Lecture 4 Sales Technique-- Sales Responsibilities and preparation Sales and Management Lecture 4 Sales Technique-- Sales Responsibilities and preparation

Responsibilities of Salespersons The primary responsibility is to conclude a sales successfully (chapter 5): Identification of customer needs Presentation and demonstration Negotiation Closing the sales Secondary, to maintain long term success: a) Prospecting b) Maintain customer records and information feedback c) Self-management d) Handling complaints e) Providing services

A) Sources of Prospects Getting information from the existing customers: - A highly effective method of generating prospects. Information can be obtained simply by asking the existing customers if they know anyone is in needs. After obtaining the name of potential customers, sales person can ask if they can use the name of the existing customers as reference. e.g Insurance by referral, industrial selling Trade directories: - Can be obtained in trade shows/exhibitions/publication company. A reliable directory could be very useful in identifying potential customers by providing name,size and nature of company, type of products etc. e.g.Industrial products/retail directory, seldom in the selling to end-users. Inquiries: - Many companies stimulate inquiries by advertising, direct mail and exhibitions. It is important that the salesperson responds quickly, by call, mail… Advantages of screening the potential customers.

A) Sources of Prospects (Con’d) The press: - Salespersons can get the hits from the advertisements and articles of potential customers. Articles may reveal diversification plans of an organizations, advertisement for personnel may mean the potential company is expanding and can be a new business to the salespersons. Cold canvassing - Cold calling/visiting. Depends on the nature of the industry the salespersons are in, sometimes a scanning of a certain company by size and nature is needed, e.g. stationery salesperson calls to every company, medical sales representative only calls to doctors or pharmacy. Cold call on big company is not very useful, rather, by letter expressing purpose then make appointment is better.

B) Customer records & information feedback For the repeat-call salespeople, a systematic approach to customer record-keeping is needed. For retail salesperson, feedback from customers are more important, because it always involves many customers, but quick improvement/ correction is urgently needed to improve sales. For industrial salesperson, both customer records and their feedback are equal important. They should record: Name and address of company Name and position of contact Nature of business Date and time of interview Buyer needs, problems and buying habit Paste sales with dates Problems/opportunities encountered…..

C) Self-management D) Providing service Sales job is usually independent with very limit personal supervision. Therefore a salesperson should organize own call plan: How frequent you call a certain customer How much time needs to be spent with each customer /the whole selling process Some companies ask the salesperson to produce worksheets showing who is to be called on and in what order every day. D) Providing service In the selling process, a salesperson may act to provide a “consultancy” service to the customers. E.g. industrial salesperson may advise customers on improving productivity and quality and cutting costs.

E) Handling complaints Dealing with complains may be time consuming, but a market/customer-oriented company may require sales force to priory meet customer satisfaction in order to generate profit. No matter how trivial the complaint is, the complainant should be treated with respect and the matter should be dealt with seriously. If the salesperson can react synthetically can create goodwill and help foster long-term relationship. Some companies may offer customer certain benefit as compensation if it does not involve high cost, e.g. free replacement, discount coupon on next purchase, EVEN THOUGH the fault is due to inappropriate usage by customer. Sometimes salesperson does not have the authority to deal with complaint immediately, he/she should inform the direct management as soon as possible to avoid further seriousness.

F) Implementing sales and marketing strategy Sometimes salespersons may misunderstand the strategy of the company which may have a serious impact on the business: undermine the credibility the of a premium price and high quality position so that offer a large price discount eagerlygain the customer but loss in revenue. Therefore sales force should be informed clearly of company marketing/ sales strategy and be told the degree of discount to be offered to each class of customer Strategy of diversion. See the p.92 of the textbook

Preparation---selling Product knowledge and consumer benefits Knowledge of product feature is insufficient for sales success. Salespeople should be able to relate the product features to customer benefits. This becomes meaningful to buyers thus more convincing. Knowledge of competitors’ products and their benefits Salesperson can offset the strengths of competitor’s products, which may be mentioned by buyers, against their weakness. E.g Competitor X’s price is lower but it’s maintenance cost is high. Salesperson can get information from the magazines, price lists, catalogues or direct observation

Preparation --- selling (con’d) Selling presentation planning Demonstrations can be help to memorize product’s benefits, build up confidence and get prepare to the anticipated counter-argument customers. Setting sales objectives Salesperson should be clear of the sales objective-what the salesperson wants the customer do rather than what the salesperson will do: visiting a customer is what the salesperson will do, getting the customer sign the contract is the ultimate goal. Understand buyer behavior For industrial seller, important to find out key influencer and decision makers For retail seller, important to find out whether customers concern design, price,quality,convienience

Preparation---sales negotiations Assessment of the balance power Number of options available to each party The quantity and the quality of information held by each party Need recognition and satisfaction The pressure on the parties. E.g. technical problem may favor to supplier, low sales return of salesperson may favor to the buyer Determination of negotiating objectives “Must have objectives”—the seller and buyer’s minimum requirement to trade, this determines negotiating breakpoint. “Would like objectives” —the maximum a negotiator can obtain. This determines the opening position of buyers and sellers Seller’s “would like” objective price Buyer’s “must have” objective Seller’s “must have” objective Buyers’ would like objective

Preparation---sales negotiations Concession analysis Salesperson should analyze the possible concession offer to the buyers. Salesperson should be able to identify the concession with little costs involved but highly value by the buyer so that a prompt payment agreement can be guaranteed: Price Time of delivery Extra supplement of the products Payment Trade-in terms