CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP

CCAT CAMPUS

CHAPTER 1
An Overview

Learning Objectives

After the completion of the lesson, students will be able to:

1. Appraise the evolution of professional selling.
2. Justify the importance of professional selling,
3. Characterize different professional selling jobs,
4. Demonstrate the different professional Selling approaches,
5. Embody skills required from salespeople in digital age

Nature of Professional Selling

 As a form of direct marketing, SELLING is the original and oldest one.

 It is a very effective way of communicating with the customers especially in more complex selling
situations.

Salespeople act on behalf of their companies by doing the following:

 Creating Values for the Customers- they create value by understanding the needs of their customers
and then create solutions to meet the need.
 Managing Relationships with the Customers- “create customers for life”
 Convey Customer and Market Information back to their companies- they are acting in behalf of the
company and also perform representations of the customers.
 Gathering Market information-they become able to gather enormous deal of helpful information about
the needs.
 CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
CCAT CAMPUS

Professional Selling Evolution

 (1752-1870) Insurance Begins Role Specialization with Hunters & Farmers

 (1924) IBM Professional Selling
 (1925-1936) The psychology of selling and Dale Carnegie’s Tactical Selling
 (1988) Spin Selling and Solution Selling
 (2011) Predictable Revenue
 (2015) The SaaS Sales Stack and Sales Hackers

(1752-1870) Insurance Begins Role Specialization with Hunters & Farmers

 Professional Selling really started in 1752 when Benjamin Franklin created the Americas
oldest insurance company.
 Hence the insurance industry developed field specialization from Account Executive
Hunter and Account Manager Farmer in 1870.
 Role specialization and process improvements become the first vital improvements in the
history of selling.
(1924) IBM Professional Selling
 Chinese immigrants arrived in America to lend hand constructing the intercontinental
railroad. They brought a game changing product called snake oil, a fake liniment with no
snake extract.
 This made the selling profession a negative public perception.
 Thomas J. Watson Sr professionalized the Selling profession with his newly named
company IBM International Business Machines.
(1925-1936) The psychology of selling and Dale Carnegie’s Tactical Selling
 Edward Kellogg Strong in July 1925 published a book entitled “The Psychology of Selling”
 Dale Carnegie become famous with AIDCA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Conviction, and
Action)
 Both Strong and Carnegie made great advancements in sales profession through:
 Generalizing those sales was a recurring process
 Confirming that the sales were skill set could be learned, studied and
mastered
 CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
CCAT CAMPUS

 Making research as a tool in concretizing and communicating unclear sales

concepts
 Creating tactics and relationship selling playbook
(1988) Spin Selling and Solution Selling
 Neil Rackham wrote the book entailed SPIN Selling (Situation questions, Problem
questions, Implication questions, Need Pay-off questions)
 Solution Selling established an advanced sales model that functioned well for selling
complex products and services.
(2011) Predictable Revenue
 Aaron Ross authored the book “Predictable Revenue which teaches the company
how having a repeatable process can drive sales growth faster and more
predictable
(2015) The SaaS Sales Stack and Sales Hackers
 people specialized cloud sales apps for each of their workflow processes such as
lead generation.
 Those that have learned and mastered the new sales techniques and the best
practices become the top performers or “Sales Hackers”

IMPORTANCE OF PROFESSIONAL SELLING

To the Society
 Converts latest demand – newest demand to effective demand
 Employment opportunities- help unemployed to work as salespersons
 Career opportunities- guarantees attractive career, job satisfaction, respect, variety,
security, and lot more.
 The mobility of sales people- transfer from one place to another
 Product standardization-consistency of consumption of selling homogeneous products.
To the Company

 Useful promotional tool

 Flexible tool
 Lessen wastage of efforts
 Consumer attention
 Lasting relationship
 A personal relationship
 Function in introductory stage
 CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
CCAT CAMPUS

 Connection with the customers

To the Customers

 Assisting identifying needs

 Most recent market information
 Professional advice
 Encourage customers

TYPES OF SELLING APPROACHES

 The Instant Buddy

 The Guru
 The Consultant
 The Networker
 The Hard Seller
 Solution Seller
 Customer Personality Seller
• Analytical
• Amiable
• Expressive
• Driver
 Missionary salespeople
 Trade salespeople
 Prospectors
 Account Managers
 Other types of sales position
 Order Taker
 Sales Support
 CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
CCAT CAMPUS

QUALIFICATIONS AND SKILLS REQUIRED OF A PROFESSIONAL

 Product Knowledge
 Strategic Prospecting Skills
 Rapport Building on the call
 Buyer Seller Agreement
 Active Listening
 Communication Skills
 Qualification Questioning
 Time management
 Objection Prevention
 Objection Handling
 Demo Skills
 Gaining Commitment
 Closing techniques
 Post sales relationship management

References for further reading

Serrano, Angelita O., PROFESSIONAL SELLING. 2018

[Link]
 CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
CCAT CAMPUS

Outcome Based – Assessment

There are many out there who may be wondering if a career in sales is right for them. Those who ask
this question to themselves are often filled with apprehensions caused, in large part, by their personal experience
with sales professionals. They may also have based this on the opinions of their personal network and the
general public opinion of the sales industry. They most likely have heard stories of people they know of who
gave sales a try but who have more horror stories than success stories to share.

