Ch. 17 - Personal Selling and Sales Management

     Relationship selling is a sales practice that involves building, maintaining, and enhancing interactions with customers in order to develop long-term satisfaction through mutually beneficial relationships. Coca-Cola does not need to personally sell to it''s consumers. Coke is a low value, highly standardized, simple product. The only retail environment where it might occur would be a restaurant, and even then, it is not done by Coca-Cola employees.

     However, Coca-Cola does heavily engage in personal selling when selling it's syrup to local bottling plants. Typically, an investor will supply all the necessary capital required for running the business, and Coca-Cola will send them the syrup required for manufacturing Coke. But the relationship does not end there. Coke often provides managerial advice, to help ensure that the franchisee runs a profitable business. The advice will usually consist of marketing, quality control, and personnel training.