Chapter 8 Making the Sales Call

Making A Good Impression Arrive on time Entrance – wait to sit down! Gaining buyer interest (all are important to securing commitment and building partnerships) Impression management-salesperson’s process of managing the buyer’s impression of them Four keys to success: Good attitude; good appearance; good oral communication skills; good written skills

Waiting For The Prospect Punctuality Every salesperson must expect to spend a certain portion of each working day waiting for sales interviews Make use of time Maximum wait time (15 minutes or exceptions)

First Impressions Physical attractiveness and gender matter, unfortunately! Generation matters – Gen. X relating to Boomers and traditionalists Good impressions – confidence, well groomed, lengthy stride, lively pace, smile, & good opening Remember names, exchange business cards, use name at least one more time Do not sit down until prospect sits down

Getting A Customer’s Attention (1 st step in sales process) 6 minutes to get credibility with clients Halo effect – TEST Q.!!! – Read text Opening – most important with new clients Go to: for pronunciation helpwww.hearnames.com Negative/neutral openings: unsolicited small talk; benefit claim, provocative questions Rapport – prospect perceives salesperson to be LIKE THEM in some way – something in common See Exhibit 8.2 – P. 199 for openings – VERY IMPORTANT!!! TEST QUESTIONS!!!

Sales Process Steps Gain attention – See Exhibit 8.2 Establish credibility Discover needs – See Exhibit 8.4 Presentation – FEB – Features, Evidence, Benefits – Problem Solution Model-Exhibit 8.7; also see 8.8 Close Note: All three of our assisgnments use the process, making slight changes depending on the selling venue.

Developing Rapport (Do this during the 1 st step of the sales process) Bonding and developing trust Very important to identify with people in some area – social, economic, hobbies, area of country……virtually any commonalities

When Things Go Wrong & Questions Proper perspective – sense of humor Importance of NEEDS – you MUST find out prospect’s needs – will explore fully in Role-play presentations Closed-ended questions – yes or no answer – do first Opening-ended questions – millions of answers See Exhibit 8.4 for example questions – P. 205 Research shows (over 35,000 sales calls in 23 countries) that distinguishing feature of successful sales people is their ability to discover needs!!!

Questions Open ended questions require more than a simple yes/no answer and reveal critical information Closed ended questions are short yes/no answers See Exhibit 8.4

SPIN – for major B-B sales (Watch National Champion on my website for how-to) S = situation P = problem I = Implication of NOT solving the problem Critical for CUSTOMER to articulate what would happen if problem isn’t solved N = Need payoff – what the customer receives from solving the problem

SPIN - Conclusions Prospect/client defines need For major sales – B to B More difficult to use or inappropriate if client wants an opportunity, NOT solving a problem

Strategy for Presentation May be many features to satisfy a customer’s need Tell them you will focus on just a few Focus on your strategic advantage over a major competitor’s offerings Feature dumping – wasting time on features that clients do not care about

Features & Benefits Feature – quality or characteristic of product/service – V-8 engine on car Benefit – the way in which a feature will help a buyer – more power while driving on I-35 & many other benefits, depending on what buyers want

FEB Key is to RELATE feature to benefits buyer is interested in by using E – evidence Third party testimonials are critical, i.e. awards, such as what Consumer Reports would issue Always assess reaction Use trial close to assess How does that sound? What do you think?

Credibility Must be believable and reliable Without “hard data” from third party sources, salespeople will be perceived as not credible Balanced presentation – acknowledge weak points – but carefully

Selling to groups Practice with Chapter 3 – Midwest Surgical Corporate presentation will involve selling to groups Ego involved/issue involved Generally follows role playing over a few previous meetings – one-on-one

Selling Yourself Refer to the “Selling Yourself” portion of the text on Page Extra credit for a student who can demonstrate!