SYNOPSI S OF MAJ OR RESEARCH PROJ ECT

Study on Impact of personal selling on

professionals with the special reference age group of
20-30 years in Indore


Submitted to the
Sapient I nstitute of Management Studies, I ndore

As a partial fulfillment
For the completion
of
Master of Business Administration
For Semester 3rd





Guided By: Submitted By:
Prof. Arpit Loya Garima Jakhetiya
Roll No. 12940712

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C O N T E N T S

Particular Page No.
INTRODUCTION 2 - 5
LITERATURE REVIEW 5 - 7
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY 7 - 7
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 7 - 7
HYPOTHESIS 8 - 8
LIMITATIONS 8 - 8
BIBLIOGRAPHY 9 - 9












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INTRODUCTION

Advertising is any paid form of non-personal communication about an organization or
its product to a target audience through a mass/broadcast medium by an identified
sponsor. It should be observed that for any promotional activity to be called
advertisement it must be paid for.
In the real sense, it is the method used by companies for creating awareness of their
products, as well as making new products known to the new and potential consumers.
This thesis however, centers on the impact of advertising on the sales volume of a
product. This work will shed light on how advertising can really affect a consumers
buying decisions in a growing economy like that of Nigeria and how successful
advertising can keep businesses going even in the midst a tough competition.
More so, advertising as a promotional tool also tends to remind, reassure and
influence the decisions of the consumers because an advertisement itself enlightens,
educates, and persuades consumers on their acceptability of the product offering.
Advertisement in such a media as print (newspaper, magazines, billboards, flyers) or
broadcast (radio, television) typically consist of pictures, headlines, information about
the product and occasionally a response coupon. Broadcast advertisement on the other
hand consists of an audio or video narrative that can range from 15seconds spots to
longer segments known as infomercials, which generally last 30 to 60 minutes.
(Busari 2002)
Advertisements can also be seen on the seats of grocery carts, on the wall of airport
walkways, on the sides of buses, airplane and train. Advertisements are usually placed
anywhere an audience can easily and/or frequently a access visual and/or video.

PERSONAL SELLING
Personal presentation by the firms sales force for the purpose of making sales and
building customer relationships. Personal selling is paid personal communication that
attempts to inform customers and persuade them to purchase products or services.
A sale is the act of selling a product or service in return for money or other
compensation. Signaling completion of the prospective stage, it is the beginning of an
engagement between customer and vendor or the extension of that engagement.
The seller or salesperson the provider of the goods or services completes a sale in
response to an acquisition or to an appropriation

or to a request. There follows the
passing of title (property or ownership) in the item, and the application and due
settlement of a price, the obligation for which arises due to the seller's requirement to
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pass ownership. Ideally, a seller agrees upon a price at which he willingly parts with
ownership of or any claim upon the item. The purchaser, though a party to the sale
does not execute the sale, only the seller does that. To be precise the sale completes
prior to the payment and gives rise to the obligation of payment. If the seller
completes the first two above stages (consent and passing ownership) of the sale prior
to settlement of the price, the sale remains valid and gives rise to an obligation to pay.

THE PERSONAL SELLING PROCESS CONSISTS OF THE
FOLLOWING STEPS
1) Prospecting:
Prospecting refers to identifying and developing a list of potential clients. Sales people
can seek the names of prospects from a variety of sources including trade shows,
commercially-available databases or mail lists, company sales records and in-house
databases, website registrations, public records, referrals, directories and a wide
variety of other sources. Prospecting activities should be structured so that they
identify only potential clients who fit the profile and are able, willing and authorized
to buy the product or service. This activity is greatly enhanced today using websites
with specially-coded pages optimized with key words so that prospects may easily
find you when they search the web for certain key words related to your offering.
Once prospecting is underway, it then is up to the sales professional to qualify those
prospects to further identify likely customers and screen out poor leads. Modern
websites can go along way in not only identifying potential prospects but also starting
this qualification process.
2) Pre-approach:
Before engaging in the actual personal selling process, sales professionals first analyze
all the information they have available to them about a prospect to understand as much
about the prospect as possible. During the Pre-approach phase of the personal selling
process, sales professionals try to understand the prospect's current needs, current use
of brands and feelings about all available brands, as well as identify key decision
makers, review account histories (if any), assess product needs, plan/create a sales
presentation to address the identified and likely concerns of the prospect, and set call
objectives. The sales professional also develops a preliminary overall strategy for the
sales process during this phase, keeping in mind that the strategy may have to be
refined as he or she learns more about the prospect.

