Professional Selling Exam 1

Professional Selling

person to person business activity in which a salesperson uncovers and satisfies the needs of a buyer to the mutual, long term benefit of both parties

why learn about professional sellings?

• People skilled at selling value, influencing others, and developing long term relationships are usually leaders in out society

• Customer oriented with helping customer solve complex problems

• Seller’s goal is to add value

field salespeople

• spend considerable time in the customer’s place of business, communicating with the customer face to face

  • Typically more demanding

  • More intense customer interactions

  • Problem solving with customers

inside salespeople

• work at their employer’s location and typically communicate with customer by phone or letter

  • Respond to customer-initiated requests

Missionary Salespeople

• work for a manufacturer and promote the manufacturer’s products to other firms

  • Products bought from manufacturers or distributors

  • Calls on ppl who influence a buying decision but don’t actually place the order

Hunter

• Independent and solution driven

• Focuses on quick acquisitions and big deals

• High Key Skills: initiative, independence, networking

• Typically: account executive, field sales, business development

• Higher turnovers in hunters

• Require most creativity, and skill and offer highest pay

Farmer

• Nurtures leads and client relationships

• Cultivates strong customer loyalty

• High Key Skills: building relationships, collaborations, gaining loyalty

• Typical jobs: account manager, customer service, inside sales

Characteristics of Successful salespeople

• Self motivated

• Dependable and trustworthy

• Ethical sales behavior

• Customer and product knowledge

• Analytical skills/tech savvy

• communication skills

• flexibility/agile

• creative

• confident and optimistic

• emotional intelligence

• knowing one’s oen feelings and emtions as they’re experienced

  • controlling one’s emotions to avoid acting impulsively

  • recognizing customer’s emotions (empathy)

  • using one’s emotions to interact effectively with customers

the communication process and break down

• Can be caused by encoding and decoding problems and the environment in which the communications occur

• Reduce noise for better communication

Choice of words

• Short words/phrases used to demonstrate strength and force, or charm and grace

• Avoid trite words like nice and good

• Avoid off color language, slang, foul words

• Avoid common business terminology to avoid looking like a phony

Power of storytelling

• Salespeople can paint word pictures to help customers understand and benefits or features of a product

• Word Picture

• Effective stories include analogies

• Great stories include conflicts, trials, and cruises

Word Picture

• a graphic or vivid story designed to help the buyer easily visualize a point

Active Listening

• Effective listening allows you to feel what the speaker is feeling when speaking

• 80-20 listening rule where salespeople listen to 80% and talk 20%

• Thinks while listening

• Listening attempts to draw out as much information as possible

  • Ex. Gestures

Suggestions for active listening

• repeating information

• restarting/rephrasing information

• clarigying information

• summarizing the convo

• tolerating silences

• concentrating ont he ideas being communicated

voice characteristics

• Rate of speech, loudness, inflections, and articulation

• Don’t talk too fast/slow keep around 140 wpm

• Vary rate of speech depending on nature of message/environment of communication

• Vary volume in speech to not sound monotonous

inflection

• the tone or pitch of speech

  • use to reduce monotony

articulation

• the production of recognizable sounds

  • best used when mouth is properly open when speaking

reading nonverbal messages from customers

• Words are responsible for only 40% of information when communicating

• Voice characteristics account for 10%

• 50% comes from nonverbal communication

body angle

• back and forth positive, side to side show uncertainty/doubt

• body movements directed toward a person indicate positive reagrd

• leaning back shows boredom, apprehension, or possibly anger

face

• Eyes are most important area of the face

• Blink rates can show how calm or stressed you are

• Eyes focused straight ahead means you’re receiving passive information but not entirely focused on convo

• Intense eye contact for more than 3 secs indicates customer displeasure, showing coldness, anger, or dislike

• Left/right eye positioning means customer is involved in presentation

• Right gaze means customer is considering logical route

• Left gaze means more intense concentration based on emotional consideration

• Red face signals something wrong

• Tension/anger show tightness in cheeks

arms

• more movement when conveying an opinion

• broader/vigorous meovement shows empathy in point being communicated

hands

• relaxed hands with palsm facing up is positive

• self touching shows tension

• involuntary gestures are indicators of true feelings

legs

• open legs show cooperation, confidence, and friendly interest

• corssed legs shoes that there mgiht be something not going well

sending messages with nonverbal communications

the most effective gestures are natural ones

facial muscles

• smiling should appear natural and comfortable

• coordination of facial muscles requires exercise

eye contact

• direct eye contact when talking in fornt of a group to indicate sincerity, credibility, and trustworthiness

• glancing from face to face rapidly or staring at a wall has the opposite effect

gestures and handshaking

• Avoid pointing fingers unless intentional for powerful moments

• Location of your hands during gestures can have a huge impact on the message received

• Hand gestures at side are seen as passive

• hand gestures at the navel comes across truthful

• hand gestures at chest level rep passion about topic

body posture and movement

• shuffling feet and slumping give an impression of lack of both self confidence and self discipline

• overly erect posture shows rigidity

appearanace

• getting customers to notice and trust you

• consider the temperature, local cultural norms, customer’s appearance/their expectations of you and yours, norms within the industry, dress a level above your position, wait to have a halo effect before being more creative in your appearance

standard memorized presentation

• Completely memorized sales talk

• Ensures sales person to provide complete and accurate information about firm’s products/policies

• Limited effectiveness since it offers not opportunity for the salesperson to tailor the presentation to the needs of the specific customer

outlined presentation

• Prearranged presentation that usually includes a standard introduction, standard answers to common objections raised by customers, and standard method for getting customer to place an order