Sales Is Not an Easy Job

An erroneous and commonly held belief is that sales professionals spend more time on the golf course
than in a boardroom. While many sales professionals do spend time entertaining clients on golf courses, that
time is earned time. Unless a sales professional is "playing hooky" and shrugging off their responsibilities to
spend a day on the lynx, time golfing (or any other form of entertainment) comes only after a lot of work and
usually only as part of a sales cycle.

Working in sales is a tough job. If you are considering a sales job, you must first understand that you will
be expected to work very hard, long hours before you can earn some of the privileges of being in sales. Not only
will your employer demand hard work from you, your clients, too will expect that you are dedicated and committed
to delivering on your every promise. Doing so takes hard work.

Handling Rejection
Many people have a hard time dealing with rejection. For those in the sales industry, rejection is part of the job.
Consider an inside sales professional who is charged with making 50 calls per day. The average inside rep
needs to make 25 calls before reaching someone who is interested in learning more about the product or service
the sales professional represents. That means 24 rejections before success.

If you have issues or challenges with being rejected, you will either need to learn how to deal with rejection or
consider a different industry.

Having a Strong Internal Drive

Many sales positions offer plenty of autonomy. That means that much of your business day will be up to you as
to how the hours are spent. Without strong, internal motivation and drive, those hours may not serve you well in
your quest for success.

Overbearing managers are somewhat common in the sales industry precisely as a result of having a sales team
of professionals that lack self-motivation. But those sales professionals who usually have challenges and issues
 CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
CCAT CAMPUS

working for an over-bearing manager are usually those who most need to have an overbearing manager looking
over their shoulders and demanding more activity.

If you are not certain that you have a strong enough internal drive that will get you up early in the morning and
drive you throughout the entire working day, know that sales will be a struggle for you and success will be elusive.

The Need for Patience

Most sales industries demand patience as potential customers usually prefer to think carefully before making a
buying decision. The days of hard closing a prospect are over and have been replaced with more patient reps
who understand that consumers are more informed, have more choices and need consulting more than
traditional sales reps to assist them in making a decision.

This approach demands patience, discipline and a strong set of sales skills. Not everyone has the patience levels
needed to be in a career in which results can take months to be realized. Couple the time that many sales cycles
take with the need for the often-neglected sales skill of creating a sense of urgency with prospects and you will
certainly understand that without patience, anyone in sales is sure to struggle.

Questions to Ponder:
1. If you are planning to get a job in a selling career after college, what are those things you need to
consider? Explain and why?
2. Which lesson is really applicable to those people interested to make sales their profession, “is
sales right for me” or “am I right for sales”. Defend your answer.
3. Being a millennial, do you think do you have the capability to succeed in sales better than
traditional people? Why do you think so?
 CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
CCAT CAMPUS

CHAPTER 2
Trust and Sales Ethics

Learning Objectives

After the completion of the lesson, students will be able to:

1. Recommend trust and mutual respect for the customers;
2. Illustrate importance of trust in sales;
3. Demonstrate earning trust in sales;
4. Exhibit those knowledge bases that could help build trust and relationship
5. Evaluate some ethical issues in sales and teach how to manage sales ethics

Trust and Mutual Respect for the Customers

 Trust is a solid and strong belief in the reliability, truth, ability and strength of someone or something.
 Trust makes the offer of product or service by the sales people with real value identified through the eyes
of the customer.

How to Build Customer Trust: Nine Rules by Geoffrey James

 Be oneself
 Value the relationship
 Be curious about people
 Be consistent
 Seek the truth
 Keep an open mind
 Have a real dialogue
 Be a professional
 Demonstrate real integrity
 CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
CCAT CAMPUS

IMPORTANCE OF TRUST IN SALES

Trust in Service
The findings about selling competencies for professional service companies reveal the following
three essential elements of trust in the eyes of perspective customers:
• Candor- deal with customer with honestly.
• Competence- provider knows precisely what he is doing
• Concern- The most significant ingredient of trust.

EARNING TRUST IN SALES

There are six core drivers that direct to building strong trust-based relationships, namely:
 Self- trust
 Dependability
 Competence
 Ethics
 Customer-centric
 Likeability

KNOWLEDGE BASES HELP BUILD TRUST AND RELATIONSHIP

There six aspects that are vital to building trust and relationships through knowledge base which are:
 Knowledge of the Customers
 Knowledge of the Industry
 Knowledge of the Product
 Knowledge of the Customer’s Company
 Knowledge of Promotion and Price
 Knowledge of Technology
 CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
CCAT CAMPUS

ETHICAL ISSUES IN SALES

Common Ethical Problems Faced in Dealing with Salespeople

 Levels of Sales Pressure
 Decisions affecting territory
 To tell the truth
 The Ill sales person
 Employees right
1. Conditions which the company is able to five salespeople without violating any law
2. Rights do and should sales people have concerned the privacy of their employment
records and access to them
3. What companies can do to avoid sexual and racial harassment and other forms of
prejudice in the workplace.
Common Ethical Problems Faced in Dealing with Employers
 Misuse company Assets
 Moonlight
 Cheat
 Affect other salespeople
 Attempt technology theft

Common Ethical Problems Faced in Dealing with Customers

 Bribes
 Misrepresentation
 Price Discrimination
 Tie-in Sales
 Exclusive Dealership
 Reciprocity

Here are some ways in managing sales ethics in the company:

