Salesmanship is the force that moves business. Without it all business would be at a stand-still. Just being able to sell does not complete the definition of salesmanship. A fraudulent person may be able to sell you a piece of swamp land, but because they were able to sell the worthless piece of property to you, does that say they demonstrated salesmanship? The answer, of course, is no. The central fact of salesmanship is rending a service to your customer. It has to do with convincing others to buy your goods as a benefit to them at a fair price. And they must be satisfied with their purchase. When looking for people to sell your goods, you will no doubt run into several different types of prospects, and it will be your job to take them successfully through the selling process until you close the deal. Each step must be carried out in succession. If a step is skipped, or taken out of the natural order in which the human mind works, it could result in you loosing the sale, or in this case, a potential salesman. So you see the importance of every salesperson learning these fundamental steps. This article is to help you identify your prospects and how to teach them the principles of selling, so they will go out and successfully make sales for you and themselves. No person is born a salesman. It is true; some of us may be born with certain talents that would be beneficial in the area of sales. And there have been some pretty good salesmen who have had no formal training. But everyone would do even better, if they learn what entails the selling process. What are the principles of the selling process? Here it is in a nutshell. Its all about the psychology of the human mind. The selling process concerns carrying the prospect successfully from one mental state to the next, resulting in the sale. Teach your prospects how to pique their customers curiosity for the proposition. Create interest. Convince the customer that the claims that have been made concerning the proposition are true. Instill in the customer the desire to own what they are selling. And finally, teach your sales people how to get their customers to make a decision to buy and to take action. The salesman should keep the first selling talk short, forceful and to the point. And they need to create and keep interest active in the mind of their customer. They should bring energy and life into their sales talk. No one wants to listen to a boring sales presentation. Knowing why the customer will buy is very important. You find this out by getting into the mind of the prospect. Seeing things from their point of view. The customer wants to know if you can render them a real service. They may not be interested in your name, or the name of your company at first. The main thing they want to know is how what you are selling will benefit them. The trained salesman will show the customer they wish to render a real service. Make sure your sales people know your goods. If they are blind-sided by a question concerning your goods that they cannot answer, the salesperson will have little, or no chance of getting their prospect to trust what they are saying is true. Different Types of Prospects: The curious person is going to want to know what qualifications are needed. Theyre going to ask questions. Asking questions is the best way to learn anything. His or her need to know more is the first sign that their interest is sincere. This type of person is open to the possibilities of instruction. And they already understand there is a right and wrong way to sell. Let them know that they need sales training and among other things, they will have to learn about the principles of the selling process. And this sales training will qualify them to be a success in any type of business situation. The next person may be very enthusiastic from the get go. And may ask the question, How long will it take for me to get started? Now youve already moved this person through all the stages. You have closed the deal. But wait, a person of this nature still must be taught the principles of selling. A trained person makes the fewest mistakes. And will be the most successful. At this point you dont want to dampen their enthusiasm, so teach them the principles of the selling process so they can get started selling for you. The fearful person may say, Im afraid of selling. I dont think Im cut out to be a salesman. You should empathize with this person. Let them know they are not alone. Others have expressed the same fears only to go on and become some of the best salesmen. Just as in every other profession, there are things in the field of sales that need to be learned. And once your prospect gets some sales training they may feel different about their sales abilities. Still another person may feel they need no instruction at all because theyre a natural born salesman. They can out talk anybody. They feel very self-sufficient. They may feel what they dont know they can learn by doing, and in fact, this is true to a certain extent, but a salesman is not born, they are made. And as in any field, the trained person has a better chance of acquiring success. Being able to talk a good game is not the same thing as being a trained salesman. So this person needs to be made aware that instruction is still needed. The danger of this type of person is they may go out and make the biggest mistakes. It is best to use techniques that have been analyzed and tested. Trial and error is not the way to go into salesmanship. This type person would fare much better by learning the principles of selling first. The salesman who knows what he or she is talking about has coupled natural abilities with learned instruction. They will be the most successful sales people. The trained salesman makes the fewest mistakes. This means that time, money and energy are not wasted by going off half-cocked and loosing the sale. Copyright 2005 Gloria Whitehorn-All rights reserved |
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