Smart Selling

Let thousands markets bloom or wither! New theories, concepts, techniques and technologies come into existence to sell. But art of selling never changes.

There is a Chinese proverb: " A man without a smiling face must not open a shop".

Selling is an ancient art especially personal or direct selling. As a customer we may not know the power of sales man but collectively sales force pushes the market. Even advancement of technologies including sales force automation is seen to manage sales force effectively as being key component and base of company.

Starting with sales man, who is a good sales man?

Mark McCormack, American sports marketing consultant wrote:

"The qualities that I believe make a good sales man:

Believe in your product
Believe in yourself
See a lot of people
Pay attention to timing
Listen to the customer – but realize that what the customer wants is not necessarily what he or she is telling you
Develop a sense of humor
Knock on old doors
Ask everyone to buy
Follow up after the sale with the same aggressiveness you demonstrated before the sale
Use common sense

I have no illusions that I am breaking new ground with this list. These are essential, self-evident, universal qualities that all salespeople know in their heads-if not their hears."

There are essential steps to be taken for selling effectively.

-- Customer is nothing but prospector an hour before. Identify and qualify prospects first.
-- Gather information; decide best approach (medium to reach) and timing for prospect. Pre-approach is a necessary step to create strategy.
-- Greet customer nicely and approach positively.
-- Use AIDA (Gain attention, Hold interest, Arouse desire and Obtain action) theory for better presentation and demonstration. Generally salesperson uses features, advantages, benefits and value approach.
-- No customer gets easily satisfaction and buys your product. Overcome psychological and logical resistances of customer’s mind.
-- Closing (with sale) should be Win-Win approach. Offer special price, extra quantity or gift with sale.
-- Follow up and maintenance are necessary if the salesperson wants to ensure customer satisfaction and repeat business.

In "How to Master the Art of Selling", Tom Hopkis wrote –

"It’s the winning score, the bottom line, the name of the game, the cutting edge, the point of it all…Processing, meeting people, building a flow of referrals, qualifying, presenting, demonstrating, overcoming objections… they are all important. But unless you can close, you are like a football team that can’t sustain a drive long enough to score. It’s no good if you play your whole game in your territory and never get across their global line. So welcome to the delightful world of closing. If you don’t love it now, start falling in love, because that’s where the money is."

Other than following steps, there are qualities and practicalities of a good sales man to be nurtured by experience or knowledge to sell off. Creativity is one of the majors.

Alex said in ‘Applied Imagination: Principles & Procedures of Creative Thinking " Creative power can promote an employee’s progress in any phase of business, especially in salesmanship. A salesman has to use his imagination, deliberately and consciously, to think up just what little thing he can do to be helpful to each customer. Every case calls for different tactics. That fact helps explain why aptitude testers maintain that the two traits most needed for success in selling are an objective personality and creative imagination."

A good salesperson can sell anything, because in reality what they are selling is themselves. Customer oriented approach is crucial while selling. Sales force should be well trained in adopting attitude and approach. The problem solver is a much more congruent concept for the salesperson under the marketing concept that the hard seller or order taker.

Gordon White quoted in Alan Whicker, Whicker’s New World " I was always brought up to believe that you should not knock somebody else’s choice. If you’re shoving motor cars and a fellow drive up in a Cadillac, you don’t say, "God, have you got a bag of worms, you should have a Rolls-Royce’ – because straight away you’re insulted the fellow’s intelligence and his perspicacity."

It is really true to say "Be problem solver rather being simply sales man". There is a Scottish proverb " It is no sin to sell dear, but a sin to give ill measure."

Source
Marketing Management : P Kotler