Much has been written by many on the Selling Sequence. On How To Sell Coach we'll go through this and cover the key points common to any sales presentation. Think of selling as any good story - it has a beginning, a middle and an end. Good sales technique and preparation will help you increase the number of 'happy' endings you achieve.
The Selling Sequence
There are no short-cuts in the Selling Sequence. Each step has to be completed and for very good reasons (which we'll cover in this section) The purpose of this section is to go through the steps and cover each in greater detail elsewhere on the How To Sell Coach website. So here we go, let's jump in - or perhaps not! Consider Step 1 of the Selling Sequence first.
Many Selling Sequences miss this step out and for me, it's vital. It is also a massive questions, the answer to which will vary depending on you personal and professional circumstances. For the moment however, we'll look at this in the context of an individual sales call.
That's obvious I hear you say - I want to get a sale. And yes, of course you do, but what exactly. Here's an example of what I mean:
Some years ago, I was asked by a leading telecommunication company to have a look at their sales operation in one of their call centres. This place was unbelievable. A room literally about the size of a football pitch full of telesales people. I stood on the viewing platform with the Sales Director and I have to say my first thought was, "Wow, what I could do with this size of operation."
I asked him what he wanted the Call Centre to achieve? What were their targets? How was their performance measuring against target? Eventually in the afternoon, I was allowed to spend some time with the sales people - fantastic! By the end of that afternoon, some things were becoming clear:
Therefore, it is key to understand the objective of your call before you make it. What do you want the outcome to be? What volume of product is right for your customer? If there is some level of price negotiation, what authority to you have to make a decision on price? If you have a range of products, which would be most beneficial to the customer? Is you strategy to introduce one product and up-sell at a later stage? What is my primary objective and if this is not achieved what is your secondary objective?
So understanding the objective of your call and the desired outcome must be considered early in the selling sequence.
2. Preparation (or to fail to plan................)
In any walk of life, knowledge is power. An old mentor of mine used to say, "Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted." How true. You may gather information hat may not be used in a sales call but imaging the confidence you will have going into the call knowing the information is there at your finger tips.
Preparation covers many aspects:
3. Preparation - Pre-sales planning
You can't go into a call anything less than 100% prepared for that call. That's not only about doing the background research but also ensuring you are prepared for the call. Do you have the:
Knowledge
Skills and
Attitude
to make that successful call but also, do you have everything you need to make the call. Let's cover some of the obvious. Are you prepared?
Being late for an appointment is never acceptable and will put you on the back foot in the negotiation before you even get into the presentation. Even when I have had sales people calling offering a product I really want, if they are late I alway take this as a sign to get into the negotiation on price or terms quickly. They have given me the upper hand so of course I'm going to take advantage of that.
In my first sales job, although he never said, I knew my manager would give me the once over before I left the office and as he was walking through the car park, have a quick look at my car. And rightly so. To the customer, I was the Company.
More to follow.................................................see you soon!
The Selling Sequence
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| How To Sell Coach |
- What do you want to achieve?
- Preparation - research
- Preparation - pre-sales planning
- Establishing the need
- Open Ended Questions
- Presenting the Features, Benefits and Personal Benefits
- Overcoming Objections
- Closing the Sale
- Administration
- Follow-up
- Ask for a Testimonial
- Ask for a Referral
Many Selling Sequences miss this step out and for me, it's vital. It is also a massive questions, the answer to which will vary depending on you personal and professional circumstances. For the moment however, we'll look at this in the context of an individual sales call.
That's obvious I hear you say - I want to get a sale. And yes, of course you do, but what exactly. Here's an example of what I mean:
Some years ago, I was asked by a leading telecommunication company to have a look at their sales operation in one of their call centres. This place was unbelievable. A room literally about the size of a football pitch full of telesales people. I stood on the viewing platform with the Sales Director and I have to say my first thought was, "Wow, what I could do with this size of operation."
