Explains the purpose and goal of the selling function.

To make my/our numbers.

To sell our company’s solutions and products.
To achieve our revenue and growth goals.
To grow our company.
Those are all outcomes of being successful in selling,
but what’s absent in each of those perspectives?
Until a customer buys, we can never achieve any of the
outcomes outlined above.
“The purpose of buying is to ……”
help us address and solve a problem.
help us address opportunities we’ve not been able to address in the past.
help us become more efficient and reduce operational expense.
help us better serve our customers and address their needs/requirements.
help us improve our quality.
Our customers are buying, not just to buy but to achieve something.
The point is not earthshaking, but it’s really about the disconnect in perspectives,
purpose, and objectives between sellers and buyers.  Until we resolve this
disconnect, we sales people will always struggle to achieve our goals. The purpose
of selling is to help our customers address and solve problems.  The purpose of
selling is to help our customers address opportunities they’ve not been able to
address in the past. 

Summarizes sales management responsibilities, legal, and ethical issues.

Legal Responsibilities
Organizations are composed of individuals. These individuals’ morals and ethical
values helps shapes those of the organizations’
-Know the capabilities and characteristics of company products and service
-Statements of praise vs. statements of fact
-Educate customers before the sales
-State products capabilities accurately
-Know technical specifications
Ethical Responsibilities
-Being honest
-Maintaining confidence and trust
-Following the rules
-Conduct yourself in a proper manner
-Treat others fairly
-Loyalty to the company and associates
-Carry your share -100% effort
Three main ethical areas most frequently faced by sales personnel:
-Bribes or Gifts
-Offering
-Buyer Originated
-Misrepresentation
-Sales Puff vs. Statements of Fact
-Legal Ramifications

Defines personal selling and identifies sales positions.

Personal selling: is also known as face-to-face selling in which
one person who is the salesman tries to convince the
customer in buying a product. It is a promotional method by
which the salesperson uses his or her skills and abilities in an
attempt to make a sale.
The salesperson tries to highlight various features of the
product to convince the customer that it will only add value.
However, getting a customer to buy a product is not the
motive behind personal selling every time. Often companies try to follow this
approach with customers to make them aware of a new product.
The company wants to spread awareness about the product for which it adopts a
person-to-person approach. This is because selling involves personal touch, a
salesperson knows better how to pitch a product to the potential customer. Personal
selling can take place through two different channels – through retail and through
direct-to-consumer channel. Under the retail channel, a sales person interacts with
potential customers who come on their own to enquire about a product. The job of
the salesperson is to make sure that he understands the need of the customers and
accordingly shows various products that he keeps under that category. Under the
direct channel, a salesperson visits potential customers in an attempt to make them
aware about a new product that the company is launching or it may have a new offer
which the customers may not get from the open market.

Identifies and explains the steps in the selling process.

-Prospecting is finding and qualifying potential customers.
Qualifying is the process of determining whether a potential
customer has a need or want that the company can fulfill, and
whether the potential client can afford the product.
-Preparation involves preparing for the initial contact with a
potential customer. You will need to collect and study relevant
information, such as product descriptions, prices, and
competitor information. You will also need to develop your
initial sales presentation.
-Approach is the first face-to-face interaction you will have with the potential
customer. In the premium approach, you give your prospect a gift at the beginning of
the interaction. Another method is the question approach, in which you ask a
question to get the prospect interested.
-Presentation is actively listening to the needs and wants of the potential -customer
and demonstrating how your product can meet those needs and wants.
-Handling objections is an important part of the process. Objections can be useful
because they tell the salesperson what to focus upon in addressing a prospect's
concerns. Successful salespeople learn how to overcome objections through
preparation and having the right information at hand to address them.
-Closing involves identifying closing signals from the prospect that indicate it's
decision time. There are different approaches to closing.
-Follow-up is building a long-term relationship with your customer for -purposes of
repeat sales. For example, you make contact with the customer sometime after the
sale and make sure the product was received and is in good condition. Again, the
idea is not to sell at this stage, but to create a solid relationship for future sales.

Explains how sales people get ready to sell and identifies buying motives in
customers.
For self-improvement, to reduce costs or for pure
enjoyment – the number of buying motives can make a
salesperson’s head spin. Once you identify the category,
you can then concentrate on matching your product’s
benefits to your buyer’s true motive and end your sales
presentation with a signed purchase order.

-Profit or Gain: Save money; make money; economy;

more profit; more sales; longer wear; personal advancement.

-Fear of Loss: Reduce costs; prevent loss; guarantee; safety; save time; protect
property, health or loved ones; long wear; security; no risk; no blame; insurance.

-Comfort and Pleasure: Enjoyment; good health; comfort; good food and drink;
good housing; beauty; sexual attraction; entertainment; sports; recreation; improved
employee morale; keep and attract better employees.

-Avoidance of Pain: Protection; relief from pain; less work; save time; security;
safety; good health; no worry; more attractive; reduce loss.

