How Digital Reinvigorated the Personal Selling Star
By: Kimberly Grant
“Personal selling is an ancient art.” At least, that’s what Marketing & Management authors, Philip Kotler and Kevin Keller, think about it. It’s actually a harsh way of referring to how many companies – especially those whose main clientele are business owners – used to use their salesforce as “active order getters”. (Salesforce refers to a group of people whose job it is to make deals, selling their company’s products or services.)
Once upon a time, in a land of capitalism, there were a lot of companies, big and small, who needed people to get other people to buy their products/services. This was a big deal back in the day (or the 20th century for you Millennials and Generation Zers). People used to get paid to go door-to-door selling products, like encyclopedias and dictionaries, or make cold calls to potential clients. For those of you scratching your heads, encyclopedias are old school Google searches in book form.
Yes. There was a time when humans interacted with humans and there wasn’t a mobile phone in sight. This would generate sales, because the customers (or buyers) would appreciate that personal touch and they felt valued as a consumer. Clients would even have a business relationship with their specific salesperson knowing that that person would monitor and address their needs and wants. This type of relationship marketing was accomplished with the six steps below.
Simple. Right?
It totally was. Then, like the Big Bang, there was the advent of the mobile phone, Internet, Google, social media, and viral videos. Yes, folks, I’m referring to the Digital Age. Just like rock group The Buggles believed Video Killed the Radio Star, the Digital Age has done something to the populace. We no longer like the face-to-face interactions the way we used to.
Now, the personal touch of having a salesperson be on-call to meet the needs of their clientele still exists; just ask Best Buy’s Geek Squad. But salespeople have had to get smarter about how and when they generate and cultivate that client relationship from a marketing standpoint. Consumers are, indeed, a society that values more bang for their bucks and are always on the look-out for deals.
Since the Digital Age and Coronavirus have created an interaction averse society of people who have the means to search deals on their own without the benefit of a salesperson, there is a need for the salesforce to diversify its approach to stay relevant. Despite all of the above, the Digital Age has actually made it easier to do the first step of the personal selling process: find the prospects.
One way salespeople are using digital to their advantage is utilizing sites like Google to track the consumer habits of their users on various platforms. These analytics provide better understanding for the salesforce as to who would be attracted to what industry and products and when it is a good time to approach a potential prospect. These analytics are, then, compiled and placed into a database where the salesforce generates a list of target audience members to send direct mail marketing, like mail and email messages.
The world is consistently evolving. The salesforce has evolved with it. While personal selling (read: personal touch in selling) is still quite prevalent in today’s society, the Digital Age has made it easier to find, promote, and keep track of present and potential clientele in a way that saves the salesperson time and has a built-in measurement to track engagement. Video may have killed the radio star, but the Digital Age has reinvigorated the personal touch.
You can get more information on personal selling here.
