Section – A
Q-1 Define personal selling and discuss its advantages and disadvantages. (10)
Ans. Personal selling happens when companies and business firms send out their salesmen to use the
sale force and sell the products and services by meeting the consumer face – to – face. The salesmen
aim to inform and encourage the customer to buy, or at least try the product.
Personal Selling Examples
For example, salesmen go to different societies to sell the products. Another example is found in
department stores on the perfume and cosmetic counters, wherein agents of the company try to sell
their products. A customer can get advice on how to apply the product and can try different products.
Products with relatively high prices, or with complex features, are often sold using personal selling.
Great examples include cars, office equipment (e.g. photocopiers) and many products that are sold by
businesses to other industrial customers.
Advantages of Personal Selling
It is two-way communication. So the selling agent can get instant feedback from the prospective buyer.
If it is not according to plan, he can even adjust his approach or sales presentation accordingly.
Since it is an interactive form of selling, it helps build trust with the customer. When you are selling high
value products like cars, it is important that the customer trusts not only the product but the seller also.
This is possible in personal selling.
It also is a more persuasive form of marketing. Since the customer is face to face with the salesperson it
is not easy to dismiss them. The customer at least makes an effort to listen.
Finally, direct selling helps reach the audience that we cannot reach in any other form. There are
sometimes customers that cannot be reached by any other method.
, Disadvantages of Personal Selling
It is a relatively expensive method of selling. There is a requirement of high capital costs.
Also, it is an extremely labour-intensive method because a large sales force is required to carry out
personal selling successfully.
The training of the salesperson is also a very time consuming and costly process.
And the method can only reach a limited number of people. Unlike TV or Radio ads it does not cover a
huge demographic.
Q-2 What do you understand by buying motives? What are the various types of buying motives? (10)
Ans. Buying motives of a buyer refers to the influences or motivations forces which determine his
buying. In other words, a buying motive is the inner feelings, urge, instinct, drive, desire, stimulus,
thoughts, or emotion that makes a buyer buy a certain product or service to satisfy his needs.
For the convenience of the study, the various classifications given by each of them are grouped into, as
follows:
1. Physical, Psychological and Sociological Buying Motives:
The psychological buying motives are related to the satisfaction of basic human needs for subsistence
such as satisfaction of the needs for food, shelter and clothes, and security. The psychological buying
motives relates to the need for prestige or self-preservation, etc. The sociological buying motives are
related to the motives that exist at present and is expected in all the social situations.
2. Acquired and Inherent Buying Motives:
The acquired buying motives are learned motives and are influenced by the environment factors. Such
motives are related to socio-economic conditions and the level of education, such as economy,
information, work efficiency, profit facility, quality, beauty, fashion, social presage, acceptance, etc.
The inherent buying motives are present in a person from his birth. It belongs to basic human instincts
whereas the acquired buying motives are concerned with the environment. They are influenced by
hunger, thirsts, sleep, leisure, security, playing entertainment, etc.
3. Primary and Selective Buying Motives:
The primary buying motives increase the general demands for products and not the specific demands
for a specified product/brand. The demands for radios, TVs, cars, motorcycles, etc. Fall under this
category of primary motives. The selective buying motives influence for the purchase of specific brands,
for instance, the demands for Bajaj’s Chetak Scooter, Onida TV, Philips Radios, etc.
4. Conscious and Dormant Buying Motives:
The conscious buying motives are such motives, which are identified by the buyer without any help
from marketing functions, like advertising, personal selling or promotional tools. The conscious buying
motives influence the satisfaction of presently existing needs of a customer. Such buying motives take
Q-1 Define personal selling and discuss its advantages and disadvantages. (10)
Ans. Personal selling happens when companies and business firms send out their salesmen to use the
sale force and sell the products and services by meeting the consumer face – to – face. The salesmen
aim to inform and encourage the customer to buy, or at least try the product.
Personal Selling Examples
For example, salesmen go to different societies to sell the products. Another example is found in
department stores on the perfume and cosmetic counters, wherein agents of the company try to sell
their products. A customer can get advice on how to apply the product and can try different products.
Products with relatively high prices, or with complex features, are often sold using personal selling.
Great examples include cars, office equipment (e.g. photocopiers) and many products that are sold by
businesses to other industrial customers.
Advantages of Personal Selling
It is two-way communication. So the selling agent can get instant feedback from the prospective buyer.
If it is not according to plan, he can even adjust his approach or sales presentation accordingly.
Since it is an interactive form of selling, it helps build trust with the customer. When you are selling high
value products like cars, it is important that the customer trusts not only the product but the seller also.
This is possible in personal selling.
It also is a more persuasive form of marketing. Since the customer is face to face with the salesperson it
is not easy to dismiss them. The customer at least makes an effort to listen.
Finally, direct selling helps reach the audience that we cannot reach in any other form. There are
sometimes customers that cannot be reached by any other method.
, Disadvantages of Personal Selling
It is a relatively expensive method of selling. There is a requirement of high capital costs.
Also, it is an extremely labour-intensive method because a large sales force is required to carry out
personal selling successfully.
The training of the salesperson is also a very time consuming and costly process.
And the method can only reach a limited number of people. Unlike TV or Radio ads it does not cover a
huge demographic.
Q-2 What do you understand by buying motives? What are the various types of buying motives? (10)
Ans. Buying motives of a buyer refers to the influences or motivations forces which determine his
buying. In other words, a buying motive is the inner feelings, urge, instinct, drive, desire, stimulus,
thoughts, or emotion that makes a buyer buy a certain product or service to satisfy his needs.
For the convenience of the study, the various classifications given by each of them are grouped into, as
follows:
1. Physical, Psychological and Sociological Buying Motives:
The psychological buying motives are related to the satisfaction of basic human needs for subsistence
such as satisfaction of the needs for food, shelter and clothes, and security. The psychological buying
motives relates to the need for prestige or self-preservation, etc. The sociological buying motives are
related to the motives that exist at present and is expected in all the social situations.
2. Acquired and Inherent Buying Motives:
The acquired buying motives are learned motives and are influenced by the environment factors. Such
motives are related to socio-economic conditions and the level of education, such as economy,
information, work efficiency, profit facility, quality, beauty, fashion, social presage, acceptance, etc.
The inherent buying motives are present in a person from his birth. It belongs to basic human instincts
whereas the acquired buying motives are concerned with the environment. They are influenced by
hunger, thirsts, sleep, leisure, security, playing entertainment, etc.
3. Primary and Selective Buying Motives:
The primary buying motives increase the general demands for products and not the specific demands
for a specified product/brand. The demands for radios, TVs, cars, motorcycles, etc. Fall under this
category of primary motives. The selective buying motives influence for the purchase of specific brands,
for instance, the demands for Bajaj’s Chetak Scooter, Onida TV, Philips Radios, etc.
4. Conscious and Dormant Buying Motives:
The conscious buying motives are such motives, which are identified by the buyer without any help
from marketing functions, like advertising, personal selling or promotional tools. The conscious buying
motives influence the satisfaction of presently existing needs of a customer. Such buying motives take