-Love and Affection: Family; social approval; beauty; admiration; security of loved
ones; loyalty; friendship; better public relations; better employee relations.

-Pride and Prestige: Social acceptance; desire to possess; style; fashion; high
quality; learning; advancement; admiration; imitation; self-improvement; honors;
recognition; leadership; improved product; beat competition; higher sales.
Explains what are the International Trades.
International trade refers to the exchange of goods and
services between the countries. It means the export and
import of goods and services.
International trade supports the world economy, where
prices or demand and supply are affected by global events
There are three types of international trade: Export Trade,
Import Trade and Entrepot Trade. Export means selling
goods and services out of the country, while import means
goods and services flowing into the country. Entrepot Trade is a combination of
export and import trade and is also known as Re-export. It means importing goods
from one country and exporting it to another country after adding some value to it.

Understands the concept of prospecting and different prospecting methods.

Prospecting is the first step in the sales process. The goal of
prospecting is to develop a database of likely customers and
then systematically communicate with them in the hopes of
converting them from potential customer to current customer.
-Cross-selling to current clients: The main struggle here is
that the average rep doesn’t want to appear pushy or greedy.
-Referrals: New business is good, but every salesperson
needs new clients in order to stay viable. Politely ask the client
to set it up for you to help ensure it is a qualified lead.
-Strategic partnerships: Does your team have relationships
with other sales professionals who call on similar clients? Today it is more difficult
than ever to reach someone on the phone. Establishing credibility with other reps you
can push and pull each other into accounts.
-Networking: If not executed properly, this method can be a huge time waster that
appears to be very productive. But if done right, traditional networking can be a
useful sales prospecting tool.
-Cold calls: A lot of self-proclaimed sales experts say cold calling is dead. If you
don't have a referral into a company, don't know anyone who knows your sales
prospect, and that prospect never attends events.
Analyzes and role plays different approach methods in the selling process.
-Solutions Selling: Buyers often have challenges when it
comes to choosing the right product or service. Solution selling
is used when a buyer has a defined problem that you can
solve.
-The Buddy Approach: can only be undertaken by sales
people who are naturally warm and friendly. It’s based on the
notion that people do business with people they like. Showing
interest in the prospect and trying to connect on an emotional
level is at the core of this approach.
-The Guru Approach: For sales people who are more logical and rational than warm
and friendly. It’s also ideal when dealing with intellectual prospects who won’t be
swayed by an emotional connection.
-Consultative Selling: is especially effective in technical sales. It encompasses the
buddy and the guru approaches as well as solutions selling. You take the time to
build a relationship of trust with the customer, using your personality. You also build
credibility through your expert understanding, knowledge, and experience. And then,
you analyze the customer’s problem and offer an adequate solution.
-Customer Personality Selling: actually encompasses different kinds of sales
approaches, depending on the type of buyer you have in front of you.
You first pinpoint a buyer’s personality type and then tailor your strategies to match.
A friendly type of buyer may be hesitant when it comes to decision-making. A
customer who is wary of salespeople would require more proof of credibility as well
as more time for trust building.

Discussions when and how to determine customer needs.

