right mix of generalists, product, market, or activity specialist with the objective of balancing sales force productivity. What is the right mix? That depends on the company and it’s offerings. • Design a reporting structure that makes it easy to both coordinate and control the sales process and the activities of the salespeople. • Help the sales people achieve their goals (and reduce stress) by providing training, coaching, incentives, information support, and performance management. Designing Territories Sales territories are the customer groups or geographic districts for which individual sales people or sales teams hold responsibility. Territories can be defined on the basis of geography, sales potential, history, or a combination of factors. Companies strive to balance their territories, because this can reduce costs and increase sales. Purpose The purpose of a sales force coverage (or sales territory) metric is to create balanced sales territories. There are a number of ways to analyze territories. The most common approach is to assess them based on their potential or size. If there is a large difference between territories, or they change over time, sales people may have either too much or not enough work. Too much work can cause the sales person to neglect some customers, while too little could lead to over-servicing the customers. Both actions can cost the firm revenue. In addition, if the sales person thinks that the territory distribution is unfair, they may leave and wind up working for a competitor. So, balanced territory allocation is important to keep customers, sales people, and the firm, as a whole, satisfied. “Sales potential forecast” can be used to determine sales targets and to help identify territories worthy of an allocation of limited resources. A sales potential forecast is a forecast of the number of prospects and their buying power. It does not assess the likelihood of converting “potential” accounts. Sales potential can be represented in a number of ways. Of these, the most basic is population (i.e., the number of potential accounts in a territory). In a survey of nearly 200 senior marketing managers, 62% responded that they found the “sales potential forecast” metric very useful. Construction Before they even begin to design new territories, a sales force manager should determine the workloads of all members of the sales team. The workload for a territory can be calculated as follows: Workload (#) = [Current accounts (#) * Average time to service an active account (#)] + [Prospects (#) * Time spent trying to convert a prospect into an active account (#)] They should also determine the sales potential in a particular territory. The sales potential in a territory can be determined as follows: Sales potential ($) = Number of possible accounts (#) x Buying power ($) A third metric that is just as important as the other two is to compare territories. Managers can look at the respective size of each territory or, more specifically, the travel time (the amount of time needed to reach customers and potential customers). Creating Sales Quotas Sales goals are commonly stated in terms of quotas. A sales quota is the minimum sales goal for a set time span. A sales quota may be minimum amount of dollars (monetary value) or product sold (volume). Sales quotas may also be for sales activity, such as number of calls per day. The time span could be set for the day, week, month, or fiscal quarter or year. Management usually sets the sales quota and the sales territory, but it’s not easy. When setting quotas, successful sales managers tend to: • Ask for less than they think the sales person can deliver; • Compare results to past performance, not forecasts; and • Ensure that the compensation scheme allows the sales force to make money when the company does. Recruiting and Selecting Salespeople Salespeople who have the best characteristics, and who fit the company ethos, should be chosen during the recruitment process. great deal of recent research has underscored the strategic advantage of managing employees as if they are assets rather than commodities. Making investments in a business’s assets makes a great deal of sense, because these investments will bring a return. A growing number of companies, recognizing that their employees are among their most valuable assets, are backing up that recognition with solid investment. Recruitment of the Sales Force Recruitment of talented employees is an essential part of any company’s ability to maintain success and ensure the achievement of standards within an organization. Recruiting sales personnel is no different. Recruiting sales personnel consists of actively compiling a diverse pool of potential candidates which can be considered for employment. In different industries, the constant need for talent creates a highly competitive marketplace for individuals, and it is important for any manager to be aware of these factors as they develop recruitment programs and policies. Methods of Recruitment: Internal and External There are two principal ways to recruit workers: internally and externally. Most companies will actively use both methods, ensuring opportunities for existing employees to move up in the organization while at the same time fielding new talent. Internal recruitment is often the most cost effective method of recruiting potential employees, as it uses the existing company resources and talent pool to fill needs. External recruitment focuses resources on looking outside the organization for potential candidates and expanding the available talent pool. The primary goal of external recruitment is to create diversity among potential candidates by attempting to reach a wider range of individuals unavailable through internal recruitment. Although external recruitment methods can be costly to managers in terms of dollars, the addition of a new perspective within the organization can carry many benefits which outweigh the monetary costs. Selecting Quality Candidates After obtaining a large, qualified applicant base, managers need to identify those applicants with the highest potential for success. Selective hiring helps prevent the costly turnover of staff and increases the likeliness of high employee morale and productivity. To evaluate the fit, it is important for managers to create a list of relevant criteria for each position before beginning the recruitment and selection process. Each job description should be associated with a list of critical skills, behaviors, or attitudes that will make or break job performance. When screening potential employees, managers need to select based on cultural fit and attitude as well as technical skills and competencies. There are some companies, such as Southwest Airlines, based out of the United States, who hire primarily based on attitude because they espouse the philosophy that you hire for attitude, train for skill. According to former CEO Herb Kelleher, “We can change skill levels through training. We can’t change attitude. ” Attitude and personality is especially important for sales positions, as they are often a customer’s first and only point of contact with the company. Managers must strive to identify the best applicants at the lowest cost. Companies have a variety of processes available to screen potential employees, so managers must determine which system will generate the most accurate results. The methods of selection vary both in levels of effectiveness and in cost of application. In addition to biographical information, companies can conduct personal interviews, perform background checks, and request testing. Because of the costs associated with these measures, companies try to narrow down the number of applicants in each round of hiring. Interviews One-on-One Interview: All jobs will require some sort of interview process to determine if the candidate is suitable for the role. This may be over the phone, one-on-one (above), or part of a group. Interviews determine if the candidates have the characteristics necessary for the job. The best interviews follow a structured framework in which each applicant is asked the same questions and is scored with a consistent rating process. Having a common set of information about the applicants upon which to compare after all the interviews have been conducted allows hiring managers to avoid prejudices and all interviewees are ensured a fair chance. Many companies choose to use several rounds of screening with different interviewers to discover additional facets of the applicant’s attitude or skill as well as develop a more well-rounded opinion of the applicant from diverse perspectives. Ultimately, the company will hire those who have the necessary skills and qualifications, and best fit the company culture and ethos. Salespeople have a specific set of personality attributes: they should be good listeners and have a keen desire to help people. They need to be trustworthy and honest, yet still be able to quickly perceive what the customer truly wants. They also need to be persistent. Employers will look for these attributes, among others, when hiring salespeople. Sales Training In general, training provides many diverse benefits both to the company as well as to the salesperson. Training is generally defined as the act of teaching a skill or behavior. However, what does this mean in business terms? Simply put, training in business is the investment of resources in the employees of a company so that they are better equipped to perform the tasks of their job. The type of resources invested may include time to learn, money to create programs and develop training materials, training effectiveness evaluation systems, etc. Benefits of Training Training provides greater skill and knowledge to the employees, which translate into any number of improved job performances. The belief is that providing employees with training will result in increased profits—the improved performance or error reduction of the employees results in cost reduction for the company. For sales personnel, training is especially important, as untrained salespeople interacting with customers may have a negative effect on the company’s reputation. Both the employee and the company benefit from training. By attending training sessions, employees can deepen their existing skill set, increase their overall skill set and increase their understanding of the organization (see ). Additionally (and perhaps unintentionally on the part of the company), the trained employee becomes more marketable in the event that he or she searches for another job—more and better skills will often lead to better or higher paying jobs. Other benefits that both may enjoy are increased job satisfaction, motivation and morale; increased efficiency, resulting in financial gain; increased capacity to adopt new technologies and methods; increased innovation in strategies and products; reduced employee