As a salesperson, you should be able to control a conversation. This does not mean that you should dominate the conversation, but you should be able to steer the direction in a way that will give you a better chance of making the sale. Many salespeople think that they need to just spit out a bunch of features and the customer will see how great their product is and buy it, these people are peddlers. A true sales professional takes as much time listening to their customer as they do talking, and there are certain steps you should take to present yourself and your product in a way that will make your customer want to buy.
Step 1: Build Rapport- Some think that building rapport is just making small talk, like talking about the weather, but a sales professional will take it a step further. The key to doing a good job in this step is to find some common ground, something that you and your customer have in common that will get the conversation off on a good note and builds trust. For me, a good rapport builder is if I know somebody likes the Red Sox or another Boston sports team based on what they are wearing I might make a comment about the team to show the customer that we have something in common.
Step 2: Discovering Needs- Once you have built rapport, ask a transitional question or statement like "I'm going to ask you some questions so I can see how I can help you best, is that okay?" Listening to your customer as you ask questions about their needs is very important so that you can figure out what motivates that person to buy your product. The rest of your conversation will be decided by the key things your customer is looking for in your product. People have written entire books about this one step, but keep an eye out for my next post on "SPIN" selling. Next, pinpoint their top two or three needs in a question like this: "So it seems that you are looking for something that will last you a long time, is cost effective, and will give you (list a benefit). Does that sound right?" This will show your customer that you listened, and will give them a chance to say if there is something more important they are looking for as a benefit.
Step 3: Presentation- Based on those needs you got, you want to present your product. Peddlers like to just spit out a bunch of feathers, but they fail to list the benefits of those features. After you present a feature and benefit you can ask a question to make sure they understand like, "Do you see how that can help you?" You do not want to overwhelm the customer with too many features and benefits, so make sure you point out the key features based on the customers needs. It is also important to not jump into this step before you discover needs, or the customer can feel that you are too aggressive or that you do not care about their needs.
Step 4: Handling Objections- Again, this part can be pretty involved and books can be written about this, but I will give you the most important information. It is a myth that objections are a bad thing. An objection means that the customer has listened to you, and can provide an opportunity for you to explain something better. Remember, the customer would not be talking to you if they are not interested in your product, so making sure that the objections are handled in a good way is important. One great method to use is to repeat the objection, answer the objection, and check in to make sure it makes sense to them. One common objection is price, but that objection can mean a few things. You can ask something like, "Okay, are you saying that this is out of your budget or that you don't see the value in this item?" Some would jump right into negotiating price, but they just don't understand the value. If this is the case you can take some more time to build the value instead of leaving money on the table. Make sure you fully answer the objection, and ask if you explained it well enough to be sure that the objection was handled.
Step 5: Close the sale- Before you close the sale, you need to be sure that the objections are handled or they will likely not agree to the sale. There are many ways to try to close a sale, but the most basic is to just ask for their business. Some sales people are scared of asking for business because they don't want to come off as too pushy, but remember that they would not be there if they did not want your product. If the situation makes it so that they cannot commit then and their, you need to get some sort of commitment from them to come back or have you come back to meet them. One situation like this would be that they need to ask their spouse or have them come in. Make sure that you set a date and time for you to meet with the spouse to try to close the sale at that time.
That was a lot of information in a short post, but make sure to leave questions or comments so that I can gear my future posts to answer those questions. If you are in New England and need somebody to come to your place of business to conduct some sales training feel free to contact me at dadeconsultation@gmail.com or call me at (603)305-5825.
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