Anatomy of a sales pitch:
When you ask most Micro Entrepreneurs about the issues they face on a daily basis in business the biggest one the face is: Is it fact or is it fiction.
This is 2 sides of the same coin both as a buyer and as a seller. Whether you think you are a sales person or not: if you are in business you are a sales person, Every time you open your mouth and talk about what you do you are selling
- The sales guy – So many sales people who knock on your door talk utter fiction as though it were gospel truth
- You the sales person trying to put forward an honest truthful business case to your customer – essentially the reverse case
There is enough for 3 blogs in this but brevity is best. The attention span is reduced in this kind of weather.
I’m sure that in business everyone has met the kind of high pressure sales guy who will make such incredible claims for his product that you HAVE to pay attention, whatever the product is. I call him the over seller. I believe that the day of the over seller is gone; away into the past In fact the strategy of consultative selling is so popular that you can do a training course on the topic.
Fundamentally that means that if you are going to be successful and have a fact based sales record rather than a fictional one You have to be very clear about 3 things
- That you have to do the market research, to make sure that your target customer’s needs are being met by the benefits your product or service brings
- That of course presumes you know who your target customer is. If not find out and quick because you can be sure of one thing. Your competition knows.
- That you bring the benefits of the product to the attention of the buyer as distinct from its features. This makes the conversation focused on the customer and not as in the previous case on the sales guy (or girl)
- That the conversation is focused mainly on the customers response to a few carefully placed questions allowing or rather assisting the customer in the process of buying rather than the old style focus on making the sale.
So where is the fact or fiction in all of this you ask?
The fiction is that old style pushy sales people are an asset to a 21st century business.
The fact is that, as the great Feargal Quinn would say: The customer is king.
How should we develop our sales process then in order to take advantage of this new more discerning customer?
The difference is the degree of subtlety. I have to remember they can probably buy it on line so why should they buy it from you? No human contact required for them, but You still need them to buy. It is the process of making that buying decision that has changed. It is as changed as the difference between selling over the counter and a supermarket. All the power is in the hands of the customer. So its about listening carefully to what the customer wants and meeting that need in such a way that they choose you as the provider of choice. Or in simple terms you have to deserve the sale.
One last comment: The pushy sales guy will always over promise and disappoint
So Under promise and over deliver.