turnover; and enhanced company image, reputation and customer satisfaction (particularly in the case of salespeople). Training: Training can be conducted in many ways, such as in a lecture or classroom format (above), online, or any number of ways. Need for Training The need for training varies depending on the type of organization that is being discussed; a manufacturing company has different training needs than an insurance firm. But regardless of the type of company being discussed, appropriate training systems can greatly benefit the company. Sales personnel will need different types of specialized training depending on the industry and the company’s unique circumstances. How does one decide on a training system? The process begins with a training needs assessment. This assessment ought to be a systematic and objective analysis of the training needs in three main areas—organizational, job, and person. Organizational needs deal mostly with the skills the company is looking for, the labor force, etc. whereas the job needs focus on the skills that the company views as necessary for a specific position. Then there are the person needs, and these are the most variable needs. Often these needs arise after a gap is seen in the expected performance compared to the actual performance of the employee. Training can also be a part of a young employee’s “exploration” stage, where training can be used to focus the employee’s interest and development towards a specific area. Training Methods Designing and implementing the training systems requires the company to consider a number of things; the method of training, the material the training will deal with, who will provide the training, how to evaluate the effectiveness of the training, etc. On-the-job training relies on the employee to recognize the skills and knowledge he or she will need as they perform their work, and then develop those skills on his or her own. Technical training focuses on a specific need of specific employees. Mentoring systems pair a younger or less experienced employee with an individual that has experience and success within the company who can offer guidance, aid and insight to the younger/less experienced employees. Coaching systems involve the manager offering developmental assistance to the employee through observation, assessment, providing feedback, questioning, etc. The training of a salesperson who will be working in a country other than his or her own can be broken into three segments—pre-departure, on-site, and repatriation. The pre-departure training consists of formal language training, training with respect to the local culture (culture sensitivity), education about the country (history, geography, government, etc.), and education about the company’s operation in the foreign country. Such training allows for easier assimilation of the employee into the country and the company’s office there. Once on site, training takes the shape of training at any other branch of the company. When the employee abroad returns, a repatriation program designed to reduce culture shock and to integrate the experience abroad is useful. Motivating and Compensating Salespeople Employees are best motivated through effective job design, equitable compensation, and treatment as stakeholders in the company. Employees as Stakeholders The concept of employees as stakeholders refers to the interest employees have in the success of the company and the fact that actions taken by the organization directly affect the employees. Employees’ stakes in the company are economic in the fact that their livelihood comes from the firm, psychological in that they derive pride from their work, and political in terms of their rights as employees and citizens. To motivate employees and improve firm performance, companies should strive for employee participation and influence. Voice and influence mechanisms allow employees to give input and to contribute their expertise to the success of the business. These mechanisms allow firms to get the most benefit from the skills of their human capital. Thus, firms with employee influence mechanisms get higher financial return from their employee assets. Effective Job Design Job design, defined as the allocation of specific work tasks to individuals and groups, is critical for any organization. Allocating jobs and tasks means specifying the contents, methods, and relationships of jobs to satisfy technological and organizational requirements as well as the personal needs of jobholders. If successful job design is not implemented, then the company’s general strategy and direction will be strongly diverted. Employees, in turn, will be demotivated. Meaningful jobs must exemplify the company’s goals and culture. Individuals, including salespeople, need to be compelled and excited to do their work. It is thus essential to design their jobs with the goal of motivating them. Motivation describes the forces within the individual that account for the level, direction, and persistence of effort expended at work. Appropriate resource allocation allows large organizations to foster and develop innovation in their workforce. Reward systems include compensation, bonuses, raises, job security, and benefits. Job design is the base element for producing effective work organizations, so without meaningful job design, an organization will never operate to its potential. Compensation: Internal Equity The first consideration for designing a compensation system is that the base pay system needs to be internally equitable. In other words, the pay differentials between jobs need to be appropriate. The amount of base pay assigned to jobs needs to reflect the relative contribution of each job to the company’s business objectives. Compensation: External Equity The second consideration in creating a base pay system is external equity. This refers to the relationship between one company’s pay levels and the pay levels of competitors. Setting pay levels higher than the competition, in the hope of attracting the best applicants, is called “leading the market.” The risk is that a company’s costs will generally be higher than the costs of its competitors. Other employers can set their pay levels lower than their competition, hoping to save labor costs. This is called “lagging the market. ” The risk is that the company will be unable to attract the best applicants. Most employers set their pay levels the same as their competition. This strategy is called “matching the market” and maximizes the quality of talent while minimizing labor costs. Types Of Compensation Cash is one way to compensate employees, but cash alone is rarely enough payment. Benefits and other forms of non-monetary compensation are becoming more appropriate forms of compensation for employees in today’s workplace. In order to attract, retain, and motivate the best employees, benefits and other sources of non-monetary compensation should be considered. If the company has an understanding of what they can offer to employees, benefits can increase a company’s workforce quality and the general morale of employees. Companies can offer different types of benefits in order to create a positive culture for their employees. These benefits have the ability to promote social interaction among employees, make life easier for working parents, or improve their quality of life. Depending on the industry and job type, benefits may be more attractive than salary figures. This fact could allow companies to pay lower wages, thus reducing the total amount spent on payroll. Pay for Performance It is important to design reward systems carefully, taking into consideration base salary and other incentives. This notion applies especially to salespeople. Most compensation systems include “variable pay.” Depending on work performance, many companies reward their employees without affecting the base salary. To reward employees for achieving a set goal, many companies use bonuses. To this point, companies such as GE, HP, and Sun Microsystems use software that directly evaluates the behavior of employees with respect to customer service. Long-term incentives are also a part of reward systems. Stock options and profit-sharing plans are representative of long-term reward systems. Measuring Sales Force Performance Appraisals are the common form of measuring how well an employee performed compared to a set of stated objectives; feedback communicates these evaluations. Measuring the performance of the sales force within a company is vital to ensuring its success. This can be done through conducting performance appraisals and offering feedback. (1) Performance Appraisals Historically, performance appraisals have been used by companies for a variety of different purposes, including salary recommendations, promotion and layoff decisions, and training recommendations. In general, “performance elements tell employees what they have to do and standards tell them how well they have to do it” (United States Department of the Interior, 2004). One key item that is often forgotten during the appraisal process (by managers and employees alike) is that the appraisal is for improvement, not blame. Numerous methods exist for gauging an employee’s performance, and each provides strengths and weaknesses for given environments. Appraisal methodologies depend greatly on the type of work being done; an assembly worker will require a considerably different appraisal system than a business consultant. Similarly, a salesperson will be appraised very differently than a researcher. Performing an appraisal can be nerve racking for both parties if the situation is not handled correctly. There are many acts a manager can perform to make the process easier on both parties, and hopefully, mutually beneficial. Many assume that performance appraisals are meant to identify weaknesses to be worked on, and exposing these weaknesses can be painful for employees. Studies show that organizations should be leveraging the strengths of each employee rather than focusing on their weaknesses. Yearly performance reviews are becoming increasingly rare as companies begin to see the benefits of frequent appraisal. Constant fine tuning of performance can be much more effective than annual overhauls. Appraisal Methods • Graphic rating scales: This method involves assigning some form of rating system to pertinent traits. Ratings can be numerical ranges (1-5), descriptive categories (below average, average, above average), or scales between desirable and undesirable traits (poor ↔ excellent). This method can be simple to setup and easy to follow, but is often criticized for being too subjective, leaving the evaluator to define broad traits such “leadership ability” or “conformance with standards.” • 2+2: This method demonstrates how appraisals can be used primarily for improvement purposes. By offering employees two compliments and two suggestions for improvement focused around high-priority areas, organizations can become more productive. If the goal of the performance appraisal is employee improvement, this system can provide significant benefits; however, if the goals are more akin to compensation changes and rankings, the system provides little benefit. (2) Feedback In the broadest sense, feedback is simply verbal or nonverbal communication between two or more parties. Feedback should be given in all work situations, good and bad. However, people sometimes think of feedback as being synonymous with criticism when it is given in situations where expectations have not been met. Regardless, we are constantly surrounded by feedback as we see the consequences of our actions and how our actions affect the impressions of those around us, as shown in this feedback diagram. Feedback: Feedback is an essential part of our personal life and our work environment, making, giving, and receiving feedback successfully is critical. One common problem that managers overlook when reviewing performance is remembering that feedback is not all about forms. Traditional performance reviews have checklists, ratings, or reports that are used as tools to analyze feedback in the organization. While these forms are useful in documenting and appraising a person’s performance, feedback should not be dictated by the type of form an organization uses. Instead, it should be well thought out and measured according to the individual employee in question, considering their unique circumstances and abilities.

