Prof. A. K. Biswas 1

Prof. A. K.
Biswas 1
FRAMEWORK OF
MARKETING
Understanding
Understanding
Market Opportunities Competitor and
Company
Capabilities
Understanding Understandin
Customer Value & g
Segmenting Customers Competitor
Capabilities
Understanding Understandin
Market & Marketing g
Environment Company
Capabilities
Selecting
Market
Segment
Prof. A. K. Biswas 2
FRAMEWORK OF
MARKETING
Developing Competitive
Marketing Strategy
Developing
Value Proposition,
Positioning Strategy
Developing &
Managing
Market Offering:
Product & Price
Designing and
Managing
Marketing Channels
FRAMEWORK OF
MARKETING
Communicating
Market Offering
Personal Selling
Managing Long
Term
Customer Value
Managing and Measuring
Marketing Effort
What Is Selling?
Essentially, selling is the
process of persuasion.
All occupations require selling
skill.
 The actual art of selling has
little to do with specific
features or products and much
more to do with the art of
persuasion. Prof. A. K. Biswas 6
What Is Personal
Selling?
Personal selling is defined as selling

that involves a face-to-face
interaction with customers.
When Personal Selling
Is Important?
 In general, when there are few
customers.
 Furthermore, when each customer
purchase products and services in
large quantities.
 When the products/services are
complex and the customers require
technical support.
 When customers prefer closer
working relationships with
suppliers.
Four Approaches To
Selling
 There are four distinct ways to sell:

 Transaction Selling
 Systems Sales
 Key Account Management
 Strategic Account Relationships
Transaction Selling
 Transaction selling involves
salespersons calling on customers,
making presentations, asking for
orders, and making after-sale calls.
 The sale is either a one-time
exchange or one transaction in a
continuing series of exchanges.
 The product is often purchased on
the basis of physical attributes,
availability, convenience, or price.
Systems Sales
 The selling of complex systems
require that the transaction
approach is supplemented by more
concern for customer benefits and
integration of system components.
 The system consists of separate
pieces, including individual
equipment, parts, supplies, and
services.
Systems Sales
The systems sale necessitates
the introduction and
development of new sales
techniques such as team
selling, in which several
departments of functional
areas (applications
engineering, design, field
service, etc.) of the supplier
become involved in the sales12
Prof. A. K. Biswas
Systems Sales
The systems sales differs in

size and complexity from the
transaction sale, but the heart
of the activity remains the
sales transaction.
Key Account
Management
 Senior management in many

corporations now realizes that,
across the customer base, not
all customers are equal: some
customers are more valuable
than others.
Customer Potential And
Customer Demands
The Three Triangles
Size of
customer Large
Medium
Small
Number of Total sales Amount of
customers volume product & service
customization
Customer Customer
potential demands
Key Account
Management
 The high current (and potential)
volume (and profit) customers are
the firm’s critical assets.
 They are not visible on the firm’s
balance sheet, yet they are more
important to long-run survival and
growth than many of the firm’s
fixed assets.
Key Account
Management
 Both the high value of, and increased
competition for, this special set of
customers suggests that they should be
treated differently from the firm’s
‘average customers’.
 This compelling rationale has led many
firms to the development of key account
management programs.
Key Account
Management
 The key account management both
focuses the firm’s attention on those
accounts that are especially important
for its current and long-run future, and
optimizes the use of scarce resources.
 It provides for the development of
more complete information and
analysis of customer’s strategic
realities, critical needs and buying
processes, competitive threats, and
important supplier firm resources.
Key Account
Management
 In key account management, the major
account responsibility typically rests
with a key account manager.
 Managers works with colleagues in
other functional departments (including
the sales force) as leaders in key
account teams and have primary
responsibility for the long-run health of
the relationship.
Benefits Of Key Account
Programs For Supplier
Firms
 Improved understanding of the
key account’s goals, and
requirements.
 Increased key account
switching costs.
 Better understanding and
management of the key
account.
 PresentationProf. A.of
K. Biswas
a company20
Benefits For Key
Accounts
 A single point of contact.
 Lower costs of securing input
products.
 Enhanced value
 Guaranteed delivery when
capacity is short.
 Long-term relationship.
Key Account
Management
 Key account management is expensive
and difficult. It can only be used for
major customers.
 It must be seen as a philosophy of
customer commitment, not just a
collection of advanced persuasion
techniques.
 Its essence is superior customer
responsiveness based on outstanding
support systems. It goes beyond
selling and has laid the foundation for
strategic account relationship.
Strategic Account
Relationships
 Key account management, with all
of its opportunities and rewards, as
well as significant investments and
costs, cannot satisfy the evolving
needs for some closer, more
permanent vendor-customer
relationships.
 Joint product, service, and
infrastructure developments have
led to even more intimate buyer-
seller relationships, which can be
described asProf. A.strategic
K. Biswas
account23
Strategic Account
Relationships
 Strategic account relationships must
always be based on three attributes:
 Importance, which involves three
forms of interdependence:
financial, technological and/or
design, and strategic.
 Intimacy, which enables sharing of
intimate technological, design, and