1. Sales ethics cannot be implied sales process.
2. Develop a detailed presentation sheet to be used for product demonstrations and have prospects
sign-off on what the demonstration covered.
3. Management must use trickle down ethical approach and reveal the standards they suppose
their sales people stick-on
4. When hiring salespeople, make them affix their signature in the business clause on ethics in them
job descriptions
5. There must be proper communication to your salespeople on the monthly basis on what is
expected of them with regards to selling what they have not what they desire to sell.
6. Do not at all times suppose that a salesperson is unethical just because a customer complains.
 CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
CCAT CAMPUS

References for further reading

Serrano, Angelita O., PROFESSIONAL SELLING. 2018

[Link]

Outcome Based – Assessment

SALES TRAINING ACTIVITY

Group Work: Short Skit/Play (Video)

Goal: To be able to apply all the learning outcomes of Chapter 2.
Purpose: Illustrate how to earn trust in sales and demonstrate the importance of
Trust and sales ethics
Requirements: CREATIVITY, SELLING SKILLS, COMMUNICATION SKILLS,
DEMOSTRATION SKILLS.
Instructions:
1. Create 6 groups, then choose a leader.
2. Each group will have their collaboration and brainstorming in order to plan
how they will produce a short kit or play that will tackle the concepts of Trust and Sales Ethics
3. The recorded video will be posted on the google classroom and will be presented during
next synchronous session.
4. Each video length must be minimum of 6 minutes and maximum of 12 minutes only.
5. Each member must participate on the said video. Casting, roles and function must be reported
by the Group Leader. The brainstorming and behind the scenes must be video recorded also
but to be submitted on the google classroom or via google drive only.
No time limit and just the raw footage only.
6. The video to be presented must include or must demonstrate the following:
How to Build Customer Trust/ KNOWLEDGE BASES HELP BUILD TRUST
IMPORTANCE OF TRUST IN SALES
EARNING TRUST IN SALES
Ethical Issues in sales
Managing Sales Ethics
7. This activity serves as Group Project and Performance.
8. The output will be rated based on this criteria:
30% Creativity- (Creative presentation)
30% Demonstration Skills- (Overall Execution including Video Editing)
40% Content- (Originality, Clarity and Completeness)
100% Total Grade
 CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
CCAT CAMPUS

CHAPTER 3
COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN SELLING

Learning Objectives

After the completion of the lesson, students will be able to:

1. Illustrate shared communication in sales conversations.
2. Exhibit good verbal communication through questioning sales.
3. Demonstrate good verbal communication through listening to sales.
4. Display how to communicate non verbally in sales

Trust and Mutual Respect for the Customers

The development of trust can be described in five-stage process that is the heart of trust-based selling.
The potholes of selling take place from violating the five-step sequential process of trust creation.
 CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
CCAT CAMPUS

Trust Development Process

1. Engage the client in an open conversation about issues that are key to the client;
2. Listen to what is vital and genuine to the client and gain the right to offer solutions;
3. Frame the true core issue, not including the language of blame, via caveats, problem statements
and hypotheses; take personal risks to explore sensitive issues—articulate a point of view; create
by giving away;
4. Envision an alternate reality, including win-win specific descriptions of outcomes and results, including
emotional and political states; clarify benefits—make clear what’s at stake; be tangible about future states;
5. Commit to feasible and actionable next steps that imply significant commitment and movement on the
part of each party.

EARNING TRUST IN SALES

 CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
CCAT CAMPUS

Spotting the Ten Potholes

ETHICAL ISSUES IN SALES

Sales Conversation Pendulum

 CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
CCAT CAMPUS

The Formal Process in Sales Conversations

Six Stages in Sales Conversation Process
1. Set the Agenda- This is the initial meeting which is all about framing the process for success
and setting both the agenda and the tone. The right agenda is basically about the following:
• Solving the problem together
• Exploring the possibilities
• Discovering the reason/ for the unsolved problem
• Discussion of the current situation, exploring some challenges and outlining a new direction

2. Collecting Assumptions This second step involves eliciting assumptions coming from the potential
customer using questioning. Here are some examples of questions for the sales conversation:
• What is taking place in your business right now?
• What are the challenges in the way?
• Why are working on specific project?
• What happen if I don’t do this?
• What happen if you move this forward and it does not work?
• Who are the important people in the process and what would they say?
• What is the potential risk?
3. Discover the Truth After having gathered all the information, the next thing is determining the facts
behind the assumptions and getting rid of the pointless information. The role of the salesperson
conversation is to explore deeper into the assumptions by clarifying what has been said:
• Is the assumption indeed true?
• Is this really the most important point considers?
• How do we know that this is true?
• Do we need any proof to support this?
• Is there anyone we need to speak to that has more data we should explore?
4. Nod of Understanding (Paraphrase) Good salespeople are well versed at questioning, listening,
and paraphrasing. Making use of the stories in selling is one of the best skills of winning salespeople.
Great stories have basically four common phases, namely:
• The Situation- prospect connects with salesperson and environment of the story
• The Complication(s)- prospective customer hero being faced is discussed
• The Turning Point- the moment of sudden realization, inspiration, insight, recognition,
or comprehension of something
• The Resolution- what the future holds, a new way forward and vision of success is
discovered here.
 CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
CCAT CAMPUS

References for further reading

Serrano, Angelita O., PROFESSIONAL SELLING. 2018

[Link]

Outcome Based – Assessment

SALES TRAINING ACTIVITY

Group Work: Short Skit/Play (Video)