LESSON 4 :Promotion Mix A promotion mix is a set of different marketing approaches that marketers develop to optimize promotional efforts and reach a broader audience. The marketer’s task is to find the right promotion mix for a particular brand. Developing a promotion mix requires skills and experience in marketing. Marketers should complete various studies and gather lots of data about a particular company to come up with an effective promotion mix. For instance, it is necessary to identify your target audience, work out a budget that you can afford for a promotion, and decide the most efficient marketing channels for your audience. A promotion mix is a more expanded approach towards one of five elements of the marketing mix — Promotion. Other factors are people, product, place, and price. Promotion mix is a part of marketing mix which determines the success of all marketing efforts of company. All promotional programmers and advertising campaigns carried out by organization are included and performed in accordance with its promotion mix. It includes various marketing approaches designed by marketers with better experience and aims at optimizing the overall promotional efforts of business organizations. Promotion mix of a company is created after a lots of research and collecting data about a particular company, its target audience to involve effective tools of marketing in it. It is all the efforts of promotion mix that enables a brand to develop its better image in market and differentiates itself from other competitors. Promotion carried out by business enables in informing public about its products and impart them all required information. It is served as a communication channel in between company and its customers which helps in building trust. Why is using a promotion mix important? • Improves the effectiveness of promotional campaigns • Helps segment the audience • Improves communication with clients • Informs subscribers • Stands out from the crowd • Improves the effectiveness of promotional campaigns. Promotion is a crucial part of any business, so companies develop a promotion mix, putting all efforts to make promotions at the right place, at the right time, and to the right audience. It helps one get the most out of their marketing resources by optimizing their budget and saving time. • Helps segment the audience. To develop a compelling promotion mix, a company needs to identify its target audience. Potential subscribers may include various groups of people who have something in common, for example, age, gender, preferences, etc., and they all require an individual approach. A promotion mix is a key method for delivering a relevant promotion message via the most suitable channel for each segment. • Improves communication with clients. Companies develop a promotion mix trying to speak their consumers’ language. If prepared correctly, it helps build trust between the brand and its customers. This is a crucial factor in lead nurturing and customer retention. For example, automated email campaigns help achieve these goals by responding to people’s actions instantly. • Informs subscribers. Some promotions, on Instagram for example, aim to show the product from the best angle, and others, like SMS, emphasize the advantages of local services. When using a promotion mix, companies define the best ways to educate people about the products and services they provide. • Stands out from the crowd. People are bombarded with all sorts of advertising at every turn. With a promotion mix, it is possible to stand out from the crowd without creating chaos in your customers’ heads. Successful companies make quality prevail over quantity, promoting their product or service at the right place and right time. Components of a Promotion Mix 1. Advertising 2. Direct selling 3. Sales promotion 4. Public relations 1. Advertising. This is a non-personal promotion of products and services. Marketers use advertising as a vital tool for increasing brand awareness. Advertisers show promotions to masses of people using email, webpages, banner ads, television, radio, etc. 2. Direct selling. This is a one-to-one communication between a sales representative and a potential customer. Direct selling influences people to decide to buy certain products or services. It is one of the most effective ways of promoting your brand because the sales rep can tailor the promotion precisely to those who are most likely to make a purchase. On the other hand, this is the most expensive form of sales because companies need to pay for one person’s time. 3. Sales promotion. This is a set of short-term activities that are designed to encourage immediate purchase. Sales promotions are a campaign that uses time-sensitive offers — sales, discounts, coupons, etc., to engage existing consumers and bring in a larger audience. Many companies make this a core component of their marketing efforts, though sometimes it’s the most annoying type of communication for people. 4. Public relations. This type of promotional method determines the way people treat the brand. Companies using PR try to build a firm and attractive brand image by planting interesting news stories about their activities in the media. Public relations are not fully controlled by the company, though, as some reviews and webpages may negatively highlight the brand. If a company adequately solves these issues, people will reward them with positive word-of-mouth consideration. • Use appropriate marketing channels • Rely on the right promotion mix elements • Implement segmentation • Monitor marketing trends • Identify the target audience. Determine your target audience and take advantage of the promotion mix tactics. Create your customer profile to find out how to provide people with the products they need. • Follow a five P’s rule. Five factors form promotional marketing success: what you sell (Product), how much you want for it (Price), how you offer it (Promotion), where you sell it (Place), and whom you sell it to (People). Work on these five P’s of marketing and give your customers what they need at the most convenient time. • Provide people with useful information. Demonstrate the products and services you sell. Explain what makes them so unique and why customers should choose yours and no one else’s products. Create reviews comparing your product with competitors’ products. • Use appropriate marketing channels. Find out which channel of communication is the most convenient for your audience. Try delivering the same message through different channels and examine which performs best with your customers. • Rely on the right promotion mix elements. Personal selling is usually useful for only small businesses due to its high cost and low outreach. Every business can afford to display advertising and email marketing, though. Develop a balanced system of communication with your audience that fits your business well. • Implement segmentation. This tool targets the audience by dividing it into smaller groups based on similarities. With SendPulse, segmentation works with emails, SMS, and web push notifications. • Monitor marketing trends. As internet marketing evolves, new channels for communication with customers appear. Follow marketing trends to be able to reach your customers the way they like it. Promotion Mix Example 1. Advertising 2. Personal selling 3. Sales promotion 4. Public relations 5. Direct marketing Let’s take Nike’s promotion mix as an example and learn how they use each of the promotion mix components. 1. Advertising. In advertising campaigns, Nike aims to reach large target audiences. The brand invites celebrities who represent the image of an ideal consumer. Potential customers associate themselves with famous ones, and this motivates them to trust the brand and communicate with it. 2. Personal selling. Nike’s selling takes place in their stores. Trained store personnel assist consumers, provide details on the company’s products and stimulate visitors to buy their products. Besides, Nike’s employees help customers find the right Nike product and promote the company through the use of personalized services. 3. Sales promotion. Usually, Nike’s sales promotions include special discounts for a targeted audience. The brand motivates their customers with the savings they can have when they buy discounted products. After that, they create a demand for purchasing more products using those bonuses, turning new customers into loyal clients. 4. Public relations. Nike developed a social responsibility strategy, in response to global ecological trends. Besides, Nike sponsors numerous sports events that build a better brand image in the eyes of their audience. 