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Sales Promotion, Public Relations, and Personal Selling

Chapter 18

Lecture Slides

Solomon, Stuart, Carson, & Smith

Your name here

Course title/number

Date

©Copyright 2003 Pearson Education Canada Inc. 18-2

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Chapter Learning Objectives

When you have completed your study of this chapter, you should be able to:

• Explain the role of public relations.• Describe the steps in developing a

public relations campaign.• Explain what sales promotion is and

describe some of the different types of trade and consumer sales promotion activities.

• List the steps in the personal selling process.

• Explain the job of the sales manager.• Explain the important role of personal

selling in the marketing effort.

©Copyright 2003 Pearson Education Canada Inc. 18-3

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Introduction to the Topic

• This is the last of three chapters on the topic of promotion, this one

covering public relations, sales promotion, and personal selling. • While all of these are considered part

of an integrated marketing communications program, they are very different from one another, and are used for different purposes.

• Remember that it is the consistency of all elements in the strategy that counts.

• Promotion: the coordination of a marketer’s communications efforts to influence attitudes or behaviour toward a product or service.

©Copyright 2003 Pearson Education Canada Inc. 18-4

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Public Relations

• Public relations: communications strategies to build good relationships and corporate image with an organization’s stakeholders, including consumers, stockholders, and legislators.

• There are different types of public relations activities:

– Publicity and media relations

– Corporate public relations

– Crisis management

– Employee relations

– Financial relations

– Public affairs

– Community relations

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Public Relations (continued)

• Public relations strategies are used in concert with advertising, sales promotions, and personal selling to accomplish communication

objectives related to: – Introducing new products

– Supporting current products

– Influencing government legislation– Enhancing the image of the organization

– Calling attention to a firm’s involvement with the community

– Demonstrating social responsibility

– Developing positive employee or investor relations

– Handling communication issues and crises

©Copyright 2003 Pearson Education Canada Inc. 18-6

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Tools of Public Relations

• Publicity: unpaid communication about an organization appearing in the mass media.

• Press release: information that an organization distributes to the media about its activities, intended to appear as publicity.

– Timely topics

– Research stories

– Consumer information releases

• Interactive tools: maintaining web sites, conducting special events such as open houses, trade shows & exhibits, speeches, news conferences, and volunteering.

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Tools of Public Relations (continued)

• Proactive tools include: newsletters, press releases, disaster planning, issues management, lobbying, brochures and pamphlets.

• Responsive tools include: annual reports, letters to customers, bulletin boards, suggestion boxes, surveys, and environmental scanning.

• Indirect & associative tools include: social and cause advertising, public service announcements, celebrity endorsement, product placement, fundraising, sponsorship, and advertorials.

• How do we measure the effectiveness of all of these tools?

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Measuring Public Relations

Table 18.1

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Sales Promotion

• Sales promotion: a program designed to build interest in or encourage purchase of a product during a specified time period. The key difference from advertising is in its time frame, sales promotion is intended to produce short-term results, particularly those that are measurable.

• Sales promotions may come in several varieties:

– Trade promotions

– Consumer promotions

– Loyalty programs

• Merchandise allowance: a promotion that reimburses the retailer for in-store support of the product.

©Copyright 2003 Pearson Education Canada Inc. 18-10

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Tools of Sales Promotion

• Case allowance: a discount to the retailer or wholesaler based on the volume of product ordered.

• Trade shows: events at which many companies set up exhibits to show their products, give away samples, distribute product literature, and troll for new business contacts.

• Promotional products: specialty items imprinted with corporate logos.

• Push money: a bonus paid by a manufacturer to a salesperson for selling its product.

• Rebates: sales promotions that allow the customer to recover part of the products cost from the manufacturer.

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Tools of Sales Promotions (continued)

• Price-based consumer promotions include: coupons, price deals, refunds, rebates, and special packs.

• Premium: an item included without charge with a purchased product.

• Sampling: distributing trial-size versions of a product for free to encourage people to try it.

• Point-of-purchase (POP) promotion: the use of signs or displays to influence purchases at the store.

• These types of promotions are ideally suited to the way most consumers shop, which is mostly unplanned purchases.