Goal: To be able to apply all the learning outcomes of Chapter 2.
Purpose: Illustrate how to earn trust in sales and demonstrate the importance of
Trust and sales ethics
Requirements: CREATIVITY, SELLING SKILLS, COMMUNICATION SKILLS,
DEMOSTRATION SKILLS.
Instructions:
1. Create 6 groups, then choose a leader.
2. Each group will have their collaboration and brainstorming in order to plan
how they will produce a short kit or play that will tackle the concepts of Trust and Sales Ethics
3. The recorded video will be posted on the google classroom and will be presented during
next synchronous session.
4. Each video length must be minimum of 6 minutes and maximum of 12 minutes only.
5. Each member must participate on the said video. Casting, roles and function must be reported
by the Group Leader. The brainstorming and behind the scenes must be video recorded also
but to be submitted on the google classroom or via google drive only.
No time limit and just the raw footage only.
6. The video to be presented must include or must demonstrate the following:
How to Build Customer Trust/ KNOWLEDGE BASES HELP BUILD TRUST
IMPORTANCE OF TRUST IN SALES
EARNING TRUST IN SALES
Ethical Issues in sales
Managing Sales Ethics
7. This activity serves as Group Project and Performance.
8. The output will be rated based on this criteria:
30% Creativity- (Creative presentation)
30% Demonstration Skills- (Overall Execution including Video Editing)
40% Content- (Originality, Clarity and Completeness)
100% Total Grade
 CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
CCAT CAMPUS

CHAPTER 4
KNOWING BUYERS

Learning Objectives

After the completion of the chapter, students would be able to:

1. Evaluate the reasons why people buy.

2. Characterize the different types of buyers.
3. Demonstrate both the consumer and business buying process.
4. Critique the different types of purchasing decisions.
5.
 CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
CCAT CAMPUS

REASONS FOR PEOPLE BUYING

Any of the following could be a reason for purchasing, namely:

1. Need
2. Wants
3. Conspicuous Consumption
4. Snob Effect
5. Band wagon effect
6. Economic
7. Psychological
8. Sociological
9. Practical
10. Impractical
11. Rational
12. Irrational
13. Factual
14. Emotional

THE BLACK BOX MODEL

The black box model of consumer behavior recognizes the stimuli responsible for buyer behavior.
The stimulus (forms of promotion about the product like an advertisement, personal selling and the
REST)
The buyer’s decision-making process consists the following steps:
1. Problem Recognition
2. Information search
3. Evaluation of Alternatives
4. Purchase decisions
5. Post Purchase behavior
 CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
CCAT CAMPUS

Factors in the Buyer Black Box

Factors influencing buying behavior in the Buyers Black Box

 CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
CCAT CAMPUS

Cultural Factors

Culture
Culture is the software of the mind.
Subculture
Each culture consists of several smaller subcultures. These subcultures are groups of people who share value
systems. This may be based on common experiences and situations. Subcultures can be nationalities,
religions, but also geographic regions. Often, single subcultures make up a market segment that marketers
aim add by tailoring a product to the subculture’s needs.
Social Class
Social classes exist in nearly every society. The term social class refers to a certain permanent division in a
society. The social class is an important factor in the buyer black box as it determines what the consumer’s
response will be. A combination of several factors such as income, occupation and education determine the
social class structure. Worthy of note is the fact that in some societies, it is easier to move between social
classes than in other societies. In Europe, the borders between social classes are not that rigid. Therefore,
people can move to a higher class or drop to a lower one. In other social systems, they may be more fixed,
making it difficult to climb up the ladder.

Seven Social Classes in Most Societies

 CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
CCAT CAMPUS

Social Factors

Reference Groups
Reference groups influence a buyer’s behavior. In particular, reference groups are direct or indirect points of
comparison (reference). In other words, a buyer orientates him/herself by means of a reference group. If the
group wears Nike shoes, the buyer must have them as well. If the reference group prefers certain brands, the
buyer will do as well. Therefore, reference groups expose a person to new lifestyles and new behaviors. Thereby,
they affect the person’s attitudes. This also means the creation of a certain pressure to conform. Obviously, the
influence of reference groups is strongest when the product is directly visible to others in the buyer’s reference
group.
Family
As do reference groups, families strongly influence the buyer black box. In fact, the family is often the most
powerful influence on consumer buying behavior. For instance, the husband-wife relationship and involvement
may greatly affect an individual’s buying behavior. But also children can have a strong influence on family buying
behavior.
Roles and Status
Would a top manager of a large-scaled international organization drive a Fiat Panda? The answer to the question
is quite clear. But why? It has to do with the role and the status of the person. This is nothing else than the
person’s position in a certain group. The role refers to the activities that the person is expected to perform
according to the group members. Also, each role carries a certain status that reflects the general esteem given
to it by society.

