Johannesburg, 11 Nov 2011
Having a team of effective sales people are at the heart and soul of any organisation's success. It is, however, not an easy task in our day and age, says Sandra Swanepoel, a Director of Softline VIP Payroll.
“It is important to nurture a strong sales team that is driven to perform above and beyond their targets in order to constantly improve and build the business,” says Swanepoel.
Swanepoel's top ten tips for sales consultants are:
1. Prioritise wisely - Always spend the hours you have in a day on income-generating activities, which means that administrative tasks, paperwork and shopping should be kept for after hours. Activities that are closest to cash should always enjoy priority.
2. People want to deal with experts - Make sure you know your products extremely well. The more accurately you can describe a product that the customer needs, the more you become the expert.
3. Let the customer talk - Listen, listen and listen some more! Make sure you understand the customer's business before you start selling your products. You need to understand why they are looking at your product and how they will benefit from it. You need to know whether the client will see a return on their investment. Unless you know exactly what they need, you can never give advice or sell a product successfully.
4. Provide one solution - Remember that you are the specialist and that you understand their business. Why would you give them options; surely the customer want you - as the expert - to give them a perfect solution.
5. Never ever talk about the competition in a negative light - even if they have done you in.
6. Explain the total cost - The customer needs to know the total expense. Companies love accurate quotes. If you need to go back with additional costs, always discuss the discrepancy before you continue with the transaction.
7. Quote to clinch the deal - Quote the right price the first time you quote. If you go in high and then give huge discounts afterwards, users will feel that you have overpriced your product the first time. The question they will ask themselves is why the quote was so high in the first place.
8. Talk about the ROI - The customer needs to understand the benefit of doing business with you. The benefit and return should always be measurable and quantifiable. If there is no benefit, walk away from the business.
9. Tell success stories - Make sure you are able to tell a success story about a similar business that successfully uses your product. Remember that few people will remember facts, but everyone remembers a success story.
10. Have a purpose and target in life - Targets give a sense of achievement and will help you to focus more on improving your knowledge, improving your game play and raising the bar. That is ultimately what sales are all about!
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