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Stanley Marcus, of Neiman-Marcus, once said,
"Either (retailers) will find a way to make a vast improvement in the quality of
selling service or they will not survive. They will become dinosaurs--retailers whose
pricing is above self-service discount stores but who fail to provide the service
customers expect in a service store."
In the business of selling products to final consumers on a face-to-face basis, I feel
there are two formats that exist, "retailing" and "protailing". The
discussion that follows should clearly differentiate the role of the salesperson under
each of these terms.
The importance of personal selling varies among retail firms depending on each firm’s
strategic position. For low-price, low-service firms, personal selling cannot be a
priority. Such firms seek only to facilitate sales transactions, and their employees are
commonly referred to as sales clerks. Clerks operate check-out terminals and carry out
store policies with regard to credit cards and checks. Hopefully, they also smile at
customers and thank them for shopping in the store. Clerks fall into the
"retail" category because they wait for the customer to act, and then they
respond.
You should note that these employees are not usually the store’s primary attraction;
they add little, if any, value to the merchandise. The major attraction of such stores is
their low prices. Because management must cut costs to operate the store profitably, most
sales clerks are paid at or near minimum wage. Little money is invested in their training
beyond the basics of operating a check-out terminal.
Whereas sales clerks are largely order takers, the professional retail salespeople
employed by high-service retailers are order-getters. These are the people I like to call
"protailers". They are proactive and highly professional. Through
their knowledge and skills, they attract customers into the store and then help them find
the merchandise that meets their needs. Given the difficulties today’s retailers have
in differentiating themselves in terms of location or merchandise, professional retail
salespeople are the competitive edge that can make the difference between a store that
offers good value, and a high-price, low-service operation that is destined to fail.
In a high-service operation, the salesperson is the store. As the only person with
whom the customer is likely to come into contact, the professional salesperson is a
boundary spanner. He or she represents the store and its merchandise to customers and at
the same time communicates customers’ needs, desires, and concerns to management.
Because they interact with customers on a daily basis, salespeople often are called the
firm’s "eyes and ears". Frequently, they are the firm’s best-informed
people on the subject of what customers think and expect.
Because the salesperson communicates directly with customers on a one-on-one basis,
personal selling has more impact than any other element of the retailer’s promotional
mix. The customer who hears a radio or television ad or reads a printed ad receives the
same message that is sent to thousands or even millions of other potential customers. But
while receiving and considering the message, the customer also experiences
noise--distractions that limit his or her ability to process the information. A customer
who is listening to the radio, while reading or talking with a family member, while also
watching television can easily miss or misinterpret the advertiser’s message. There
is no opportunity to ask questions or seek further explanation. The one-way nature of the
communication reduces the effectiveness of mass promotion.
In contrast, in personal selling, the message can be tailored to a particular customer.
The customer can ask questions, and the salesperson can watch and actively listen to the
customer. Through this process, the salesperson is able to determine the customer’s
needs. Despite the noise in the form of other shoppers, music, and so on, the message can
be repeated or modified if either party misses a point or misunderstands what was said.
This ability to tailor the message to the recipient is the true strength of personal
selling. It is at its very best in the form of a "protail" salesperson
meeting all the complex needs of an ever more demanding shopper.
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