Techniques of Doing Successful Sales and Marketing

Understand the qualities of good selling, customer feedback, sales presentation, failure to close a sale, and decision-making unit. Get insights into the subject and improve your skills.

Sales and Marketing Techniques 1
TECHNIQUES OF DOING SUCCESSFUL SALES AND MARKETING
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Sales and Marketing Techniques 2
Techniques of Doing Successful Sales and Marketing
'If the marketing is right and the sales presentation is right, there's no need to close the sale.'
Initial Post: Qualities of Good Selling
Marketing being a process of understanding the consumer behavior and their wants then
formulating the best way to satisfy those wants, the process needs proper background
research before the actual event. The main aims of a good sales and marketing include
increasing sales, introducing new customers, making existing customers buy more, expanding
the products market share, introduction of a new commodity, and improving the customer
loyalty (Sarin, Challagalla, & Kohli 2012, p. 570). These goals are mostly achieved through
the four basic marketing strategies namely product, price, place, and promotion.
These objectives are achieved through a sales team whose key role in building and
maintaining a strong loyalty between the company and the customers. It should be noted that
customer loyalty is what makes the customer buy more from the company and even
recommend the company's products to another person; friend, family member or a colleague.
The sales and marketing team that try to achieve the above role need to possess some
essential qualities which include assertiveness which make them continue the sales process
without offending the buyer. Other attributes include self-awareness, empathy, problem-
solving, and optimistic. The team needs to develop an effective sales plan that clarifies the
targets to be achieved and the tactics and strategies of meeting them. According to Singh,
Singh, and Banerji (2018, p. 370) after this stage, the sales, and marketing team needs to
come up with sales presentations that would help them when they meet potential prospects.
If the sales and marketing team follow and meet the standards mentioned above and achieve
the targets, then the marketing is right and should be allowed to continue.

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Reply Discussion 2: Customer Feedback
Even with excellent sales and marketing strategies from the company, the customer's decision
to purchase the product is based on their perception. The decision by a customer to buy a
commodity, mostly referred to as customer behavior is affected by some factors. These
factors include psychological factors like motivation, perception, attitudes, and beliefs of the
client. Personal factors like age, occupation, lifestyle, and personality. Social factors which
include peer groups and the roles the customer play I the society and in the family. Finally,
cultural factors such as culture, subculture, and class system.
Customers make their decision to make the purchase a product based on the perception they
have regarding the product. Such knowledge and attitudes are got from their past experiences,
and the feedback other users have regarding the product. The people whom the customer
associates with have some influence on the psychological factors that influence the
customer's decision to buy a product (Boneet al. 2017, p. 166). This is the reason why the
customer may be convinced by the marketing team of a given product, but still hesitate to
make the final decision to buy. The experience the customers have or the challenges that their
friends and family friends have faced with the product, such experience influence the
customer. The family and friends experiences concerning the product influence the
customer's behavior given any individual will trust friends and family more than the trust
they invest in other parties like marketers. As illustrated in Samsung Newsroom (2017)
Samsung Company had difficulty in convincing users to buy their product even with the best
strategies in sales and marketing.

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Reply Discussion 3: Sales Presentation
The role of the sales and marketing team in an organization is to make and maintain a good
relationship between the company and customers using the product. The idea behind loyalty
is to bring new customers to the company, increase sales, and maintain the link for a long
time (DeCarlo & Barone 2013, p. 61). The excellent relationship may not result in an
immediate sale but may make the customer need the product in the future. Based on this
reality, the sales team does not need to make a purchase immediately; the primary role is to
make the product relevant in the market, answer all the questions the users may have
regarding the product.
The team has to make sure that the strategies used are right and the intended results are
within realistic levels. The approach used by the marketing team is to create and promote the
company's brand image. With this in mind, the primary objective is to make sure that the
relevance of the product is maintained, and this will make the customers make future
purchases. The primary goal of a sales team is to make sure the company products are sold
now and in the future (Jobber, & Lancaster 2015). By answering the customers' questions
correctly, the sale believes that he or she has made the right move in accomplishing the goal.
Answering the questions rightly maintains the relevance of the product in the industry. The
result may not be realized immediately, but the long run effects show the real job the
salesperson has been doing.

