Personal selling is the most widely used form of selling a product. You go into a retail store and the salesperson is there to help you make a purchase. As a consumer, my response to personal selling is negative. When I go into a store and I just want to look around, the salesperson is right there in your face. When I'm shopping in a store, and I need a question answered about a product, I can't find a salesperson that can help me. I prefer to be left alone when making a decision about buying a product. I also like knowing however, that someone is close by who can answer all my questions if I need them to.

There's nothing worse than making a decision to buy a product that you have really thought about and cost quite a bit of money, but you can't get a direct answer out of the salesperson. I think it's important for retailers to educate their employees on what their selling. I don't think you need personal selling when purchasing certain items such as from a grocery store or convenience store. Even though you can buy just about everything online, some products are better handled by a person to person sale such as a vehicle. With advertising the way it is today, with information you might need on a product be it on TV or a magazine ad or you can really do your research by Internet, you might not need a personal salesperson.

When purchasing a computer such as from Dell, their aren't any Dell stores in the area, you don't talk to a salesperson, you go online and customize one to be shipped to your door. There is no need to have contact with a person unless you need customer service. In Dell's promotional strategies, they use advertising sales and sales promotions. The only time I've ever seen a Dell product sold on TV by a salesperson was on QUV and The Home Shopping Network. Dell products are only sold on these TV programs at certain times. A salesperson actually goes over the product and explains everything that it's capable of and whats included in the package. When you go on Dell's website to order what you want, you select what you want from the list and customize it, it tells how much it will cost plus shipping and a time range in which you will receive the finished product.

There are not too many products sold like this online, more and more people are using the Internet to buy everyday purchases which eliminates some need for salespeople. Sometimes I find that a high end store such as Dillard's will handle their customers differently from a store such as Wal-Mart or Kmart. If you go into a Dillard's you notice the aisles are a lot bigger giving people more room to move around in, the salespeople are right there if you need them. If you go into a store like Wal-Mart, sometimes you have to flag down a salesperson or "associate" to be technical with Wal-Mart, and they have to find someone who knows what you're talking about. So, in Dillard's you probably get what you pay for.

Many stores consider personal selling the key to being successful. If you can get a customer interested by interaction in a product, then most likely they'll be interested in buying it. Today, about 16 million people in the United States are in sales or sales related jobs. Companies spend 5 to 10 times as much in personal selling than they do with advertising. Many businesses rely on the effectiveness of their salespeople. They want to make sure when a customer comes into the store, they are taken care of by the salesperson and they are pleased with the product, so they will return.