Respond101
Apa 250 words and REF
I remember growing up I would see the sales man or woman walking from door to door in my neighborhood selling items ranging from appliances, clothes, tools and more. During one of my encounters with a professional sales representative as a child I ended up purchasing an umbrella because I was easily persuaded of how cool it was to own an umbrella instead and of wearing a raincoat when it rains.
That was the old traditional way of a personal salesman. In today's society the tables have turned, no longer is the sales person travelling to various places seeking customers to purchase their goods or services.
With the advent of social media and web portals, customers are in turn browsing websites to purchase goods and services. Young (2011) states that selling and marketing turn upside down, he explains that "the Internet caused a selling revolution by putting total purchasing and decision making authority in the hands of prospective buyers". That is to say, customers are more equipped to search the web for the products they want in the comfort of their homes. Because of this, the future of personal selling is fading out.
Modern day sales professionals need to be technology savvy. Collins (2015) points out that every sales professional should have a CRM (customer relations management) software. She adds that "it provide tracking for your emails that reveal if the customer is engaging in what you're sending them. It's valuable information that every salesperson should utilize when they're actively developing a business". This means it is way more cost effective and efficient to reach your client base than to travel around selling offers to potential customers.
Finally Thomas (2011) states that the salesperson must become a web marketer. They must be technology savvy, know how to use the popular social media tools to showcase their products. This involves having a twitter account for example and connect with people via the web. This skips the old meet and greet process that traditional salesperson goes through. For here, a well equipped salesperson they can go straight into being leader in his marketing arena.
Response102
Personal selling has changed drastically in this age of social media and web based portals. According to Winer personal selling is the use of face to face communication between seller and buyer. In the era of Facebook, Twitter, Google and Yelp, buyers have as much control over the flow of information as salespeople (Fetherstonhaugh, 2017).
One change in personal is the number of shoppers actually going to the store, no longer are the stores filled with customers shopping for all the items they need, consumers can find absolutely everything they need on sites such as Amazon, saving consumers time and money spent on travel.
The transition from brick and mortar shopping to web shopping has changed the way and in some instances the items retailers offer. While most items are available online and in-store there are some available online only.
With the ease and access of the web we can contact individuals and conduct important business via avenues such as email and text messages, although not my communication methods of choice many people actually prefer not to actually speak with anyone. Myself, I need a clear understanding of expectations given much is often lost in translation.
Businesses of all kinds have turned to social media and web portals to reach customers. When I go to Macys.com and look at shoes, I am reminded of my search results when using Facebook, in my opinion this is a brilliant strategy. We were recently in the market for a new car as well as a deck.
I was able to do a car search for the year, make and model I was interested in and was able to see the cars available, the price, incentives and dealerships where they were available. I was even able to get pre-approval for the loan via the web all of which saved us lots of time and energy. Gone are the days of spending all day on the car dealership.
When looking for a deck contractor I was able to enter the size and shape of deck I was interested in and within minutes I received a call from 3 contractors and was able to set up meetings all of which was done outside of normal business hours. These great options save consumers lots of time and energy and put them in control as well as allowing the opportunity for product education and knowledge, thereby producing informed consumers.