Page 196 - DMGT507_SALES AND PROMOTIONS MANAGEMENT

Sales and Promotions Management

Notes quantity, and delivery etc., the prospect prefers. The prospect's response to such questions
indicates how close the prospect really is for making the purchase. The salesperson might also
indicate the advantage of buying now, or offer some incentive to act just then. The salesperson
may also repeat strong points of agreement and take a decisive and confident approach and ask
for an order.
In most business-to-business (B2B) buying situations, salespersons need to be skilled negotiators
during the sales presentation. The negotiations may involve factors concerning price, quality,
service, delivery, payment terms etc. The salesperson should be able to negotiate and work out
a final settlement to which both buyer and seller are willing to agree to its terms and conditions.
It is a win-win situation for both the parties when negotiations are concluded successfully.

Follow-Up

Post-purchase follow up is very important in building customer confidence and long-term
relationship with the company. The salesperson contacts customer to learn if there are any
problems and answers any questions that the customer does. He also contacts customers regularly
to ascertain that they are happy with their purchase and offered services. Relationship selling
not just focuses on selling the product but to understand changing customer needs, and solving
their problems. All the company departments must understand the value of customer and
provide appropriate backup to sales people to strengthen this relationship. As long as both the
customer and the seller are successful in achieving their goals, the relationship continues to
prosper.

11.2 Outdoor Advertising

Outdoor advertising represents the oldest medium. We have already seen in the historical
background that outdoor advertising existed as early as 5,000 years ago in Babylon, Greece and
Egypt. Painted advertising dates at least to Pompeii, where decorated walls promoted
merchandise. Outdoor advertising is one of the more permeating communications and it is
almost impossible for anyone living in a civilized society anywhere in this world not to have
been exposed to it in one form or the other.
Outdoor advertising is usually used as a supportive medium by most national advertisers and
includes billboards, hoarding, posters, wall paintings, and transit advertising, etc. Outdoor
advertising can generate considerable reach and frequency levels at a fraction of the cost of
mainstream media and is most successful when it is used to accomplish narrowly defined
communication objectives, such as:
1. To generate immediate brand name recognition when introducing a new product and
complement other forms of advertising.
2. To remind customers who are already in the market-place about established and recognised
brands of the marketer.
Outdoor advertising has become a useful medium with the increase in the number of automobiles
and improved road network. Roadside and market area billboards are increasingly in demand
by advertisers, particularly on the prime locations. The original poster used to be a sheet of
paper measuring 28 inches by 41 inches called "one sheet." A number of these could be combined
to create larger ones to fit different frames. The most popular is the 24-sheet poster, which has a
copy area of 104 inches by 234 inches. In recent years, posters of larger size are gaining increasing
acceptance, having a copy area of 115 inches by 259 inches, or bleed posters measuring 125 inches
by 272 inches. Poster panels can be illuminated or non-illuminated (also called regular posters).
Illuminated posters are fairly common in metros and large cities with sufficient night traffic.

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