5. Direct marketing. Nike uses direct marketing to promote its products among sports organizations in universities, colleges, schools. Marketers call this lead nurturing. TOPIC: ADVERTISING Advertising is a means of creating awareness and promoting a product or service in the market. It is a paid form of communication to inform the public about an idea, goods or service. Advertising is a market communication intended to influence people’s actions and persuades them to buy or try the product. This is one of the effective promotional tool of an organization for promoting its product among the target audience. It spreads the promotional message containing full details about the product among the customers. Advertising is a one-way communication by which organizations communicates to people by paying charges to advertising company. Advertising is of different kinds depending upon the type of medium used for communication such as print advertising, social advertising, outside advertising, broadcasting advertising, etc. There are three main motives of advertising: informing potential customers about brand, persuading people for buying brand products and reminding customers time to time about brand message and vision. AIMS OF ADVERTISING 1. Product Introduction: Advertising introduces a new product to peoples in the market. It explains clearly the features and uses of the new product launched by the company. 2. Creating Awareness: Advertising is the medium through which business informs about its products or services to the wider market. It creates wide awareness regarding the company products among the public. 3. Product Differentiation: Product differentiation is another important role played by advertising. It helps the business in differentiating their products from other products by properly explaining product features and advantages to customers. 4. Increasing Sales: Advertising helps in raising the sales volume of business organizations. It spread product information among a large number of peoples and persuades them for purchasing it. 5. Overcome Competition: Advertising assists business organizations in facing strong market competition. It enables in providing detailed information regarding products and differentiates it from other competitor’s products. It is a means through which business is able to attract more and more customers. 6. Enhances Goodwill: Advertising has an efficient role in improving the goodwill and reputation of the business in the market. Repeated advertising shows the company’s presence in the market and promotes the company’s quality products. It builds a better image of the brand in the mind of customers. 7. Educating Customers: Advertising is the medium through which companies communicate their product details among customers. They inform customers about the uses and utility of products through advertisement. Objectives of Advertising Objectives of Advertising 1. Promotes Products: Advertising is responsible for promoting the company’s product among large peoples in the market. It is one that informs about the latest arrivals to customers and communicates all relevant information regarding products or services. 2. Creates Demand: Advertising creates a favorable environment for increasing demand. It informs more and more customers about products and persuades them to buy by explaining product features and advantages to them. 3. Building Brand Image: It has an efficient role in building a good image and reputation of the brand. Advertising introduces manufacturers and its product in a better way to customers. It explains the product quality and develops a better image in the minds of people. 4. Stabilizing Sales Volume: Advertising helps in stabilizing the sales volumes for business. It helps in retaining more and more customers for a longer period and develops loyal customers. 5. Reduces Cost: Advertising reduces the cost of the product by expanding the scale of production. It raises the production level of business by increasing its demand which reduces the per-unit cost of products. 6. Higher Sales and Profit: It focuses on boosting the sales volume and profit level of organizations. It attracts more and more peoples to company products and persuades them to buy or try it. 7. Expands Market: Advertising expands the market opportunities for business by creating wide awareness in the market. It approaches and informs a large number of people in the market about products or services offered by the business. Sales promotion: Meaning, Types and Benefits Home » Business Studies » Sales promotion: Meaning, Types and Benefits Table of Contents Meaning of Sales Promotion Sales promotion refers to promotional activities used by business for raising the sales and encouraging peoples to use their products. It is one which supplement and coordinate both personal selling and advertising thereby making them more effective. Sales promotion encompasses activities which enables in spreading information about products in society with the aim of boosting product image and inducing people to go for trials. This serves as an important source of information to customers that facilitates them to make informed purchase decisions. Sales promotion works as a part of total distribution system which mostly involve short-term incentive tools designed for stimulating the quick and great purchases of products or services by customers. Sales promotion is a key element of promotion mix which works on taking product toward buyers. It studies and take into consideration the existing communication gaps in between the customers and producer. The techniques used under it are non-personal and indirect in nature such as displays, exhibitions, demonstrations, trade shows, direct mail, expositions and many other non-recurring efforts. Therefore, any activity which is carried out by business organization for boosting the sales and revenue temporarily falls under the purview of sales promotion. Types of Sales Promotion Various types of sales promotion are as discussed below: – Samples The sample is a type of sales promotion strategy under which customers are given goods free of cost for trial purposes. It is very effective in introducing new products expanding their market base. Sampling is a device that does the work of demand creation and increases customer’s interest in products. People via consuming free samples get a chance to compare the products with other substitutes existing in the market. Samples are given either in door-to-door delivery, sent by mail, attached to some other product, picked up in-store, etc. Coupons It is a promotional strategy under which customers are provided with vouchers for buying products at a discounted prices. Coupons are generally the certificate that reduces the price of product. Companies use this promotion for attracting and bring in more customers to their products. Coupons can be offered by attaching them with other products, inserting with into newspapers or magazines, and by mailing them. Free Trials Free trial is a scheme under which prospects are given invitations for using the product free of cost. It is performed with the hope that customer will purchase the product once he/she becomes aware with the features or benefits of a particular product. Premium Offers Premium offers are the offers which are run by businesses on a temporary basis with the motive of inducing customers for purchasing. Merchandise or gifts are offered free of cost or at reduced prices to people as an incentive to buy a particular product. Premium offers are most widely used in consumer goods like paste, soap, brush, glucose, washing powder etc. Bundling’s Bundling is a strategy in which products are put into the combination and offered for sale at the same price. Consumers are more attracted to buy products in bundled offers rather than a single offers. It is because the consumer believes that they getting two products at the price of one. An example of a bundling strategy is giving a free shampoo sachet with every piece of soap purchased by customers. Refunds And Rebate Refunds and rebate is a marketing tactic under which customer gets partial or full amount back after making purchases. The customer sends a proof of purchase to the manufacturer who in turn refund by mail the part of the purchase. In case, if the customer is not at all satisfied then he/she is liable to get the full amount refund. This strategy develops new customers and also strengthens brand loyalty. Contests Contests refer to competition which are organized by companies for introducing new products and attracting customers. In order to enter in competition, consumer need to buy product and submit evidence along with entry form. In these contests, skills and ideas of people are tested. The performance report of every participant is submitted with panel of judges who award the winner with prizes. This promotional strategy is useful in stimulating the sales of brand at retail level. Patronage Award (Trading Stamps) Patronage award refers to values in cash or other form given to the customer for buying the product in a particular shop. Sellers provide premium in the form of stamps to their consumers. Such stamps can be redeemed by customers at stamp redemption centers. Patronage awards serve as a useful means for attracting people to retail shops. Benefits of Sales Promotion The benefits provided by sales promotion can be well-understood from points given below: – Attract New Customers Sales promotion serves as an important means for attracting a new range of customers by the business organization. This promotion strategy is composed of distinct attractive offers which easily grab the attention of peoples. Product samples, coupons, giving free trials, refund offers, and giving product demonstrations are a few of the schemes included under it. All these persuade customers to make on-spot purchase decisions. Introduces New Products Companies run various sales promotion campaigns in the market for introducing their new products. Buyers are induced to purchase the new products by distributing free samples. Dealers are also motivated to stock and sell new products by giving money or merchandise allowance. Bridges Between Personal Selling And Advertising Sales promotion is composed of several activities other than advertising, publicity, and personal selling. All such activities work towards bridging the gap in between personal selling and advertising. Raise Sales During Off Seasons It enables businesses in boosting their sales volume during the off-seasons. There are many products that are only demanded during their peak seasons and there is less or no demand at the time of off-season. This strategy enables in retaining customer’s attention via offering them short-term incentives which results in stimulating the sales volume. Encourages Business Buyers The business buyers refer to retailers and wholesalers who buy brand goods for resale purposes. For motivating the wholesaler and retailer for stocking more amount of goods, different promotional activities are conducted. Dealers are compensated by providing advertising and display allowances for the space given by them for the display of products. In addition to all this, even premiums are offered for buying products above a particular level. Advantages of Sales Promotion 1. Introduce New Products: Sales promotion techniques are the most effective ways of introducing innovative products in the market by business organizations. Companies sometimes face difficulties in creating a market for new products. Sales promotion enables in attracting peoples towards these products using penetration price policy, discounts, coupons, and several other benefits. In this way, it induces clients to buy the brand products that lead to increase demands for newly developed products. 