Sales 101 (Issue 2) - Understanding The Venn Diagram

SALES 101 (Issue 2)

Happy Goat Year to every one.. and welcome to my second issue of SALES 101.

Understanding The Sales Venn Diagram
For a sales to be be successful, generally 3 components must be met. PRODUCT, YOU & TODAY

PRODUCT - This is usually the unique selling points of the product that a sales professional is representing. Based on my experience, I have come to conclude that this is the component that most sale professionals have no problem with and it is also the component that most company will train their sales team on. However, it is also sad to note that some company only train their sales team on this component only and expect their sales team to be able to sell effectively.

Most sales professional will generally focus on the features of their product. It is way more important to focus on how these features can benefits the customers by relating to actual situations that the customer is facing now (refer to Issue 1 for more info). It is very important to understand the difference between Benefits and Features and sell on Benefits.

YOU - Very sadly, this is the component that most companies or sales professionals missed out.. Customer buy because they like the product and also THEY LIKE TO BUY FROM YOU.. THEY MUST LIKE YOU... Throughout my sales career, I have devoted a large part of my time to learn how to make customer like me..

A few simple tips that will immediately increase your likability includes... Your Smile. A smile is so very important and yet some sales professionals seems to be very stingy with it. A smile means I am happy to see you and so should you.

Another tip would be to be very generous with your Please & Thank You. My 5 years old daughter is already learning this in her school and it seems like there is also a song for it... Please and Thank you are so essential in enhancing your likability.. It makes the customer feel that you are polite and sincere.. Do be generous with it..

TODAY - This is where the customer feels the need to act on it today. No sales is complete if there is no Call For Action. In my opinion, this is one of the most difficult to master and also where most sales professionals need to work on most. There is a need to create a sense of urgency to get the customer to act on it immediately (whenever possible) as the longer the customer takes to decide, the more he will lost the impulse to do so... ( I will write a separate post on Impules on my future issue as this itself is a big topic)

If a sales professionals is able to sell the PRODUCT only, the customer may see the need for it but not necessary through YOU or decide TODAY

If a sales professionals is able to sell the PRODUCT & YOU, the customer may see the need for the product and like to buy from you, but NOT TODAY.

For a sales to be successful, the sales professionals must be able to sell the PRODUCT, why through YOU and most important of all, why must decide TODAY. That's the sweet spot at the middle of the diagram.

I sincerely hope this tips today can be a checklist for all my friends who are in sales and hopefully the closing rate can be much higher and all can have a super prosperous goat year..

Happy Chinese Year again..