The techniques of personal salesmanship

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The techniques of personal salesmanship

Zep is a major industrial cleaning products company started in Atlanta, Georgia in 1937 with a focus on "offering customers the widest selection of top-quality industrial cleaning products with superior personal service and professional technical support" (Zep Superior Solutions, 2007). Although the company has been in business 68 years with a solid presence throughout America and in the international marketplace, Zep would like to continue to stay ahead of all other competitors else in the industry (Zep Superior Solutions, 2007). Zep has decided to roll out a new personal salesmanship program throughout the company to help it achieve this objective. The program will begin to unroll in other divisions after it has proven itself a success in Zep's carwash products division. This paper will outline the techniques of personal salesmanship that will help make Zep's personal salesmanship program a success.
Personal selling or salesmanship involves direct and personal contact of the company or its representative with the prospective buyer. It involves face-to-face oral communication with the prospective buyers designed to convince or persuade the buyers to buy certain goods or services. Successful personal selling involves the mastery of several techniques. These are the importance of product knowledge, development of a sales presentation with sales aids, finding the customer including prospecting, cold calling and getting appointments, closing techniques, overcoming objections and finally follow-up service.

Product Knowledge

Most customers are not knowledgeable about the features and benefits of products they need. This can be especially true of institutional buyers which comprise Zep's customer base. There are many varieties of carwash chemicals available in the market. Without the help of Zep's salesman, it will be very difficult for institutional buyers to decide whether they want or need Zep's products. Zep's salesmen, therefore, have to convince potential customers about the utility of the company's product by removing their doubts. This can only happen if Zep's salesmen have complete knowledge about the company's products and their special features and uses. Armed with full product knowledge salesmen can answer customer questions on every topic from the whole process of production - raw materials used, place of production, sources of supply to uses, and features and benefits of the product. Salesmen should also know the terms and conditions of sale, delivery, pricing, packing, credit facilities, and the available distribution channels. Through and accurate product knowledge is also important to the development of a sales presentation with sales aids.

Development of a Sales Presentation with Sales Aids

A solid, informative presentation should provide customers with actionable knowledge that will help them make an informed buying decision. The quality of a sales presentation can determine whether a prospect buys from Zep or one of its competitors. Zep's sales force must develop presentations that have an appealing level of pizzazz and are compelling enough to motivate Zep's institutional buyers to make informed buying decisions. Some strategies that will help Zep create presentations that will differentiate the company from its competitors are as follows.
Zep's sales force must make their presentations relevant to each individual prospect. Discussing Zep's products in a generic presentation and saying the same thing in every presentation falls short of appealing to the specific needs of the individual prospective customer. The salespeople must adapt their discussion of Zep's products to each individual prospect, modifying it to include specific points that are unique to each particular customer. Instead of using the company's entire "canned" PowerPoint presentation, each ...