Discussion Week 8 - Assignment Example

1. Was this experience positive or negative and why? Use marketing terms to describe. A few years ago during a time when I was unemployed I needed todo something to generate some income. I invested a few hundred dollars and I bought several perfumes from a wholesaler. I became an independent perfume salesman. I started out by selling to my family members and then I moved on to friends and acquaintances. To learn more about the product I did some extensive research into the perfume industry. The use of personnel selling was important for my business to generate revenues.

One of the most rewarding experiences occurred with a recurrent customer. One day she calls me and tells me she wanted 34 perfumes that different friends had asked for. This was the biggest order I had ever landed. I did not have the all the perfumes she wanted on hand, but I called my supplier and purchased the perfumes I needed. This was a great experience for me. Word of mouth advertising can help increase consumer sales because this is a way for customers to recruit other customers. 2. What was the outcome of the encounter?

The outcome of the encounter was that I was able to achieve my biggest sale by providing great customer service to a client. The customer recruited other clients for me as a favor. As a consequence of this event I was motivated to continue my self-employment. A few months later I found a full-time job and stop selling perfumes. The salesman experience helped me improve my people skills. 3. In marketing terms, what could have improved the encounter? A mistake that I regret associated with the 34 perfume sale experience was that I did not follow on that sale after obtaining such as good sales lead.

A way for a business to prosper is by increasing its customer retention rate. Increasing the customer retention rates can help increase the profitability of a firm (SAS). Work Cited PageSas.com. 2011. “How we can improve customer retention rates and increase premium income.” 29 February 2012. < http://www.sas.com/resources/solution-brief/customer-retention-insurance-brief.pdf>