By Scott Wain
Regardless of industry, if you are in a sales position, your job description is to sell. Obviously the day to day duties may differ from one to the next. Whether you are an outside sales rep in the construction business or an automotive sales person in a showroom, at the end of the day it's your job to maintain and attract new business.
Most sales people have a certain degree of training before they are live in the field. One of the most important aspects would be the "sales process" itself. Depending on the industry you are in or the company you work for will determine the specifics of "your" sales process. For the most part, it is universally accepted that there are 5 steps to the sale. They are as follows: Initial meeting or introduction, the interview, presentation, demonstration of product or service, and price presentation or negotiation. Each of the stages should have their own individual training. The more training and experience you have in executing each step to the sale the better your results will be.
Are you able to apply the training and completely understand each of the stages and how to effectively move through them? If any of the steps to sale are missed you have limited the likelihood of closing the deal. Now, you may end up signing a deal at some point, but chances are it won't happen until you have successfully accomplished each step of the process.
With your experience you are now at the point of moving throughout the entire sales process with no real obstacles. However, some common mistakes made throughout the sale can affect your results without even realizing. The affected results could be for example: volume, gross profit and even customer satisfaction. The following oversight can regularly occur without the knowledge of how to prevent it.
The laws of reciprocation are evident in each and every aspect of our lives without the comprehension of it happening. When someone gives us something, we are more likely to look for something to give back in return. This naturally happens without any conscious effort. This is one of those intrinsic feelings we have all experienced regularly all the way through our lives. Unfortunately for a sales person reciprocation can harm our results. This law can also help us when used tactfully.
You're probably thinking, "When can the law of reciprocation actually spoil the chance of a sale?" Since we naturally want to give something in return for something we have received, a sales person finds it logical to use this practice. Keep in mind this is usually a subconscious thought. While you are attempting to close the deal you begin to suggest your price flexibility or extra services you can offer in exchange for a deal. It's too early for this.
For example: A customer says to the sales person "It looks good, I'm just not sure" Sales person: "Well, Mr. Jones, if I could include installation at no charge would that help your decision?" Sounds good doesn't it? It's not too bad. However, why are you offering some sort of discount or savings when your potential client hasn't yet made a decision to buy or not? Make sure you're not giving up ground to overcome an objection.
Work on addressing and isolating the objection instead of reducing your price to eliminate it. The time to ask that question would be if the "installation cost" was the specific objection. Customer: "Well, it looks good, I'm just not sure" Sales person: "What is it specifically that you're not sure about?" (Isolate objection) Customer: "That installation price seems pretty steep" Sales person: "I understand. Can I ask you, if there was a way I could help you out with that, would we have a deal?" (Addressing objection) Notice the "help you out with that" could mean anything. It could be blending the installation cost over the term, payable in 30 days or if you need to, reduced installation cost. The point is, you haven't given anything up or lost any ground. Chances are you could find an agreement without even giving an actual monetary concession. So now your customer says: "if there was a way I didn't have to pay that installation up front I'd make a deal." Now you've made your deal and your customer is happy because you've been flexible.
Be careful of offering concessions when they are not required. We too often have the urge to "better" the deal before we even have a deal. Keep all your ammo for when you really need it. Don't empty your barrel into thin air before you've crossed enemy lines. Once you're finally there and you've used all your ammo, you're dead in the water. If you tactically maneuvered across your enemy lines then you'll be fully loaded and ready to fire! If you save all your possible concessions for the actual negotiation you'll be surprised of how little you actually need to give up to close the sale.
Regardless of industry, if you are in a sales position, your job description is to sell. Obviously the day to day duties may differ from one to the next. Whether you are an outside sales rep in the construction business or an automotive sales person in a showroom, at the end of the day it's your job to maintain and attract new business.
Most sales people have a certain degree of training before they are live in the field. One of the most important aspects would be the "sales process" itself. Depending on the industry you are in or the company you work for will determine the specifics of "your" sales process. For the most part, it is universally accepted that there are 5 steps to the sale. They are as follows: Initial meeting or introduction, the interview, presentation, demonstration of product or service, and price presentation or negotiation. Each of the stages should have their own individual training. The more training and experience you have in executing each step to the sale the better your results will be.
Are you able to apply the training and completely understand each of the stages and how to effectively move through them? If any of the steps to sale are missed you have limited the likelihood of closing the deal. Now, you may end up signing a deal at some point, but chances are it won't happen until you have successfully accomplished each step of the process.
With your experience you are now at the point of moving throughout the entire sales process with no real obstacles. However, some common mistakes made throughout the sale can affect your results without even realizing. The affected results could be for example: volume, gross profit and even customer satisfaction. The following oversight can regularly occur without the knowledge of how to prevent it.
The laws of reciprocation are evident in each and every aspect of our lives without the comprehension of it happening. When someone gives us something, we are more likely to look for something to give back in return. This naturally happens without any conscious effort. This is one of those intrinsic feelings we have all experienced regularly all the way through our lives. Unfortunately for a sales person reciprocation can harm our results. This law can also help us when used tactfully.
You're probably thinking, "When can the law of reciprocation actually spoil the chance of a sale?" Since we naturally want to give something in return for something we have received, a sales person finds it logical to use this practice. Keep in mind this is usually a subconscious thought. While you are attempting to close the deal you begin to suggest your price flexibility or extra services you can offer in exchange for a deal. It's too early for this.
For example: A customer says to the sales person "It looks good, I'm just not sure" Sales person: "Well, Mr. Jones, if I could include installation at no charge would that help your decision?" Sounds good doesn't it? It's not too bad. However, why are you offering some sort of discount or savings when your potential client hasn't yet made a decision to buy or not? Make sure you're not giving up ground to overcome an objection.
Work on addressing and isolating the objection instead of reducing your price to eliminate it. The time to ask that question would be if the "installation cost" was the specific objection. Customer: "Well, it looks good, I'm just not sure" Sales person: "What is it specifically that you're not sure about?" (Isolate objection) Customer: "That installation price seems pretty steep" Sales person: "I understand. Can I ask you, if there was a way I could help you out with that, would we have a deal?" (Addressing objection) Notice the "help you out with that" could mean anything. It could be blending the installation cost over the term, payable in 30 days or if you need to, reduced installation cost. The point is, you haven't given anything up or lost any ground. Chances are you could find an agreement without even giving an actual monetary concession. So now your customer says: "if there was a way I didn't have to pay that installation up front I'd make a deal." Now you've made your deal and your customer is happy because you've been flexible.
Be careful of offering concessions when they are not required. We too often have the urge to "better" the deal before we even have a deal. Keep all your ammo for when you really need it. Don't empty your barrel into thin air before you've crossed enemy lines. Once you're finally there and you've used all your ammo, you're dead in the water. If you tactically maneuvered across your enemy lines then you'll be fully loaded and ready to fire! If you save all your possible concessions for the actual negotiation you'll be surprised of how little you actually need to give up to close the sale.
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