operating information.
 Longevity, which is necessary to
protect the intimacy, and to

enable the partners to reap the
financial rewards.
Appropriateness Of
Different Sales
Approaches
 The transaction and systems
approaches emphasize sales,
while the key account and
strategic relationship
approaches emphasize the
mutuality of long marriage.
 The relative amount of vendor
effort also increases as we move
from transaction selling to
strategic account selling.
Appropriateness Of
Different Sales
Approaches
 Given the difference among

the four different sales
approaches in cost and impact,
it is appropriate to consider
which accounts and prospects
might be appropriate for each
approach.
Appropriateness Of
Different Sales
Approaches
The following factors should be
considered for this purpose:
Size of the customer
Sales potential of the customer
Profitability of the customer
Needs of the customer for
product and service
customization
Vendor rewards beyond sales
volume and profits
Customer Centered
Selling
 The purpose of business is
creation of customers at a profit.
 Customer being the most
important thing in business,
selling process must be centered
around the customer.
 A seller must, therefore, first
study the decision-making
process the customers go
through. Prof. A. K. Biswas 28
Customer Centered
Selling
 The key concept of Customer
Centered Selling is to learn to
analyze where your customers
are in the decision cycle and
assist in moving them through
a decision.
 In doing this you must must
learn what tactics are
appropriate for which part of
Customer Centered
Decision Cycle
Reconsideration Satisfaction
Selection
Acknowledgment
Customer
Investigation Decision
Measurement Criteria
Customer Centered
Decision Cycle
 Satisfaction stage represents
the beginning of the customer
decision cycle.
 In this stage of the cycle, the
customers are convinced they
not only have no needs, they
have no problems either.
Customer Centered
Decision Cycle
 The acknowledgment stage
represents the most critical
element of the decision cycle.
 In this stage the customer will
admit that he does have
particular problems but he
does not want to do anything
about these problems at this
time.
Customer Centered
Decision Cycle
 According to some research
done in US, about 80% of
customers are in this stage.
 Two things keep customers
paralyzed in the
acknowledgment stage.
Customer Centered
Decision Cycle
 The first is the perceived size
of the problem. If the
customers do not perceive
the problem as a big one,
they will feel no urgency of
doing anything about it.
 The second reason is the fear
of change.
Customer Centered
Decision Cycle
 Often the small problems the
customer was facing for
sometime mount up until he
becomes fed up and begins to
look for alternatives.
 Sometimes the problem that the
customer has been living with
somehow become
unmanageable.
 This stage may be
Prof. A. called decision35
K. Biswas
Customer Centered
Decision Cycle
 Once the customers cross the first
decision point, they immediately
move into criteria stage.
 Customers do not make decisions
based on needs; they make
decisions based on problems.
 The bigger the problem, the bigger
the need.
 The bigger the need, the more the
customers are willing to pay.
Customer Centered
Decision Cycle
 The next stage that customers
go through in the decision
cycle, consciously or
unconsciously, is the
measurement stage.
 The measurement stage
provides the customer with the
opportunity to move from the
vague to the specific.
Customer Centered
Decision Cycle
 Next the customer moves to
the investigation stage. In this
stage, the customer is trying
to accomplish two things.
 First, he will methodically
apply the list of criteria to
each and every product under
consideration.
Customer Centered
Decision Cycle
 The second task the customers
accomplish in this phase of the
decision cycle involves the
degree to which they will shop
out their selection.
 At this point in the cycle,
various solutions are
eliminated based on their
ability to meet the prescribed
criteria.
Customer Centered
Decision Cycle
 At the selection stage of the

decision cycle, the customer
must be convinced that the
selection he has made in fact
addresses all his needs.
Customer Centered
Decision Cycle
 The customer does not stay in

