Direct Methods of Interview & Evolution of Marketing

Posted on Aug 19, 2024 in Economy

Direct Methods of Interview

Personal Visit

The “free door called” method is the direct presentation of the seller to the prospective buyer. This method has the advantage that the vendor is already in place for the interview. You can see the business aspect of the courtroom and ask questions while you wait.

Phone Call

This method aims to get the interview completed. The advantage is that it eliminates waiting time, the client is prepared and knows the purpose of the visit. All this represents an initial interest of the customer for the product or service you will offer.

Some Problems with Phone Calls:

• It is difficult to locate by telephone the person who is most suitable to visit for the sale in question.
• Locating the right person on the phone may require overly broad information on the subject of the interview and its content, which can be easily frustrating.
• For any person, it is easier to avoid a phone interview than a personal interview.

Previous Letter

Objectives:

• To show the potential customer that you understand their problems and needs.
• Ensure that the client can raise questions about the best way to deal with these problems and needs.
• Request a date and time for the interview.

Sales Techniques

Skin Bear Technique

The seller acts as if the client has already taken the decision to buy. For example, they might start measuring for a suit or accompanying the customer to the checkout.

Balloon Technique

This technique is exciting and perhaps alarming. If the client does not accept the offer then, perhaps there is no longer a chance.

Balls Technique

During the sale, the customer will engage on several arguments. Each “yes” is a commitment by the customer. At the end, the seller only has to resort to partial closure if the customer is hesitant to buy.

Hook Technique

If the sale is not achieved at the first attempt, this technique can be used as a final attack. The seller seems to forget the subject and then hooks the argumentation again on a different aspect, like they had forgotten something.

Different Meanings of Customer Service

1. The activities necessary to ensure that the product or service is delivered to the customer at the right time and in the correct amounts.
2. The working relationships among employees of the supplier and customer.
3. The provision of repair and maintenance services after the sale.
4. The service provided by the company department that handles complaints from customers.
5. The sales department’s receipt of orders for the company.

We could define customer service as all activities that connect an organization with its customers.

Evolution of Marketing

1. Industrial Revolution

Characterized by needs growing faster than supply potential due to the scarcity of productive means. The primary objective is to increase production methods available and increase supply.

2. Economic Growth

As the industrial economy develops and becomes more complex, distribution channels become outdated due to factors like:

• The geographical expansion of the markets.
• Difficulty in adapting to the demands of large-scale production methods.
• Increasing concern for greater control over demand.

3. The Economics of Abundance

The word “superproduction” became more frequent, and marketing became more interesting. From this point, the business perspective changes, moving from a supply-focused vision to a demand-focused vision. Marketing goes from being a primary function to being a support and maintenance function for companies.

4. Post-Industrial Society

Marketing seeks to achieve a balance between supply and demand.

Marketing

A set of activities to achieve, to benefit the satisfaction of consumer needs with a product or service.

Objectives:

1. Meet the needs of the consumer.
2. Achieve optimal sales or production levels, with quality and fair cost.
3. Harmonize the efforts of the entire business organization.
4. Profit.

Internal Variables

A) Non-Commercial Variables

Have a great influence on business, including aspects of production, financing, personnel, research, and so on.

B) Commercial Variables

These are variables on which marketing has a direct influence, such as product pricing, distribution, and communication. These are known as the 4 Ps of marketing (product, price, place, and promotion) and make up the marketing mix.

Macro Environment

Variables that are further away from the company:

A) Demography

Examining the elements that make up the market. It is important to know which and how many items are produced.

B) Economic

We must find economic markets that have the availability to buy. The more income, the more consumption.

C) Competition

A set of production companies offering their products on the market for goods and services. We need to know the companies competing in the market and have to see if it is possible or not to participate in the market with existing competitors.

D) Social and Cultural Factors

Consumers have beliefs, customs, and ways of thinking that influence their behavior. There are many instances in which firms face cultural or social problems in trying to sell products or services in certain areas.

E) Technology

The evolution of technology over time. Think about the market for microwaves or induction cooktops.

F) Ecological or Environmental Factor

Factories are increasingly concerned with producing less ecological impact. The ecological element is one of the arguments used by many brands.

G) Legal and Political Factors

Many decisions to be taken by the company depend on the law. There are rules on advertising, price, schedules, patents, etc.

Microenvironment

A) The Market

The market is not a physical location, but a sum of supply and demand interactions. We will study it as a set of transactions.

B) Intermediaries

Those who bring producers and consumers into contact. The company sometimes does not relate directly to consumers but relates through intermediaries that are more in touch with them. Intermediaries foster the exchange of goods and perform a function of market information, requirements, and needs.

C) Suppliers

These are the suppliers from whom the company buys its articles. The way they provide, and how quickly, is crucial to our success. We must select suppliers who are as reliable as possible and avoid having a single supplier. Our relationship with suppliers is very important.

Market Segmentation

The decomposition of the market into portions or segments that suit a wide range of criteria. You can divide the universe consisting of all potential consumers. The delimitation and concretion of their needs may be useful when:

• Opening new stores or remodeling existing ones.
• Commercializing new or changed designs, content, etc., of existing products.
• Adapting trade policy to the characteristics of that specific market segment.

Sex

We used to qualify consumer marketing as male and female. However, we are discovering the great participation that women have in the purchase of items not only for the home but also for traditionally male-dominated areas. Sex is also the essence of erotic advertising content that, in a more or less subtle way, is invading the motivation for the purchase of many products in the current era.

The Region

If it is a product that is distributed internationally, the regional aspect of the policy toward each country is critical. Not only in the international arena where regional aspects of products may affect you but also within the same nation where these characteristics have great importance. They were not specialized to particular regions and each minimized, but consider the value of the different, the common of each region.

The Habitat

This is the human group where a consumer lives: the framework where they develop their existence. Habitat is a determinant of high interest for consumer products, as experience shows that these characteristics have a decisive influence on the purchasing patterns of its inhabitants.

Socio-Economic Level

As income grows, there are changes, both quantitative and qualitative, in demand. Proportionately, the costs of food reduce, housing costs and home care stabilize, and the costs of clothing, health, education, and travel increase. The socio-economic level of the consumer is based on the type of dwelling, place of residence, education, etc., and it is of great interest to know the consumption habits of the product we sell.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

• Physiological needs: food, clothing, rest…
• Safety needs: to be surrounded by relatives, to feel safe.
• Need for love and belonging: to be loved and to belong to a group.
• Need for self-esteem: to have confidence in yourself and to be recognized by others.
• Self-actualization needs: continuing development of the creative sense of man.

The Reasons for Purchase

A) Inherent and Learned Needs

• Physiological needs (hunger, thirst, cold, pain, sex, and self-defense are inherent or primary reasons).
• Social needs (cooperation, fear-based tendency to acquire learned).

B) Emotional and Rational Statements

Emotional reasons include hunger, thirst, desire for a mate, the safety of loved ones, prestige, pride, and others. Our rational reasons include purchase price, considerations of use, duration, reliance, efficiency, and so on.