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Chapter 16
Marketing and Sales
By the end of this chapter you should be able to:
 Define marketing;
 Understand the marketing process as a series of management decisions and tasks;
 Discuss the analysis of marketing opportunities;
 Research and select target markets;
 Design marketing strategies and plans;
 Define selling;
 Describe customer decision making;
 Discuss selling with reference to contact centre agents.
Applications, activities and assessments
1. After studying the content of chapter 17 discuss the following:
1
What is the definition of marketing?
2
What are the 4 stages of the marketing management process?
3
What is involved in analyzing marketing opportunities?
4
What is meant by researching and selecting target markets?
5
Describe what is meant by ‘designing marketing strategies’.
6
In planning the marketing programme, one often speaks of the 4 P’s. List these and describe each
of the elements of the marketing mix.
7
What is meant by the marketing concept?
8
What is meant by the societal marketing concept?
9
What are the key objectives of communication and personal interaction with customers?
10
What important aspects are required to make sales in the contact centre environment?
11
Describe what is meant by:
11.1.1 Clear thinking
11.1.2 Goal setting
11.1.3 Confidence
12
Describe the 5 steps of the selling process.
13
Taking the 5 selling steps into consideration, what important overlaying factors or rules must a
contact centre agent consider to further improve their success?
14
Distinguish between benefits and features of a product. Give an example?
15
What is the best way of handle a customer’s reservations when making a sale in the contact centre
environment?
16
What are the main points that need to be considered when making a sale?
17
What are the ways in which one can close a sale – describe each type of close.
18
What do you consider to be the most important aspects of knowledge and skills for effective
selling?
2. Read the following statements and provide only the missing word/words as applicable:
2.1 Marketing is a combination of ___________and decisions aimed at meeting opportunities and
threats in a dynamic environment in such a way that its market offerings leads to the
_____________of consumers’ needs and wants so that the objectives of the enterprise, the
consumer and society are achieved.
2.2 _________________: relates to demographics, economics, technology, and physical, socio-cultural
and political/legal environments within a specific domain, in this case, South Africa.
2.3 _________________: relates to those areas that have a direct impact on the organisation, such as
intermediaries, the public, competitors and suppliers.
2.4 Once potential market opportunities have been analysed and assessed, it is now necessary to
determine the _________________and its size, to ensure that marketing the product or service to
satisfy the identified need is __________ from a profitability perspective.
2.5 __________ is the value placed on the product.
2.6 __________ refers to communication with the market.
2.7 ___________determines the needs and wants of target markets better than your competitors can.
2.8 ___________ preserves and enhances customers’ and society’s well-being.
2.9 ___________ is the special art of personal communication between yourself as representative of
the organisation and the ____________ that make up the organisation’s market.
2.10
To sell a product or service to a potential customer, the customer service representative
must be:
2.10.1 ____________ and
2.10.2 ____________ with a high self-esteem.
2.11
Before making or receiving a call, make sure that you are ____________ to the client’s
needs and, at the same time, _________about the outcomes you wish to achieve.
2.12
The speed with which customers make their purchasing decisions depends, in most cases,
on the ____________ or ____________.
2.13
In ______________________ behaviour purchasers make their decision reasonably
quickly, because they believe the product does not vary much between brands.
2.14
____________________________________ the purchasers seeking variety in brands,
who often switch brands to “try another brand”.
2.15
Step one: This involves making ___________ with the potential customer, whether by
making an __________ call or receiving an _____________ call.
2.16
Step 2: The agent gathers information by asking ______________questions, usually
following a set of guidelines designed for the agents.
2.17
Step three: This involves determining the ________________profile.
2.18
Step four: This involves the _____________ of the product and matching its
__________to the needs of the potential customer.
2.19
Step 5: By now, you should be in a position to ________the sale. If you were able to
overcome all reservations, the customer should now be ready to ________.
2.20
A _________ is a specific need that is satisfied by a customer when they buy a product or
service.
2.21
A _________ is the product’s qualities or characteristics that add to the buying decision.
This often makes or breaks the customer’s final buying decision.
3. Read the following questions and statements and select the answer from the list provided. Only
provide the number that you select.
3.1.
The micro environment relates to:
A
Competitors, suppliers, intermediaries and customers
B
Competitors, suppliers, intermediaries and the economics
C
Competitors, suppliers, demographics and competitors
D
Competitors, socio-cultural, intermediaries and competitors
3.2.
