Chapter 10

Selling style

Selling in most cases would involve an interaction between the seller and the buyer. Since the
buyer and seller interact there would invariably be some behavioural transactions taking place
between them. The way the seller has to behave would vary from situation to situation,
sometimes the behaviour of the seller may hamper the sale and sometimes it may help the
sale process. To ensure that the behavioural transactions contribute to the sale of the goods
and services, the sales force should be trained on how to behave. This chapter focuses on the
behavioural aspects of selling. The type of behaviour would also determine the type of
service orientation that the company should have towards its customers, so this chapter would
also deal with the service orientation that should compliment the selling activity.

4.1 Types of selling:

They are different taxonomies for classifying sales persons (refer table 4.1). Dominant among
them are:
Trade selling: The salespersons activities are predominantly to sell to the intermediaries.
Missionary selling: In missionary selling the focus is not on actually completing a sales
transaction and gaining a sale, but rather is on stimulating demand for the product and on
developing goodwill for the company. (Weilbaker 1990)
Technical or New product selling: A selling largely found in the industrial situations, were the
salespersons is selling a new concept, a idea to the buyer.

4.2 Selling a behavioural transaction:

Selling is not merely a transfer of product from the seller to the buyer. The transfer of the
goods or services is the end, but the process or means, which includes the total interaction
that takes place between the buyer and seller determines whether the ends are going to be
achieved or not. So, the process of selling is also critical in ensuring the ends. This process is
the behavioural transaction that takes place between the buyer and the seller. For instance, in
the highly competitive pharmaceutical industry, dominated by formulators, the need of
behavioural transactions should be given a lot of importance.

Pharma industry is characterized by high competition where there are many brands for each
molecule. Due to this the time that a medical representative gets with a doctor is generally 4-
5 minutes. The medical representatives have to therefore utilize efficient selling techniques
and stand out from the crowd.

The medical representative would not be able to achieve a sale unless the initial 2-3 minutes
are used for creating the behavioural transaction, an equation with the ego state of the doctor.

Similarly, many persons would have experienced walking away from an outlet because they
may have been offended by the behaviour of the sales person. The salesperson’s mannerisms
could hurt the ego of the customer and hence the sale does not take place. That is, a sale is
going to take place only when the buyer and sellers’ behavioural states match. It is therefore
important for companies to understand the way the salesmen need to behave and train their
salesmen to behave accordingly (“people skills”). The McQuaig SystemTM identified four
dominant styles that are used during selling15. They are:
Dominance/ submissive
15
The McQuaig Institute of Executive Development Ltd., Toronto, Canada

41
Sociability/Analytical thinking
Patience/Drive
Compliance/ Independence

This chapter studies the behavioural transactions for some products and develops a
framework for determining the selling style. The selling style would also determine the
service orientation of the company.

4.3 Behavioural States for Different sales situations

Non premium brands of Jeans purchased by Middle income consumers:
A push oriented selling strategy is predominantely adopted for selling and distribution of non
premium brands of Jeans. This activity has a high degree of consumer orientation and
involves price off schemes, free gifts etc. Jeans manufacturers also use trade and cash
discounts to make their brands attractive and lucrative for the trade. They also offer turnover
incentives on the basis of a fixed volume of sales achieved during a specified period. In some
cases some of the trade partners get a higher discount on the list price to penetrate niche
markets or to outbid competing products. This helps the middlemen to be aggressive and
push the company’s products.

Behavioral Aspects of Selling

The product in study, non premium brands of jeans caters primarily to the customers who
select a brand after examining the different attributes (problem solving behaviour). Hence,
the customer’s involvement in the purchase decision process is high. While the customer
wants the retail salesperson to show different models (brands) of jeans, the customer may not
want the involvement of the seller in his/ her purchase decision process for two reasons; a)
the buyer does not want to be pushed into purchasing and b) the purchase is dominated by
evaluation of search attributes only (and the consumer would be competent in evaluating
these attributes). The salespersons at the outlet should, therefore, have high amount of
patience to display the products. Any irritation from the part of the salesperson would put off
the customer and the customer may leave.

