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Three Major Steps
A direct selling situation usually consists of three major steps as follows:
* Qualifying the prospect. Determining the prospect's needs and wants so that
you can then explain your product or service in
terms that will show how its features provide those benefits.
* Presenting the product. Describing your product and its features in terms
of the benefits that the prospect seeks.
* Closing the sale.
Securing the prospect's commitment to buy your roduct or service.
Qualifying
In the first step, qualifying the prospect, you want to learn why the
prospect needs or wants your product or service.
Perhaps you sell sewing machines. A prospect has seen your ad for a
low-priced model and has arrived at your shop. Naturally, you have a variety
of models and you want to find out which model is best suited to the
customer's needs. By simply taking the order for the lowest priced model, you
might be doing a disservice to both yourself and the customer.
If the customer simply wants a machine to hem dresses or patch jeans, perhaps
the lowest priced model is entirely adequate. If the customer plans to make
clothing for a family, a higher priced machine might be better suited to the
customer and more profitable for you.
Asking Questions
How can you find out which machine is best suited to the customer's needs? By
asking questions such as:
* How do you plan to use the machine?
"How often do you sew? * "What types
of sewing do you do?"
These questions help you learn more about the customer's needs and wants.
Indirect Questions
Qualifying questions should be indirect questions, usually beginning with
words such as Why, What, When, and How. These questions usually cannot be answered
with a simple "Yes" or "No." They require more complete
answers that reveal buying motives.
You can learn about your customer by asking about competition. This is
particularly helpful when selling high-ticket consumer goods or when selling
to commercial and industrial customers.
If a person is buying a replacement for something he already owns, you can
ask questions about the product he now owns. "What kind of refrigerator
do you now own, Mr. Baker?" When Mr. Baker tells you that he now owns an
Electromat X99, you might ask other questions such as:
* "Is that the 12 cubic foot or 15 cubic foot model?"
* "Is it equipped with automatic
defrost?"
* "Does it have automatic
ice-making?"
The answers to these questions will help you lead into such features of your
more expensive refrigerators as larger capacity, automatic defrost, and an
automatic ice-maker.
Presentation
The second step in direct selling is presenting the product. An effective
presentation often depends upon the information received in the first stage,
qualifying the prospect. This permits you to explain the features of your
product, and its advantages, so that your prospect clearly understands its
benefits. Qualifying information lets you direct your explanation to those
specific benefits in which the particular prospect has expressed an
interest.
Transition to the Close
The presentation is followed by the primary objective--closing the sale. This
is most effective if introduced as a smooth transition from the presentation.
Sometimes it's easy. The prospect, absolutely convinced of the advantages of
the product and the benefits that it offers, will come right out and buy it.
More frequently, it's up to the salesperson to bring up the closing question.
Trial Closes
An easy way to do this is through trial closes. A trial close is a question
that is asked to determine the prospect's readiness to buy. The following is
an example of such a question: "Are you satisfied that our product will
help you reduce your maintenance costs?" If the answer is negative, you
can reemphasize how your product reduces maintenance costs or you can ask the
prospect to be more specific about the cause of his or her doubt.
Seeking Agreement
If the prospect agrees with the salesperson on a series of points, it becomes
difficult to say no when the salesperson asks for the order. However, the
prospect who disagrees on a number of points will probably defend this
position by also saying no when the salesperson asks for the order. The
salesperson should seek agreement on a number of points such as:
* "Don't you think the self-defrosting feature of this refrigerator is a real convenience, Mr. Baker?"
* "You probably need a larger refrigerator than your present one, don't
you?"
The salesperson probably knows the points to which the prospect will agree.
The idea is to summarize them and ask them consecutively to establish a
pattern of agreement, one that will make it difficult for the prospect to say
no when the salesperson asks for the order.
Benefit Summary
Another effective transition is a statement that summarizes product benefits,
such as the following:
"Ms. Perkins, I think you'll find that the Brand X washer has everything
you're looking for. A partial load cycle saves you water, energy, and money.
Temperature controls protect your fabrics. And Brand X's reputation
for quality assures you that this machine will operate dependably for a long
time with little or no maintenance."
Closing the Sale
Now let us look at the most vital factor in the
selling process--closing the sale. All previous steps have been taken with
one purpose in mind--to close the sale, to get the prospect to buy.Unfortunately, many salespeople fall apart at this
stage. The salesperson is afraid that a negative response will end
communication with the prospect forever. Having maintained a sociable communications
level up to this point, the salesperson resists the possibility of rejection.
This is a perfectly natural reaction for many people.
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