Use for professional selling skill

1. Professional
Selling Skills
Adrian Rosario

2. Objective of this session
To sharpen the skills, abilities & behavior in selling
for participants,
in order to sell better & improve professionalism.

3. OUTLINE
► Overcoming Sales Fears
► Selling
► Professionalism
► The Basic Sales Cycle
► Know Thyself

4. ► What are the typical fears you have of sales?
► What is the primary purpose of selling?
► What is the most important skill a salesperson can have?
► Why?
Overcoming Sales Fears

5. Selling
► Personal Selling:
involves person-to-person communication with a prospect.
It is a process of developing relationships, discovering needs,
matching the appropriate products and services with those needs,
and communicating benefits through informing, reminding, or
persuading.
Manning and Reece, Selling Today - creating customer value,
Pearson Education, Inc., 2007

6. Some Characteristics of Professional Selling
► Driven to make it a career
► Focus on the long term
► Desire to improve to become an expert
► Focus on matching vs. telling
► Strength in all aspects of the Basic Sales Cycle

7. The Basic Sales Cycle
► What is the first step in the sales process?

8. ► Need is a state of deficiency which has to be eliminated.
► Need always refers to people, but demand always refers to
goods and services.
► Motive is what causes people to act.
► Motive triggers an action in order to satisfy the need for a
while.

9. Buying Motives
► To sell to satisfy a need.
► Customer will buy when you appeal to the right/real motive.
► To find out buying motives, ASK QUESTIONS.
► Always Sell BENEFITS.
► Let the customer buy for his/her reasons, not yours.

10. Steps in the Sales Cycle
► Prospecting - Find, Qualify, Classify, Analyse/study
► Preparation
1- Approach
2- Presentation
3- Responses
4- Close

11. Before the Call
► Prospecting sheds light on markets, segments, competitors and
requirements/needs to be met.
► Prospecting means finding your potential customers and
qualifying them.
► Prospecting provides the basis for laying down the strategy for
a sales call.
► Prospecting allows proper allocation of time and determines
the frequency of sales calls.
► Prospecting is an ongoing process. All changes must be known
at all relevant levels.

12. Before the Call – Preparation
Setting your objectives
► What do you want to sell?
► Set SMART objectives
► Specific
► Measurable
► Attainable
► Realistic
► Timebound

13. 2. Planning the sales call
► How do you want to proceed ?
► Find out the best time to see the customer
Prepare the following:
► Approach
► Questions to uncover needs and verify assumptions
► Benefits to satisfy needs
► Responses to possible reactions
► Use of visual aids
► Ways of closing/gaining commitment
Note: Good preparation enhances confidence and leads to more
sales.
Before the Call – Preparation

14. What is the approach?
It is the skill of capturing the customer’s attention and focusing on
the sales call.
Why must we use approach?
► Secure access
► Gain attention
► Create positive interest
What are the ways of approaching a customer?
► Greeting
► Asking a question
Why questioning in approach?
► To gain more attention
► Brings customer into the presentation
► To comfort the customer with a topic of his interest
During the Call – Approach

15. ► The purpose of this step is to satisfy the customer’s needs
/buying motives with the features and benefits of our product
or service.
► Presentation is to be built on positive TWO-WAY
communication.
During the Call – Presentation

16. During the call – Presentation
First step:
Discover the customer’s need by effective use of questions.
Second step:
► To start matching product benefits with customer’s need /
wishes in order to find the decisive buying motive.
► We help the customer to make a buying decision.
► We know the features of our product (what it has)
► We define as many benefits of our product as needed (what
it can do)
► We look for the customer’s buying motive and match our
benefit with his need

17. During the call – Presentation
Main points of a good sales presentation:
► Build up two-way communication.
► Know Features and Benefits.
► Uncover the needs (explore the buying motive).
► Match benefits with needs/wishes.

19. During the call – Presentation
Probing
► Probing is the skill of questioning.
► The general purpose of probing is to discover the
customer’s needs and concerns.

20. During the call – Presentation
Probing examples
► Salesman: How do you like your car? (Probe No.1)
► Customer: I like the sportive cars.
► Salesman: What kind of problems do you experience with this type of
cars? (Probe No.2)
► Customer: Well, none to speak of.
► Salesman: Some customers have told me that they are bothered by
the high price of these type of cars. Have you seen this problem ?
(Probe No.3)
► Customer: Yes, Sure.
► Salesman: It seems that an economical price would be an important
benefit, is it correct? (Probe No.4)
► Customer: Yes, of course!

21. During the call – Presentation
Types of Probing
► Open probe invites an extended explanation e.g. Probe
No.2
► Closed probe can be answered by a single word (yes or no)
e.g. Probe No.4

22. During the call – Presentation
Types of Probing
► Open ended (OEQ)
To find the need / check an assumption / demonstrate interest
(who/where/what/which/when/how and careful with why)
► Closed ended (CEQ)
Get quick response/decision (yes/no/I don’t know)
► Choice (CHQ)
Ask for information / give information
► Benefit tag (BTQ)
To present one benefit matching a need / to obtain benefit appeals
(Benefit in form of a statement followed directly by a CEQ)

23. Probing Strategy
Communicative customer Non-communicative customer
Begin with Closed probe Begin with an Open probe
No Need to give Inputs Need to offer Inputs
Obtain the customer signals
Continue to use Open Probe
Switch to using Closed Probe
During the call – Presentation

24. Reinforcing
► Reinforcing is the skill of satisfying customer needs with
product features and benefits.
► Reinforcing firmly establishes you as a problem solver, and
shows the customer why your product/service is needed.
During the call – Presentation

25. Reinforcing
► What are the steps of reinforcing ?
Step 1 Paraphrase the customer need
► Express direct agreement
► Restate the customer’s need
Step 2 Propose a feature and benefit that satisfy this need
► What are the signals that tell you when to reinforce?
A clear need stated by the customer in his own words.
Confirmation by the customer of a presumed need that
was first expressed by you in a closed probe.
During the call – Presentation