2. Generate New Leads: It generates a large number of leads for business by exposing more and more customers and other business partners to the products of the company. Sales promotion serves as a communication link between the producer and the customer. It supplies all important information about products to clients and resolves all their queries. Techniques of sales promotion aim at differentiating the products by explaining the benefits of the brand over others that is how it stands out from the crowd. This eventually enables in attracting high number of leads thereby increasing the customer base. 3. Large Scale Production: Sales promotion facilitates an organization is enjoying economies of cost by carrying out large-scale production. It focuses on increasing the demand for the company’s products by doing a mass promotion in the market. An increase in sales volume will ultimately lead to reducing the per-unit cost to the company by doing mass production of products. 4. Immediate Returns: It offers more quick and immediate returns in comparison to other components of the promotion mix like advertising and personal selling. Sales promotion uses different methods for boosting the sales volume within a short period of time. Measures like free samples, discounts, coupons, providing free trials, giving product demonstrations etc. are helpful in attracting more customers for buying products thereby raising the overall sales volume. 5. Strengthen Customer Involvement and loyalty: Another important benefit provided by sales promotion is that it keeps existing customers re-engaging with brand and builds loyalty among them. It is a mechanism used by organization that keeps on interacting with customers once they make purchases with brand or subscribe to its email’s newsletter. Sales promotion team keeps on sending promotional emails and messages to customers on a regular basis to keep them engaging which leads to developing a close connection with them. 6. Better Control: Sales promotion techniques provides effective control in the hands of management for regulating the promotional activities of organization. Programmes of sales promotion are more cost-efficient having lower promotional costs and provide quick and better returns. Managers can easily evaluate the results of each promotional programmes in relation to their cost factor. 7. Improve Public Image of Firm: It has an effective role in building a strong image of firm in market. Sales promotion provides customers with all necessary information about products and resolves all their queries. Clients in presence of right information are able to choose right product by easily doing a comparison of brand products with other competitors in market. This results in better service experience of customers with their brined thereby building a strong position in market. Advantages and Disadvantages of Sales Promotion Disadvantages of Sales promotion 1. Increase Price Sensitivity: Sales promotion is disadvantageous for business organization if it is provided on a regular basis by organization. Customers may become too price-sensitive and wait for promotional deals to be announced by the company. They may not buy products from routine sales at the market and instead buy at discounted price which lowers the overall organizational profitability. 2. Costly: Sales promotion raises the expenses of business organization which have adverse impact on their profit margin. Techniques of sales promotion like free samples, discounts, and coupons require huge costs on the part of company. It is uncertain whether all these measures will provide equal returns that reduce the profitability of business. 3. Tarnish Brand Image: Sales promotion may also lower the perception of customers towards the brand in case it is overused by the organization. When products are offered continuously at discounted price by brand then the customers believe it as a regular price. They may doubt the product quality of the brand in comparison to other competitors providing products with no offers and price reductions. 4. Short-Term Orientation: Sales promotion is meant for short-term which boosts the sales volume for a shorter period by offering distinct offers and benefits to customers. Short-term sales volume is quite difficult to maintain and has a negative influence on the long-term future of business. TOPIC: PUBLIC RELATIONS What Is Public Relations? Public relations is a strategic communication process companies, individuals, and organisations use to build mutually beneficial relationships with the public. A public relations specialist drafts a specialised communication plan and uses media and other direct and indirect mediums to create and maintain a positive brand image and a strong relationship with the target audience. In simple terms, public relations is a strategised process of managing the release and spread of organisation-related information to the public to maintain a favourable reputation of the organisation and its brands. This process focuses on – • What information should be released, • How it should be drafted, • How it should be released, and • What media should be used to release the information (usually earned or free media is used for the same). What Is The Objective Of Public Relations? The main objective of public relations is to maintain a positive reputation of the brand and maintain a strategic relationship with the public, prospective customers, partners, investors, employees and other stakeholders which leads to a positive image of the brand and makes it seem honest, successful, important, and relevant. Advertisement Functions Of Public Relations Public relations is different from advertising. Public relations agencies don’t buy ads, they don’t write stories for reporters, and they don’t focus on attractive paid promotions. The main role of public relations is to promote the brand by using editorial content appearing in magazines, newspapers, news channels, websites, blogs, and TV programs. Using earned or free media for promotion has its own benefits as information on these mediums aren’t bought. It has a third-party validation and hence isn’t viewed with scepticism by the public. The functions of public relations managers and public relations agencies include: 1. Anticipating, analysing, and interpreting the public opinion and attitudes of the public towards the brand and drafting strategies which use free or earned media to influence them. 2. Drafting strategies to support the brand’s every campaign and new move through editorial content. 3. Writing and distributing press releases. 4. Speechwriting. 5. Planning and executing special public outreach and media relations events. 6. Writing content for the web (internal and external websites). 7. Developing a crisis public relations strategy. 8. Handling the social media presence of the brand and responding to public reviews on social media websites. 9. Counselling the employees of the organisation with regard to policies, course of action, organisation’s responsibility and their responsibility. 10. Dealing with government and legislative agencies on behalf of the organisation. 11. Dealing with public groups and other organisations with regard to social and other policies of the organisation and legislation of the government. 12. Handling investor relations. Types Of Public Relations According to the functions of the public relations department/agencies, public relations can be divided into 7 types. These are: • Media Relations: Establishing a good relationship with the media organisations and acting as their content source. • Investor Relations: Handling investors events, releasing financial reports and regulatory filings, and handling investors, analysts and media queries and complaints. • Government Relations: Representing the brand to the government with regard to the fulfilment of policies like corporate social responsibility, fair competition, consumer protection, employee protection, etc. • Community Relations: Handling the social aspect of the brand and establishing a positive reputation in the social niche like environment protection, education, etc. • Internal Relations: Counselling the employees of the organisation with regard to policies, course of action, organisation’s responsibility and their responsibility. Cooperating with them during special product launches and events. • Customer Relations: Handling relationships with the target market and lead consumers. Conducting market research to know more about interests, attitudes, and priorities of the customers and crafting strategies to influence the same using earned media. • Marketing Communications: Supporting marketing efforts relating to product launch, special campaigns, brand awareness, image, and positioning. Public Relations Examples PR stunts or strategies range from donating to an affected community to running a brand activation stunt in a mall. Some of the examples of successful public relations campaigns are: Google’s Fight Ebola Campaign The outbreak of the Ebola virus in 2014 was critical as it was spread among many countries and took many lives. Google, to help the people in need and to build up a positive brand image, started a donation campaign where it pledged to give $2 for every $1 donated to the cause through its website. The public relations strategy attracted the media attention and resulted to be a huge success as Google raised $7.5 million. Paramount Pictures The Ring Publicity Stunt Paramount Pictures, to promote its new horror franchise, The Ring, and to get more user attention, took a step forward and planned a publicity stunt where the protagonist haunted the people in a real-life scenario. The film’s most iconic scene of Samara crawling out of the TV set was recreated in a TV showroom where the protagonist came crawling out of the hidden compartment behind a TV screen and scared people. The stunt went viral and the video received over 10 million views on Facebook. Just Eat & A Sick Customer Just Eat is an online food ordering application that lets users add comments to their orders to inform the delivery person about the right address or to leave the order to the neighbour etc. One unwell customer tried her luck to see if she could get the delivery person to stop en-route and get her some medicines. She wrote: Will you please stop in the Spar on the way and get me some Benylin cold and flu tablets and I’ll give you the money. Only ordering food so I can get the tablets. I’m sick xx. The delivery person delivered both and this public relations stunt went viral over the media. Facebook Paris Support Profile Pictures In response to the tragic shooting in Paris in 2015 where at least 