Introduction
Introduction
What is selling?
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Selling is the process of persuading/influencing a person or organization to buy something from you.
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"Influencing and persuading people to buy from you"
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Persuading: to make them do something
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Convincing: to make them believe something
3 ways to persuade (Aristotle):
- Logic (Logos): facts, data, evidence, reasoning
- Emotions (Pathos): fear, love, hate, anger, happiness, sadness
- Pressure: psychological pressure, social pressure, physical pressure, threads
Sales Function
Roles:
- generate revenue
- interface between company and customers
Missions:
- drive the sales process
- gets feedbacks, market intelligence
Marketing vs Sales
Marketing: processes to create, deliver and communicate value to customers to capture value in return
Organizations:
- formal collection of people and resources to accomplish a set of goals
- for profit: primary goal is to maximize shareholders value
- non-profit: do not have profit as primary goal
- focus on profitability
Value
Different types of value
- Intrinsic value: value of the product itself (it cost 2€ to produce a pen, then the intrinsic value is 2€)
- Economic value: value of the product in the market (the pen is sold for 5€, then the economic value is 5€)
- Use value: value of the product in terms of usage (if I don't need a pen, then the use value is 0€)
- Customer value: expected net gain in transaction (oerceived benefits - perceived price or cost or received benefits - cost of pains of acquiring the benefits)
benefits
- tangible: physical, measurable
- psychological: emotional, intangible
pains:
- use of resources (HR, time, energy, training)
- changes
- risks
Marketing -> One-to-many -> Market Sales -> One-to-One -> Customer
B2B Sales Process
It is more difficult to sell in B2B than B2C
- demand more based on needs (must satisfy profitability goals)
- more ecomplex offering (higher prices, longer decision cycles)
- more "rational" decision process (decisions needs to be justified, buyers are professionals)
- several persons decide (need to persuade more than one person)
Different objectives:
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customer acquisition: find new customers, start process from scratch
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customer retention: sell more to existing customers, focus on relationship and excellence
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inbound: customer comes to you (sellers deal with active buyers)
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outbound: you go to the customer (prospects might not know they need your product)
Leads -> Prospects -> Customers Leads: Potential customers Prospects: someone who has shown interest in your product Customers: someone who has bought from you at least once
Sales Meeting: Opening -> Discovery -> Argumentation -> Dealing with objections -> Closing -> Follow-up
Preparing
- Determine the best approach
- Deal with questions and objections
- Project competence and professionalism
Know your business
- know your company
- know your offer (features, advantages, benefits, USP, UPB, have proofs, general sales conditions)
- know how to present your company & offer (elevator pitch, presentation, deck)
Know your prospect
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Internal
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- Business size, turnover, staff number, sites, maangement
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- Decision center (names, positions, responsabilities and locations)
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- Potential pains: issues, problems, risks, changes
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External
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- Market (customers, tremds, futur demand)
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- COmpetitors, threats, opposites
Know your competition
- Their offers
- Your differentiation - competitive advantages
- Their strengths and weaknesses
- Their relationships, their strategies, their problems, etc.
Know meeting specific
- Where you are in the sales process
- Know your goals
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- Primary goal (establish contact, get more info, move on to next step, close the deal)
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- Secondary goals
- Identify information you'd like to ask
- Customize presentations for the prospect
Best practices
- Be on time
- Dress nicely
- Respect personal space
- hand shakes (condifent, not automatic, eye contact, smile)
- exchange business cards at the beginning
- take notes (shows that you are listening, makes words more valuable, you don't forget, used for writing minutes of the meeting)
Opening
- Introduction yourself: name and company
- Small talk / Ice breaker
- Exchange business cards
- Refer to the context
- State the purpose and agenda
- Seek approval
- Verify timing
- Present your company
Discovery
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which solution to offer
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strongest benefits
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adapt your argumentation
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build rapport
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qualify the customer
Questioning
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Developing and drill down
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Mirror questions
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Echo questions: repeat what they said
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Ricochet questions: "what do you mean by..."
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Relay questions: "What do you think?"
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Suggesting questions: Don't you think...
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Alternative questions, to anchor: Do you prefer ... or ... -: Consequence questions: What if...
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Educative questions: Did you know...
Reformulating
To check and show that you have understood
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deductive reformulation: draw a conclusion from the premises
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interpreative: reformate using a different angle
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synthetized reformulation: emphasize twhat is important
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facts
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measurable
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qualifying the problem
-> uman factors -> often subjective and hard to measure (optionions, feelings, motivations, focus)
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S: security
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P: Pride
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N: New
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C: Comfort
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M: Money
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S: Sympathy
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Listen. Do no interupt. Be focused
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Show that you iisten. Maintain good eye-contact, takes notes.
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Show that you care. Empahtically, put yourself in their shoes.
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Understand. What is said but what is meant and felt, ask questions.
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Show that you understand. Reformulate.
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