The main intention of the Company Sales Force would therefore be to motivate the Channel
Member to display their company’s products (the display of the brand by the retail sales
person would allow the brand to be considered for purchase). In order to achieve this, the
salesforce should use a wide variety of trade promotion tools. In addition, free gift, trade and
cash discounts are also provided. The primary behavioral factors of the Sales Force would be
to maintain good relations with channel members. This is very very important as the retailers’
(channel member) purchases are based on relative profitability of competing companies. As
profitability is an important aspect for channel members, the Sales force has to constantly
‘please’ them. The salesperson should therefore be submissive and accept the demands of the
channel partner; otherwise the channel partner would purchase jeans from another supplier
and still be able to satisfy the consumers.

Aashirwad ready to eat foods

Aashirwad ready-to-eat foods could be sold through supermarkets or
door-to-door. Each would require different selling styles.

The purchase of ready-to-eat foods in a supermarket could be by:

A middle-income housewife who purchase this product on impulse or for novelty (variety
seeking). The customer would however not be willing to travel for this product if the product

42
is not available in the supermarket. Therefore availability and display play an important role
for this segment.
Young, working men and women prefer instant food as a product and have it as an essential
shopping item on their shopping lists. Though they may look for convenience foods (such as
ready to eat foods) these customers may choose alternate food items in case the Aashirwad
brand of ready to eat food items are not available (picking behaviour). Again the availability
in the supermarket is important.

As availability in a supermarket is essential for the product to sell, the company would be
involved in trade selling and the behaviour by the company salespersons has to be submissive
as seen in the above case of non premium brand of jeans. However if the brand becomes
popular and the consumers are asking for the brand and the supermarkets are forced to stock
the brands, then the selling continues to be trade selling but the company salespersons needs
to change his style to dominance. If the salespersons do not change the style when the brand
becomes popular then the supermarkets would continue extracting extra benefit from the
company.

When the product is to be sold door to door, the type of selling should be of a “new product
selling” wherein the salesperson should be able to explain features and benefits to the
customer. The involvement of the customer would be low but the involvement of the
salesman should be high. He has to convince the customer to buy it. The salesperson should
have the drive. Table 4.2 summarises the selling style for the above situations.

Table 4.2 Behavioural styles for selling Ready to eat foods

Type of Selling Behavioral Aspects of Selling the
product
Submissive if the brand is not
Supermarket Trade Selling popular.
Dominance if the brand is popular
Door - to - door New product Selling Drive
selling

Selling insurance
Life insurance products also involve a long-term commitment towards
saving. People are normally beset with doubts and uncertainties and will
present objections regarding the future returns. People may have lost money
through lapses or irregularity in their policies earlier. Such people may regard life insurance
as an unviable venture. Their dislike towards insurance prevents themselves from investing
further and discouraging others from buying.

So buying life insurance is a major decision and there is strong tendency to evade or postpone
the decision. The salesperson should therefore expect objections and appreciate them because
sincere objections indicate the prospect’s inner thoughts and problems. They offer a chance to
advance the meeting towards a successful sale. However, that is possible if the objections are
handled with logical reasoning. So, the selling style for insurance selling should be backed by
analytical thinking.

Again insurance is a very sensitive issue. People may dislike the idea of life insurance since it
is linked with ‘calamity’. Any sort of calamity is an unwelcome subject in every household

43
across the world. The salesperson must therefore appeal to the customers’ gentler side,
address their emotions and feeling. The salesperson should tug at prospects’ heartstring since
selling insurance is an emotional act. The insurance salesperson should therefore exhibit
sociability also so that the customer can relate to the insurance agent.

Thus, the insurance salesperson’s selling style should have both analytical thinking and
sociability.

4.4 Generalizing Selling style of the company:

As seen in the above examples, selling style to be adopted by the salesperson depends on the
product, the consumer decision process which would determine the involvement of the buyer
during the decision process as well as the involvement of the seller required during the
decision process. For developing a generalized framework for the selling style the consumer
decision process is linked to the involvement of the buyer and the involvement of the seller
required during the consumer decision process.

When the decision process is picking, as in the case of petrol, the consumer’s involvement in
the decision process is low and the buyer would also not want the seller to be involved in the
decision. Whereas when the buyer is in variety seeking or habitual process, then the buyer’s
involvement in the decision process is high but they would not want the seller to be involved
in their decision process (as in the case of textiles). In a subcontracted process, the buyers’
involvement in the decision process would be low as the buyer is not knowledgeable (as in
the case of lubricants), whereas the buyer would expect a high involvement of the seller in
the decision process. In a problem solving situation, the buyer would be highly involved in
the buying process and would also expect the seller to be involved in the decision process
(industrial buying). Refer table 4.3 for involvement of the buyer and the involvement of the
seller required during the buying process.

