Principles of Marketing

Topic 11:
Personal Selling Techniques

Topic 10:
The Sales Process
 Scope and Coverage
• This unit will cover:
– What is a sales objection?
– How to handle sales objections
– Techniques for responding to sales objections
– The importance of Closing the Sale
– Closing techniques
– After the sale/post sale –sales role
 Learning Outcomes
• By the end of this unit students will be able to:
– Understand the importance of the sales objection within the
sales cycle
– Apply techniques to be able to practically address a sales
objection
– Understand and identify the importance of closing the sale
– Apply techniques that assist the sales person in closing the sale
– Understand and apply post/after sales communications to the
customer to initiate and build customer relationships
The Importance of Planning a Sales Call

– Do you plan the outcome of each sales call?

– Do you have objectives?
– Do you evaluate how each sales call went?
– Did you achieve what you set out to achieve?
– However, most sales people never have an
objective. They simply go and see the customer
and play it by ear!
Sales Call Planning – Getting Professional

– Professional Salespersons set objectives and plan

each call:

• To ensure that it is worth going

• To ensure that they have some guidance/focus on what
they need or want to achieve
•
 Sales Call Planning
– We plan using two levels of sales call objectives:

• Level 1 - The Primary Objectives

• Level 2 – The Secondary Objectives

Sales Call Plan – Primary Objectives

– The overall objectives of the sales visit

• What do I expect to achieve?

• To Sell the product/service

• To inform/update the customer on the product/service

Sales Call Plan – Secondary Objectives

– The back-up objectives

• Just in case you cannot meet your Primary Objectives

• What could you also achieve during the call?

• You do not want to leave the customer having achieved

nothing
 What Should You Plan?
– How you will get to the customer?
– Background to who the customer is?
– What questions?
– What information?
– What assumptions?
– How can I motivate the customer to buy?
 Sales Objections - Introduction
– In the previous unit we identified in the Seven Stage
Sales Cycle the “Sales Objection”

– This is the part of the sales cycle you have to resolve

with the customer if you are to have any chance of
winning and closing the sale
Sales Objections – Why Are They a Problem?

– It is of no use ignoring any objections to purchase

your product or service that the customer has,
without addressing them and answering them

– Or simply……….the customer will not buy!

– Because they have doubts over the

product/service
•
 Sales Objections – Two Types
– Two types of sales objection:

• Unreal

• Real
 Objection Handling
– Unreal Objections: These are raised when the customer has
no intent to buy or progress any further with the purchase.
They are putting a “Full-stop” or closure on the sale and
telling the salesperson to leave/go away
– Real Objections: These are objections that can be
overcome. An example might be: ‘I have recently read that
this car is extremely poor on fuel consumption, my fuel
costs are already too high’.

•
 Objection Handling – Real Objections

– Summarise what you believe the objections are and try

to answer each one in turn
– Ask the customer to clarify what they mean if you're
unsure
– If they say a product or service is too expensive, they
may mean it's above their budget and they aren't
interested
– They may mean they would buy with a discount or if
payment could be made in instalments
Objection Handling – You Will Not
Always Be Able to Answer!
– You won't always be able to meet all objections
– Let the customer know you'll always be available
to answer any other queries and, if they seem at
all interested, keep in touch
– Remember their circumstances or yours may
change, allowing you to make a sale/deal at a later
stage
 Closing the Sale
– To get a customer to buy you have to identify the point
at which you have to stop selling

– It’s a fact people don’t like to be sold to, but they love
to buy - that’s a clue
Closing the Sale – Key Sales Skills

– Know your client

– Talk to a decision maker(s)
– Friendly confidence
– Find true needs
– Avoid Distractions
– The Client is king
 Closing the Sale – How Do You
Respond?
– Show you care
– Intelligent questions
– Sell ‘holes not drills’ (i.e. the benefit of the product)
– Paint pictures of the advantages
– Objections handled by smart questions not smart
replies/comebacks
Closing the Sale – Listen for Signals

– Listen for buying signals from the customer. This

might be:
– “How soon could you complete an order and I
receive my goods?"
– Once you hear a buying signal
– Stop Selling
– Otherwise you risk talking yourself out of the sale
 Closing the Sale – Ask for it!
– Don't be afraid to ask for the sale.

– You could say:

• "Could I take your order now?"

– Always try to sound positive, confident, and upbeat

 Closing the Sale – Techniques - 1
• Trial Close
– This is used after a telling the customer about a
benefit, to get the client used to saying yes
– 'You would like that wouldn't you?'
– 'Shall I do that for you? '
– You are trying to get the customer used to saying the
word ‘YES’
 Closing the Sale – Techniques - 2
• Alternative Close
– E.g. Can we start Tuesday or Wednesday ?
– About 08.30 alright with you?

• Direct Close
– Are you ready to place the order?
– You just need to sign here please
 Closing the Sale – Techniques - 3
• Cautious Close
– Now is there any other questions I can answer before
we sign the agreement/order?

• Assumptive Close
– I took the opportunity to complete most of the
documentation, all you need to do is read it through
and sign where I put the cross. Do you have a pen or
would you like to use mine?
Closing the Sale – Your Confidence
Builds More Business!
– Often once you can close with confidence your
customer is more likely to return, thus helping you
to achieve more sales
– Selling does not end when you have obtained the
order
– That, as we saw in Unit 9 is how ‘old-style
‘Transactional Selling’ was conducted
Post/After Sales – A Need to Change

– Simply obtaining the sale/order and forgetting the

customer is NOT the way to develop a sales to
buyer relationship
– If you really do want to initiate a long term
relationship with the customer – it starts with the
follow-up call – post sale
– Could you re-visit the customer to discuss other
requirements they have in future
 Post/After Sales - Customer
Expectations
– It maybe even be necessary for you to contact the
customer to resolve an invoicing or payment
difficulty as well
– There should not be a feeling of “onto finding the
next customer”
– You need to also preserve the customer you have
just found, for future business
Topic 11 – Personal Selling Techniques

Any Questions?