1. Chapter 8
Making the Sales Call

2. Seth Bleiler, former sales student
Chapter 8 Profile
Seth Bleiler, former sales student

3. 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 – smile!
Measure the person’s mood – then react to that carefully
Four keys to success: Good attitude; good appearance; good oral communication skills; good written skills

4. 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)

5. 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

6. Sales Process Steps Gain attention Establish credibility
Discover needs
Presentation – FEB – Features, Evidence, Benefits – See 8.8 and pages
Close
Meet objections throughout
Note: All three of our assignments use the process, making slight changes depending on the selling venue.

7. Getting A Customer’s Attention (1st 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 help
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. 203 for openings – VERY IMPORTANT!!! TEST QUESTIONS!!!

8. Developing Rapport (Do this during the 1st 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

9. 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. 209
Research shows (over 35,000 sales calls in 23 countries)
that distinguishing feature of successful sales people is their ability to discover needs!!!

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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?

16. 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

17. 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

18. Selling Yourself
Refer to the “Selling Yourself” portion of the text on Page 222 & 223.
Dress to impress (will learn in this class)
Ask relevant questions (will learn in this class)
Be genuine (be your best self, not your worst self) (will learn in this class)

19. Questions?