The Nature of Personal Selling
To integrate the personal selling effort into the overall promotional program, we must understand the nature of this tool. Let us look at how personal selling has evolved over the years and then examine some of its characteristics.
The personal selling task encompasses a variety of responsibilities (some of which we discuss in the next section). Like other aspects of the promotional mix, these responsibilities are constantly changing. As noted by Thomas Wotruba, the personal selling area is constantly evolving as the marketing environment itself evolves.5 Wotruba identifies five distinct stages of personal selling evolution, shown in Figure 18-2.
1. Provider stage. Selling activities are limited to accepting orders for the supplier's available offering and conveying it to the buyer.
2. Persuader stage. Selling involves an attempt to persuade market members to buy the supplier's offerings.
3. Prospector stage. Activities include seeking out selected buyers who are perceived to have a need for the offering as well as the resources and authority to buy it.
Characteristics of Stages | |||||
Stages and Description |
Customer Needs |
Type of Market |
Nature and Intensity of Competition |
Examples | |
Continue reading here: Combining Personal Selling and Advertising
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