Personal Selling Assignment Help (GC0664)
Table of Contents
Task 2.1
Personal selling refers to the businesses which use salespeople to sell the product after meeting face-to-face with the customers. The sales forces promote the products through their attitude, appearance, and specialist product knowledge. Their aim is to inform and encourage the customers to buy, or at least trial the products (Kotler, 2005).
In the case of Plastic Products Ltd, customers can get advice on how to use the products and can try different products. Personal selling is also important in this scenario to inform the other benefits of products including prices, quality, benefits of using onetime plastics materials, availability of their products, and the service of delivery, etc. Moreover, personal selling will create a high customer attention message, customized interactivity persuasive impact, the potential for the development of a relationship, and an adaptable opportunity to close the sale. However, it reaches a limited number of customers because of high-cost labor-intensive expenses.
In the case of Plastic Products Ltd, Point-of-sale merchandising is a form of personal selling because the business involves face-to-face contact between sales representatives of producers and the retail trade. Here, the company visits a range of suitable retail premises and encourages the retailer to stock products and to check on stock levels and check whether the product is being displayed optimally. The other form of personal selling in this scenario is “Push” selling because the sales forces go to the customer’s doors to sell their products.
Task 2.2
According to the research, buyers go through a five-stage decision-making process in any purchase which summarized in the diagram below:
This model is significant for any companies including Plastic Products Ltd to make marketing decisions. It forces the salespeople and sales management to consider the whole buying process rather than just the purchase decision for making a choice (Kotler, 2005).
The model implies that customers go through all steps in every purchase. The model is very important when it comes to understanding any purchase that requires some thought and deliberation (Palmer, 2000). However, in more routine purchases, consumers may skip or reverse some of the stages.
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The buying process starts with need recognition. At this stage, the customers recognize a problem or need or respond to a marketing stimulus (Blythe, 2006). A growing number of the catering service industries and the rising demand for disposable plastic materials like cups, spoons, etc, prove that a huge number of customers recognize the need or responds to Plastic Products Ltd.
After fulfilling the recognition, the customer then needs to decide how much information is required. If the need is strong and there is a product or service that meets the need close to hand, then a purchase decision is likely to be made there and then. If not, then the process of information search begins. A customer can obtain information from several sources: a) Personal sources: family, friends, neighbors, etc, b) Commercial sources: advertising; salespeople; retailers; dealers; packaging; point-of-sale displays, c) Public sources: newspapers, radio, television, consumer organizations; specialist magazines, d)Experiential sources: handling, examining, using the product (Kotler, 2005). The usefulness and influence of these sources of information will vary by product and by customer. According to the research, the influence of word of mouth is more than commercial sources. As a result, the sales managers have to identify which information sources are most influential in their target markets.
In the case of Plastic Products Ltd, the customers are getting sufficient information regarding products because the salespeople are meeting face-to-face with the consumers and providing information as much as they need.
In the next stage, the customer chooses between the alternative brands, products, and services. An essential determinant of the extent of evaluation is if the customer feels “involved” in the product. By involvement, means the degree of perceived relevance and personal importance that accompanies the choice. Where a purchase is “highly involving”, the customers are likely to carry out the extensive evaluation. High-involvement purchases include those involving high expenditure or personal risk – for example buying a house, a car, or making investments. Low involvement purchases (e.g. buying a soft drink, choosing some breakfast cereals in the supermarket) have very simple evaluation processes (Kotler, 2005)…………….