With over 80% of customers out there craving a tailored experience and being more likely to do business with a company that provides them with a personalized offer, the importance and power of personal selling should not be underestimated. Today, any B2B sales team can benefit from including specialists proficient at personal selling. Personal selling is a type of interpersonal communication based on good people skills and aimed at convincing a customer to purchase a good or service.
Key Advantages and Drawbacks of Personal Selling
As with any other business method or strategy, personal selling comes with its advantages and disadvantages. Some of the key ones are discussed below.
Pros:
- Personal selling helps build great, long-term relationships with customers, promoting trust and loyalty to your brand.
- Personal selling allows you to establish a two-way dialogue with the customer and get them to speak more openly about their needs, wants, and concerns.
- Personal selling enables more meaningful, detailed communication with the customer.
- Personal selling based on in-depth research of the customer results in producing leads that are better qualified and are more likely to convert.
- Personal selling provides plenty of room for flexibility and further personalization. The more you get to know your customer, the more tailored an experience you can provide for them, adjusting your tactics on the fly.
Cons:
- The cost of obtaining a customer through personalized selling is higher as this strategy requires more time and resources.
- Personal selling can only offer a limited reach since it implies a direct and continuous line of communication between the salesperson and the customer.
Top 7 Most Crucial Personal Selling Steps
Look at the importance of personal selling through the prism of the standard 7-step sales process:
-
- Prospecting: seeking and qualifying leads most likely to convert into paying customers through personal selling.
- Preparation: doing online research on the prospect and the industry and creating a tailored sales presentation.
- Approach: making initial contact with a prospect and learning about their wants, needs, and problems.
- Sales Presentation: pitching your product or service to the prospect in a way that speaks to their unique interests and needs.
- Objection Handling: actively listening to the buyer’s concerns and objections and addressing them expertly.
- Closing: finalizing the agreement between the customer and the seller.
Nurturing: reaching out to customers to see if they are happy with the provided services. It is also an excellent repeat business opportunity.
