| Many
people seem to believe that selling is the
province of people with the “gift of
the gab”. Oddly enough, nothing could
be further from the truth. Whilst a sales person
needs to be a good presenter, which can involve
talking, it is more important that they be
a good communicator.
Communication is a two way
street, not one way and if a sales person never
shuts up, then they will never get to find
out about the customer’s needs, the customer’s
wants, the customer’s expectations or
other matters of vital importance to the sales
process.
There are only two reasons
why people won’t buy something. Either
they don’t need it or they can’t
afford it. Although you may have heard the
saying that some salesperson could sell “sand
to Arabs” or “ice to Eskimos”,
they are just sayings. Neither of these groups “need” the
product. Likewise, you aren’t going to
sell a luxury yacht costing £3million
to a battling family in the suburbs – they
simply can’t afford it. Consequently
good sales people “target” their
market so their time is spent effectively.
That however is the subject of a whole different
article.
Essentially there are five
basic steps to a sale.
- The Opening
The opening of your presentation
is one of the most important parts. This
is where you establish rapport with your
customer if he/she/they are new. If they
are an existing customer, then it will be
a bit of a “catch up” since your
last meeting or contact. Establishing rapport
is often underestimated by sales people.
They blindly rush in to trying to sell a
prospect a product or service without establishing
essential ingredients in the sale. These
are the integrity of the sales person and
also establishing trust. Just because the
person you are talking to may be an existing
client, these things are not to be taken
lightly. It is a well established fact of
selling that it is far easier to sell to
an existing client than it is to a new prospect.
Overlooking a decent opening to an existing
client can leave them feeling “taken
for granted” and you could well end
up losing their business. From the Opening,
you move on to the……
- The Presentation
This is where you move into
the presentation of your product or service
to the prospect of client. Make sure it is
well thought out and rehearsed. Let me repeat
that – Make sure your presentation
is well thought out and rehearsed. There
is nothing worse than a presentation that
is full of stumbles, errs…aahhhhs
and pauses. What you are really saying to
the customer or prospect is that you don’t
really know your product or service that
well. If this is what you are conveying,
how can you possibly expect the prospect
or customer to buy from you? From the Presentation
you move on to the..…….
- The Trial Close
The sad fact about selling
is that many sales people do not know how
to close. They get to the end of their Presentation
and don’t know what to say next. The
conversation can deteriorate into small talk
about the weather or other inane subjects
and they leave with the customer or prospect
saying that they will think about it. If
you want the order, then you have to ask
for it! So what is a trial close? It is a
question. Perhaps, “When would you
like to start?”, or, “How many
items would you like as an initial shipment?”,
or “What colour would you prefer?”.
I’m sure you get the idea. One thing
to notice however is that all these questions
require a commitment from the customer or
prospect. They are not open ended questions
like, “What do you think?”. Questions
of that nature are way too general and destroy
the process you have been building.
With any luck, the customer
or prospect may simply order from you at
this point and you can go on your merry way
towards your next sale. But if they don’t
then you move on to the next step which is…………
- Answering Objections
Many sales people are terrified
of objections, but the reality is that they
should be welcomed with open arms. If a prospect
of customer raises an objection then it means
they are interested. Experience with your
product or service will teach you over time
every single objection that a prospect or
customer could possibly raise. Granted, you
may come up against the odd surprise at some
stage, but objections should always be regarded
as a learning experience on your part. The
more objections raised, the greater the opportunity
that you as a sales person has of displaying
your expertise with the product or service
which in turn builds the trust and confidence
of the prospect or customer in you.
Sadly, this is one area
of sales that seems to be ignored by Internet
Marketers. They put up a page and rely on
someone hitting the order button. I have
personally had questions about some products
I have seen, but either there isn’t
an email address on the page or your emails
are ignored!
Now here is the important
part. At the end of answering every objection
you go back to Step 3 and do a Trial Close
on the prospect or customer. Keep doing this
until there are no more objections and then
move on to the last part of the process which
is……….
- The Close
It is at this point that
the pens and paper come out and the details
of the sale are recorded. Once this has been
documented there are still two more important
things to do before packing your bag and
heading off. The first is to recap and go
over the details of the order with the prospect
or customer. Have them confirm to you verbally
that all is in order. You can do this several
time regarding key points if relevant.
The last thing to do is
to thank the prospect or customer for their
business. Remember, you are in the trust
and relationship building business and treating
people with respect and appreciation will
go a long way to building these integral
parts of the relationship.
Despite what many sales
people think, price is not the primary consideration
or factor in a client’s mind. This
does apply for some of course, but they are
in the minority. Price is only one of many
considerations taken into account by buyers
and is in fact only one of many objections
you may have to overcome in achieving a sale.
Apply and refine these techniques
and you can be assured of success in sales.
Article Source: http://www.articlecube.com.
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