Personal Selling and Sales Management

In chapter 18, I read about the sales promotion in addition to using advertising, public relations, and personal selling, marketing managers can use sales promotions to increase the effectiveness of their promotional efforts. Apple Inc. as rarely offers promotional codes or discount coupons but they usually have special deals available for the products sold on the special occasions like Black Friday and Christmas holiday shopping season.

            Apple Inc. sells the products at the retail stores, online stores, and many other retail chains such as Wal-mart, Best Buy, T-mobile and many more. When Apple Inc. uses their sales promotions they usually target the ultimate consumers.

For the Consumer sales promotion Apple offers the gift cards, free delivery option, offers in-store pickup for many of the items available on the Online Store, they also offers return policy for the consumers. According to which, sometimes the product might not be what they expected it to be. In that case, such as for iphone return, you may return your undamaged iPhone with its included accessories within 30 days of purchase for a full refund but while returning the product will cancel the wireless account and wont be responsible for any additional fee. Apple Inc. mostly does this by their agreement signed by the consumers.

            The tools Apple Inc uses for their sales promotion are:

1) Rebates- As I said before, Apple Inc. very often offers rebates such as the famous one and the recent one was that if you buy a Mac for college and get a $100 gift card to spend on apps such as itunes. Or buy an iPad or iPhone and get a $50 card.

2) Premiums- As such Apple doesn’t give out extra items but with the purchase of iphones, ipod, and

ipad they offer AppleCare+ insurance for 1 year warranty that will covers the customer for repair or replacement of the device in the event of accidential damage or battery depletion.

3) Personal selling- Last and most important is the personal selling, which may work better than other forms of promotion. Apple uses extensively personal selling. The company's Apple Stores are home to many young and knowledgeable sales

representatives who are trained thoroughly in both product information and customer service. With the release of new products and upgrades the company produces every few months or so, it is important for sales representatives to stay informed about the latest technologies entering the market. Walking into any Apple Store will reveal that employees are often young and enthusiastic about the products.  Along with the great product the customer service at Apple Inc usually turns consumers into customers. This leads Apple Inc into the long-run as the best technological company.