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Reply Discussion 4: Failure to Close a Sale
The customer's decision to make a purchase is influenced by several factors not limited to the
superiority of the marketing strategies employed by the selling company. There are instances
where the sales and marketing team make some of the best presentations to potential and
willing buyer but finally fail to make a sale. As explained in N.D (2018), the decision is
based on personal factors, psychological factors, and social influence as well the feedback
other users give on the product. For example, there was an incident involving the sales and
buying a life insurance cover that failed even after the salesperson ad done one of the best
presentations to the willing customer.
The life cover package had some of the best offers the customer wanted, and the client was
impressed and ready to buy. On the final phase of the sales process, the client asked about the
sincerity behind the offers presented; a question that the salesperson handled well. It was at
that point that the client remembered feedback her family member gave regarding how the
same insurance company refused to settle a claim in the past (Boichuk, Bolander, Hall,
Ahearne, Zahn, & Nieves 2014, p. 100). It was at that point that the whole process failed and
the client opted for a similar package from another company that was charging relatively
higher premiums. From this case, it should be noted that a long term customer loyalty
depends on various factors not limited to the quality of strategies used by the salesperson.

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Reply to Discussion 5: Decision-making Unit
One of the main challenges salespeople have is how to handle the other members of the
decision-making unit. Accessing the chief decision maker may be the challenge; a problem if
felt well then other processes may be relatively more straightforward. For instance, an
insurance agent may find it challenging to access potential clients in an organization due to
the constant harassments by the gatekeepers and sometimes the overprotective receptionists
(Meng, Shi, & Yao 2018, p. 460). The seller may have some prior knowledge that the
managing director of a given company has young children and therefore may need some
insurance education policies and is, therefore, a potential customer to the seller. With such
valuable information, the agent's strategies to make the sale may be disrupted by the
gatekeeper who had at some point been instructed by the management not to allow any
salesperson into the company.
At this point, the seller resorts to deviate from the normal processes and strategies of doing
sales and marketing. There are several emerging trends in the sales and marketing industry,
some of which include improvement in technology, reviewed government policies, and
security issues. The sales and marketing team of every given company needs to be innovative
and able to come up with solutions to the emerging trends that may threaten their operations
(Hong & Jeong 2017, p. 329). For instance, it may not be right for an insurance agent to
cause chaos with the gatekeeper in the above scenario. He or she needs to come up with other
ways of accessing the targeted customer even if it means getting an introduction and access
letters from Mother Company.

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Summary of Discussion Forum: Lessons Learned
From the discussions, it can be noted that the success in making a sale depends on several
factors not limited to the qualities of the salesperson and the strategies used. Apart from the
two elements, customer behavior, feedback from other users and the salesperson's ability to
adjust to the emerging trends play a vital role (Sabnis, Chatterjee, Grewal, & Lilien 2013, p.
60). A good marketing strategy aims at increasing sales, introducing new customers, making
existing customers buy more, expanding the products market share, introduction of a new
commodity, and improving customer loyalty. The basic strategies used for marketing revolve
around the product, price, promotions, and place. A salesperson or anyone aspiring to be one
in future needs to understand several factors influence that customer behavior that interplay
and they include psychological factors, culture, personality, social groups, and age.
A salesperson should also note that there are emerging trends in the industry that influence
the outcome of a sales process even if the other strategies are well laid down. Some of the
notorious issues include the accessibility of the already identified customer. A member of the
decision-making unit may end up stopping the sales process even if he or she is not a
significant player in the process; like a gatekeeper who may not even know that his or her
senior really need the product in sale (Wagoner, Sutfin, Song, King, Egan, Reboussin,
Debinski, Spangler, & Wolfson 2018, p. 150). Other emerging trends include economic and
peace situations in the country as well as government policies that may be promoting or
discouraging the purchase of some specific products and services.
Journal Entry: Personal Reflection
Understanding the best strategies of sales and marketing helps an individual in several ways,
aspects that can be both at a personal level and at professional life. By acquiring the
knowledge and skills learned in units related to sales and marketing, an individual gains the