The macro environment relates to:
A
Demographics, economics, technology, and physical, socio-cultural
B
Competitors, economics, suppliers, and physical, socio-cultural
C
Demographics, economics, technology, and physical, socio-cultural
D
Competitors, suppliers, economics and customers
3.3.
The marketing programme relates to the branding of the product and to balancing the
marketing mix namely:
A
Product, Price, Place and Promotion
B
Communication, research and strategy
C
Advertising, selling and publicity
D
Call centre communication, persuading and closing the sale
3.4
Price is:
A
Cost of producing the product
B
This is the value placed on the product
C
Profit made on selling the product
D
The Gross profit placed on the product
3.5
Many marketers refer to a fifth P in marketing mix namely:
A
Performance
B
Productivity
C
Personalisation
D
Preparation
3.6
Selling is the special art of
A
Personal communication
B
Advertising effectively
C
Communicating effectively through the contact centre
D
Bamboozling the customer
3.7
Motivation relies on three elements:
A
clear thinking, goal setting; and perseverance
B
Exciting, finding and believing
C
Energizing, goal setting and communicating
D
Clear thinking, believing and exciting
3.8
A benefit is :
A
a specific need that is satisfied by a customer when they buy a product or service
B
a specific attribute of the product that the customer is interested in
C
a specific quality of the product that will assist in the buying decision
D
a specific characteristic of the product
3.9
A feature is the product’s
A
qualities or characteristics that add to the buying decision
B
needs that are satisfied by a customer when they buy a product
C
attribute that will add to the buying decision
D
quality of the product
3.10
When confronted by concerns and reservations, the following rule can be useful:
A
Relax and listen;
B
not allow customers to express their feelings;
C
Interrupt to provide an answer;
D
Answer a reservation with another answer
3.11
Certain key considerations in facilitating the close of a sale are listed below:
A Get your timing right;
B Look for negative signals;
C getting anxious often assists you ;
D do not try and build up a series of acceptances
3.12 An alternative choice close is:
A Offering a single choice to the customer
B Offering two product choices to the customer
C Adopting a ‘take it or leave it’ approach
D Letting the customer make up their own mind
4. Read the following statements and state whether true or false:
4.1.
Marketing cannot be described as the promotion of goods or services.
4.2.
Analysing marketing opportunities is part of the marketing management process.
4.3.
The analysis of marketing opportunities points to the ability to research and utilise potential
opportunities in the macro and micro environment.
4.4.
Macro environment: relates to those areas that have a direct impact on the organisation, such as
intermediaries, the public, competitors and suppliers.
4.5.
Societal marketing concept: To determine the needs and wants of target markets better than
your competitors can.
4.6.
Selling forms part of product within the marketing mix.
4.7.
Selling is the special art of personal communication between yourself as representative of the
organisation and the customers that make up the organisation’s market.
4.8.
To be a successful sales representative of the contact centre, agents must:
4.8.1.1.
be able to interact with a wide and diverse employee base; and
4.8.1.2.
have a detailed knowledge of the products he or she is selling.
4.9.
The contact centre agent is not considered to be an expert in the eyes of the customer.
4.10.
To sell a product or service to a potential customer, the customer service representative must
be motivated.
4.11.
Confident people do not always have a sense of purpose and clear objectives.
4.12.
In dissonance-reducing behaviour, purchasers make their decision reasonably slowly.
4.13.
Variety-seeking buying behaviour are the purchasers seeking variety in brands, who often
switch brands to “try another brand”.
4.14.
Routine decision making purchasers are brand loyal and tend to stick to routinely purchasing
the same brand.
4.15.
Impulse decision making purchasers do not make a decision on the spur of the moment.
4.16.
The selling process can be broken into four steps in total.
4.17.
The prospective customer is not likely to feel insecure in your environment, exacerbated by the
fact that he or she has a need but not all the facts.
4.18.
Getting your timing right does facilitate the closing of a sale.
4.19.
In the assumptive close you cannot move on to such matters as delivery or packaging of the
product.
Assignment
You are to take a product in your environment and determine the target market as well as apply the
marketing mix to the product. Once you have completed this, prepare the sales steps as you would apply
them for this specific product in the contact centre environment.