In my recent blogs I have tended to incline much on technology forgetting
what puts food on my table i.e. sales and marketing. To most people sales
executives are the typical insurance agents who nag you from 6 am in the morning
until the wee hours of the night just to empty your hard earned cash, but sales
is one interesting field to work in. In most cases I consider myself a
psychologist, some of you are laughing, “how can a typical sales person be a
scientist?"
Let
me take you through a typical sales process for you to understand how scientifically
the process feels, for your information now UoN is offering MSc in Marketing, definitely
awesome.
One
I shall prospect for leads, normally in the sales process, this part includes researching
on potential customers, but for you to understand what actually happens, at
this stage most of us learn about the product its pros and cons.
Two,
I set appointments with the prospects, but I normally prefer cold calling where
I shall get the customer off guard and they shall not really be in a position
to chase me away but rather they listen to what I have to offer, usually I get
the receptionists as the first contact, and my dimples always grants me enough time
for presentations.
Three,
qualification, time wasted cannot be recovered, at this stage I look and listen
at the customer and get to know within the first 10 minutes whether they shall
purchase or not( now this is pure psychology) and decide whether to continue
with the presentation or run.
Number
four is the presentation time, here I shall give the customer the freedom to
test drive the product, create a need that was not there, make the product
outperform the competitor, at these stage I normally ensure I leave the
customer with goose bumps.
The
customer shall always raise objections about your product, that is where number
five comes in, handling objections, this is that stage that will ever exist in
the sales cycle, and the best way to sail through is preparation before the
presentation, ensure you have all the necessary objections that might be raised
by a customer and how to overcome them as this stage it is usually the examination
stage.
Six,
win, win and always win, the stage is not called win but negotiation, and in
negotiation I normally call it “the commission possible” where the
only mission is to win and make the customer see they have also won.
The
last stage is to close the sale, deliver and collect payment, but at this stage
it is only your boss who will be happy and the second day you shall be fired,
so ensure you get referrals from the customer as these shall form your opening
remarks on the second sale.
Finally
always call/visit the customer once in a while, this shall not only create long
term relationship, but shall ensure the customer never moves to the competitor.
GOOD
LUCK TO ALL SALES EXECUTIVES....
