Man is a social animal and the salesman being a part of the society is no exception. A salesman is required to deal with different types of people in the society, persuade and influence them in favour of products and services, move in different circles, meet many customers and get along with them.
Therefore, salesmen must possess certain social qualities. The social qualities which are essential for a salesman are as follows:
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(a) Ability and eagerness to meet people:
The salesman is required to develop a natural tendency to meet people in a cordial and friendly manner. He should be an extrovert, who likes mixing with people and enjoys talking with them. He is expected to be friendly by nature so that he can meet different persons easily.
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He should develop the attitude of mixing with people and adapt himself to customers of differing age, sex, lifestyle, backgrounds, and level of education, beliefs and attitudes. He should never hesitate to meet unknown persons.
(b) Effective speech:
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A salesman should talk pleasingly, convincingly and logically to impress the customers. Ability to speak clearly and correctly creates favourable impression on the customers. The sales talk should be clear, pleasant and persuasive.
For this, a salesman should have good communication skills, sweet voice, clear pronunciation, appropriate use of words and fluent expression. It is necessarily an art and can be developed and refined by constant effort and practice.
(c) Courtesy:
A salesman is expected to be polite and considerate in his dealings with customers. It has been rightly pointed out, ‘courtesy costs nothing but pays much’. Respecting customers and a sincere desire to serve customers are essential for success in salesmanship. It should be remembered that use of courteous words like ‘thank you’, ‘please’, ‘welcome’, ‘excuse me’, ‘just a minute’ in appropriate occasions costs the salesman nothing.
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Rather, it creates a favourable and lasting impression on the customers. The practice of greeting and thanking customers should not be forgotten. For example, when a lady customer approaches the salesman should stand up or he should cover his mouth with a handkerchief when he sneezes and so on.
There are certain courtesy rules like not being late for appointments, being polite to the customers, avoid talking loudly, dressing up neatly, listening patiently and never losing temper. These common rules should not be forgotten by the salesman. Courtesy through friendliness and unselfish service is indispensable in creating goodwill.
(d) Tact:
A salesman has to deal with a number of customers. Accordingly, he should be able to provide different type of services. Tact is essential for doing the same. Tact is nothing but doing things correctly at the right moment without offending others. He should speak properly and work accurately to avoid causing dissatisfaction and inconvenience. Tact is the ability of the salesman to tackle all kinds of situations.
This quality can be developed by putting oneself in place of customers. In doing so, the salesman can understand the problem of the customers. For example, there are silent customers who must be dealt with differently from the talkative customers. There are some customers who know about the products even better than the salesman whereas there are some ignorant customers who know little about the products they intend to purchase. Each of them should be dealt with differently.
(e) Cooperation:
Cooperation with customers, fellow salesman, superiors and general public helps the salesman in doing better business and serve the firm in a better way. It is a collective action resulting in mutual benefit. Customers usually depend on the salesman to a great extent for selecting the products, which will satisfy their needs most appropriately.
The salesman has to extend full cooperation and help them by recommending the best product to suit their needs. Similarly, cooperation and help are also necessary among the salesmen and between the salesman and his superiors and the organisation. In fact, every successful business is backed by a perfect teamwork of salesmen
The sales force therefore is required to work in unison and with a team spirit. This team spirit helps in solving their personal as well as professional problems and meeting the challenges in the market.
(f) Good Manners:
The most important social quality that a salesman must have is good manners. It has been rightly pointed out that in the long run it is only the manner that count and not the price, quality and utility of the goods or services which have been sold. A salesman must always be polite and respectful towards the customers and his talk should be polished.
A customer is the king for the salesman. Customers are automatically attracted towards a salesman with good behaviour and politeness. A salesman at no point of time should get angry with the customers. If he does, he loses sale. Good manners therefore, should be developed.
Certain behaviour — like cleaning the throat frequently while talking, chewing paan, scratching tables with fingers, swinging on the chair, propping the legs on the table, fiddling with pockets or handkerchiefs, cracking the knuckles, toying with the ring and so on—generally irritate customers. Therefore such manners should be avoided.
It is true that good manners will come only when bad manners are avoided. A salesman will prosper only when he cultivates good manners.
(g) Patience and Tolerance:
Another important quality that is needed for a salesman is patience and tolerance. At times, customers start arguing regarding the utility and price of the product or service offered for sale. Under such circumstances, the salesman should remain cool.
He should try to listen patiently to the arguments of the customers, their objections regarding the products or services.\He should try to explain his views in a polite manner and remove the objections through pleasing replies.
It should be noted that a sale is not made in a day. It may take several days and at times even months. Therefore, the salesman has to wait patiently till the sale is finally made. Salesmen with bad tempers lose sales propositions easily.