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3) Approach:
The approach is the actual contact the sales professional has with the prospect. This is
the point of the selling process where the sales professional meets and greets the
prospect, provides an introduction, establishes rapport that sets the foundation of the
relationship, and asks open-ended questions to learn more about the prospect and his
or her needs.
4) Making the Presentation:
During the presentation portion of the selling process, the sales professional tells that
product "story" in a way that speaks directly to the identified needs and wants of the
prospect. A highly customized presentation is the key component of this step. At this
point in the process, prospects are often allowed to hold and/or inspect the product and
the sales professional may also actually demonstrate the product. Audio visual
presentations and/or slide presentations may be incorporated at this stage and this is
usually when sales brochures or booklets are presented to the prospect. Sales
professionals should strive to let the prospect do most of the talking during the
presentation and address the needs of the prospect as fully as possible by showing that
he or she truly understands and cares about the needs of the prospect.
5) Overcoming Objections:
Professional sales people seek out prospects' objections in order to try to address and
overcome them. When prospects offer objections, it often signals that they need and
want to hear more in order to make a fully-informed decision. If objections are not
uncovered and identified, then sales professionals cannot effectively manage them.
Uncovering objections, asking clarifying questions, and overcoming objections is a
critical part of training for professional sellers and is a skill area that must be
continually developed because there will always be objections. Trust me when I tell
you that as soon as a sales professional finds a way to successfully handle "all" his or
her prospects' objections, some prospect will find a new, unanticipated objection-- if
for no other reason than to test the mettle of the sales person.
6) Closing the Sale:
Although technically "closing" a sale happens when products or services are delivered
to the customer's satisfaction and payment is received, for the purposes of our
discussion I will define closing as asking for the order and adequately addressing any
final objections or obstacles. There are many closing techniques as well as many ways
to ask trial closing questions. A trail question might take the form of, "Now that I've
addressed your concerns, what other questions do you have that might impact your
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decision to purchase?" Closing does not always mean that the sales professional
literally asks for the order, it could be asking the prospect how many they would like,
what color they would prefer, when they would like to take delivery, etc. Too many
sales professions are either weak or too aggressive when it comes to closing. If you
are closing a sale, be sure to ask for the order. If the prospect gives an answer other
than "yes", it may be a good opportunity to identify new objections and continue
selling.
7) Follow-up:
Follow-up is an often overlooked but important part of the selling process. After an
order is received, it is in the best interest of everyone involved for the sales person to
follow-up with the prospect to make sure the product was received in the proper
condition, at the right time, installed properly, proper training delivered, and that the
entire process was acceptable to the customer. This is a critical step in creating
customer satisfaction and building long-term relationships with customers. If the
customer experienced any problems whatsoever, the sales professional can intervene
and become a customer advocate to ensure 100% satisfaction. Diligent follow-up can
also lead to uncovering new needs, additional purchases, and also referrals and
testimonials which can be used as sales tools.