Sales and Marketing Techniques 8
qualities required to become a skilled professional in the industry (Johnson & Matthes 2018,
p. 46). The idea of being innovative when the usual standards fail makes an individual a
critical thinker, a quality that enables him or her to have an in-depth analysis of every
situation. When a student fully understands the processes involved in sales and marketing and
the challenges it comes with, he or she may become a problem solver in the society mostly in
cases involving the decision-making unit and a salesperson. Professionally, learning the
above-illustrated skills helps a student attain some professionalism and become an important
asset to his or her employer.
The skills and knowledge acquired in the unit help the student in several ways at the personal
level. The concepts of sales and marketing can be an eye-opener when operating a private
business as he or she would apply them when dealing with customers and also when faced
with a salesperson (Hulland, Nenkov, & Barclay 2012, p. 460). The knowledge earns proper
respect within the society as he would be involved in the primary decision-making process in
the community. The skills obtained in the unit improves an individual's means. From the
knowledge acquired, the student can subject every emerging trend to critical analysis before
making a final decision. From the above illustrations, it can be noted that learning sales and
marketing in the unit enables the student to improve his or her wellbeing both at personal and
professional life. Johnson and Matthes (2018, p. 44) illustrate that proper application of the
knowledge in real life situation helps the student become a responsible member of the society
and at the workplace.

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List of Reference
Boichuk, JP, Bolander, W, Hall, ZR, Ahearne, M, Zahn, WJ & Nieves, M 2014, ‘Learned
Helplessness Among Newly Hired Salespeople and the Influence of Leadership,' Journal of
Marketing, vol. 78, no. 1, pp. 95–111.
Bone, Sa, Lemon, Kn, Voorhees, Cm, Liljenquist, Ka, Fombelle, Pw, Detienne, Kb &
Money, Rb 2017, ‘“Mere Measurement Plus”: How Solicitation of Open-Ended Positive
Feedback Influences Customer Purchase Behavior’, Journal of Marketing Research (JMR),
vol. 54, no. 1, pp. 156–170.
DeCarlo, TE & Barone, MJ 2013, ‘The Interactive Effects of Sales Presentation, Suspicion,
and Positive Mood on Salesperson Evaluations and Purchase Intentions’, Journal of Personal
Selling & Sales Management, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 53–66.
Hong, J-D & Jeong, K-Y 2017, ‘Cross efficiency based heuristics to rank decision-making
units in data envelopment analysis', Computers & Industrial Engineering, vol. 111, pp. 320–
330.
Hulland, J, Nenkov, G & Barclay, D 2012, ‘Perceived marketing-sales relationship
effectiveness: a matter of justice’, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 40, no.
3, pp. 450–467.
Jobber, D. and Lancaster, G. (2015) Selling and Sales Management (10th Ed). Harlow:
Pearson. Online at: https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781292078038/cfi/280!/
4/4@0.00:4.21
Johnson, JS & Matthes, JM 2018, ‘Sales-to-Marketing Job Transitions’, Journal of
Marketing, vol. 82, no. 4, pp. 32–48.

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Meng, X-L, Shi, F-G & Yao, J-C 2018, ‘An inequality approach for evaluating decision
making units with a fuzzy output’, Journal of Intelligent & Fuzzy Systems, vol. 34, no. 1, pp.
459–465.
N.D, 2018. Six Infallible Tactics For Closing A Sale. Forbes. Available at
https://www.forbes.com/sites/yec/2018/07/03/six-infallible-tactics-for-closing-a-sale/
#72e5ca7e351a [Accessed on the 13.10.18]
Sabnis, G, Chatterjee, SC, Grewal, R & Lilien, GL 2013, ‘The Sales Lead Black Hole: On
Sales Reps’ Follow-Up of Marketing Leads’, Journal of Marketing, vol. 77, no. 1, pp. 52–67,
Samsung Newsroom, (2017) Samsung announces cause of Galaxy Note7 incidents in press
conference Available from https://news.samsung.com/us/Samsung-Electronics-Announces-
Cause-of-Galaxy-Note7-Incidents-in-Press-Conference
Sarin, S, Challagalla, G & Kohli, AK 2012, ‘Implementing Changes in Marketing Strategy:
The Role of Perceived Outcome- and Process-Oriented Supervisory Actions’, Journal of
Marketing Research (JMR), vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 564–580.
Singh, R, Singh, RK & Banerji, D 2018, ‘Emotion regulation – natural reward strategy
linkage and its impact on sales performance: the mediating impact of salesmanship
skills’, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 353–364.
Wagoner, KG, Sutfin, EL, Song, EY, King, JL, Egan, KL, Reboussin, B, Debinski, B,
Spangler, J & Wolfson, M 2018, ‘Trends in point-of-sale tobacco marketing around college
campuses: Opportunities for enhanced tobacco control efforts’, Journal of American College
Health, vol. 66, no. 3, pp. 145–154.