What it takes to be an expert, specialized Sales Recruiting Organization: As in the case with Sales Team Staffing Inc, not only does such a specialized firm’s sales recruiters specifically need to understand the type of Sales Professional their client needs, but they must have previously been a very successful Sales Professional themselves (in order to successfully recruit the right sales talent for their clients without delay). A recent example is when an employer that was seeking a sales candidate knowledgeable in the SEVEN STEPS OF THE SALE process… at which point we immediately deputized a sales recruiter that had a true expertise in this particular Sales Doctrine, and who hammered out the project within a few days. Here now is that process.
SEVEN STEPS OF THE SALE
- preparation/planning/research/approach (using facilitative methods)
- introduction/opening/approach/establish initial credibility
- questioning/identify needs/ask how and what, etc./establish rapport and trust
- presentation/explanation/demonstration
- overcoming objections/negotiating/fine-tuning
- close/closing/agreement/commitment/confirmation
- follow-up/after-sales/fulfill/deliver/admin
- Preparation- ensure that you know your product and services inside and out. Research and find out what current supply arrangements they have. This will help you tune into what your product or service has to offer that is more desirable than what they have now. Try to understand what influences the decision making process, what their needs, motives and relationships are like. Prepare your opening statements and practice your sales presentation. Prepare your presentation in the format in which you are to give it (e.g., MS PowerPoint slides for laptop or projected presentation) plus all materials, samples, hand-outs, brochures, etc., and always have spares – allow for more than the planned numbers as extra people often appear at the last minute. Prepare a checklist of questions or headings that will ensure you gather all the information you need from the meeting. Think carefully about what you want to get from the meeting and organize your planning to achieve it. Understand and make the most of cold calling despite the tendency for some organizations to position cold calling as a lowly de-skilled canvassing or enquiry-generation activity, cold calling increasingly enables sales people to become more strategic and significant in the sales function.
- Introduction- Smile, and be confident in the preparation you have done. Always provide and introduction, with your first and last name, the name of the company you represent and in short what your company provides. Ask how much time your prospect has so you can plan accordingly and not waste any of the prospects time. Ask if you can take notes, typically prospect will have no problem with this but it is important to present yourself in a polite and professional manner.
- Questioning- Empathy and listening are crucial to the questioning process. Understand and paying attention to body language is also very important as well. It is important through questioning to identify the buyers needs and wants. Questioning must also discover how best to develop the relationship and the sale with the organization. Good empathic questioning also builds relationships, trust and rapport – nobody wants to buy anything from a sales person who’s only interested in their own product or company – we all want to buy from somebody who gives the time and skill to interpreting and properly meeting our own personal needs. (Broadly open questions gather information and build rapport; closed questions filter, qualify and seek commitment) Use open questions, typically for example, questions beginning with Who? What? Why? Where? When? And How? Listen carefully and empathically, maintain good eye-contact, understand, and show that you understand – especially understand what is meant and felt, not just what is said, particularly when you probe motives and personal aspects interpret and reflect back and confirm you have understood what is being explained, and if there are any relevant feelings behind it. Use closed questions to qualify and confirm your interpretation – a closed question is one that can be answered with a yes or no. When you have all the information you need, acknowledge the fact and say thanks, then take a few moments to think about, discuss and summarize the key issues/requirements/priorities from your prospect’s organizational (and personal if applicable) perspective.
- Presentation- The sales presentation should focus on a central proposition, which should be the unique perceived benefit that the prospect gains from the product/service. During the questioning phase the sales person will have refined the understanding (and ideally gained agreement) as to what this is. The presentation must now focus on ‘matching’ the benefits of the product with the needs of the prospect so that the prospect is entirely satisfied that the proposition the sales person therefore needs an excellent understanding of the many different organizational benefits that accrue to customers, and why, from the product/service. These perceived benefits will vary according to the type of customer organization (size, structure, market sector, strategy, general economic health, culture, etc.) the sales presentation must demonstrate that the product/service meets the prospect’s needs, priorities, constraints and motives, or the prospect will not even consider buying or moving to the next stage; this is why establishing the prospect’s situation and priorities during the questioning phase is so vital. While the presentation must always focus on the main perceived benefit, it is important to show that all the other incidental requirements and constraints are met – but do not over-emphasize or attempt to ‘pile high’ loads of incidental benefits as this simply detracts from the central proposition. Presentations should use the language and style of the audience – e.g., technical people need technical evidence; sales and marketing people like to see flair and competitive advantage accruing for their own sales organization; managing directors and finance directors want clear, concise benefits to costs, profits and operating efficiency; and generally the more senior the contact, the less time you will have to make your point – no- nonsense, no frills, but plenty of relevant hard facts and evidence.
