Ch. 17 - Personal Selling and Sales Management

Personal selling, as opposed to advertising and sales promotion, is less effective for Delta because it does not require agents selling costumers airline tickets face to face. As apposed to personal selling, relationship selling is used today, for example over the phone communication with costumers. Costumers can call Delta Airlines from anywhere in the world and talk to a sales agent that can help them upgrade their seat, track luggage or simply buy a ticket.  Apart of what makes Delta a leading Airline carrier is their emphasis on building relationships with their costumers. They want to provide the best possible relationship selling experience to attract new costumers along with retaining loyal existing ones.

 

The sales process, generating leads for Delta is simple. They primarily obtain their leads through advertising, social media, and telemarketing programs. The evolution of direct mail has died out due to the more successful forms of generating leads, like the Internet.  Postage has become increasingly expensive along with the decline of costumers actually purchasing a ticket from a mail ad. Many costumers go straight to Delta’s website to buy their tickets, making their website a lead in itself. Among the competition between airlines, in order for Delta to stay competitive they frequently use need assessments to determining what the customer specifically wants out of their flying experience. Examples include: Delta comfort, for flyers that wanted extra legroom along with many of the exclusive perks of first class.

Delta’s website has interactive videos that show what it is actually like being one of their employees, ranging from flight attendants to cargo and gate security. In the video, existing employees explain and demonstrate what it would be like to work for Delta Air lines.