Advertising can make thousands of people aware of an e-bike, but it cannot answer a nervous commuter's question about battery range in the rain. A coupon can get someone to try a new granola bar this week, but it cannot make a newspaper write a story about the company. And when something goes badly wrong, such as a product recall, no ad can repair the damage as well as an honest, fast public response. Personal selling, sales promotion and public relations each do a job advertising cannot. This lesson shows how each one works in practice, what it costs and where it fits in the promotional mix.
The Personal Selling Process
Personal selling is live, two-way communication between a salesperson and a customer, in person, by phone or by video. It is the most expensive promotional tool per customer reached, so businesses use it where it pays off: expensive or complex products (cars, appliances, business software), products that need a demonstration or fitting, and B2B sales where one order can be worth thousands of dollars. Good salespeople do not push; they solve problems. A useful tool is FAB: state a feature (what the product has), connect it to an advantage (what it does) and then to a benefit (what it means for this customer). "This e-bike has a 600 Wh battery (feature), so it goes about 80 km per charge (advantage), so you can commute all week and charge only on Sunday (benefit)."
- Prospecting and qualifying: find potential customers and check that they have a need, the budget and the authority to buy.
- Pre-approach: research the prospect before meeting them, such as their business, past purchases or the reason they contacted you.
- Approach: make a strong first impression in the first minute: greet, build rapport and ask an open question instead of "Can I help you?"
- Presentation: ask questions to uncover needs, then show and demonstrate how the product meets them, using FAB.
- Handling objections: treat a concern as a request for more information, not a rejection.
- Closing: ask for the sale when the customer shows buying signals, such as asking about delivery or colours.
- Follow-up: confirm delivery and satisfaction, reduce cognitive dissonance and set up the next sale or referral.
| Objection technique | How it works | Example response to "It's too expensive" |
|---|---|---|
| Feel, felt, found | Show empathy, share that others felt the same, then explain what they found | "I understand how you feel. Other commuters felt the same, but they found they saved on bus fare within a year." |
| Boomerang | Turn the objection into a reason to buy | "That price is exactly why it lasts: the frame has a lifetime warranty." |
| Question | Ask a question to find the real concern behind the objection | "Is it the total price, or the monthly cost that worries you?" |
| Compensation | Admit the drawback, then point to a benefit that outweighs it | "Yes, it costs more than a basic bike, and it gets you to work without arriving soaked in sweat." |
Sales Promotion: Consumer and Trade
- Aimed at the final consumer
- Coupons and digital offers, free samples, rebates
- Contests and sweepstakes, loyalty points
- Premiums (a free gift with purchase), buy-one-get-one, bonus packs
- Goal: encourage trial, repeat purchase or a bigger purchase now
- Aimed at wholesalers, retailers and their salespeople
- Trade allowances: discounts for buying or featuring the product
- Slotting fees paid to retailers for shelf space
- Co-operative advertising, point-of-purchase displays, trade shows
- Goal: win shelf space, displays and the channel's selling effort
Sales promotions work because they add a short-term reason to act now. Their weakness is the same: when the deal ends, sales often drop back, and frequent deals can train customers to wait for a sale or damage a premium brand. Because they cost real money, marketers calculate the cost before running one. A coupon's cost is not just its face value: the business also pays the retailer a handling fee for each one redeemed, plus printing and distribution, and some redemptions go to customers who would have bought anyway. In Canada, contests have legal rules too. Under the Competition Act, a contest must fairly disclose the number and value of prizes, the chances of winning and any regional allocation. To avoid being an illegal lottery under the Criminal Code, Canadian contests usually require winners to answer a mathematical skill-testing question and offer a no-purchase-necessary way to enter.
Public Relations and the Press Release
Public relations (PR) is managing communication between an organization and its publics (customers, employees, investors, the community and the media) to build goodwill. Publicity is unpaid media coverage, also called earned media. The business cannot control what a reporter writes, which is exactly why audiences find it more believable than an ad. The main PR tool is the press release (news release): a short news story written in the style a reporter could use. It follows the inverted pyramid, with the most important facts first, because editors cut from the bottom. A standard release has a headline; a dateline (city and date); a lead paragraph answering who, what, when, where and why; body paragraphs with details and a quote from a spokesperson; a boilerplate paragraph about the organization; and media contact information, ending with -30- or ###.
Crisis PR
- Act fast: respond within hours. Silence lets rumours and social media fill the gap.
- Put people first: if anyone could be harmed, recall the product or stop the service before worrying about cost.
- Tell the truth and take responsibility: say what happened, what you know and what you do not know yet. Never deny what you cannot prove.
- Use one trained spokesperson and one consistent message across news releases, the website and social media.
- Explain what you are doing to fix it and prevent it from happening again, then keep giving updates until it is over.