Sales and Sales call techniques

What is Sales?

1.    A sale is the exchange of a commodity or money as the price of a good or a service. 

2.    Sales is activity related to selling or the amount of goods or services sold in a given time period.

3.    A sale is a transaction between two parties where the buyer receives goods (tangible or intangible), services and/or assets in exchange for money. It can also refer to an agreement between a buyer and seller on the price of a security. A sale functions as a contract between the buyer and seller of the selected good or service.

Sales between Different Entities

A sale can be completed as part of the operation of a business, such as grocery stores and clothing retailers, as well as between individuals. Items purchased through a yard sale would be considered a sale between individuals while the purchasing a personal vehicle from a car dealership would represent a sale between an individual and a business. Sales can also be completed between businesses, such as when one raw materials provider sells available materials to a business that uses the materials to produce consumer goods.

What is Sales Call ?

Sales call is a foundation of any sales deal at anywhere in the world. But the accomplishment of the deal depends on a successful call. If anybody (salesman or sales girl) wants to win the deal then he/she should overcome the objection; which may come all through the sales call.

With the right attitude and by paying close attention to what happens, each rejection you deal with will be a learning experience. You'll learn what not to say and when not to call. The key here is to turn that around so you can master what to say and when to call. With every rejection, you'll want to take a quick moment to analyze the situation in order to benefit from it. Rather than letting it ruin your attitude for the next call, you should find yourself saying, "Well, that didn't work. What's a better way to say it?"

With proper fine-tuning, you'll soon find your calls being well received and you'll experience fewer rejections. To save you some time on this learning curve, here are seven points you need to consider before making any business calls.

Seven steps of sales call

1.    Planning and Preparation: Research/approach (using facilitative methods).

2.    Introduction: Opening/approach/establish initial credibility.

3.    Questioning: Identify needs/ask how and what, etc/establish rapport and

       trust to the target group.

4.    Presentation: Explanation/demonstration.

5.    Overcoming objections: Negotiating/fine-tuning.

6.    Close: Closing/agreement/commitment/confirmation.

7.    Follow-up: After-sales/fulfill/deliver/admin

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1.    Planning and Preparation:

?         Know your own product/service extremely well: especially features, advantages and benefits that will be relevant to the prospect you will be meeting.

?         Organizational benefit that your product or service would give to your prospect.

?         Discover what current supply arrangements exist or are likely to exist for the product/service.

?         Understand what other competitors are able and likely to offer. 

?         Identify the buyers motives and relationships.

?         Prepare your presentation.

?         Prepare a checklist of questions. 

?         Think carefully about topics/description.

?         Cold calling: enables sales people to become more strategic and significant in the sales function.

2.    Introduction:

?         Know your own product/service extremely well: especially features, advantages and benefits that will be relevant to the prospect you will be meeting.

?         Organizational benefit that your product or service would give to your prospect.

?         Discover what current supply arrangements exist or are likely to exist for the product/service.

?         Understand what other competitors are able and likely to offer.

?         Identify the buyers motives and relationships.

?         Prepare your presentation.

?         Prepare a checklist of questions.

?         Think carefully about topics/description.

?         Cold calling: enables sales people to become more strategic and significant in the sales function.

3.    Questioning:

?         Before questioning - Understanding and listening is crucial also body language is useful too.

?         Need to understand very clearly about the relationship.

?         Understand the buyers needs and benefits.

?         Good empathic questioning: also builds relationships, trust and rapport - nobody wants to buy anything from a sales person who's only interested in their own product or company.

?         Open question vs Close question (open questions invite the other person to give long answers; closed questions invite the other person to say yes or no, or to select from (usually two) options, for example red or blue, or mornings or afternoons, etc).

?         Good eye-contact, understand, and show that you understand.

?         Allow the other persons time and freedom to answer.

?         Question should be logical and simple not aggressive.

4.    Presentation:

?         Excellent understanding: (Sales person therefore needs an excellent understanding of the many different organizational benefits).       

?         Product knowledge.

?         Integrity.

?         Must meet the expectations of the listener.

?         Make them (Buyer) satisfied that the decision will either make them money, or save them money or time.

?         Make them (Buyer) satisfied that the product/service will be sustainable and reliable.

?         Never knock the competition. keep control.

?         Invite question at the end of your presentation.

?         Whether presenting one-to-one or to a brutal group, relax and be friendly.

5.    Overcoming objection:

?         Superior understanding from the situation.        

?         Handled objection fruitfully.

?         Get into the real issue, by asking a series of question.

?         Lots of objections are simply a request for more information.

?         Don’t isolate the objection.

?         Pass the true information to the buyers regarding product, price, profit and services.

?         Always speak the truth.

?         Try to solve the problem at your first stage.

?         To avoid hassle guide them about FIFO (First in First out)system.

?         Provide best customer services.

6.    Closing:

?         Every sales person's aim should be to close selling process so well that there are few if any objections

?         Right timing for closing the call

?         Before closing sales, target should be fulfilled and mission success

?         Final agreement regarding Order booking and delivery is vital

?         It (Deal)should be clear and trustworthy   

?         Closing should be win win situation

7.    Follow-up:

?         After-sales, follow-up depends on the type of product and service

?         All relevant paperwork must be completed and copies provided to the customer

?         Sales reporting by the sales person is necessary

?         The sales person should also make follow-up contact with the customer

?         Customer follow-up and problem solution (sales persons should consider themselves the 'guardian' of that customer)

?         Follow-up is an important indicator of integrity; (when a sales person makes a sale he is personally endorsing the product and the company, so ensuring that value and satisfaction are fulfilled is an integral part of the modern sales function)