Table 4.3: Involvement of the buyer and the involvement of seller in the buying process
Involvement of the end consumer in the decision process
Low High
Low Involvement Picking / Variety seeking, habit
of the salesperson Impulse buying
required during
decision process Example: Petrol Example: Textiles
High Sub contracted decision Problem solving. New
Involvement of the Consumer not knowledgeable Business selling
salesperson about product/ brands. Risk high
required during High involvement in decision
decision process process.
Buyer knowledgeable

Example: Lubricants Example: Industrial buying

The involvement of the consumer in the decision process and the involvement of the
salesperson required during the decision process would determine the selling style the
company sales force has to adopt for different situations (table 4.4).

When the buying process is picking (involvement of the buyer and the seller in the decision
process is low), the company has to focus on trade schemes as seen in the generalized

44
framework for selling strategy. As it is essential for the company to have its product in the
retail outlet (trade selling), it has to accept the terms of the retailer and the selling style would
be to play the “Salesman (I am) not OK, Retailer (U) are OK” role (acceptance role).

Table 4.4: Selling styles for different buying situations

Involvement of the end consumer in the decision process
Low High
Low Trade selling Trade selling
Involvement of the Buyer: Variety seeking
salesperson required Salesman (I am) not OK behaviour, then:
during decision Retailer (U) are OK Salesman (I am) not OK
process Acceptance Retailer (U) are OK
Acceptance

Buyer: Habitual
Salesman (I am) OK
Retailer (U) are notOK
Drive

High Missionary selling New Business selling

Involvement of the
salesperson required Salesman (I am) OK Salesman (I am) OK
during decision Buyer (U) are not OK Buyer (U) are OK
process Dominance Analytical thinking

Again when the consumers are involved in the purchase but do not want the sellers
involvement in the decision process (variety seeking behaviour), then the salesmans’ role is to
ensure that the brand is available in the shop and it is displayed. The selling would be trade
selling and the selling style required would be “Salesman (I am) not OK, Retailer (U) are
OK” role (acceptance role). Whereas, when the behaviour becomes a habit (the buyers
involvement is high and the involvement of the seller required in the decision process is low),
the selling would continue to be trade selling but the salesperson should display drive. That
is, the behaviour has to be modified to Salesman (I am) am OK, retailer (U) are not OK.

In a missionary selling, wherein the seller has knowledge and the buyer does not have
knowledge, the salesman has to project himself/ herself as knowledgeable and therefore play
a dominating role. This would mean a “Salesman (I am) OK, buyer (U) are not OK” role. In
case the salesman acts submissive, then the sale would not take place as the buyer is looking
to the salesman because he/she considers the salesman to be knowledgeable and therefore
would allow the salesperson to dominate during the decision process. In case the salesman
does not play a dominant role than it would dilute the credibility of the salesperson and the
buyer may start doubting the knowledge of the salesperson. The buyer may then prefer
another seller who is considered more credible (knowledgeable). As in the case of a doctor-
patient relationship, a doctor has to dominate otherwise; the patient would question the
doctor’s credibility.

A new business selling where the buyer and seller are involved in the decision-making, the
seller has to have analytical ability. The buyer would expect the seller to be equally
knowledgeable and therefore the behaviour has to be “Salesman (I am ) OK, buyer (U) are
OK”.

45
The selling style would be successful only if it is supported by an appropriate service
orientation.

4.5 Service Orientation

Service is generally seen as an after sale service. But in fact service
could start long before the sale takes place. Service orientation takes into
account the seller’s willingness to engage in both selling and non-selling
tasks throughout the buyer-seller relationship (Keillor et al, 1999).

