How can salespeople make sales dialogue interesting and understandable to buyers?

Not many salesperson can create an interesting and understandable sales dialogue to a potential prospect.

If you were to ask 100 salespeople you know whether their approach was customer-centred or product-centred, what would they say? Few, if any, would boast about selling “a box.”

Most salespeople believe that they know their customers’ needs. They believe they are positioning solutions, not products. They believe they are customer-focused. These beliefs are the biggest obstacles keeping them from making the changes they need to make in their Sales conversation.

Selling styles run the entire scale. There is a sales style continuity. At one end of the continuity is generic product selling, basically a monologue, a “product dump.” At the other end is consultative selling, an interactive dialogue that focuses on the specific needs of the customer. 100% on either end is impossible. All salespeople are somewhere in between.

Some salespeople are charismatic sellers who rely on their interpersonal skills and charm. Others are technical experts, substantive in content but weak in customer focus. There are the “killers,” always rushing to the close, often at the expense of the relationship. These characterizations of sales types are extreme, but they set the context for thinking about how salespeople approach sales.

The majority of salespeople today use a combination of approaches. They want to be liked, they want to be credible, they want to close, and they want to meet the needs of their customers. But for most salespeople, this combination has resulted in a semi- consultative approach at best. While semi-consultative salespeople identify customer needs and are productive, they fall short of what they could accomplish.

Salespeople who are at the consultative end of the continuum create efficient but robust dialogues with their customers that enable them to connect and learn more with each conversation. The dialogues are active, with balanced exchanges between the salesperson and the customer. What they do looks easy and sounds like common sense, but it is far from simple and it is not common practice.

The line between semi-consultative selling and consultative selling is fine, but if all other factors are basically equal, the line means the difference between winning business or losing to a competitor. It can be the difference between being viewed as a technical specialist and being a trusted advisor. With relatively equal competitors, it is the sales conversation of the salesperson or sales team that makes the difference between winning and losing business.

You need to increase your sales dialogue to increase your sales results.

Professional Selling Chapter 7 Due as individual assignment on April 4 (printed and stapled) Sales Dialogue: Creating and Communicating Value 1. What are the key characteristics of effective sales dialogue? Plan and practice sales dialogue Encourage buyer feedback Create value for the buyer Communicate value gain Engage and involve the buyer Support customer value through objective claims 2. What are the advantages of using response-checks during a sales dialogue? Check-backs and response-checks are used in sales dialogue to promote buyer interaction with the seller.

Sellers use check-backs to encourage customer feedback. Sales people can use responses to understand which benefits the consumer confirms. The type of feedback a buyer gives may allow the seller to determine the level of interest the customer has in the product or services. When a buyer objects the seller, the feedback that the seller initiates afterwards, allows him or her to evaluate how well the situation was handled. An example of a response check could be “Does that answer your concern” or “So is this something that would be valuable to you? ”. 3. What is the relationship between confirmed benefits and customer value?

Confirmed benefits are the attributes of a product that a buyer recognizes. The more benefits that a consumer confirms, the more a customer may value what an organization has to offer. To create customer value the salesperson must try to communicate how the buyer’s needs will be met or what opportunities may arise from making a purchase decision. The buyer must understand how features convert to benefits. Not all features have benefits for the buyer and not all features are necessary for a buyer. Features that are confirmed benefits may have more than one benefit for the consumer. 4.

How can salespeople make sales dialogue interesting and understandable to buyers? Verbal support and sales aids can make a sales presentation interesting and understandable to the buyer. Sales aids may be printed materials, electronic materials, and product demonstrations. Verbal support includes the characteristics of one’s voice, examples, anecdotes, comparisons and analogies. An anecdote is a short story about a real situation. An analogy compares two product’s similar features and emphasizes how the product being sold has additional beneficial features. Two cars may be the same, but one dealership may sell the car for less money. . What are the advantages and disadvantages of the different types of sales aids? Sales aids can capture the buyer’s attention, persuade, increase buyer involvement, clarify, provide proof, and enhance the professional image of the salesperson and organization. The buyer may not see value in a product until a sales aid is used. Visuals may generate more interest in the solution being presented. When using a demonstration the buyer may experiences and see how the product or service is beneficial. A disadvantage of sales aids is that they can easily become a distraction.

If an aid is not taking away soon enough, the consumer may focus on the aid rather than what the seller has to say. Sales aids need to be efficient enough so that they support the salesperson but does not take away from the message being conveyed. 6. How can electronic materials be used as sales aids? Electronic materials that can be used as sales aids include slides, videos and multimedia presentations. A buyer can create power point presentations that include visuals, sounds and images that can enhance the consumers understanding of what the organization has to offer.

Applications like iMovie allow the seller to create visuals that look professional and impressive. Many electronic materials make aids seem more professional and increases the credibility the target market sees in product. 7. What are the four stages of the SPES Sequence for using sales aids effectively? State the selling point and introduce the sales aid Present the Sales aid Explain the sales aid Summarize 8. How can testimonials be used to support product claims? Testimonials are the statements that a satisfied buyer makes about an organization’s product or service.

An example of a testimonial may be a review on a website that encourages other consumers to buy a product. A purchaser is more likely to believe the value of a product with the backup of a testimonial. Buyers perceive purchases as less risky when they are presented with relevant and trustworthy testimonials. Testimonials allow the customer to feel trust and acceptance of the claims that a salesperson makes. 9. What are the key challenges of selling to groups versus individuals? When selling to a group, sales groups must prepare themselves for though questions.

The process of selling to a group is common in business to business marketing. It is often much more efficient to sell to individual prior to a group presentation. It is much easier to address the questions of an individual and answer in terms to the individuals opinions. In group presentations there is the influence of every group member. It is difficult to maintain eye contact with each group member throughout a sales presentation. The seller must avoid taking sides and ask for opinions and responses from each group member. 10. How should salespeople handle questions during a group dialogue?

During a group dialogue the seller must maintain eye contact throughout the presentation and to each individual present. When an individual asks questions the presenter must have eye contact with that person. If the seller fails to make eye contact the group may question the seller’s genuineness. Salespeople should restate questions to make sure that there is a clear understanding of what is being asked; in turn the seller can answer questions to his or her best ability. When making a sale a person must answer questions clearly and convincingly.