the selection stage for long.
The customer moves on and
heads on to the
reconsideration stage,
sometimes referred to as
‘buyer’s remorse'.
Customer Centered
Selling Cycle
 Selling is the process of
persuasion. This process of
persuasion is for those who do
not necessarily want to be
sold.
 Customer Centered Selling
process is designed to spell
out every move a salesperson
need to make to persuade a
customer to buy his solution.
Customer Centered Selling
Cycle
Seller
Maintenance Research
Reconsideration Satisfaction
Analysis
Close
Selection
Acknowledgment
Customer
Investigation Decision
Confirmation
Solution
Measurement Criteria
Specification Requirement
Customer Centered
Selling Cycle
 At the research stage of the
selling cycle the objective is to
study the customer’s world.
 The first type of question that is
used in the research stage is
background probe. It is used to
obtain basic information that will
allow to learn about a customer’s
current situation.
Customer Centered
Selling Cycle
 At the analysis stage is the
one and only step where the
problems are the main focus.
 The analysis stage can be
broken down to three steps
which focus on three different
types of probes that should be
used in sequence.
Customer Centered
Selling Cycle
 Identifying Probes: When you
are using this first probe, you
must get the customer to
identify or agree there is a
problem.
 Most customers, early on,
resist admitting a problem. If
they do, they often will not
admit to the size of the
Customer Centered
Selling Cycle
 Developing Probes: The way you
develop a problem is to continue to
ask questions about it.
 Once a problem has been
established, stop allowing your
customers run away from it.
 People do not look at the impact of
many of their problems. You must
learn to get the customer to look
down the road a bit at his
problems. This is done by using
developing probes.
For Want of a Nail
For want of a nail, a shoe was lost

For want of a shoe, a horse was lost
For want of a horse, a rider was lost
For want of a rider, a message was
lost
For want of a message, a battle was
lost
For want of a battle, a war was lost
And all that for want of a nail…..
- Ben Franklin
Customer Centered
Selling Cycle
 Neil Rackham suggests four
types of questions that provide a
probing sequence which you can
use in planning and executing
calls to help you to meet your
objectives at the research and
analysis stage.
 The initials of each type of
question give the acronym
“SPIN”. Prof. A. K. Biswas 49
Customer Centered
Selling Cycle
SPIN selling is a technique
involving a logical sequence of
questions about situations,
problems, implications, and
need payoff that salespeople
use to uncover the prospect’s
implied needs and develop
them into explicit needs.
Customer Centered
Selling Cycle
Implied needs are vaguely defined
areas of discontent,
dissatisfaction, and discomfort
with current situations.
Through the spin questions, the
salesperson develop these implied
needs into explicit needs.
Explicit needs are precise
specifications of products and
augmenting services that resolve
the customer’sProf.problems.
A. K. Biswas 51
Customer Centered
Selling Cycle
 If the probing sequence has
been performed properly, the
customer should not only be
ready for change, but there
should be a sense of urgency
to make change.
 This is the confirmation stage.
Customer Centered
Selling Cycle
 If the customer says yes, you have
been given the green light to move
forward.
 If the customer says no, you have
to understand why the person does
not want to move forward and
chances are that you will have to
move back to the analysis stage
once again.
 This step represents your first trial
close. The biggest benefit to trial
closes is theirProf.ability
A. K. Biswas to flush out53
Customer Centered
Selling Cycle
 Within the decision cycle, the
customer quite naturally wants
to begin figuring out what it
will take to fix his existing
problems.
 The seller must parallel that
position and work with the
customer to determine what
these requirements would be.
Customer Centered
Selling Cycle
 The specification stage is important
to the seller because when
customers are unclear in
communicating their buying
criteria, they often expose the
salesperson as well.
 There are two steps at this stage:
 Transfer the customer’s
requirements over to
specifications.
 Commit the customer to these
Customer Centered
Selling Cycle
 At the solution stage, you must
tie your product/service
recommendation carefully to
customer’s needs.
 This can be done in an effective
manner through the use of the
concept of FABEC – feature,
advantage, benefit, explanation,
and confirmation.
Customer Centered
Selling Cycle
 Start with feature or features that
address the customer’s most
important criteria and stay in that
prioritized order.
 Bring out the advantage of each of
the feature.
 The benefit is the specific value to
the customer. The benefits, and not
the feature, are what your
customer is using to base a
decision on.
THE CUSTOMER CENTERED SELLING
CYCLE
[The Solution Stage]
Focus of Sales Presentation Example
Features and Advantages Our machine runs twice as