A salesman could create a relationship with the consumer and a sale

could take place because of the relationship (pre sale service). In a textile
shop, the seller could make you feel comfortable, offer you a refreshing
drink, etc to make you feel that you are important (service at the point of
sale) and finally service could be the usual after sales service. Thus, the
service could be aimed at ‘pre sale’ activities to build relations, ‘at sale’ activity to increase
value proposition and ‘post sale’ activity to reduce dissonance (refer figure 4.1):

Service towards building a relationship (pre sale service)- referred as “Pre” in subsequent
tables would include:
 Maintaining communication with the clients to better understand their needs and their
concerns; seeking to build trust
 Working to build and maintain long-term relationships with clients

Figure 4.1: Model of Service Orientation

Service
orientation

Relationship Increase Reduce

value dissonance

Service towards increasing value proposition (service at the point of

purchase)- referred as “At” in subsequent tables would include:
 Providing a conducive environment in line with customers need
expectations (aesthetics of the shop as in the case of Raymonds
outlets to satisfy the status orientation of the consumer).
 Pampering the customer during the purchase process to help him
have a memorable experience

Service towards reducing post purchase dissonance (post sale service)-

referred as “Post” in subsequent tables would include:
 After sales service
 Replacements

46
Providing the right service at the right time is what is important for a
sale to take place/ be successful. Providing the right service(s) is the
service orientation that the companies should adopt.

The appropriate service orientation would influence the customer to

develop a positive attitude. Table 4.5 shows the service orientation that
the company should adopt for different situations. When the buying
process is picking, the buyers spend very little time during purchase, so
providing service may delay the purchase process and irritate the buyer.
As sales would be dependent on the availability and visibility of the
product at the retail outlet the service has to be towards increasing value
to the trade, so that they are motivated to stock and display the products.
Buyers exhibiting habitual behaviour would require reassurance that
their decision is correct, therefore the buyers should be supported by
service aimed at reducing dissonance. Complaints should be addressed
fast otherwise the consumers would be dissatisfied. Increasing the value
proposition to the buyer (service “at” the point of purchase) should
support variety-seeking behaviour as consumers are influenced by search
attributes. When the buyer is not knowledgeable then the pre sale
(relationship/ trust) building service is the most critical and when the
behaviour is a problem solving behaviour then the orientation should be
a complete service provider (pre-at and post).

Providing the wrong type of service would affect the sales in the long
term. Muldoon (2003) states that Catalogue selling requires more
emphasis on post sale service not so much on service “at the point of
sale” (delivery and payment, which they have been emphasizing). She
states that catalogue marketers should emphasize on how items can be
returned rather than on concentrating on sale. This, she says, will help
assure the first time buyers that there is no obstacle to purchase and
thereby increase sale.

To convert the above selling styles and service orientations to the framework developed for
the selling strategy we need to integrate the two by identifying quadrants where the
involvement of buyers would be low/ high and the involvement of salesperson required
during the decision process would be low/ high.

Table 4.5 Service Orientation for different types of buying behaviour

Involvement of the end consumer in the decision process
Low High

47
 Low Picking Habit
Involvement of the Consumer indifferent to Risk of purchase is high
salesperson required the brand Brand decision dominates
during decision
process Service: Increase value Service: Reduce dissonance
proposition to the trade. Increase Post sale service

High Sub contracted decision
Involvement of the Consumer not
salesperson required knowledgeable about
during decision product/ brands.
process Trust/ relationship
building is important
Variety Seeking
Risk of purchase is low
Increase Value at the time of
purchase (At service)
Problem solving
Risk high
High involvement in decision
process.
Buyer knowledgeable
New Business selling

Service: Relationship Total service provider.

Increase pre sale service Complete service Pre-At and Post

4.6 Integrating selling strategy with selling style and service orientation
When there are low differences between the brands then the involvement of salesperson
required in the consumers’ decision process would be LOW, however, when the differences
are high then involvement of salesperson required in the consumers’ decision process could
be high if uncertainty of untried brands is high (tables 4.6). In case the uncertainity of untried
brand is low then the involvement of salesperson would be low.

Table 4.6 Salesperson’s involvement required in the decision process

Product Low uncertainty of untried brands High uncertainty of untried
characteristics brands
Low differences Involvement of salesperson required in the consumers’ decision
between brands process is LOW.
High differences Involvement of salesperson Involvement of salesperson
between brands required in the consumers’ required in the consumers’
decision process is LOW decision process is HIGH

Similarly, when the uncertainty of untried brands is low and there are no differences between
the brands then the involvement of end consumer in the decision process would be low. When
the differences between the brands are high and the uncertainty with untried brands is high,
the involvement of consumer in the decision process could be low, if the consumer is not
knowledgeable about the product category. Otherwise in the other situations the consumers’
involvement in the decision process would be high (table 4.7).

