How is the personal selling process and customer relationship management interrelated? What are the primary requirements of value selling?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The selling process should be understood in the context of building and maintaining profitable customer relationships, as companies are interested in more than simply securing a one-time sale. Successful sales organizations recognize that winning and keeping accounts requires more than making good products and directing the sales force to close lots of sales. If the company wishes only to close sales and capture short-term business, it can do this by simply slashing its prices to meet or beat those of competitors. Instead, most companies want their salespeople to practice value selling—demonstrating and delivering superior customer value and capturing a return on that value that is fair for both the customer and the company.
Unfortunately, in the heat of closing sales—especially in a tight economy—salespeople often take the easy way out by cutting prices rather than selling value. Sales management's challenge is to transform salespeople from customer advocates for price cuts into company advocates for value. Value selling requires listening to customers, understanding their needs, and carefully coordinating the whole company's efforts to create lasting relationships based on customer value.