fast as your current equipment.
Benefits Our machine will allow you

to increase your production
output over current levels.
Worth By increasing your production

output, our machine will
enable your firm to increase
annual revenue by Rs..500,000.
Customer Centered
Selling Cycle
 With the solution presented,
explained, and confirmed, it is
finally the time to close.
 When closing, the goal is to
close for the highest realistic
level of commitment.
 The summary close process
has four steps.
Customer Centered
Selling Cycle
 Step 1. Confirm Benefits: The first
step of the summary close is one
last check with your customer to
find out whether your solution did
everything that he said he wanted
it to do.
 By confirming benefits, you are
actually trial-closing the customer.
This step forces out any remaining
objections which then can be
handled appropriately.
Customer Centered
Selling Cycle
 Step 2. Ask for Commitment:
Your strategy here should be to
close for the highest realistic
level of commitment.
 How do you ask for commitment?
Do it as simply as possible. An
example:
“I would love to have your
business.”
Customer Centered
Selling Cycle
 Step 3. Discuss Logistics: With
the commitment in hand, you
must stay focused and work
out the logistics to implement
the sale you have just made –
for items like delivery,
training, and follow-up.
Customer Centered
Selling Cycle
 Step 4. Reassure the
Customer:
 The solution you have
recommended may very well
cost more than he is already
paying.
 Reassure him that he has
made a wise decision and your
company wouldProf. A. K. Biswas
provide all63
Customer Centered
Selling Cycle
 At this stage, which can be called
Maintenance or Development Stage
you need to monitor your sale.
There are three steps which will
help this process. These are fairly
generic and should apply to
whatever solution you and your
customer have agreed to.
 Review Logistics
 Review the Solution
 Review the Change

Customer Centered
Selling Cycle
 Five simple strategies at the
Maintenance or Development
Stage:
 Develop, do not maintain.
 Document the good news.
 Generate leads and references.
 Reassess your understanding of
customer needs.
 Influence future decision criteria.
Sales Negotiation
 Negotiation should never be a
substitute for selling.
 When you are selling you do
not give anything away.
 Think of negotiation as
something which will only be
effective after you have done
the best possible job of selling.
Sales Negotiation
 Don’t negotiate early in the
selling cycle. Negotiate late.
 Don’t try to negotiate your way
out of consequence issues or
non-specific concerns.
 Consequence issues are to be
resolved by discussion and
confidence building, not by
bargaining and negotiation.
Sales Negotiation
 Focus on areas of maximum

leverage: Understand customer
decision criteria to focus on areas
other than price where you have
negotiating leverage.
Sales Negotiation
Establish and narrow your

negotiating range:
Set your upper and lower
limits.
Refine your upper limit in
terms of customer
expectation and competitive
strength.
Sales Negotiation
Refine your lower limit in the

same way so that you may
arrive at a realistic
negotiating range.
Start at or near the top of
your range, making
concessions in increasingly
smaller increments until you
reach an agreement.
Sales Negotiation
Separate understanding from
agreement:
Throughout the negotiation,
continually test and probe that
both parties clearly
understand the areas of
agreement and disagreement.
Sales Negotiation
Never allow misunderstandings
to persist:
Never be afraid to probe and explore
areas where the customer may have
misunderstood what you are offering.
It is much earlier to deal with
misunderstanding before the
agreement than afterward when an
angry customer feels cheated.

Prof. A. K. Biswas 1

Caricato da

Informazioni sul documento

Descrizione originale:

Titolo originale

Copyright

Formati disponibili

Condividi questo documento

Condividi o incorpora il documento

Opzioni di condivisione

Hai trovato utile questo documento?

Questo contenuto è inappropriato?

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

Prof. A. K. Biswas 1

Caricato da

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

Prof. A. K.

Personal selling is defined as selling

 There are four distinct ways to sell:

 Key Account Management

 Strategic Account Relationships

The systems sales differs in

 Senior management in many

intimate technological, design, and

protect the intimacy, and to

 Given the difference among

 At the selection stage of the

 The customer does not stay in

For want of a nail, a shoe was lost

Features and Advantages Our machine runs twice as

Benefits Our machine will allow you

Worth By increasing your production

 Review the Solution

 Review the Change

 Document the good news.

 Generate leads and references.

 Reassess your understanding of

 Focus on areas of maximum

Establish and narrow your

Refine your lower limit in the

Potrebbero piacerti anche