Personal Sales vs. Direct Marketing – Which Suits Your Brand Personality?
When you’re wondering where to spend your marketing budget it can be helpful to clarify the plus and minus points of personal sales, and direct marketing. You may end up using a mix of both, but the question is, where does the balance of greatest benefit lie for your particular business? Here’s our list of personal versus direct marketing pros and cons to help you decide.
Personal Sales
Businesses tend to employ dedicated sales people in sectors such as retail and insurance, or when they are after a long-term relationship with another business, and personal interaction makes a significant difference in fostering that relationship.
On the upside
When you engage in direct personal contact with a potential customer, you can tell right away if your sales pitch isn’t working, and you have the opportunity to do something different. Questions can be answered in real time, and subliminals such as body language come into play.
A con for cost and time
People cost money and not just salary, there can be training and travel expenses too. Another important factor to bear in mind is that each sales person can only engage a finite number of people in any single day – more in an urban context and less in rural areas.
Direct Marketing
This covers any marketing channel that seeks to contact the customer remotely in the first instance. It’s everything from direct mail, to social media and email, and usually includes some kind of call to action, whether that’s ‘call us today’ or encouragement to visit a website.
On the upside
You can reach many more people in a certain time frame, and more cheaply than you can in person.
Cons
Because it is so cost-effective everyone does it. Consumers fight back with spam filters on their email, and by not always opening direct mail.
There’s no magic solution, but knowing your target market also helps to clarify which methods are likely to work best, such as mobile for the younger generation, and personal contact for seniors.