Personal Factors

Age and lifecycle stage

People do not buy the same goods over their lifetimes. Instead, tastes in food, clothes, furniture and style are
often related to age. In addition, buying behavior is also influenced by the family life cycle. Marrying, having
children, purchasing a home, divorcing etc. may change the factors in the buyer black box.
Occupation
Without doubt, the buyer black box is strongly influenced by the person’s occupation. For instance, blue-collar
workers will tend to buy more rugged clothes for work. On the contrary, executives will prefer business suits.
Furthermore, a farmer will probably like a cool beer more after work than a lawyer, who would go for the wine.
Marketers must try to identify these occupational groups. They should find the one which has the highest
interest in their products.
Economic situation
Even more evidently, the buyer’s economic situation affects the buyer black box. It will affect his/her product
and store choices. For instance, personal income, savings and other factors influence what a buyer will
purchase where, when, and how much.
 CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
CCAT CAMPUS

Lifestyle
Lifestyle refers to a person’s pattern of living. This pattern can be expressed in the person’s activities, interests
and opinions, the so-called AIO dimensions. Activities refer to work, hobbies, sports and similar things.
Interests are linked to food, fashion, family etc. Opinions can be about the person him/herself, social issues,
businesses and products. Therefore, a lifestyle describes more than just the buyer’s social class or personality.
Instead, the person’s whole patters of acting and interacting is contained in the lifestyle. It is important to know
that the consumer’s buying behavior is strongly linked to the match between his/her own lifestyle and that of
a product. Consumers do not buy products, they buy the lifestyles and values those products represent.
Therefore, lifestyle is a critical factor steering the buyer black box.
Personality
The buyer black box is also affected by his or her personality. Personality means nothing else than the unique
psychological characteristics distinguishing one person from another. It is often described in terms of traits.
These can be self-confidence, dominance, aggressiveness and so further. As is the case with lifestyles, the
idea is that brands also have personalities. Consumers will therefore be likely to choose brands which have
personalities matching their own.

Psychological Factors

Motivation
What drives a person towards a certain action? Motives. Motives are needs that are sufficiently pressing to
direct the person to seek fulfilment of the need. Needs can be of various natures. And those needs can become
a motive when they are sufficiently intensive. The most popular theory that addresses needs is Abraham
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The latter explains that human needs are arranged in a hierarchy, from the most
pressing one to the least pressing one. According to Maslow, a person tries to satisfy the most important need
first. Not before that need is satisfied is will stop being a motivator. Then, the person will try to satisfy the next
most important need. To understand how motivation works is crucial for marketers. The reason is that
motivation steers the buyer black box, by directing the decision for and against products.
Perception
Every person has an individual picture of the world. That is a result of perception, which plays a major role in
the buyer black box. Perception is the process by which a person selects, organises and interprets information.
By that process, a meaningful picture of the world is generated.
Therefore, people often have different perceptions of the same stimulus. To understand these perceptions is
important in order to understand the buyer black box.
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Learning
Learning is another factor contributing to the stimulus-transformation in the buyer black box. Every time a
person acts, he or she learns. This means a change in his or her behavior arising from experience. Imagine
a consumer buys a Mercedes-Benz. If the experience is rewarding, which it will probably be, the consumer’s
response will be reinforced. Then, the next time that consumer buys a car, the probability is greater that he
or she will buy a Mercedes again. Thus, learning can be the decisive factor in the buyer black box.
Beliefs and Attitudes
Through all the doing and learning, a person acquires beliefs and attitudes. These factors, in turn, influence
the buyer black box. If a buyer has negative beliefs about a product based on learning, it is unlikely that he
or she will buy it in the future. Also, the person will have a negative attitude towards the product. Certainly,
beliefs and attitudes of a person are quite difficult to change. Therefore, marketers should concentrate on
trying to fit the products into existing attitudes instead of attempting to change them.
As we have learned, the buyer black box is influenced by many factors. These factors lead to the
transformation of a stimulus into a specific response. Trying to change the characteristics of a buyer is a
rather helpless attempt. The interplay of cultural, social, personal and psychological factors is just too
complex. Therefore, marketers should try to keep these characteristics in mind and create products and
marketing program suited to the factors in the buyer black box.

Types of Buyers
Most people do not like salespeople, or being sold to. When people are asked what they don't like about
salespeople they say things like:
• They are too pushy
• They do not listen
• They do not really care about me
• They are only interested in selling me something
• They get aggressive if I say I am not interested

Asking different people to describe their preferred way of buying, one may get different replies such as:
• I like to take my time
• I am an impulse buyer
• I like my partner to be with me
• I like to compare different products
• I do not like being sold to. I like to make my own mind
 CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONAL SALESMANSHIP
CCAT CAMPUS

FOUR BASIC TYPES OF BUYER BEHAVIOR

The Analytical Buyer
People who lack assertiveness and responsiveness are called Analytical. The analytical buyer distrusts
salespeople because they lack precision. Analytical buyers are best identified by their attention to detail and
tendencies towards perfectionism. Analytical like to analyze and compare things. They can seem withdrawn,
introspective, or even indecisive.
In the presentation, salespeople should:
• Highlight the accuracy of service or product
• Provide case studies, testimonials, and statistics proving the validity of claims
• Repeat oneself several times for clarification
• Discuss the processes behind any product or service Remain professional and do not get too
personal

The Amiable Buyer

The amiable buyer is highly responsive, but not very assertive. They are very friendly, good in social
situations and prefer friendly relationships to conflict. Many salespeople are amiable in their nature. Amiable
buyers lack assertiveness so they will agree to appointments and meetings, but they are wasting
salespeople's time. When presenting to an amiable, salespeople should:
• Establish rapport and be friendly
• Present in a systematic style meaning do not add new information at the last minute
• Highlight the product's benefits for the team
• Explain why service will maintain the status quo
• Listen carefully and agree often

The Expressive Buyer

The expressive buyer is very assertive and very responsive. They are impulse buyers with low boredom
thresholds and a short attention span. They love to buy concepts and will make quick, if not always
good, decisions.
When dealing with an expressive buyer, salespeople need to:
• Spend time developing a personal relationship with them
• Show how the product being offered will improve his image and relationships
• Use anecdotes, testimonials, and personal information to explain the product
• Be funny, engaging, and personal at all times
• Do not focus on statistics alone
• Avoid entangling him in details that might lead to interpersonal conflict
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The Driver Buyer