-Starting with existing data: You most likely have
existing data at your fingertips.
-Interviewing stakeholders: Start with sales and support
teams. They know the product and the customer. They
often have a list of feature requests, bug reports, and
enhancements — straight from the customer’s mouth.
-Mapping the customer process: If you know your
customer’s process, map it out.
-Mapping the customer journey: A customer journey map is a visualization of the
process a customer goes through when engaging with a product or service. It takes
process mapping to a new level by including multiple phases and touch points a
person goes through — from prospect to loyal customer.
-Conducting “follow me home” research: “Follow me home” research relies on
observation by literally following a customer home or to work. You follow a customer
to her workplace, spending the day watching her do her job. You observe process
pain points and then look for opportunities for improvement.
-Interviewing customers: Ask customers what problems they have and what
features they want.
-Conducting voice of customer surveys: Voice of Customer surveys collect data,
from email or from a pop-up on a website, about the attitudes and expectations of
existing or prospective customers. Use a mix of open- and closed-ended questions to
see what produces the most useful data.
-Analyzing your competition: Consider using research firms that might present a
more objective face to customers who engage with your organization and its
competition. Consider using the SWOT rule: Identify your competitors’ strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Define the competition both narrowly and
broadly. Don’t just look at your competition in the same industry, but other industries
as well.
-Analyzing cause-and-effect relationships: No one will disagree that it’s usually
good to think positively, but sometimes, negative thinking can solve problems more
effectively. Through observations, surveys, and other data sources, you may find
problems that are actually just symptoms of other root cause problems. Task failures,
errors, and long task times are usually the symptoms of multiple underlying
problems.
- Recording experiences through diary studies: Ask participants to record
problems, frustrations, positive experiences, or thoughts at intervals throughout a
day, week, or even a year. This can be low tech, with customers writing their
experiences and thoughts down on paper and mailing it in, or high tech, in which you
send text messages or emailed surveys to customers at particular intervals. Because
you’re asking your customer to do the data collection for you, be sure you have
targeted questions and clear hypotheses you want to test with all the data that gets
collected.
Explains the product presentation process and methods.
Pre-Sale Preparations: A salesman has to serve the
customer and must identify a customer’s problems and
prescribe a suitable solution. For this, a salesman must be
familiar with the product characteristics, the market, the
organization and the techniques of selling. He must know
buying motives and buying behavior of the customers or
prospects.
Prospecting: A salesman has to seek potential customers
who are his prospects i.e., probable buyers. A prospect
has unsatisfied need, ability to buy and willingness to buy.
Prospecting relates to locating prospects. They can be
through present customers, other salesman, phone directories, or by direct cold
canvassing.
Pre-Approach: The product may have to be tailored to the specific requirement of
customer. On the basis of adequate information of the customer’s wants and desires,
salesman can prepare his plan of sales presentation or interview. The sales
presentation should match to the needs of the individual prospect.
Approach: where the salesman comes face to face with the prospect. The approach
has two parts, obtaining an interview, the first contact. He may use for this,
telephone, reference or an introduction from another customer; and his business
card. The salesman must be able to attract the prospect’s attention and get him
interested in the product. It is very important to avoid being dismissed before he is
able to present his product.
Sales Presentation: has found a prospect and he has matched the customer’s
wants with his product, he becomes ready to make a sales presentation. The sales
presentations is closely related to the buying process of customers. Attention is
attracted and interest is gained. The salesman at this point can increase the interest
through smart and lively sales talk together with proper demonstration. The
prospective customer’s all queries and doubts must be clearly answered. The
salesman should find the customer satisfied. A satisfied sales presentation must be
clear, complete, assertive about product’s superior performance and be able to gain
the confidence of the prospect.
Objections: At any stage of sales interview, the prospect may attempt to postpone
the purchase or resist purchase. A good salesman must consider an objection as an
indication of how the prospect’s mind is working. The clever salesman should
welcome an objection, interpret it correctly and will avoid it tactfully, without arguing
with the customer.
Close is the act of actually getting the prospects’ consent to buy. It is culmination of
the efforts so far made by the salesman and is the climax of the entire sales process.
It is very important for salesman to be alert and find out the right moment for closing
the deal. The salesman watches every sign of prospect willing to buy and shall apply
“the close”. A sale is never complete until the product is finally in the hands of a
satisfied customer.
The Follow-up: is the post sale contacts. The salesman after obtaining the order,
arranges for dispatch and delivery of the product, facilitate grant of credit, reassure
the customer on the wisdom of his purchase decision, and minimize dissatisfaction, if
any. The salesman should contact the customer periodically to maintain his goodwill.
A sale is made not in the mind of salesman, nor over the counter, but in the mind of
the buyer. A salesman should have the quality of empathy,., reading customer’s
mind. This will provide the salesman accurate information of buyer’s motives,
feelings, emotions, and attitude etc.
Understands how to overcome buying objections and
techniques to close the sale.
Don’t…
1. Take the objection personally.
2. Interrupt your prospect mid-sentence and rush to
overcome the objection.
3. Start your counterpoints with negative words like
‘But’, ‘If’ and ‘So What’.
4. Use excessive “salesy” words like ‘cutting edge’, ‘innovative’, or ‘best in
class’.
5. Talk about the product and service USPs without relating them to the
objections.
6. Become defensive when prospects question the quality and efficiency of the
product or service.
7. Assume that the objection is addressed without confirming it from the
prospects.
8. Assume that the deal is lost because prospects have voiced an objection.
9. Have a partial or surface-level understanding of the objections.
10. Offer discounts immediately to resolve the monetary objection of the
prospects.
Do…
1. Show Gratitude. Acknowledge your prospect’s objections and provide the
information needed to close the business deal.
2. Understand Your Prospects. Connect with your prospects on a personal level.
Listen to their objections carefully.
3. Dig Deeper. Ask your prospects open-ended questions to gain more insight
into their objections.
4. Confirm The Objections. Take a note of all the objections and restate them in
your own words. Ask your prospect to confirm whether or not you understood all
of the points mentioned.
5. Explain Your Unique Value Proposition. Show what sets your business apart
from the competition.
6. Offer Solutions. Align the features and benefits of your products and services
to your prospects’ specific pain points.
7. Share Customer Success Stories. Share testimonials, case studies and other
references.
8. Be honest. Skip the sales pitch and make fresh, spontaneous and persuasive
conversations. These conversations should be relevant to the prospect’s
objections and help build a great rapport with them.
9. Proactively Bring Up The Objection. Refer to the CRM to learn the objections
you have encountered earlier. Answer them proactively to win the confidence of
your prospects.
10. Offer An Incentive. Encourage your prospects to take advantage of your
incentive. This gives both parties a chance to work together, build trust, and
mutual respect.
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