Role-Play Activity
| The following list identifies the activities and assignments associated with the Role-Play Activity (RPA). Each activity and assignment will be discussed in detail as we proceed through the sales-related material during the semester. |
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Strategic Selling Process
The following is an outline of each RPA assignment and how it fits into the entire strategic selling process.
I. PREPARATION
A. Prospecting (Assignment 1 - product choice)
B. Profiling (Assignment 2 - customer profile))
D. Preparation (Assignment 3)
C. Objectives and Strategies (Assignment 4)
II. OPENING
A. Opening and building rapport (Assignment 5)
B. Probe (Assignment 6)
C. Arouse interest (Assignment 7)
(Assignment 8 - resume, customer profile, and objectives and strategies;
Neatly typed for the professional agri-salesperson to use for the role-play)
III. PRESENTATION
A. Features and benefits (Assignment 9)
B. Review of problem and outline of solution (Assignment 10)
C. Selling points (Assignment 11)
D. Handle objections (Assignment 12)
IV. CLOSE (Assignment 13)
V. SERVICE
Role Play Event (Assignment 14 - THE LIVE, Role-Play Activity)
(Assignment 15 - Thank you letter to Professional Sales Representative who helped you with the Role-Play project)
Role-Play
Activity
An experience in professional selling
OBJECTIVES
To experience the preparation and presentation of a professional interview.
To improve communication skills useful in selling products and ideas.
To learn how selling skills are applied in a realistic selling situation.
To strengthen social skills through professional interaction with agribusiness marketers and peers.
GENERAL ASSIGNMENT
You will develop a professional sales presentation for a product or service in your area of professional interest or school major.
Your homework assignments are designed to assist you in the development of your presentation
You will make this sales presentation to a professional salesperson who will role play your customer and provide feedback (and assign a grade) about your presentation.
RPA PREPARATION
The preparation for this process will take place throughout the semester with each step coordinated with reading assignments, class lectures, discussions, demonstrations, role play situations and your instructor.
RPA PROCEDURES
Selection of product/service to sell
Select target prospect
Develop prospect profile
Determine sales call objective and strategy
Prepare for the sales call (using the strategic selling process)
Practice; Practice; Practice
BENEFITS
Help you understand the selling process
Enhance your communication skills
Boost your self-confidence
Help you determine if you like selling
Make you a better buyer
HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Choose products that you have used or are familiar with in some way
Make sure you start looking for information as soon as your instructor has approved your choice.
Represent a company you like, know something about, or know somebody who works there.
Think carefully about your prospect.
Select a personality or person you know to profile as a customer.
Each assignment must be completed in full on the forms provided, or duplicates of this form.
You must stay up-to-date on every assignment.
Career Services
100 Dunford Hall
Knoxville, TN 37996-4010
423-974-5435
E-Mail: utcareer@utkux.utcc.utk.edu
URL:http://career.utk.edu
Your material will be mailed to your assigned salesperson so that he/she will have background information about you and about the customer he/she will be responsible for role-playing during our RPA evening session.
| RPA Assignment
14 - Final Presentation
Be at the assigned room at 5:15 p.m. If you must be late because of a conflict, you must contact me well in advance so I can notify the salesperson and you can avoid losing points for tardiness. ATTIRE: Dress appropriate for the product your are selling. Bring all the visual aids that you will need to make your presentation. The salesperson will be evaluating them as well as your presentation. Be well prepared - this will assure that your presentation doesn't sound canned or memorized. There will be some unexpected objections - which will provide you with the experience of "thinking on your feet". Before each role-play, each student should take a few minutes to review and/or prepare your salesperson for his/her role, which is based on the customer profile you provided. Plan for your presentation to take about 10 to 15 minutes. Too long, or too short, is undesirable. Expect the salesperson to ask questions. The overall length of time varies with the professional salesperson. Some will take less time, somewill be fairly long. Plan on being flexible. There's no penalty if you don't make a sale - not all customers buy. But you should aggressively attempt to close the sale. Your salesperson will have enough experience to judge you on your preparation and how well you use appropriate sales techniques, and he/she will evaluate your performance accordingly. The salesperson will need a few minutes to make notes and complete his/her written evaluation. It is important that your salesperson have several minutes of quiet time. He/she will appreciate your not using this time for discussion among yourselves while he/she is working. This process will enable the salesperson to record immediate impressions about your presentation and will also cut down the "paperwork" later. At this point the salesperson may give you verbal feedback. It is during this discussion that you'll gain valuable information and pointers. The salesperson has been asked to be candid with you, because it is intended to be a learning experience. It is important to recognize the salesperson will be sharing his/her opinions--which may not always be completely consistent with what was "taught" in class. It is important you accept the observations and criticisms of the salesperson, but you need not agree with them. Do not be defensive. Simply use the situation as a learning experience. Evaluation Procedure Evaluation of the presentation will be based on a subjective evaluation by the professional salesperson. That evaluation will be made using the evaluation forms which follow on the next pages. The presentation is worth 100 points. Presentation Evaluation: Ranking of Sales Presentations Your salesperson will rank you in order of your performance and assign you a numerical grade. You may have some concern about the subjective aspects of this part of the evaluation--and the appropriateness of salespersons to perform this task. However, every attempt is made to standardize these evaluations to make them equitable to all. It is not uncommon in the business world for promotions and salary adjustments to be made on the basis of subjective evaluations. Also, these professional salespersons are quite qualified to assess your performance in this sales activity.
The following evaluation form is provided to the salepersons: RPA Presentation Evaluation Sheet Student's name: Evaluator's name: Instructions: Rank the student in each area on the scale provided. Five (5) is excellent and one (1) is poor. Please provide feedback to the student about her/his presentation.
RANKING OF SALES PRESENTATIONS Please rank the students, starting with the best, and assign each student a numerical grade using the following grading criteria. This information will not be shown or given to the student.
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