The Driver is highly assertive, but not very responsive. This is the typical negotiator. Tough, uncompromising,
does not suffer fools gladly and determined to be in charge. Drivers want to be in control and can appear to
be aggressive if salespeople do not give them what they want. They seem unfriendly at first and will impose
time deadlines on meetings.
When making a sales presentation with a driver, make sure to
• Make statements active, brief, and concise
• Share facts that have culminated in tangible results
• Prepare a list of options he can control
• Avoid emotional arguments
• Focus on big-picture benefits, not details

THE BUYING PROCESS

Consumer Buying Process
1. Need Recognition
2 Information Search
3. Alternatives Evaluation Armed
4. Purchase Decision
5. Purchase
6. post-purchase evaluation.

Business Buying Process

1. Problem Recognition
2. Description of General Need
3. Product Specification
4. Supplier Search
5. Proposal Solicitation
6. Supplier Selection
7. Order Routine Specification
8. Performance review
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THE SELLING PROCESS FROM SALESPEOPLE PERSPECTIVE

THE BUYING PROCESS

Here Are the Six Key Steps of Today’s Sales Process:

Prospect: Traditionally, prospecting focused on identifying and qualifying the individual buyer within the
account: Who’s the decision maker? Do they have the financial resources? Prospecting today focuses more
attention on first qualifying the account: Will they buy and when will they buy? What is their buying cycle?
How do they make decisions and how do they shop? Qualifying the contact has shifted to qualifying the buying
decision team—their role in the decision process, predispositions, and personal motives.
Establish Credibility: Successful salespeople position themselves and their organization as a trusted source
of information and a trustworthy advisor long before the customer is ready to buy or has even identified the
problem
Establish Need: Needs-based discovery is still critical, but it’s not enough.
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Configure Solution: Gone are the days when simple product offerings would differentiate you from the
competition (“Do you want that in red or blue?
Position Business Value: The “Buy” step of the buying process often involves executive review and buy-
in.
Grow Relationship: The cost of acquiring a new customer has always been higher than reselling to an
existing customer, and research at Aberdeen shows this cost difference has increased.

KINDS OF PURCHASING DECISIONS

Based on Motivation:
1. Logical Buying Decision
2. Emotional Buying Decision
3. Impulsive Buying Decision
Based on Effort:
1. Low involvement
2. High Involvement

References for further reading

Serrano, Angelita O., PROFESSIONAL SELLING. 2018

[Link]

Outcome Based – Assessment

Directions:
1. Read the article "How to Sell Anything to Anybody" at [Link]
sell-anything-to-anybody
2. After reading the article, answer the following questions:
a. From among the rules given in the article which among them do you think is the most
important in buyer-centric and buyer-friendly selling? How about the least important?. Explain your
position.
b. If given the chance to be a salesperson someday, which of the rules mentioned will you
implement for successful selling career? Give at least three. Defend your answers.
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Note:
Please handwritten your answer. Write it on clean sheet of yellow paper. Then take a clear, readable
picture of it and upload it in upright/ portrait orientation. Upload the document on or before the due date.
The Class President will collect all hard copies and will submit it to your Instructor at the Office of DMS,
on the soonest possible time that you are available to go to the campus. In the absence of the
President, The Vice President or other officers can do the task.
Direct message your Instructor if you have concerns.
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CHAPTER 5
PROSPECTING
AND
PREPARING SALES DIALOGUE

Learning Objectives

After the completion of the chapter, students would be able to:

1. Demonstrate sales prospecting
2. Illustrate the different methods in prospecting
3. Create a strategic prospecting plan
4. Appreciate the value of pre-calling in sales
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Significance and Challenges in Prospecting

• The first step in the sales process is that of tracing where prospective customers are.
• Prospecting is the process by which a salesperson obtains new customers.
• New prospects are looked-for to replace old customers lost for a variety of reasons and to replace lost
contacts in present customers as a result of plant relocations, turnover, merger's downsizing and
other factors.
• Prospecting is the hint for “needers”, who can be changed into “wanters” and “buyer”
• A prospect is a qualified person or a unit that has the likelihood to purchase the company’s product or
service.
• A lead can be a suspect indicating the person or a unit is suspected of a prospect. Once the Lead has
been qualified, the lead becomes a prospect to know whether a lead is a prospect or a suspect.

What is Sales Prospecting?

• The act of finding out potential leads from a neutral database.

• Reaching out to people to detect which amongst them can be a possible customer is another definition
of sales prospecting.
• Sales prospecting might be outbound or inbound in nature.
Outbound sales prospecting, they will be contacting many customers through cold calling and
pitching them about their product. There, they might gather a number of visiting cards.
Inbound marketing, wherein Email marketing or Social Media Marketing or Website marketing
plays a role

Kinds of Prospects in Sales Prospecting

1. Cold prospect – These are prospects whom salespeople have get in touch with but they not interested in
their product.
2. Warm prospect – These are prospects whom salespeople have contacted and they had a lukewarm
response to their product or services. Such prospects may not have an existing need of the product and
might have to be pushed with a discount or will have to be contacted later on a specified date.
3. Hot prospect – this is a prospect that salespeople contacted and who is Immediately attracted in purchasing
the product or service
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Significance of Prospecting
1. To boost the present sales
2. To replace the lost customers
3. To keep sales organization kicking and alive
4. To rationalize the approach
5. To bring the company and buyers together
6. To augment up the sales efforts
7. To keep constantly before prospects
8. To utilize time, treasure, and talent in optimal way

