HOWTO... sell

HOWTO… sales and marketing guides are brief practical guides for sales and marketing professionals, published by Solutions for Sales. They provide a primer for the inexperienced and a reminder for those already in the know.

Objective

In a successful company everyone sells, but not everyone will have received sales training. The objective of this HOWTO… sales and marketing guide is to explain the basics of selling for the uninitiated and to provide a reminder for those already in the know. Experienced or novice, it is valuable to have a common framework for the selling process.

Five important stages

To buy successfully customers need to pass through 5 stages:

1. Need: recognition that they have a need, opportunity or desire
2. Vision: realisation that there is a practical course of action they can take to satisfy this need or grasp this opportunity or satisfy this desire
3. Prioritisation: acceptance that it is important they take action to satisfy the need
4. Selection: choice of the best organisation or person to provide the solution that satisfies the need
5. Action: the activities necessary to place the order and implement the solution

To sell successfully you need to take your customer through these stages and achieve the right outcome from each. Let’s take a look at each stage.

Need

The precursor to any action is a need. Needs are sometimes imposed upon us – why would I ever fill in a tax return unless I knew the consequences of not doing it were worse than doing it – sometimes voluntary – I need to work because I enjoy spending my pay – and sometimes created by outside forces such as advertising. After all, how many people would worry about limescale build-up in their washing machine if it wasn’t for those adverts for the little white tablet that prevents limescale? A salesperson’s job is to identify needs and desires, often called “pains” in sales jargon.

Let’s illustrate the process with an example, a tough one – selling fridges to Eskimos. Sure, Eskimos have plenty of ice, but is it clean? Does it come in handy cubes? How do they stop all their foodstuffs from getting frozen solid – not very good for milk or salad leaves. So there are plenty of reasons why Eskimos need fridges. You can hear the salesperson now: “Are you fed up with hacking grubby chunks of ice off the nearest glacier to put in your G&T?”. “Worried that could be frozen penguin poo floating in your daughter’s coke?”. “Tired of having to defrost a beer before you can drink it?”.

Do you ever create needs when you are selling? Sometimes a customer’s needs are clear, but other times they need to be uncovered – I never knew I wanted cruise control in my car until a salesperson pointed out that it was a good way to stop your speed creeping up and up on a clear motorway. A key technique for uncovering needs is the question, but not just any question. You must know the needs you are trying to uncover so you can ask the right questions, and of course they must be needs you can satisfy with whatever you are selling.

Vision

Yes, I would like to see a little more of Claudia Schiffer, but I know it isn’t going to happen (I’m just too busy). For your customer to take action, you have to convince them there is a realistic way that their need (or desire) can be achieved.

Our fridge salesperson will be saying: “The good news is that you don’t have to suffer these problems any more. Our Igloofridge makes ice cubes from filtered water so you know they are pure, and you get a choice of cubes, slivers or crushed ice. It incorporates a thermostatically controlled dualcycle process, so vegetables and salads are kept at the optimum temperature to remain crisp and fresh, even when it’s -40º outside”.

Your aim is two fold: to convince your customer that it really is possible to satisfy this need, and to plant a vision in their mind of how great it will be when they have bought from you. A classic sales tool for this stage is the success story or customer testimonial, because having someone else eulogise about your product is far more compelling than you saying it yourself.

Prioritisation

OK, so now your customer agrees that they have a need, they can see how their need can be satisfied, and they have a vision of how this could make their life better. But there are lots of ways they could spend their money – you need to make this their top priority so they take action.

Typically there are two angles: 1) what disaster might occur if they do not take action, and 2) the major benefits they will enjoy of they do take action. To our Eskimo customers we could say: “Don’t risk the health of your family any longer, give them clean ice cubes in their drinks. Imagine how impressed your friends will be when they come round to your igloo for drinks – crystal clear ice, perfectly chilled white wine, crisp fresh canapés. Your family will see how much you love them and you will be the envy of your friends if you buy an Igloofridge”.

Don’t underestimate the power of emotion, but make sure you also have logical ammunition such as business cases and return on investment analyses to use at this stage of the selling process.

Selection

By now your customer is minded to take action. Your job is to make sure they buy from you, so you have to prove the superiority of your solution. This is where a clear understanding of your differentiators pays dividends: “We know you can’t always build your igloo within easy reach of mains electricity, so we designed Igloofridge to run from bottled gas as well, so it can operate wherever you go. What’s more, Igloofridge has igloo-friendly rounded contours so it fits neatly against the wall of your igloo.”

Action

None of the above is of any consequence unless the customer takes the action you want – to buy from you. Closing the sale is rarely routine and can involve previous stages being re-visited, but it will be far simpler if those previous stages have been properly addressed.

The clever salesperson will have been listening out for “compelling events” that set a time limit for action, and will be using any promotional tools that are available: “If you order in the next 5 days we can guarantee delivery before the onset of arctic winter. What’s more, orders placed today will be delivered with a free case of beer so you can celebrate your purchase with friends and neighbours”.

What now?

The 5-stage process applies no matter how big or small the sale, so I hope that using a retail–orientated example has not obscured the message for those who sell multi-thousand or multi-million Euro solutions. Good selling starts early and carries on right through delivery and into the service experience, so whether you are in Marketing, Sales, Service or even Product Development you should stop, examine what you are doing and ask yourself how it contributes to the 5-stage journey you want your customers to take.

For more information email or call +44(0)1702 586742.