129 people died, Facebook added a France flag filter which the users could apply to their profile pictures to support France. Millions of people applied this filter and appreciated this effort by Facebook. Advantages Of Public Relations • Credibility: Public trusts the message coming from a trusted third party more than the advertised content. • Reach: A good public relations strategy can attract many news outlets, exposing the content to a large audience. Moreover, this medium can help the company utilise certain organic touchpoints that are hard to capitalise on otherwise. • Cost effectiveness: Public relations is a cost effective technique to reach large audience as compared to paid promotion. • Better Communication: Public relations help the company to communicate more information to the public than other forms of communication media. Disadvantages Of Public Relations • No Direct Control: Unlike paid media, there isn’t a direct control over the content distributed through the earned media. This is the biggest risk of investing in public relations. • Hard To Measure Success: It is really hard to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of a PR campaign. • No Guaranteed Results: Publishing of a press release isn’t guaranteed as the brand doesn’t pay for it. The media outlet publishes it only if it feels that it’ll attract its target audience. Importance Of Public Relations With over 63% of the value of most companies dependent on their public image, public relations has become a very important topic today for numerous reasons: Builds Up The Brand Image The brand image gets a boost when the target customers get to know about it through a third-party media outlet. A good public relations strategy help the brand builds up its image in the way it wants to. It’s Opportunistic Public relations strategies make the brand capitalise on the opportunities. Google was in the news for donating to Ebola. Facebook promoted LGBTQ rights. Coca-Cola did a PR stunt against obesity. These opportunities even attract many influencers to share the brand story to their followers. Promote Brand Values PR is used to send out positive messages which are in line with the brand’s value and its image. This builds up the brand’s reputation. Strengthen Community Relations PR strategies are used to convey that the brand is as much part of society as the target audience. This builds up a strong relationship of the brand with the public. Public Relations vs Marketing vs Advertising Public relations deals in communicating expertly drafted messages using non-paid/earned media to build mutually beneficial relationships with the public. Advertising, on the other hand, is a paid communication message intended to inform people about something or to influence them to buy or try something. Marketing is the umbrella under which all the divisions dealing with creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging dwells. That is, PR is the subset of marketing. Everything a PR department does is determined by the marketing goals set by the organisation. Public Relations Advertising Marketing Definition Public relations is a marketing tool of communicating expertly drafted messages using non-paid/earned media to build mutually beneficial relationships with the public. Advertising is the action of calling public attention to an idea, good, or service through paid announcements by an identified sponsor. Marketing refers to activities a company undertakes to create, communicate promote, deliver, and exchange the offerings that have value for the customers. Driven by Relationship driven Communication driven Company/Brand growth driven Communication Two-way One-way Two-way Importance To build a favourable relationship with the target audience. To communicate to the target audience about a certain offering, action, work, or other brand-related information Identify and cater to the customers’ needs to survive and thrive. TOPIC: DIRECT SELLING AND ONLINE SELLING Introduction to Direct Sales Direct selling is one of the primary forms of doing business. This method of sale is adopted by both small businessmen as well as big enterprises. Small entrepreneurs use it because of the low margin on products or because of the lack of funds to establish a retail store. On the other hand, there are many companies which use it along with other methods of selling to reach different segment of the population. In direct selling, a seller buys a product from the company and sell them to consumers directly, or a person produces goods and sells them directly to consumers without any middlemen. Another thing that makes direct selling unique and different from other forms of selling is that it takes place in a non-retail environment. The direct sales take place in a non-retail environment like home, public place, work, online, etc. In direct selling, both parent company and seller generate high profits as compared to other forms of businesses because there are no middlemen. It is an essential method of selling and is a primary method of selling used by several companies. Therefore, if you are planning to associate with a company that uses a method for sales, then it would be good that you read this article. It will help you to learn about the different types of direct selling and their advantages and disadvantages. This information will help you in taking a well-calculated decision. Definition of Direct Sales Direct selling is a method of selling where seller directly contacts the customers and sell products in non-retail environments such as by meeting them at their home or public places. Types of Direct Sales 1.. Party Plan sale You might have got an invitation for party plan sales by a distributor or sales representative living in your neighborhood. If yes then let me tell you that you already know what is “Party Plan direct sales”. This can take place in a group. Usually a distributor or sales representative invites his potential customers at his own house or someone else’s home. In party plan sales, you talk about your products in a group, give them a demonstration of your products, hand out material related to products, and take orders. It is a neat way of doing business and having fun altogether. This method is quite successful as you sell many units of your products at one time. 2. Single-level sale Single level direct sales are sales where you contact people individually. The examples of single-level direct sales are door-to-door selling, selling through catalogs, and selling through in-person presentations. You approach each customer with a personalized direct sales approach. 3. Multi-level sale In multi-level direct sales, sales representatives are hired by companies to sell their products, or sometimes multi-level direct sales are made through business partners. Multi-level direct sales also take place on online platforms by selling through product catalogs or selling through social networking mediums. 1. More profit margin The first and foremost advantage is a high-profit margin for both parent companies and sellers. Many entrepreneurs adopted this method to earn high profits. Small entrepreneurs usually have limited funds when they start their business. Therefore, they save the cost of mediators and thus increase their profit margin. 2. No expense of store maintenance It takes place in a non-retail environment. That means a seller is not required to set up a business store to sell his goods. A store is an expensive liability for a seller. He is required to rent or buy a place to set up his retail store, pay property taxes, keep the stock full, hire salespersons and people to maintain a store, and other small expenses. All of these expenses are paid out of the profit made from selling. A seller can avoid all of these expenses by direct selling and can increase his profit margin. Moreover, when a seller sells in-store, he is required to buy goods from a manufacturer in huge quantities which puts his own money at risk. His money will be lost if the sales of products are not as expected. Whereas, the seller can buy limited no of units and can sell more after selling the previous stock. 3. Personal contact with customers The seller has direct contact with his customers. There are various benefits of having direct contact with customers. You can learn about the needs of customers and can create business opportunities and can provide services to them as per their requirements. For example, your regular customers can place an order for the products that they need or can give your reference to their friends and family. In this way, you can expand business easily. 4. No advertising and marketing expenses The purpose of advertising and marketing is to make people aware of the existence of the product and make people know about the qualities of products. Companies spend millions of dollars in the advertising and marketing of products. The expense of advertising and marketing is part of the variable of cost of production. The expense of advertising and marketing is recovered from the profit earn by selling the products. As a result of which, the profit margin of the seller reduces. In such cases, the seller meets customers individually and tells them about the products and hands them material containing information about the products. Therefore, the expense of advertising and marketing is eliminated, and the seller can save those millions of bucks. 5. Personalized approach for each customer The sellers meet customers individually. Because of this, they have an opportunity to pitch personalized sales pitch for their customers. A personalized sales approach has several benefits. For example, you know that a particular customer is price sensitive and buy products only on discount or offers, then you will inform that customer first as soon as there is a discount on the products. In this way, you can convince them to buy products in bulk. This is not possible in other modes of selling. In other selling methods, one selling technique is used to sell products to everyone. 6. Visible customers’ reaction A seller meets his customers face to face to sell products to them. The benefit of meeting customers face to face is that you can see their reactions on their faces and modify your sales pitch based on their reactions. On the other hand, in retail stores or online shopping seller don’t see the reactions of customers and thus is unable to suggest a deal immediately persuading the customer. 7. Product demonstration Another important benefit of another type of selling is that you can provide a demonstration of your products to your customers. You win the trust of your customers by giving them a demonstration as they can see what they can check what they are putting their money. Product demonstration reduces the chances of complaints after the sales because people will buy your product only if they are satisfied with the demonstration of your product. In this way, you can protect the image of your company. 