What are the characteristics of an effective Sales Person and explain the advantages and disadvantages of Personal Selling as a tool of promotion.
Answers
Answer:
Advantages of Personal Selling
It is a two-way communication. So the selling agent can get instant feedback from the prospective buyer. If it is not according to plan he can even adjust his approach accordingly.
Since it is an interactive form of selling, it helps build trust with the customer. When you are selling high-value products like cars, it is important that the customer trusts not only the product but the seller also. This is possible in personal selling.
It also is a more persuasive form of marketing. Since the customer is face to face with the salesperson it is not easy to dismiss them. The customer at least makes an effort to listen.
Finally, direct selling helps reach the audience that we cannot reach in any other form. There are sometimes customers that cannot be reached by any other method.
Disadvantages of Personal Selling
It is a relatively expensive method of selling. High capital costs are required.
Also, it is an extremely labour intensive method. A large sales force is required to carry out personal selling successfully.
The training of the salesperson is also a very time consuming and costly.
And the method can only reach a limited number of people. Unlike TV or Radio ads it does not cover s huge demographic.