• Very effective since it’s well organized

• Informational and natural to hear

• Provides opportunities for customers to participate in sales interaction

customized presentation

• Written or oral presentation based on a detailed analysis of the customer’s needs

• Offers opportunities to use communication principles to find and solve customer’s problems

• Helps salesperson demonstrate empathy

Adaptive Selling

• Emphasizes the importance of satisfying customer needs

• Increases buyers trust and commitment and results in higher sales performance

• Customized presentations are examples of this

• Diversity in people requires you to be adaptive to customize your sales more closely to your customers

• Adapt to customer’s desire for specific type of relationship

Assertiveness

• The degree to which people have opinions about issues and publicly make their positions clear to others

  • Express your convictions publicy and attempt to influence other to accept these beliefs

  • Confront situation under tension

Responsiveness

• based on how emotional people tend to get in social situations

  • Readily express joy, anger, and sorrow

  • More concerned with others and are informal and casual in social situations

  • Less responsive ppl control their emotions better and seen as cautious, intellectual, serious, formal, and businesslike

Drivers

• High on assertiveness/low on responsiveness

• Task oriented people

• Can work with others but don’t like to

• Desire to get ahead

• Swift, efficient decision makers

• Focus mainly on present

• Factual, risk takers, who look at serval alternatives

• Want to know how facts affect the results

• Direct, businesslike, organized presentation with quick action and follow up

Expressives

• High assertiveness/high responsiveness

• Warm, approachable, competitive

• View power and politics as important factors for personal rewards and recognition

• Supporters/followers who assist in achieving goasl

• Focus on future

• Personal/others opinions based

• Act quickly, risk takers, but impatient and changes minds easily

• Product demo and creative graphics presentation

• Testimonials/roles of innovators

Amiables

• Low assertiveness/high responsiveness

• Close relationships and cooperation

• Work with people, mutual respect

• Slow decision makers who build a consensus with those involved

• Avoid risks/change

• Avoid conflict, people pleasers

• Interested in guarantees

• Stress product’s benefits of its effects on satisfaction of employees

Analyticals

• Low assertiveness/low responsiveness

• Like facts, principles, and logic

• Sus of power and personal relationships

• Slow decision makers

• Systematically analyze data using past to predict future

• Solid, tangible evidence

• Recognize technical expertise and emphasize long term benefits

• Disregards personal opinion

• Loyalty towards suppliers

questions to ask leads

• Does the lead have a want or need that the purchase of my products/services can satisfy?

• Does the lead have the ability to pay

• Does the lead have the authority to buy

• Can the lead be approached favorably?

• Is the lead eligible to buy?

prospecting

• the process of locating potential customers for a product or service, is critical whether you re a new or seasoned sales professional

  • Most important activity

  • Must prospect in new and existing customers due to potential/future turnover

lead

a potential prospect that may or may not have what it takes to be a true prospect

qualifying

• the process of determining whether a lead is in fact a prospect

  • Lead —> prospect when candidate is good for making sale

Stages to make lead a customer

satisfied customers

• Current and previous customers are contacted for additional business and leads

• Most effective sources for leads

• Make a list of potential references among satisfied customers

• Promoters

• Decide what they would like each customer to do

• Salespeople should ask the customer for the names of leads and for the specific type of help they can provide

• referral Events

• Keep in touch since they result in more profits than new customers

Promoters

• your most loyal customers who not only keep buying from you but also urge their friends and associate to do the same

Referral Events

• gathersing designed to allow current customers to introduce prospects to the salesperson

Endless chain

• Salesperson attempts to secure at least one additional lead from each person he or she interviews

• Attempt to get at least one additional lead from each person they interview

• Best if sources is satisfied customer/partner

• Referred Lead

Referred Lead

• the name of a lead provided bu either a customer or a prospect

  • Usually most successful type of lead

Networking

• Salesperson uses personal relationships with those who are connected and cooperative to secure leads

• The utilization of personal relationships by connected and cooperating individuals for the purpose of achieving goals

• Crucial

Center of Influence

• Salesperson cultivates well known, influential people in the territory who are willing to supply lead information

• Works best if the center of influence is already a satisfied customer

• Ask buyers/prospects the about the most influential person in their community

Social Media

• Salesperson uses online tools to prospect for new customers and maintain contact with existing customers

Other Internet uses

• Salesperson uses web sites, emails, listservs, bulletin boards, forums, roundtables, and newsgroups to secure leads

• Fastest growing method of generating leads

• Ensure sites are well developed for information to be easily found

• Number of international leads can be secured

• Sites are listed on major search engines

• Banner ads

Ads and Direct Mail

• Sales people use these forms of promotional activities to generate leads

• Postcard pack

Catalogs

• Sales people use these forms of promotional activities to generate leads

Publicity shows, Fairs, and Merchandise Markets

• Sales people use these forms of promotional activities to generate leads

• Salespeople use trade shows, conventions, fairs, and merchandise markets for lead generation

Webinars and Seminars

• Salespeople use seminars and online webinars to generate leads

Lists and directories

• Salesperson uses secondary data sources, which can be free or fee based

• The SIC and NAICS codes are uniform classification for all countries in north America, when researching using secondary sources

Data mining and CRM systems

• Salespeople use sophisticated data analysis software and the company’s CRM system to generate leads

• Databases

• Data mining

Cold Calling

• Salesperson tries to generate leads by calling on totally unfamiliar organizations

Spotters

• Salesperson pays someone for lead information

• Usually in a position to find out when someone is ready to make a purchase decision

telemarketing

• Customers can find this annoying and sent to voice mails

• Salesperson uses phone and/or telemarketing staff to generate leads

Sales Letters

• salesperson writes personal lettes to potential leads

other sources

• salesperson uses noncompeting salesperson, people in his or her oen firm, friends, and so on to secure information