8. Feedback directly from customers It means selling products to your customers. When you meet your customers in a non-retail environment, then you have an opportunity to have a conversation with them other than just selling. In this way, you can build a healthy relationship with them where they will feel comfortable to give you honest feedback about your products. Getting honest feedback directly from customers is far better than getting feedback from mediators. You can use this information to improve the quality of your products and keep your customers satisfied. 9. Customers’ satisfaction The last benefit is that you can keep your customers satisfied. Most customers get annoyed when they are not given proper attention in stores, and they have to spend hours looking for a product in the store. Some customers have time constraints to go out for shopping. In this way, you can approach a new segment of the market. Therefore, it is not wrong to say that customers’ satisfaction is an additional benefit. Disadvantages Like every coin has two sides, it also has a few disadvantages despite several advantages mentioned above. Therefore, in this section, I am going to talk about the disadvantages of direct selling. So that you can make up your mind whether you want to go for it or not. 1. Difficult to reach a wide audience Like I mentioned before it means approaching each customer individually by going door to door or hosting in-house parties. Therefore, it is difficult for an individual to reach a wide audience. You can cover people leaving in one town at most, and it would be challenging for you to entertain all the customers at the same time. 2. Affects personal life It requires too much time from a seller. When you have invested your money, you want to make sure that you don’t lose your money. Therefore, you can’t take vacations like other people in the business. You will even need to work on your weekends because it’s the only time people are free and can come to your business meetings or can sit with you and listen to you patiently when you go to their homes to sell your products. Even though you will be making huge profits, but be ready to compromise your personal life. 3. Rejections Nowadays, when there are so many ways to buy goods, people have become a little skeptical about buying from an individual coming to their doors. There are very few people who still prefer to buy from online sellers. Therefore, you are getting into the direct selling business to be ready to face a lot of rejections. Moreover, there is a negative image of direct sellers in the market. For example, people try to avoid meeting them even accidentally because they think they will be forced to buy their products. Therefore, there might be several incidences when you feel like giving up. 4. Risk of failure Like all other businesses, there is a risk of falling too. Therefore, never put your whole fortune at risk. Take small steps and see whether your business works out or not and expand your business day by day. How to ace Direct Sale? Direct selling is not a business that everyone can do. You require a lot of patience and persistent hard to get successful. In this section, I will give you a few tips that will help you to ace. 1. Learn about your product and company In direct selling, you either sell your product or service or the products of other companies. My tip here to you is, don’t start your business instantly. Give yourself time. Do your homework. Learn about your products. Learn about their shortcomings and strengths. Learn about the history of the company whose products you are going to sell. All of the above information is important and will help you in making an effective sales pitch. Be ready to answer all the questions that your customers might ask you about your product. It will give a wrong impression if you don’t have an answer to any of their concerns. Therefore, to avoid such situations, you should learn every little about your product and your company. 2. Set your sales goal My second tip to you is to set your monthly goals. In direct selling, you will be your boss. There will be no-one to questions you or to push you to make more sales. The more sales you will make the more will be your profit. But over-work is also not a healthy approach. The right path to get successful is to set your goal. Set your goal for the month and divide the work in the right proportion throughout the week. Having a pre-decided goal will motivate you and will fill you with guilty each time you will procrastinate your work. Don’t decide your goal in your mind. Plan it properly and write it one paper and don’t fool yourself by setting unrealistic sales goals. Unrealistic or too high sales goals will only demotivate you when you fail to achieve them. 3. Plan your week and day Once you have decided on your monthly goal or target, the next thing you need to do is to distribute that work properly throughout the month. Plan your week and decide how much of your goal you want to achieve in one week. Be ready for unexpected events and be prepared to modify your plan accordingly. Plan your day. Plan in advance which areas you want to cover or the people you want to meet. When you plan your work and distribute your work equally throughout the month, you will not feel stressed at the end o the month. 4. Make an appointment in advance Don’t appear at people’s doors without giving them prior notice or without taking their permission. It is possible that they will not be at home or busy with something or have a birthday party for their child. In any scenario, they will not be able to give time to you and listen about the products that you have to offer to them. Therefore, make sure that you take an appointment with people at least one day before you visit them. 5. Organize your customers’ details Customers are the asset of your business. Therefore, it is essential to keep all the details like their contact numbers, email address, physical address, records of their history, product choice, and all other miscellaneous information. Make a google sheet or excel sheet containing all this information, because if you lose that sheet, you will lose your customers. 6. Follow up Many salespeople sell products and never bother to take follow up. But let me tell you it is a lousy business ethic. Even a well-establish business asks for feedback from their customers. Therefore, you should always take feedback from your customers after selling a product to them. There will be two outcomes if you do this. First, you will get negative feedback that you can use to improve your product. Second, you can get a reorder if they like your product and you will be one step closer to getting a loyal customer. Therefore, Never forget to take a follow-up. 7. Increase your network The success of direct selling depends mainly on your network. The more people you know more potential customers you have for your business. Therefore, socialize as much as possible. Keep your business cards handy and offer to people you meet. Don’t forget to take their contact numbers so that you can invite them whenever you organize a business house party. 8. Don’t be pushy One thing that people don’t like about sales-people is their pushy nature. Pitch your product subtly and know up to what extent you can push your customers to buy your product. 9. Brush your skills Learn selling skills and keep brushing them from time to time. Attend those workshops and training sessions organized by your company. Read the books that help you with setting your sales pitch. It will help you. 10. Always keep a positive attitude My last but not least direct selling tip for you is to keep a positive attitude. Marketing Communication Marketing communication process consists of integrated activities in which the targeted audience is identified. Although a well coordinated promotional program is prepared to generate the desired response from the audience. Most problems of preferences, image and immediate awareness in the target customers are focused by the marketing communication. However there are certain limitations associated with the concept of communication. These limitations include high cost and short term duration that cannot generate the desired results from the targeted customers. In recent years Marketing Communication is used by most marketers. As to build customer relationships at the stages of pre-selling, selling, utilization, and post utilization. Due to differences in customers, different programs of communications are developed for specific segments and niches. Element of Marketing Communication Process For Effective Communication, the marketer should know how communication works? Following are the nine elements that are involved in the marketing communication process. • Sender • Encoding • Message • Media • Decoding • Receiver • Response • Feedback • Noise Each of these is discussed one by one. Sender: The party or person who is sending the message to the other party or person is the sender. Encoding: The conversion of thought into the meaningful symbols is called encoding. Message: The group of symbols transmitted by the sender is called a message. Media: The channel of communication through which transfers the message from sender to receiver is called media. Decoding: The conversion of symbols into meaning by the receiver is called decoding. Receiver: The sent message received by another person or party is called the receiver. Response: The reaction shown by the receiver before the message is called response. Feed Back: The portion of the response of the receiver that is sent back to the sender is called feedback. Noise: The unplanned distortion during the process of communication due to which the receiver understands the wrong meaning of the original message is called noise. The effective message is that where the process of encoding is matched with the decoding of messages. Moreover the message sent should consist of words and symbols that are known to the receiver. Marketing Communication Process Steps There are certain steps that should be involved in the effective marketing communication process. The marketing and promotional activities should focus on these steps in order to attract a huge portion of long run customers. Following are the steps that make the communication process effective. • Identification of the target audience • Determination of the communication objectives • Designing of message • Message content • Message structure and format • Choosing media • Collecting feedback Each of these is now explained below. Identification of the Target Audience: The first step in the effective marketing communication process is to identify the target audience. So these audiences may be potential customers or other people that can influence the decisions of these customers. The audience may include the