- Overcoming Objections/Negotiating- If objections arise, firstly the sales person should qualify each one by reflecting back to the person who raised it, to establish the precise nature of the objection – “why do you say that?” , or better still, “what makes you say that?, is usually a good start. It may be necessary to probe deeper to get to the real issue, by asking why to a series of answers – some objections result from misunderstandings, and some are used to veil other misgivings which the sales person needs to expose. An old-style technique was to reflect back the objection as a re-phrased question, but in a form that the sales person is confident of being able to answer positively, for example: the prospect says he thinks it’s too expensive; the sales person reflects back: “I think what you’re really saying is that you have no problem with giving us the contract, but you’d prefer the payments staged over three years rather than two? – well I think we could probably do something about that…” The ‘feel-felt-found’ technique was another popular tactic in overcoming objections: this is a response built around the three ‘feel felt found’ elements: “I understand how you feel/why you feel that…//Other customers have felt just the same/that…//But (or ‘And’) when… they have found that…” The method uses empathy in stage one, neutrality and group reference (shifting the issue away from personal confrontation) in stage two, and then counters the objection and reinforces the benefits using (alleged) majority evidence in stage three, in the hope of persuading the buyer that he/she is isolated and missing out if deciding not to buy. By this stage you may have seen some signs that the prospect is clearly visualizing or imagining the sale proceeding, or even talking in terms of your working together as supplier and customer; this is sometimes called buying warmth. Certain questions and comments from prospects are described as buying signals because they indicate that the prospect may be visualizing buying or having the product/service. In the old days, sales people were taught to respond to early buying signals with a ‘trial close’, but this widely perceived as clumsy and insulting nowadays. Instead respond to early buying signals (i.e. those received before you’ve completed the presentation to the prospect’s satisfaction, and answered all possible queries) by asking why the question is important, and then by answering as helpfully as possible.
- Close/ Closing/ Agreement- The best close these days is something like “Are you happy that we’ve covered everything and would you like to go ahead?”, or simply “Would you like to go ahead?” In many cases, if the sales person conducts the sale properly, the prospect will close the deal himself, and this should be the another aim for the salesperson – it’s civilized, respectful, and actually implies and requires a high level of sales professionalism. The manner in which a sale is concluded depends on the style of the decision-maker – watch out for the signs: no-nonsense high-achievers are likely to decide very quickly and may be a little irritated if you leave matters hanging after they’ve indicated they’re happy; cautious technical people will want every detail covered and may need time to think, so don’t push them, but do stay in touch and make sure they have all the information they need; very friendly types may actually say yes before they’re ready, in which case you need to ensure that everything is suitably covered so nothing can rebound later.
- Follow-up/ Fulfillment/ Delivery- After-sales follow-up depends on the type of product and service, but generally for every sale the sales person must carry out a number of important processes:
- All relevant paperwork must be completed and copies provided to the customer – paperwork will cover the processing of the order, the confirmation of the order and its details to the customer, possibly the completion of installation and delivery specification and instructions
- Sales reporting by the sales person is also necessary, generally on a pro-forma or computer screen, typically detailing the order value, product type and quantity, and details about the customer such as industrial sector – each sales organization stipulates the sales person’s reporting requirements, and often these are linked to sales commissions and bonuses, etc.
- The sales person should also make follow-up contact with the customer – as often as necessary – to confirm that the customer is happy with the way the order is being progressed; this helps reduce possible confusion and misunderstood expectations, which are a big cause of customer dissatisfaction or order cancellation if left to fester unresolved
- Customer follow-up and problem resolution must always be the responsibility for the sales person, who should consider themselves the ‘guardian’ of that customer, even if a well-organized customer service exists for general after-sales care
- Customers rightly hold sales people responsible for what happens after the sale is made, and good conscientious follow-up will usually be rewarded with referrals to other customers – this is also helpful for networking
- Follow-up is an important indicator of integrity; when a sales person makes a sale he is personally endorsing the product and the company, so ensuring that value and satisfaction are fulfilled is an integral part of the modern sales function.