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LITERATURE REVIEW

The various researches conducted in this field are as follows:-
CONCEPT OF PERSONAL SELLING
Achumba, (2000) describes personal selling as an oral presentation in a
conversation with one or more buyers for the purpose of making sales. The
New Zealand Qualification Authority, (2008) defined personal selling as retail
and wholesale sales activities in which a salesperson actively presents products
to customers in seeking to make a sale. It could also be said to mean the
presentation of goods and services before the customers and convincing or
persuading them to buy the products or services. Kotler and Armstrong, (2008)
posits that personal selling is the personal communication between a firms
sales force and customers for the purpose of making sales and building
customer relationship. Kotler and Armstrong, (2008) and Kotler and Keller,
(2009) submitted that personal selling is one of the oldest profession in the
world. In fact, its development could be linked to the period of trade by barter,
when people exchanges goods for other goods (Osuagwu, 2002).
Personal selling is a marketing process with which consumers are personally
persuaded to buy goods and services. In fact the most powerful element in the
promotion mix is a salesmanship, a term used to denote personal selling in the
past. Personal selling is the process whereby the seller or his representative
ascertains and activates the needs or wants of the buyer and satisfies the same
to the mutual advantage of both buyer and seller. The American Marketing
Associations (AMA) defines the term salesmanship as the personal or
impersonal process of assisting and/or persuading a prospective customer to
buy a commodity or service to act/favourly upon an idea that has commercial
significance to the seller. Kotler and Armstrong, (2008) posits that personal
selling is the personal communication between a firms sales force and
customers for the purpose of making sales and building customer relationship.
Kotler and Armstrong, (2008) and Kotler and Keller, (2009) submitted that
personal selling is one of the oldest profession in the world. In fact, its
development could be linked to the period of trade by barter, when people
exchanges goods for other goods.
Personal selling is a unique element of marketing communication. Unlike
advertising and sales promotion which main focus are to create awareness
about the existence of a product or service and provide information as to the
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features of the products, its availability and price on a mass basis, personal
selling is an individualistic approach that is designed to meet specific need of
prospects. It is usually directed to specific market segments. It goes beyond the
fundamental role of marketing communication, it plays significant role in the
entire exchange process. That is, participating in the activities of each of the
other elements of marketing mix, especially distribution (place).

ABSTRACT
Research into the ethics of personal selling and sales management has continued to
increase in volume and importance. Because there is now a diversity of opinions and
findings in this literature, an assessment of the status of existing knowledge is needed
to provide focus and clarity. There have been no comprehensive reviews of the studies
of ethics and salespeople, sales managers or sales management, despite recent
attention from researchers, practitioners and the general public. The purpose of this
review is to comment upon the more significant research in the sales ethics field with
the objective of providing insight into the extent and direction of this knowledge, to
evaluate the basis upon which it is founded, and to suggest areas of exploration that
may be useful for increasing our understanding of it.














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OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

In a growing economy such as India, it is often very difficult to have a regular
and consistent increase in the sales volume of a product because of the political
and socio-economic instability in the country which directly affect the standard
of living and the purchasing power of the consumers.
This thesis is based on the drive to know the effect of advertising on the sales
volume of a product in a company and how this sales volume can keep the
company going in business.
The main purpose of this study is to determine the role of personal selling in
enhancing clients satisfaction and to show the effectiveness of personal selling
as a promotional tool for services.


















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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH DESIGN
A structured questionnaire will be used for the collection of the required data. The
questionnaire will be divided into different sections.

DATA COLLECTION METHOD
The Questionnaire will be filled by Professionals.

THE SAMPLE SIZE
Structured questionnaires will be distributed in Indore city to those who are in the age
of 20-30 years.

HYPOTHESIS
This study will judge the impact of personal selling on professionals in their
busy schedule. The result will give them satisfaction.






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LIMITATIONS
The data will be collected only in Indore city.
Research will be completed only by working Youth.
Research will work on the special age group (20-30).












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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books
C.R. Kothari Research Methods for Business Students, Third edition.
Pearson Education India 01-Sep-2003 - 522 pages.
Gary Dessler Human Resource Management: International Edition, Pearson
Education December 2004.
Achumba, (2000)

The New Zealand Qualification Authority, (2008) Kotler and Armstrong,
(2008)
Kotler and Armstrong, (2008) and Kotler and Keller, (2009)

The American Marketing Associations (AMA)


Websites
http://jetems.scholarlinkresearch.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_selling
http://www.ijbmi.org/

Journals
Journal of Emerging Trends in Economics and Management Sciences
(JETEMS) 3 (2): 147-152 Scholar link Research Institute Journals, 2012
(ISSN: 2141-7024) jetems.scholarlinkresearch.org.

Journal of Business Ethics
October 2000, Volume 27, Issue 3, pp 285-303

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