Write short notes  on :

A) Public relations. B) Personal selling

Ans. A) Public Relation :–

Introduction :– The main goal of a public relations department is to enhance a company’s

reputation. Staff that work in public relations, or as it is commonly known, PR, are skilled publicists. They are able to present a company or individual to the world in the best light. The role of a public relations department can be seen as a reputation protector.

The business world of today is extremely competitive. Companies need to have  an  edge  that  makes  them  stand  out  from  the  crowd,  something  that makes them more appealing and interesting to both the public and the media. The public  are the  buyers  of the  product and the  media  are  responsible  for selling it.

Meaning  :–  Public  relations  (PR)  are  the  management  of  internal  and external communication of an organization to create and maintain a positive image. Public relations  involve popularizing successes,  announcing changes and many other activities.

Advantages of Public Relations :–

i) It helps in building and maintaining relations with local community.

ii) It helps in keeping better relations with the investors.

iii) A good image with social groups creates word of mouth advertising.

iv) It helps in reducing the conflicts and misconception about company or product.

v) It helps in publicizing the products

Objectives of Public relations :–

Public relations provide a service for the company by helping to give the public  and  the  media  a  better  understanding  of  how  the  company  works. Within  a  company,  public  relations  can  also  come  under  the  title of  public information or customer relations. These departments assist customers if they have  any  problems  with  the  company.  They  are  usually  the  most  helpful departments, as they exist to show the company at their best.

PR  also  helps  the  company  to  achieve  its  full  potential.  They  provide feedback  to  the  company  from  the  public.  This  usually  takes  the  form  of research regarding what areas the public is most happy and unhappy with. People often have the perception of public relations as a group of people who  spin  everything.  Spin  can  mean  to turn  around  a  bad  situation  to  the company’s advantage. It is true that part of the purpose of public relations is to show  the  company  in a  positive light  no  matter  what.  There  are  certain  PR experts that a company can turn to for this particular skill.

The public often think of PR as a glamorous job. Public relations people seem to have been tarred with the image of constant partying and networking to find new contacts. The reality is usually long hours and hard work for anyone involved in public relations.

Personal Selling :– The communication technique in which sales people builds

the  personal  relationship  with  customers  to  generate  the  value  for  the

organization.

Nature of personal selling :– There are various types of sales jobs used to sell

the product of the organizations.  They are :-

1. Delivering :– The job of sales executives is to reach the products to the customer destination.

2. Inside order taker :– Sales executives in the retail stores like Subhiksha help the customer in identifying the product.

3. Outside order :– These are field executives who go to the customer place and get the order.

4. Missionary  selling  :–  Sales  executives  provide  the  information  and promote the company products-medical representatives.

5. Sales engineer :– In this position, the sales executive is technical expert and  works  with  non-technical  sales  executive  to provide assistance  on technical information sought by the customer.

Personal Selling Process :–

1. Lead  generation  :–  Identification  of  prospects  is  first  step  in  personal selling  process. Organization’s  generates  the  lead  through  customer references, trade association and customer directories etc.

2. Lead evaluation :– All the methods used for lead generation may not be genuine.  Marketer should concentrate on whether the lead generated has necessary willingness, purchasing power and authority to buy.

3. Buyer analysis :– Before approaching the customer, sales force  should understand what products prospects bought in the past, what products he is now using and what are his attitude and buying habits towards the products. Sales personnel should set sales objectives and prepare draft for customer approach.

4. Approaching the Customer :– In this step sales person should know how to  meet  the  prospect  and  what  is  the  mode  to  build  rapport  with  him (customers).

5. Presentation  and  demonstration  :–  Sales  presentation  starts  with briefing the product.  The presentation should be simple and attracting.

6. Providing solutions to customer :– After the presentation if any queries exists, then sales executive should handle the questions properly with lot of attentiveness and should solve the problems of customers.

7. Order  generation  :–  This  process  is  very  important  one  in  the  entire personal  selling  process.  Handling  customer  at  this  stage  is  also  very difficult. Sales people also face unrealistic expectation from the customer. Sales executive should be smart enough to use order closing techniques.

8. Follow up :– Sales executives should follow up the order generated. It will help  the  company  to  identify  the  customer  satisfaction  towards  the product.  It  also  helps  them  to  induce  the  buyer  to  go  for  repeated purchase.