The first five steps in the process of Personal Selling are :
(i) Preparation : First of all, a well-trained and motivated sales force is developed. Salespersons must have knowledge of the firm and its products and services, competitors and their products and services, customers and selling techniques. They must be fully aware with the quality, uses, prices, etc., of the goods to be sold.
(ii) Prospecting : Prospecting means locating and identifying the potential buyers. A list of prospective customers can be prepared with the help of dealers, salespersons, telephone and trade directories etc. Information about the age, income, education, family background, tastes, preferences, etc., of prospective buyers should be collected which is known as pre-approach.
(iii) Approach : In this step, the salesperson makes face-to-face contact with the prospective buyer. The sales person should introduce himself, greet the customer and start the conversation with him/her so as to create a good first impression.
(iv) Presentation : Now the salesperson displays and describes the product to be sold. He/she should tactfully demonstrate the product and explain its quality, utility, performance, etc. to the customers and explain them how the product meet their needs.
(v) Convincing : At this stage, objections raised by the customers are handled by the salespersons. And here, objections are considered as opportunities, so without arguing and loosing temper salesperson should understand the objection causes and should try to convince the customer to close the sales.