Question

Developing a sales presentation can be difficult. Especially when you are the only salesperson. However, sometimes you will have the option to sell a product or service as a group. Discuss 3 pros and cons for individual selling and group sales.

Answer 1

The basic difference between Individual Selling and Group Selling :from the number of people engaged in the process. If there is one dedicated person who handles all selling activity it is known as individual selling. In this, the entire market share falls upon the responsibility of that one person who then has to ensure that specific targets are met.

Further, in case of group selling, the market is divided into a group which handles different market areas and sells the products or services together each of the approach has its own pros and cons which are described as follows.

Pros for Individual Selling:-

1) The cost of selling a product, significantly reduces in case of individual sales. Companies which are tight on budgets use this approach to reach out to small areas when their overall production and sales capabilities is limited

2) In group selling, areas are divided into representatives who then approach buyers of the product. Under Individual Selling, the entire market is deemed to be one single place. This allows lesser competition for the representative within the team.

3) The concept of relationship marketing can be better achieved by having a single sales representative. This is because it is easier for him to achieve a higher connect with the customers as the market has not been further divided.

Cons of Individual Selling:-

1) The learning of an individual seller is much lesser than a group as a whole. This is because his insight is limited to his capabilities rather than of the group as a whole

2) An individual seller can relatively give lesser hours to a single territory if the sales volume were to increase. It becomes problematic for a larger company to operate under an Individual Selling model.

3) It becomes difficult for a company to expand its operations if it follows an individual selling model, disregarding the market size which it is capable of catering to,

Pros of Group Selling:-

1) In group selling the market reach of the company increases significantly. A group of people can reach out to more people than a single person can

2) Relevant data can be collected by multiple people who have their own views and thus knowledge sharing is better due to diversity in factors such as skill, culture, ethnicity, gender etc. People within the sales force, then collect more data and are more dynamic than having a single seller that operates in a market place.

3) With sales representatives being more, and the reach of the company increasing, it is a known fact that an optimum group selling model will bring in more sales and revenue for a company.

Cons of Group Selling:-

1) The market in a group selling model gets divided within the company. This causes competition within the sales representative group which tend to fight within than with companies outside.

2) The cost of having multiple sales representatives is higher than that of an individual model

3) Companies with low market demand, cannot survive by having more representatives. If the product and its characteristics are such, that they cater to the need of a specific market type or the market demand for such products is relatively low, then having multiple sellers would only hamper growth and decrease profits for the firm.

Please feel free to ask your doubts in the comments section if any.