Personal Selling 1 Seven Top Secrets of Sales Professionalism

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Personal Selling 1Seven Top Secrets ofSales
Professionalism

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1) Sales is a Skill, Not a Talent

• It can be learned
• It takes training
• It takes practice
• It takes experience
• Skills vs. Aptitude vs. Techniques

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2) Starts with Knowledge

• Product or Service
• You are the expert Specs, Benefits, Delivery,
  Pricing, Billing, Customer Experience
• Customers and Their Needs
• Know more than they do about themselves
• Competition
• Advantages and Disadvantages
• Industry
• Innovations, legislation, economy

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3) The Magic Word LISTEN

• Far more important than the gift of gab
• Listen gt 50, Talk lt 50
• What the customer says will determine the
  direction and content of your presentation
• The real gift is getting the prospect to talk
• Develop the skill of asking questions

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Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens. Jimi
Hendrix
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"You can tell a man is clever by his answers. You
can tell a man is wise by his questions." Naguib
Mahfouz (1911 8/30/06 )Egyptian novelist,
Nobel Prize Laureate
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Information Gathering Questions I

• What prompted you/ your company to look into
  this?What are your expectations/ requirements
  for this product/ service?What process did you
  go through to determine your needs?How do you
  see this happening?What is it that youd like to
  see accomplished? With whom have you had success
  in the past?With whom have you had difficulties
  in the past?

From JustSell.com
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Information Gathering Questions II

• Can you help me understand that a little
  better?What does that mean?How does that
  process work now?What challenges does that
  process create?What challenges has that created
  in the past?What are the best things about that
  process?What other items should we discuss?

From JustSell.com
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Qualifying Questions

• What do you see as the next action steps?What
  is your timeline for implementing/ purchasing
  this type of service/ product?What other data
  points should we know before moving
  forward?What budget has been established for
  this?What are your thoughts?Who else is
  involved in this decision?What could make this
  no longer a priority?What's changed since we
  last talked?What concerns do you have?

From JustSell.com
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Questions to Establish Rapport

• How did you get involved in ?What kind of
  challenges are you facing?Whats the most
  important priority to you with this? Why?What
  other issues are important to you? What would
  you like to see improved?How do you measure
  that?

From JustSell.com
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4) People Buy Benefits/Not Products

• Dont just focus on product features
• Talk about benefits (what features mean)
• If you mention a feature, translate it into a
  benefit, so the customer understands
• Your Features Their Benefits

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5) Walk in Customers Shoes

• How would you react to presentation if you were
  the customer?
• What things are important to customer
• People buy for their reasons, not yours
• Make customer feel important
• Talk about their needs
• Win-Win problem solving

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6) Price is No Object

• Counter-intuitive
• Price is not the reason people buy
• They buy benefits
• Put focus on the benefits, not price
• If price is an issue (when is it not?) show the
  value of the benefits (justify price)

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7) Dont Sell Anyone

• People hate being sold, but love to buy
• Professional salesperson helps the customer to
  buy
• People buy for different reasons, need to
  understand those reasons (?, CB)
• Look for verbal/non-verbal cues
• Buying Styles Assertiveness and Sensitivity