SALESMAN.....the simple steps

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....