Stages-of-the-personal-selling-process PDF

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Krasimir Marinov...

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Stages of the personal selling process Although there are diverse types of customers, products, services, and selling situations there are seven basic interacting and overlapping stages that form the personal selling process. (PSP) 1. Prospecting and qualifying- customers are continuously leaving for various reasons- death, relocation, switching to other suppliers. Because of this in order to increase or even maintain the sales quorum sales people must continuously search for new customers, prospects. Prospecting requires from sales people to first obtain leads. A lead(контакт ) is basically the name and the address or the telephone number of a person or an organization potentially having a need for the company's products and services. Before considering a lead to be a valid prospect the sales person must qualify it in terms of need or want, in terms of authority to buy, money to buy, and eligibility to buy. A way to remember these qualifiers is the acronym NAME (need, authority, money, eligibility). When companies or individuals pass all four of these qualifiers they become prospects for a sales call (making a contact). Many sales people consider prospects their pot of gold nuggets, they are a kind of a treasure they have, that they can draw from like a sales slowdown and they spend more time on prospecting than on any other selling ability. It is possible to construct a simple typology of the various lead searching methods. Basically we could distinguish random lead searching methods and selecting lead searching methods. 1. Random lead searching means that the sales person makes contacts without knowing if he or she will find someone, and without knowing what kind of person is going to respond. Examples, searching through door-to-door visiting, searching through cold calls (talking to someone you don't know in advance, someone you haven't met or spoken by phone, ore contacted by emailing), searching through advertising and media, searching through emails, websites. 2. Second group of selective lead searching Selective lead searching is additionally divided into 2 subgroups: Systematical lead generation that is done in the predefined private segments examples include first look through friends, colognes. Another way is through personal observation. Searching through current satisfied customers and future customers. Another example is searching through referral of customers and prospects, also in this groups searching through centers of influence. It means when sales force joins a social or business group to be able to meet prospects. Another form is searching through different types of serves (not to research a certain topic but clients), searching through Internet, professional sales organizations, company data basis. The second type is researching through indirect sources. It means using massages that are not directed to a specific prospect and that aim to stimulate prospects to make the first step and to revel their interest to the product. Examples include, searching through postal or electronic sales letters, also through trade shows, fairs, and exhibitions, through professional seminars, conferences, seminars. Through contests between clients. Through free gift offers. Through unsolicited inquires. Through telemarketing, with regard to it it is interesting to mention the experience of DuPont and their ex with telemarketers. The company came to the conclusion that the best leads are generated from telemarketer who are sales experienced. Sales managers at the company have a unique approach to prospecting and supporting the field sales force. Former field sales people are hired as telemarketing representatives to identify the hot prospects to be deliver to the field of sales force, and to answer customer technical questions to help resolve distribution problem, and even sell some products. DuPont noticed that using this knowledgable sales people has sharply increased the conversion rate of leads to prospects to customers. And statistics is that more than 50% of the leads passed on to the field sales force by this telemarketers (became customers).

2. Planning the sales call (pre-approach) in this stage there are seven basic steps. First, prepare the prospect to the initial sales call. Second, sell the sales call appointment to the prospect through pre notification. Third, gather and analyze info about the prospect. Conduct problems and needs for the prospect. Riffs, identify the product feature, benefits, advantages likely to be of most interest to the prospect. Sixth select the best sales presentation and demonstration strategy for the prospect and finally plan and rehears the approach to the prospect. There is an effective way to prepare the prospect for the first sales contact that is call seating. With this technique the sales person mails interesting news articles to the potential buyer over several weeks or months, thereby establishing a kind of pen relationship before calling to ask for an appointment. Prospects of course don't want their time wasted so sales people must learn to sell the sales call. A step beyond seeding is a technique called pre notification in which the sales person make a telephone call or sends an email to request permission to send sales materials to raise the prospect interest and schedule the face to face sales call. Before developing a sales call strategy it is especially important to gather detailed info about the prospect and the buying situation. Selective info sourcing may include trade associations, chambers of commerce, credit agencies, government and public libraries, and Internet search engines. One of the most direct ways to obtain information is a low profile preliminary call at the prospects business site. At this place sales people can talk to receptionists, or other employees. They can gather company brochures and materials and simply observe the way the business operates. Such efforts must be diplomatic to avoid the impression of spying, although it is really spying. 3. Approaching the prospect- sales people make their critical and often long wasting impressions on the approach stage. Several methods for approaching the prospect can succeed ranging from a referral to beginning an immediate product demonstration. For example while walking or driving to a prospects office a sales person may call, the prospect and say something like this ,hi, I am calling you on our new phone, how is the sound coming through? I thing you will the new feature and it is very compact, you can see for yourself in just a few minutes when i'like be on your door. Definition on approach- the first face to face contact with the prospect. Typology of strategies for approaching prospects. First they are non product related approaches. The first example is reference and the strategy here is to mention the names of satisfied customers whom the prospect respects. Another example, self introduction- it is just smoothly and professionally greed the prospect. Another approach is called free gift or sample- the strategy is to offer a free gist or an invitation for an invent. The forth one is dramatic act- the strategy is to do something dramatic and memorable in a positive way to capture the prospects attention (for example to go on the meeting with repose). The second group of approaches- picking interest approachesThe first one is called customer benefit and the strategy is to offer the potential customer the benefit