individuals, groups, general public or special public. Moreover the audience has a direct effect on the decisions of the communication, like what to say? How to say? And when to say? Etc. Determination of the Communication Objectives: In this step the marketing communicator should clear the objectives of the communication process. In most of the situations, the purchase is required by the marketing communicator. However purchase is made after a prominent customer decision making process. The communicators should also understand the standing position of the customer. Generally there are six Stages of Customer Readiness through which a customer passes to make a purchase which are as follows. • Awareness • Knowledge • Liking • Preference • Conviction • Purchase The target group of the marketing communicator is not much familiar with the new product or its salient features. So the marketing communicator should create the awareness and knowledge of its new product and features. However this is not the surety to the success; the new product should also provide superior customer value too. Designing of the Message: In this step the marketing communication communicator focuses upon the design of the message. So any message that can attract the attention, develop the interest, arousal of desire and stimulate the action is the effectively designed message. Hence this procedure is best known as the AIDA model that can make any message effective and potential. Besides this the marketing communicator also decides about the content and structure of the message. Message Content: In this step of the marketing communication process the content of the message is decided. The theme or an appeal is suggested that can bring the desired response from the audience or receiver. So following are the three appeals that should be used in this regard. Rational Appeal: The self interest of the audience is focused on the rational appeal in which the benefits availed by the usage of the products or services. Emotional Appeal: In this case positive or negative emotions are stimulated to encourage the purchase of the product. Moral Appeal: In this situation morality is included in the message to influence the targeted customers. Message Structure and Format: In this step the important issues of the message structure together with the message format is analyzed. In marketing communication of a product, it must be decided that the message must include the conclusion. Also may keep to the audience to get a conclusion from them. Moreover the massage presents either only the strengths of the product or both the strengths and weaknesses. Therefore the format of the message is also focused on which the size and shape use, eye-catching colors, and headlines etc. are decided in the most effective manner. Choosing Media: The channels of communication are decided in this step of a marketing communication process, which may take the following two forms. Personal: In this channel of communication two or more persons directly communicate with each other like face to face. Or through the mail, on the telephone, or through a chat on the internet. Personal Addressing and feedback is allowed in the personal communication. Non Personal: Non personal messages are spread through these channels which also excludes the option of feedback. Such channels include print media, display media, broadcast media, online media etc. Collecting Feedback: This is the last step of the marketing communication process in which the feedback from the target customers. So this can help the marker to alter the promotion program or other marketing activities. For this purpose the buying behavior of targeted customers is analyzed in the light of the new product. Questions may also be asked to the customers to collect their views about the positive and negative aspects of the new

lesson 6: Marketing Communication Marketing communication process consists of integrated activities in which the targeted audience is identified. Although a well coordinated promotional program is prepared to generate the desired response from the audience. Most problems of preferences, image and immediate awareness in the target customers are focused by the marketing communication. However there are certain limitations associated with the concept of communication. These limitations include high cost and short term duration that cannot generate the desired results from the targeted customers. In recent years Marketing Communication is used by most marketers. As to build customer relationships at the stages of pre-selling, selling, utilization, and post utilization. Due to differences in customers, different programs of communications are developed for specific segments and niches. Element of Marketing Communication Process For Effective Communication, the marketer should know how communication works? Following are the nine elements that are involved in the marketing communication process. • Sender • Encoding • Message • Media • Decoding • Receiver • Response • Feedback • Noise Each of these is discussed one by one. Sender: The party or person who is sending the message to the other party or person is the sender. Encoding: The conversion of thought into the meaningful symbols is called encoding. Message: The group of symbols transmitted by the sender is called a message. Media: The channel of communication through which transfers the message from sender to receiver is called media. Decoding: The conversion of symbols into meaning by the receiver is called decoding. Receiver: The sent message received by another person or party is called the receiver. Response: The reaction shown by the receiver before the message is called response. Feed Back: The portion of the response of the receiver that is sent back to the sender is called feedback. Noise: The unplanned distortion during the process of communication due to which the receiver understands the wrong meaning of the original message is called noise. The effective message is that where the process of encoding is matched with the decoding of messages. Moreover the message sent should consist of words and symbols that are known to the receiver. Marketing Communication Process Steps There are certain steps that should be involved in the effective marketing communication process. The marketing and promotional activities should focus on these steps in order to attract a huge portion of long run customers. Following are the steps that make the communication process effective. • Identification of the target audience • Determination of the communication objectives • Designing of message • Message content • Message structure and format • Choosing media • Collecting feedback Each of these is now explained below. Identification of the Target Audience: The first step in the effective marketing communication process is to identify the target audience. So these audiences may be potential customers or other people that can influence the decisions of these customers. The audience may include the individuals, groups, general public or special public. Moreover the audience has a direct effect on the decisions of the communication, like what to say? How to say? And when to say? Etc. Determination of the Communication Objectives: In this step the marketing communicator should clear the objectives of the communication process. In most of the situations, the purchase is required by the marketing communicator. However purchase is made after a prominent customer decision making process. The communicators should also understand the standing position of the customer. Generally there are six Stages of Customer Readiness through which a customer passes to make a purchase which are as follows. • Awareness • Knowledge • Liking • Preference • Conviction • Purchase The target group of the marketing communicator is not much familiar with the new product or its salient features. So the marketing communicator should create the awareness and knowledge of its new product and features. However this is not the surety to the success; the new product should also provide superior customer value too. Designing of the Message: In this step the marketing communication communicator focuses upon the design of the message. So any message that can attract the attention, develop the interest, arousal of desire and stimulate the action is the effectively designed message. Hence this procedure is best known as the AIDA model that can make any message effective and potential. Besides this the marketing communicator also decides about the content and structure of the message. Message Content: In this step of the marketing communication process the content of the message is decided. The theme or an appeal is suggested that can bring the desired response from the audience or receiver. So following are the three appeals that should be used in this regard. Rational Appeal: The self interest of the audience is focused on the rational appeal in which the benefits availed by the usage of the products or services. Emotional Appeal: In this case positive or negative emotions are stimulated to encourage the purchase of the product. Moral Appeal: In this situation morality is included in the message to influence the targeted customers. Message Structure and Format: In this step the important issues of the message structure together with the message format is analyzed. In marketing communication of a product, it must be decided that the message must include the conclusion. Also may keep to the audience to get a conclusion from them. Moreover the massage presents either only the strengths of the product or both the strengths and weaknesses. Therefore the format of the message is also focused on which the size and shape use, eye-catching colors, and headlines etc. are decided in the most effective manner. Choosing Media: The channels of communication are decided in this step of a marketing communication process, which may take the following two forms. Personal: In this channel of communication two or more persons directly communicate with each other like face to face. Or through the mail, on the telephone, or through a chat on the internet. Personal Addressing and feedback is allowed in the personal communication. Non Personal: Non personal messages are spread through these channels which also excludes the option of feedback. Such channels include print media, display media, broadcast media, online media etc. Collecting Feedback: This is the last step of the marketing communication process in which the feedback from the target customers. So this can help the marker to alter the promotion program or other marketing activities. For this purpose the buying behavior of targeted customers is analyzed in the light of the new product. Questions may also be asked to the customers to collect their views about the positive and negative aspects of the new

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