Table 4.7: Involvement of the end consumer in the decision process

Product Low uncertainty of untried High uncertainty of untried brands
characteristics brands

48
Low differences Involvement of the end Involvement of the end consumer
between brands consumer in the decision in the decision process- High
process-Low
Involvement of salesperson-low Involvement of salesperson-low
High differences Involvement of the end Involvement of the end consumer
between brands consumer in the decision in the decision process- high if the
process- high consumer is knowledgeable.
Involvement low if the buyers are
not knowledgeable.
Involvement of salesperson-low Involvement of salesperson-High

Now integrating tables 4.4 and 4.5 into the selling strategy framework (table 4.7) we derive
the selling style (table 4.8) and the service orientation (table 4.9) for the company.

Product categories having low differences between brands and low uncertainty of untried
brands would involve trade selling, where the retailer would play a dominant role and the
company salesperson has to have an acceptance selling style. The service orientation would
be to enhance the value to the retailer.

Categories having high differences between brands coupled with low uncertainty with untried
brands would also require an acceptance selling style, however, the service orientation would
be to enhance the value to the customer.

Categories with low differences and high uncertainty would require the company salesperson
to have a dominant selling style. However, for this selling style to be successful in the long
run, the company should ensure customer loyalty by reducing post sale dissonance.

The selling style and service orientation for categories with high differences and high
uncertainty between untried brands would depend on the knowledge of the buyer. If the buyer
is knowledgeable, then the company salespersons should adopt an analytical (problem
solving) selling style and provide a total service (pre-at and post sale services). If the buyer is
not knowledgeable then the company salesperson has to adopt a dominant selling style and
the predominant service would be the pre sale service (relationship building).

Table 4.8 Generalized Framework - Selling style for company sales force
Product Low uncertainty of untried brands High uncertainty of untried
characteristics brands
Low differences Trade selling High advertising support.
between brands Trade schemes Salesman (I am) OK
Salesman (I am) not OK Retailer (U) are not OK
Retailer (U) are OK Dominance
Acceptance
High differences Trade selling Selling solutions (if consumers’
between brands Salesman (I am) not OK knowledgeable)
Retailer (U) are OK Salesman (I am) OK
Acceptance Buyer (U) are OK
Analytical thinking

Missionary selling (if consumers’

not knowledgeable)

49
 Salesman (I am) OK
Buyer (U) are not OK
Dominance

Table 4.9 Generalized Framework - Service Orientation

Product Low uncertainty of untried brands High uncertainty of untried
characteristics brands
Low differences Increase value to retailer Reduce Dissonance.
between brands Service: “Post” sale
High differences Increase sales promotion. Total solution provider (if
between brands Service: “At” point of sale consumer is knowledgeable)
Service Pre-At-Post (Total
service)

If consumer is not
knowledgeable: Relationship.
Service: “Pre” sale

Based on the selling style and the service orientation the companies should train their
salespersons.

The selling strategy, selling style and the service orientation would also determine the type of
person required for the job and the effort that the salesperson has to be put for selling. Based
on this, the operational decisions (recruitment, territory planning, target setting and
motivational aspects) can be made.

Case study of SAIL TMT bars:

Given the product characteristics and the buyer behaviour of both the
existing and potential buyers in the big corporates segment, the sales
people should engage in analytical thinking and ‘I’m ok, you’re ok’
behaviour.

Involvement of the end consumer in the decision process

Low High
Low Involvement of
the salesperson required
during decision process

50
High It must be reckoned that in
Involvement of the case of the big corporations
salesperson required even as the ones with whom
during decision process SAIL has long standing
relations the involvement of
both SAIL’s marketing team
and the customers is very
high in terms of the ongoing
customer relationship
network that both the sides
want to maintain at every
stage of the purchase. As
regards the new potential
buyers in this category The
SAIL team engages in
scanning demand, informing
the buyers of the company’s
range of products and brands
and soliciting enquiries. It is
almost like new business
selling in this case. But
typically in both the cases the
selling style has to be ‘ I’m
OK, You’re OK’ as these big
buyers are also fully
knowledgeable about the
products. In case of the non
target customers too as he is
looking for comparisons of
price, quality and availability
and at TMT as a problem
solving tool his involvement
is high. The expected
involvement of the dealer too
is accordingly high as he is
expected to supply all this
information. The equation is
therefore again ‘I’m ok,
You’re OK’.
Service orientation: Total
Service (Pre- build
relationship,
At- increase proper delivery
schedule and Post- handling
customer complaints)

51