immoderately. The second one is curiosity- to offer the prospect a benefit that appeals to his curiosity. Consumer directed approachesThe first one is called compliment- strategy is to supply but sincerely compliment the prospect. The second is served- the strategy is to ask permission to obtain info whether the prospect might need the product. A third approach is called question- the strategy is to involve the prospect in a two way communication early on by asking a question. And the forth group are product related approaches. The first approach in here is called product and the strategy is to show the prospect the product or a model of it and to start conversation. And. The second one is demonstration- demonstration of the product upon the first meeting. Whatever the approach successful sales people must tailor it to each prospect. They often set first a primary objective which means the targeted outcome, a minimal objective (the lowest acceptable outcome), and third they set an optimal objective (the best possible outcome). And they set this objectives before approaching the prospects. It is a relevant idea to make the target smart which mean to consider a number of requirements to the objectives SMART. S stands for specific which means establishing specific major objective for the sales call. M is measurable- sales people must insure that their major objective is measurable or quantifiable. For example a certain number of units, sale volume in money. A for achievable- the goals sales people set should be realistic and achievable. R for relational- which means sales people should always try to advance a positive long term relationship with the prospect no matter if they will be able the to achieve their major objective in this sales call. Finally the call could be temporal- the sales person should establish with the prospect a specific time frame for achieving the major objective (for instance a range for the trial use of a product for a certain time period with the prospects purchase decision to follow). Ultimately most sales calls should achieve two or more prospective a. To generate sales- to sell products to target customers. Second to develop the market- to lay the grand work for generating new business e.g by educating customers, gaining brand visibility, developing relationships with prospective buyers. And the last possible goal is to protect the market which means that they have to leach competitors strategies and tactics and protect relationships with current customers to keep them satisfied and loyal. 4. Making the sales presentation and demonstration - communication is in the heart of the selling process and the sales presentation is the critical center stage for sales people. And after asking the customer qualifying question to uncover specific needs the sales person presents the products and services that will best satisfy those needs. Highlight their features, advantages and benefits and stimulates desire for the offerings with a skillful demonstration. Prospects are primarily interested in the benefits they are offered. Product features and advantages are important only if they can be tied directly to a specific benefit the prospect is seeking. For example pointing out a flat screen monitor feature when demonstrating a new desktop computer, doesn't mean much to a prospect unless the sales person explained the related benefits of taking up less desk space, reducing eyes strain and increasing employee productivity. Success at this stage requires development of carefully tailored and practiced strategies. What follows is a typology of sales presentation strategies. 1) is called response- the approaches sales person to ask a serious of positive leading questions. The reason behind as customer develops a habit of answering yes which may lead to a positive response to the closing question. Disadvantage is it could appear manipulative to more sophisticated prospects.

2) is called formula- sales people lead the prospect through the mental states of buying. And these states are called AIDA model which stands for attention, interest, desire, and action. The advantage is that the prospect is led toward purchase action one step at a time. But the disadvantage is it may look as too mechanical to win prospects trust and confidence . 3) is called need satisfaction- with this strategy a sales person tries to find the prospect's dominant but often hidden buying needs, it uses skillful listening, questioning and use of certain image producing words that help the sales person uncover the critical need to be satisfied if the sell to be won. Advantage is that a sales person listens and responds to the prospect while leading the prospect to buy, and the sales person learns dominant buyer needs and motivations. A disadvantage is sales person to overlook that hidden needs of the prospect that aren't articulated. 4) is called consultative problem solving- under this strategy a sales person carefully listens and asks probing questions to more fully understand the prospects problems and then recommend the best alternative solutions. 5) is called team selling- sales person together with another company personnel sales the product or the service benefits and avoids the intra group conflicts by identifying needs of each interest group. Advantage is that in selling involves counterparts from both buyer and seller organizations, interacting and corporations to find solutions to problems. And the sales person serves as a coordinator of t he buyer-seller team interactions. Very important in this stage is a convincing product demonstration. It has been said t hat a picture is worth 1000 words and a demonstration is worth 1000 pictures. Sales people who use skillful questioning and reactive listening while prospects describe their needs can often adjust their sales presentation on the fly to provide best customer solutions. One particular question at this stage is whether a sales person has to adapt his presentation to the prospect? It is the question of adaptive vs canned sales presentation (definition of adaptive selling- modifying each sale presentation to accommodate each individual prospect) (definition of not flexible selling- highly structured or patterned selling approach). Traditional sales people tend to make relatively standard presentations that don't vary much from one prospect to another. The top performing sales people try in step to adapt each presentation to the particular prospect and selling situation. Sales people who modify their presentations are more effective than those who don't. At this point it may seem obvious but only sales people who are inclined to adjust their sales presentation are likely to do so during the sell call. Successful sales people regularly practice adapting their sales presentations to different customer types and sales situations and they stay alert to prospects verbal and non verbal feedback during the presentation. For example, if the purchasing manager for a car rental company shows more interest in safety than in gas mileage, then an observant sales person for automotive producer can quickly adapt the sales presentation by emphasizing the safety benefits of the cars, although, adaptive selling is generally best the canned selling can still be appropriate for some types of prospects selling situations and sales people. In fact the most selling presentation somehow blend the canned and adaptive approaches. Many sales people use the canned approach to present general information about their company or brand and during the presentation they are able to closely observe the prospects reaction and accordingly adapt the later stage at of their presentation. 5. Negotiating sales resistance or buyer objections - even after an effective sales presentation most prospects and customers are not ready to sign up a purchase agreement. Instead they are likely to ask more questions and resist making the purchase. However, sales people shouldn't be discouraged by prospect resistance or objections. In Fact, experienced sales people know that the sale doesn't really begin until the prospect says NO. Usually objections are simply a request for more information so that the prospect can justify a purchase decision. As a consequence before sales people make a sales call it is necessary to imagine prospects' objections and to prepare appropriate