©Copyright 2003 Pearson Education Canada Inc. 18-12

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Tools of Sales Promotions (continued)

• Loyalty programs are used as part of a firm’s customer retention efforts, as they reward continued purchasing. The rewards given can be discounts, free product or services, or redeemed for

gifts from a catalogue. • These programs started as frequent flier

programs, but have since spread to many other industries such as hotels, and grocery stores.

• Cross-promotion: two or more companies combining forces and using a single promotional tool to create interest in their products or services.

• These can be very effective, particularly when aimed at younger consumers!

• Fast food restaurants use these in conjunction with the entertainment industry.

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Sales Promotion Techniques

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Personal Selling

• Personal selling: the part of the promotion mix that involves direct contact between a company representative and a customer.

• The main differences between advertising and personal selling are:

– Direct contact with the buyer

– Two way communication

– Flexible message content

– Immediate feedback as to results

• The value of this method of promotion lies in the personal contact with the buyer, which provides the potential opportunity to develop a relationship. The drawback is the high cost per contact.

• Personal selling is used primarily in push strategies.

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Types of Personal Selling

• Telemarketing: the use of the telephone or fax to sell directly to consumers and business customers.

• Order taker: a salesperson whose primary function is to facilitate transactions that the customer initiates.

• Technical specialist: sales support personnel with a high level of technical expertise who assist in product demonstrations.

• Missionary salesperson: a salesperson who promotes the firm and tries to stimulate demand for a product but does not actually complete a sale.

• Order getter: a salesperson who works creatively to develop relationships with customers or to generate new sales.

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Approaches to Personal Selling

• Transactional selling: a form of personal selling that focuses on making an immediate sale with little or no attempt to develop a relationship with the customer.

• This type of selling is mostly associated with

the hard sell, an approach favoured by less than reputable companies in the past. It does not encourage repeat buying, which makes its use quite limited in today’s markets.

• Relationship selling: a form of personal selling in which the salesperson seeks to develop a mutually satisfying relationship with the consumer so they can work together to satisfy each other’s needs.

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The Selling Process

• Creative selling process: the process of seeking out customers, analyzing their needs, determining how product attributes might provide benefits for them, and then communicating that information.

• Prospecting: a part of the selling process that includes identifying and developing a list of potential or prospective customers.

• Qualify prospects:a part of the selling process that determines how likely prospects are to become customers.

Preapproach

Prospecting & Qualifying

Approach

Sales Presentation

Handling Objections

Closing the Sale

Follow-Up

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The Selling Process

• Preapproach: a part if the selling process that includes developing information about prospective customers and planning the sales interview.

• Approach: the first step of the actual sales presentation in which the salesperson tries to learn more about the customer’s needs, create a good impression, and build rapport.

• Sales presentation: the part of the selling process in which the salesperson seeks to persuasively communicate the product’s features and the benefits it will provide after the sale.

Preapproach

Prospecting & Qualifying

Approach

Sales Presentation

Handling Objections

Closing the Sale

Follow-Up

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The Selling Process

• Sales closing: the stage of the selling process in which the salesperson asks the customer to buy the product.

• One of the most difficult parts of the selling process to teach because it is largely a matter of having the courage to face the risk of being rejected.

• Sales follow-up: after-sales activities that provide important services to customers.

• Following up is important to making sure a sale stays closed, and for repeat business or referrals.

Preapproach

Prospecting & Qualifying

Approach

Sales Presentation

Handling Objections

Closing the Sale

Follow-Up

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Sales Management

• Sales management: the process of planning, implementing, and controlling the personal selling function of an organization.

• Sales management involves:– Setting objectives

– Creating a sales force strategy including organization, and compensation program

– Recruiting, selecting, training and motivating a sales force

– Evaluating and controlling the sales function.

• Sales territory: a set of customers often defined by geographic boundaries, for whom a particular salesperson is responsible.

©Copyright 2003 Pearson Education Canada Inc. 18-21

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Famous Last Words…

• Public relations, sales promotion, and personal selling can be very effective tools in an integrated marketing communications program.

• The key is to have consistency between these elements and the other forms of promotion.

• If the messages are consistent, then leverage can be gained.