Challenges in Prospecting

1. Creating a targeted prospecting strategy

With the availability of data through lead generation tools, professional salespeople are now able
to effectively research, identify contacts, and set trigger events for their accounts. The problem, though,
is that without a strategic method on how to best use this data and how to best reach out to prospects,
these efforts are useless.
In order to build a successful prospecting strategy, salespeople need to allocate time to the
following:
• Identifying the right prospects based on the ideal customer profile.
• Researching and prioritizing prospects with the highest chance of becoming long-term
customers.
• Crafting targeted messages based on in-depth insights
• Sending customized emails and making personalized calls, and
• Social selling

2. Quality of leads from marketing

Sales and marketing need to work together on setting a clear definition of what a
quality lead is, to then direct their efforts across the funnel. Having a shared understanding not
only increases the effectiveness of both teams and creates a better experience for the buyer. It
also improves the company’s overall sales process, having a dramatic impact on the bottom line.
3. Gaining appointments
Breaking into new accounts and getting a prospect to agree to an appointment is
one of the most challenging tasks salespeople’ face, especially when prospects are being
oversaturated with every prospecting tactic imaginable.
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Methods in Prospecting
Prospecting is difficult for some salespeople because it is a process filled with rejection. This is
problematic to some salespeople for a couple of reasons.
Endless Chain (family tree method)
• Works on the principle of mushrooming of relations.
• The salesperson collects the names and addresses of friends and relatives and interviews the
persons who are possible to be prospects.
• This method is most useful in the development of prospects of intangibles like investments and
insurance covers.

Center of Influence Method

• Every person is the center of attraction or influence in one way or the other.
• A salesperson develops a preferred group of people who serve as his center of influence in his own
territory or the community.
• The more friends a salesperson has, the more center of influence he can strike in finding the prospect
for his products.
• Such people may be politicians, doctors, lawyers, bankers, professors, club officials, business
leaders, social workers and the community leaders.

Personal Observation Method

• The salesperson plays the role of an eager observer as if what is going on the ground.
• A salesperson, which is responsive and attentive to identify the prospects, does it so effortlessly and
promptly.
• Popularly known as eyes and ears inductive method.
• He observes enthusiastically, meaningfully and carefully.
• It may be a conversation, a street comment, cinema house chitchat, office grapevine, comments at
public meetings etc.
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Direct Mail and Telephone Method

• The salesperson contacts the previous and current users of the products by mail. The contact
message covers the arrival of new products,
• Telephone contacts can be launched particularly in city areas.
• Constant contact is likely with previous current, and most likely customers.
• A consistent and highly relevant email communication helps build credibility and trust with leads. It
keeps the brand top-of-mind for when decision makers are prepared to choose a solution.
• The best thing about email is that it can be used together with other tools such as social media (add
a sign-up form to your Facebook page for example) or networking events (collect emails and add them to
one’s database).

Exhibition and Demonstration

• Happen from time to time at city, regional or national or international level.
• The selling houses support such trade-shows and demonstrations along with sales staff.
Bird-dog Method
• A bird-dog is the nickname given to those persons who visit the houses at a specific interval. For
example, electric or water meter readers, gas boys, milk suppliers, newspaper boys visit in authorized capacity
many households in a particular locality.

Lead from Sales-managers

• A sales manager also get in touch with other companies in whose contact he comes in personal as
well as official capacity.
• The names and addresses of leads offered by intra- company departments and extra-company
departments are a political source.
• An automobile sales manager would give a list of leads to the salesperson for its repairs and servicing,
spare- parts and so on.
Advertisements and Advertising Agencies
• It has a need-recognizing and need-converting competence at quickest span which has become
much easier because of audiovisuals.
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Content marketing/ SEO (content prospecting)

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and content marketing has advanced over the past years and
has influenced the sales operations in a favorable way. Search engine optimization is a methodology of
strategies, techniques and tactics used to increase the number of visitors to a website by obtaining a high-
ranking placement in the search results page of a search engine (SERP) including Google, Bing, Yahoo
and other search engines.
Customer Referrals
• Sales referrals are among the most precious prospecting methods used by salespeople to produce
new leads.
• A sales referral takes place when a present customer provides the name and contact information
of a prospect to his salesperson.

Social Media
• Social selling is how business-to-business (B2B) world works these days and honesty is very
effective. Social media is best used as an opening tool for sales prospecting.
• Social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, are the ultimate sales networking tool
because salespeople can meet so many people so speedily.
Participation in Community Groups, Associations, and Activities
• A community involvement is another most effective prospecting technique. The more people who
associate with the name of the salesperson with a positive image, the more clients he will have.