responses to these objections. Sales resistance cacao sits of either valid or invalid objections. Sales people need to recognize each type in negotiating with the prospects. The formal definition of objection is anything that the prospect or customer says or does that slows Down the sales negotiations. Definition of valid objections- Cinderella concerns that the prospect needs to have addressed before they would be willing to buy. Definition of invalid objections- irrelevant, untruthful delaying actions or hidden reason for not buying. Summarization of valid and invalid objections. VALID OBJECTION- product objections-examplesa) product characteristics and benefits are perceived as less than ideal by the prospect. b) the proposed product is not superior to those currently used c) product characteristics and benefits aren't competitive. A second group (price objections) a)price is too high for the perceived value offered b) price isn't competitive c) price exceeds the prospects budget limitations d) discounts are inadequate e) payment terms are out of line. A third group (promotion objections) these are typical for business to business market a) b) c) d)

cooperative advertising is insufficient free display merchandise is not offered no push money is provided for the reseller no advertising support is offered.

Forth group of valid (distribution objections) a)delivery lead time is too long b) minimum order size requirements are unacceptable c) delivery arrangements aren't adequate d) inadequate damage and return goods policy. Fifth group (capital objections) b to b market a)required investments are too high b) customer credit rating is too low to obtain favorable interest rate for capital fund loans c) the prospect companies capital budget has not yet been approved d) customer has cash flow problems so is currently unable to buy capital goods. The sixth group (source objections) related to the sellers company a)source company reputation is poor b) buyer presents local supplier c) buyer wants to do business with a national company d) past problems in doing business with the seller e) vender has a reputation for manufacturing low quality products f) the vender is known to be unethical.

The last group related to the valid objections (need objections) a) the buyer has no need for the sellers product or service b) the buyer is satisfied with the products currently being purchased. This are valid objections and they need to be face in a proper way which is offering more information. The second group is invalid objections. (Latent objections) a) buyer usually purchases from an old friend b) prospect doesn't have an authority to make the purchase but is embarrassed to let the sales person know this c) prop spect simply doe t like the sales person or their company and doesn't want to start a business relationship. A second group of invalid (stalling objections) a) the goal is to put off the sales person for the time being or get him to leave and not return so to implement this the prospect says something like: thank for coming in we will get Bach to you if we decide purchasing your products; purchasing decisions are made by a buying committee so I will let you know if it decides to consider your company as a supplier. A third group (time objections) a) prospects says they have to prepare for a meeting b) prospect claims they need time to asses the purchase specifications and requirement c) prospects says they are just too busy to meet with the sals person. the last group (unethical objections) a) prospect doesn't do business with people from a particular group or religion b) prospect makes sexual proposals to the sales people. C) prospect solicits bribes or click-backstreet are a number of ways for overcoming objections. Negotiating buyer objections. We will look at a small typology of techniques for negotiating objections. They are called strategies. The first group is called put off strategies a) I am coming to that - consist of avoiding certain questions for example those related to the price until the end of the sales call b) празнословие - Thames form of using more words but not saying anything and basically objection remains unanswered. A second group consists of switch focus strategies. A) alternative product- consist of redirecting attention to another product b) feel-felt-found- is about underlining sales persons own experience with the product. Prospect says this new smartphone is too complicated for me to operate wi...