Surface Ripples

Boost Your Sales - Effective Contacts

Businesses rely on selling products or services to make money. Unless you’re very lucky, you’re likely to have competition, so what do you do to stand out from the crowd?

Research: make sure you know your target and what will interest them. You may sell the same product or service as others, but if you can show why your product meets their needs, you’ll get their attention. Too many salespeople leave the buyer to “guess” how their needs are met. How do you do your research? Ask questions.

Don’t make assumptions: this is illustrated by the story of the car salesman who sees an elderly man in his showroom and starts showing him “man” cars only to find out after some time that the man is looking for a car for his daughter! Equally, make sure that the person you’re talking to is the one who makes the final decision and is paying. Husbands and wives often shop together for furniture, for example, but whilst one may choose the sofa set, the other has to be prepared to pay for it.

Use logic: buying decisions are based partly on logic and partly on emotion. What are your buyer’s logical drivers? These are the “facts” that you need to find out. Don’t assume anything (see Don’t Make Assumptions above).

Understand emotions: buying decisions are based partly on logic and partly on emotion. What are your buyer’s emotional drivers? For example, if they’re buying a new car and have small children, safety features may be a powerful emotional driver.

Sell what they want (not what you want or have to sell): I took my elderly mother into a mobile phone outlet to help her buy a new mobile phone and contract. The young sales assistant started showing her all sorts of hi-tech handsets without first finding out what her needs were and what she would use the phone for (see Research above). Banks have been penalised in the UK a number of times for selling products that weren’t suitable but were sold to meet revenue targets.

If you have done your research, established the logical and emotional drivers of the buying decision, and have what they want, then you can sell them a product that you are convinced meets their needs. If you’re convinced it meets their needs, your sales pitch will be all the stronger because you’re convinced that it really will satisfy your buyer.

A final warning: it takes a brave salesperson to say that they don’t think a product is right for a customer who wants to buy it – are you that brave? You won’t get the sale this time, but you will get trust.

I have spent more than half my life working in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in the world financial services industry running different service, operations and lending businesses, I started my own Performance Management Consultancy and work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email . My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.

Labels: Customer Care, Selling

posted by William Martin @ 21:18