Local Events or Seminars

Leading a seminar serves two important purposes.
[Link] a salesperson as a thought leader in his area of specialty.
[Link] a salesperson in front of a group of prospects that have already expressed interest in his
product line.
Cold Calling
• A technique whereby a salesperson contacts individuals who have not previously expressed an
interest in the products or services that are being offered.
• Typically refers to phone calls but can also involve drop-in visits, such as with door-to-door
salespeople. Other salespeople acknowledge that cold calling is tough, but asserts emphatically that it is
not dead.
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Methods in Prospecting

Prospecting Website Tools

Here are few of the widely used sales prospecting tools:
1. Datanyze – Offers sales acceleration software for technology companies looking to amplify sales
effectiveness and build the pipeline.
2. Aero Leads – A prospect generation service that provides a processed list of high-quality prospects
with valid email ids. Within the given requirements, Aero Leads will get the verified prospects generated in 48
hours.
3. Rapportive – helps salespeople better customize their emails by providing more context and social
information about prospects.
4. Inside View – helps salespeople better understand and reach out to their prospects through social
networks and online profile consolidation.
5. Built With – A website profiler tool with filter by location, traffic, and vertical and includes analytics,
advertising, hosting and more.

Strategic Prospecting
It is a process designed to identify qualify and prioritize sales opportunities, whether they represent
potential new customers or opportunities to generate additional business from existing customers
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Prospecting Plan

A prospecting plan involves making a concerted effort to continue the conversation with sales leads.
This strategy does not close leads, but the plan has the potential to keep leads talking to the sales team for
longest period of time so you can develop your rapport with potential client on the way of fulfilling the sales
goals
If the salespeople fall short of their numbers of high-quality leads consider these seven-step strategy
for improving prospects.
1. Divide and Conquer
2. Make timeline
3. Set Expectations
4. Write down questions
5. Keep talking
6. Look big and small
7. Make a prospecting plan a priority

PRE-CALL INFORMATION

Conduct a Pre-Call Research

Prior to meeting with a person from a key account, it is important to invest time understanding
their business, Here are some ways to gather information about the prospects:
1. Check out their website
2. Read their annual report
3. Do an online search for recent articles about them in the press
4. Talk to people who work in the company
5. Talk to others who do work with this big company

In order to ensure that pre-call research is not a wasted effort with a few best practice tips such as:
1. Define research goals
2. Determine and use the best sources of information
3. Mine the most important data
4. Constantly review and update pre-call research practices

Value of Pre-calling
Here the reasons why pre-call planning has value and is worth doing:
1. Focus
2. Face time
3. Fluency
4. Forward Movement
5. Flexibility
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References for further reading

Serrano, Angelita O., PROFESSIONAL SELLING. 2018

[Link]

Outcome Based – Assessment

Direction: Read the case study below and answer those questions found in the
THINK ABOUT THIS.
Generating Sales Leads
Source: Adapted from Sell 4h edition by Avila, et al

Gilda Ong graduated from the state university and was hired as a sales
representative tor the Serrano Logistics Company. Serrano Logistics Company
is a transportation broker that links companies needing products shipped rom
trucking firms to carry the shipments. After an initial training program, Gilda
was given a couple of existing company customers and a small list of leads to get
her started. She began by serving the shipment needs of the existing customers.
This gave her some confidence, but she realized that for her to be successful, she
must begin prospecting and try to identify the best sales opportunities. Serrano
Logistics Company provides an ongoing list of leads that can be accessed by all
salespeople. Once a salesperson contact one of these leads, no other salesperson
can contact them. Gilda started prospecting by contacting these leads.

Gilda has been calling a number of leads each day but has not been successful
in generating much business. She feels like she is wasting much of her time on
leads that are not good sales opportunities. The leads provided by her company
are not qualified in any way and the training program she attended focused on cold
calling as the basic prospecting method. Gilda took a professional selling class in
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college and remembered that the chapter in prospecting emphasized the need to
follow the strategic prospecting process to identity the best selling opportunities.
She found her professional selling textbook, went to the chapter on prospecting
and decided to create a strategic prospecting plan.

1. What method should Gilda use to generate sales leads beyond those provided by her company.
Why?(10pts)

2. What information should Gilda collect to prepare for sales dialogue with a prospect? (10pts)
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CHAPTER 6,7,8
SALES DIALOGUE & PRESENTATION PLANNING
DEALING WITH SALES RESISTANCE
INTENSIFYING CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP

Learning Objectives

After the completion of the chapter, students would

be able to:
1. Demonstrate a customer focused sales dialogue
2. Compose different format of sales presentation and create good
sales proposal.
3. Defend oneself from sales resistance
4. Recognize reasons for sales objections
5. Appraise customer satisfaction
6. Create an assured customer satisfaction
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SIX CRITICAL SKILLS IN SALES DIALOUGE

CUSTOMER-FOCUSED SALES DIALOGUE

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FORMAT OF SALES COMMUNICATION

Written Sales Proposal

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Sales Dialogue Template

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Sequence of Sales Presentation

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Sales Resistance
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Reasons Why Prospects Raise Objections

Major Categories of Objections

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Major Categories of Objections

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Other Methods for

Handling Buyer Resistance

• Forestall – Introduce the source of the objection before the prospect brings it up.

• Direct Denial – A rather harsh response that the prospect is wrong.

• Indirect Denial – Softening the blow when

correcting a prospect’s information.

• Translation or Boomerang – Turn a

reason not to buy (the source of the objection)

into a reason to buy.

• Compensation – Counterbalance the

objection with an offsetting benefit.

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Techniques to Earn Commitment

Techniques to Avoid
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Dealing with Yes!

Dealing with No!

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Four Sequential Components of Effective Follow-up

Typical Customer Complaints

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References for further reading

Serrano, Angelita O., PROFESSIONAL SELLING. 2018

Outcome Based – Assessment

Prepare a sales presentation of your chosen product and the instructor will be evaluated based on the
rubric posted on the classroom.