I asked him what he wanted the Call Centre to achieve? What were their targets? How was their performance measuring against target? Eventually in the afternoon, I was allowed to spend some time with the sales people - fantastic! By the end of that afternoon, some things were becoming clear:
- The Sales Presentation was based on the premise that the customers had received (and understood) a mailer that had been sent out up-selling them 6 additional products and services. On every call I listened to that afternoon, every customer said the either didn't receive the mailer (likely not true) or they had received something but hadn't read it or through it in the bin. So the whole sales presentation was based on the customer already having knowledge of what was being sold.
- The calls were strictly timed. In fact there was a clock on the screen in front of the sales person that would start counting down as soon as the customer answered. Given they were trying to sell 6 additional services to a customer who didn't know what they were talking about, there was no way a call could be successfully completed in the time given.
- There was no dialogue with the customer. They were being bombarded with product after product. No need was being considered or established. Further if the did get a word in edge ways, the sales people did not have sufficient product knowledge to answer the questions (which were answered in part on the mailer that no-one read.)
- Given that they held so much information about the customer, there was no consideration as to which of the services offered would be of most use to that customer and therefore which the salesperson would be most likely to be able to sell.
Therefore, it is key to understand the objective of your call before you make it. What do you want the outcome to be? What volume of product is right for your customer? If there is some level of price negotiation, what authority to you have to make a decision on price? If you have a range of products, which would be most beneficial to the customer? Is you strategy to introduce one product and up-sell at a later stage? What is my primary objective and if this is not achieved what is your secondary objective?
So understanding the objective of your call and the desired outcome must be considered early in the selling sequence.
2. Preparation (or to fail to plan................)
In any walk of life, knowledge is power. An old mentor of mine used to say, "Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted." How true. You may gather information hat may not be used in a sales call but imaging the confidence you will have going into the call knowing the information is there at your finger tips.
Preparation covers many aspects:
- Knowledge of your product and its benefits to your customer
- Knowledge of your customer and his business
- Knowledge of the market
- Knowledge of your competitors
- From inside your business. What information is already on file? Who has previously had contact with this customer?
- Trade, local and national press. What has been written about them recently. What have they bought or sold? Who have they recruited? What markets are they expanding into?
- Websites. Check through their company website. Most companies put a wealth of information on their website and your customer, as a minimum will have an expectation that you will have looked at it before going to meet them.
- Social Media. Again, many companies are becoming more aware of the benefits of social media to their business and put loads of information on there. So check to see if they are on Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter and see what they are saying.
- Your competitors! As they say, keep your friends close and your enemies closer still. If you see a competitor at a trade or networking event, don't run away from them - go up and introduce yourself. Your will be amazed and what you can find out. And even if they don't tell you much, at least you will know who you are up against.
3. Preparation - Pre-sales planning
You can't go into a call anything less than 100% prepared for that call. That's not only about doing the background research but also ensuring you are prepared for the call. Do you have the:
Knowledge
Skills and
Attitude
to make that successful call but also, do you have everything you need to make the call. Let's cover some of the obvious. Are you prepared?
- Do you have all the documentation required? Sales literature, order forms, client records, point of sale material (if used.) Is it filed and accessible so you're not scrambling round to find it during the call.
- Is your presentation ready? If you use a presenter (whether written or on a computer) is this up to date? Is the information relevent? (Have you checked that your laptop is fully charged!)
- How do you look? Professional? I hope so. Your require it and your customer deserves it.
- What about your car? Is everything filed neatly away? Is it clean? (First impressions do count.)
- Have you thought through the opening for your presentation? Do you have your first three open ended questions prepared?
- Have you prepared your calling cycle for the day? Do you know where you are going? Have you given enough time for each call and travelling time between calls?
Being late for an appointment is never acceptable and will put you on the back foot in the negotiation before you even get into the presentation. Even when I have had sales people calling offering a product I really want, if they are late I alway take this as a sign to get into the negotiation on price or terms quickly. They have given me the upper hand so of course I'm going to take advantage of that.
In my first sales job, although he never said, I knew my manager would give me the once over before I left the office and as he was walking through the car park, have a quick look at my car. And rightly so. To the customer, I was the Company.
More to follow.................................................see you soon!
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