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Do you want
to make more sales or make more friends? What if you could do both,
and make more money doing it? The sales landscape is changing, my
friend. Customers in the 21st Century are still interested in price
and product, to be sure. But more and more these days, they are
also interested in relationships and in the quality of the business
experience. They want to be sure they are dealing with someone they
can trust – someone who honestly has their best interests
at heart. Everyday, in our unique Sales Training Workshops, we turn
plain old sales people into consultative sales specialists. Our
students learn how to ask good questions, become good listeners,
and see life from their client’s point of view. And they come
away from our sales training workshops better prepared to give the
customer what he wants, which leads to long-term relationships and
more money for everyone.
Having trouble remembering how to
make a sale? Let us jog your memory.
Recently, somebody asked
about my early sales experience. When I was new to sales, one company gave me
a card with questions reminding me of what to do before, during and after a
sale. Here's a list of questions similar to the ones on that card to take you
through the sales cycle:
During the introduction,
did you:
- Learn about the company,
the person you're calling on and the industry he or she is in before the meeting?
- Observe the prospect's
office, décor, awards and pictures on his or her desk to find something
you both have in common?
- Find out anything about
the prospect's personal interests, hobbies or family?
- Bridge to the business
topic smoothly?
- Listen 80 percent of
the time and talk only 20 percent of the time?
- Ask the customer questions
about his or her goals, challenges, and personal and business philosophies?
When qualifying, did you
ask:
"Is there anybody
else besides yourself who might be involved in the decision-making process?"
"What does a vendor
need to do to earn your business?"
"If you could change
anything about your present vendor's product or service, what would it be?"
And did you also:
Determine how and why the
prospect made the decision to purchase his or her present product or service?
Find out what his or her
time frame is?
Discover whether funds have
been allocated?
Uncover the prospect's specific
needs?
When surveying, did
you:
Ask a lot of open-ended
questions?
Find out who, what, where,
why, when, how and how much?
Have the prospect go into
depth by
using phrases such as "Tell me about . . .", "Describe for me
. . ." and "Can you elaborate on . . ."?
Ask the broad questions
first, then get more specific to uncover key needs?
Ask about your prospect's
roles, what's important to him or her, what his or her hot buttons are, and
how industry trends or situations are affecting the prospect?
When handling objections,
did you:
Listen to the entire objection?
Pause before responding,
remain calm and not get defensive?
Answer the objection with
a question to find out more specifically what the objection was?
Restate the objection to
make sure you both agreed?
Answer the objection?
During the presentation
or demonstration, did you:
Re-establish rapport?
Ask if anything had changed
since your last meeting?
Precommit the prospect?
Example: "If I can show you how this can make a difference in what we talked
about, can we go ahead with this?"
Prioritize the prospect's
needs?
Talk about the benefits
of your product or service to the customer?
Link the benefits to the
prospect's needs?
Verify each need before
moving on?
Summarize the prospect's
needs and how your product or service meets those needs?
Involve the customer in
the presentation?
When closing, did you:
Ask for the order?
Ask "What's our next
step?"
Get the customer to identify
all possible problems that might be solved by your product or service?
Get the customer to identify
the value of solving the identified problems?
Get agreement that the proposed
solution provided the values identified?
For customer maintenance
and follow-up, did you:
Send a thank-you letter
for the appointment, presentation or order?
Earn the right to ask for
reference letters and referrals?
Maintain communications
for future consideration?
Establish a schedule for
follow-up calls and customer visits?
Of course, don't just ask
these questions by rote. It's not a script that could, or should, be followed
for every sale, but it gives you a great structure to keep in mind. Refer to
it whenever you're puzzled by why you didn't make a sale. Maybe there's something
you forgot to do that you should have remembered!
By Barry Farber
Sales Training - See Life From the
Clients Perspective
Sales Training
Quote
"You've got to seize the
opportunity if it is presented to you."
Clive Davis
Suggested Reading:
Sales
Training Handbook
by Jeff Magee
The Big Book
of Sales
Games (Big Book of Business Games)
by Peggy Carlaw, Vasudha K. Deming
Sales
Coaching: Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales
Coach
by Linda Richardson
Sales
Training
by Jim Makula
The Greatest
Sales Training In The World
by Robert Nelson
High-Powered
Sales Training Activities
by Garry Lennon
Training for
Retail
Sales and Profit
by Judith J. Howe
The sales
manager as a trainer
by National Society of Sales Training Executives
Sales
Training Basics (Crisp Fifty-Minute Series)
by Elwood N. Chapman
210 Sales
Tips
by Inc. Slife Sales Training
Advanced
Sales Survival Training
by Tom Hopkins, Hopkins Tom
Pharmaceutical
selling, "detailing," and sales training
by Arthur F Peterson
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