The document discusses the importance of product knowledge for effective selling. It defines product knowledge as understanding the features, functions, and benefits of a product. A salesperson needs to fully understand the product in order to answer customer questions, address objections, and provide strategic advice to management. The document recommends several ways for salespeople to gain product knowledge, including through company training, understanding specifications and competitors, and knowing how to use and support the product. It emphasizes that product knowledge is key to successful selling, especially in competitive markets.

1. EFFECTIVE SELLING SKILLS
THE PLACE
OF
PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE
by
AYO ADEYEMI MBA, ANIM, FNIMN,MCIPM
Director, Marketing Services
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MARKETING OF NIGERIA
@
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2. Inspirational
Position yourself in everything you say
and do as the most credible and
believable supplier of your product
or service to your ideal customer
PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE IN EFFECTIVE SELLING 2

3. “Our goals can only be reached
through a vehicle of a plan, in which
we must fervently believe, and upon
which we must vigorously act. There is
no other route to success.” ~ Pablo
Picasso
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PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE IN EFFECTIVE SELLING

4. What Product Knowledge Is
Product knowledge is an essential sales skill. The Understanding of
features of your product allows you to present their benefits
accurately and persuasively.
An understanding of a good or service that might include having
acquired information about its application, function, features, use
and support requirements.
A business sales representative is an example of an individual that is
typically expected to acquire considerable product knowledge about
the goods and services that they are responsible for selling to
consumers
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PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE IN EFFECTIVE SELLING

5. For a product to be effectively offered and
marketed to its target audience, the
salesman must know what he is selling.
Otherwise he will not be in a position to:-
• Answer customers questions and enquiries
• Enlighten customers about the products benefits
• Handle objections or properly position the product
• Advice management on product related strategic
issues
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PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE IN EFFECTIVE SELLING

6. Why Product Knowledge is
Key.
Product Knowledge is very key to the success of any sales effort
especially in the highly competitive market like Nigeria
An ignorant salesman will find it difficult to sell, as you cannot sell
what you don’t know.
An ignorant salesman cannot promote products whose features
benefits and performance are strange to him.
Product knowledge also involve knowing about other competing
products as well as the competitive advantages of your
product over them.
.
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PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE IN EFFECTIVE SELLING

7. Why Product Knowledge is
Key.
Such knowledge will ensure that you
don’t information and that the target
market of each product is clearly
understood and properly demarcated.
The Salesman therefore must :
 Have a good knowledge about the
products
 Have adequate knowledge about the
competitors and their products
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PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE IN EFFECTIVE SELLING

8. Getting Product Knowledge
The effective salesman must gain extensive knowledge about the
product(s) he is selling as he cannot sell what he does not
understand. Companies can help their salesmen understand what
they are selling by organizing training programs about their products
in terms of features and benefits as well as how they can assist
customers in using the products.
The salesman must understand the strength and weaknesses of the
products he is selling as compared to that of the competitors.
Gaining product knowledge involves the salesman understanding the
known and hidden uses of the products as well as the relevance of
the uses to the needs of customers, so as to have enough selling
points to push the products.
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PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE IN EFFECTIVE SELLING

9. Ditzenberger and Kidney posit that “salesmen should know the
appearance, the material composition, the manufacturing process,
uses, performance, service, care, brand, price, competition and
related items of the product”.
With in-depth product knowledge, the salesman will gain self confidence
and will be able to answer questions about the product posed by
customers. This will increase customers confidence in the salesman
and customers will increase their reliance on the salesman. Another
benefit of having a good knowledge about the product being sold is that
it reduces call reluctance and the salesman will enjoy his job.
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PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE IN EFFECTIVE SELLING

10. ATTRIBUTES OF A PRODUCTS
Tangible
Augment
Core
Augment
Tangible
core
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PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE IN EFFECTIVE SELLING

11. Product Quality
 It is very essential for your company’s products to be
qualitative so as to be competitive. Quality is therefore the
assurance that the product will provide the required and
expected level of utility. It must be noted that quality means
different things to different people.
 However, no matter the divergence of views, there is still a
basic minimum expectation of the level of utility or satisfaction
a product should provide.
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PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE IN EFFECTIVE SELLING

12. Gaining Product Knowledge
The salesman must understand his company and
what it does. This he can do by answering these
questions:
 Who are we ?
 What do we do?
 What are our product lines?
 Who are our customers:
 Who are our competitors?
 What are our strength?: brand strength,
quality, coverage etc.
 What are our weaknesses?
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PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE IN EFFECTIVE SELLING

13. Apart from features and benefits, what the salesman need to know about
the product include:
• The length, breadth and depth of the product line including branding.
• The method/process of manufacturing the product (s)
• Product appearance and shape.
• Product performance levels
• The location of the product in the store.
• Details about substitute products being offered by competitors.
• Methods of packaging, handling and storing the product
• Installation of the product
• Product pricing
• Other complementary products
• Other technical information about the product.
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PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE IN EFFECTIVE SELLING

14. Gaining Customer Knowledge
For Success, the salesman must understand the customer especially
his needs and the psychology of buying. The reasons for buying
must be understood by the salesman. These reasons can be
uncovered if the sales man can successfully use the acronym:
LOCATE
 L: Listen
 O: Observe
 C: Combine
 A: Ask Questions
 T: Talk To Others
 E : Empathise
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PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE IN EFFECTIVE SELLING

15. L: Listen effectively to detect any buying motive being hinted by the customer
in his remarks.
O: Observe the customer to take notice of his environment tastes and
preferences
C: Combine these foregoing methods with other probing methods like talking
to other people, ask questions about the product or extrapolate from other
noticed factors in order to learn more about customers needs.
A: Ask questions from the customers about his needs so as to better clarify his
needs and buying motives
T: Talk to other people (especially people close to the customer/prospect)
about his needs.
E: Empathise with the customer by looking at issues from his own rather than
the salesman’s own view point.
Gaining Customer Knowledge
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PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE IN EFFECTIVE SELLING

16. Getting Sales Knowledge
Gaining Market Knowledge include understanding :
 What you are selling
 What company you are selling to
 Who you are selling to (customers and prospects)
 The terrain of the selling activities(i.e. territory knowledge)
 Who the users are
 The Competitors
 The technology related to selling (GSM, e-mail, social media etc)
 The business environment (Sales Act and other legal requirement)
 Who are the Decision-makers
 Who are the Influencers
 Who are the Buyer
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PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE IN EFFECTIVE SELLING

17. Business Knowledge
The salesmen, must understand the
 Nature of the company’s business, its
business/products/strength and weaknesses
 Nature of the competitors to your company and what the
competing products are
 Selling difficulties, obstacles and Limitations
 Total market potential in the industry
 the company’s Sales Potential
 the company’s sales function.
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PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE IN EFFECTIVE SELLING

18. Gaining User Knowledge
It is essential that the salesman have
adequate knowledge of which segment use
which product and what factors influences
such needs/usage. Such factors include:
 Nature of product
 Level of Adoption
 Marketing intensity of competitors
 Corporate Influence
 Quality `
 Augmentation materials / services (After
Sale Services)
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PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE IN EFFECTIVE SELLING

19. Gaining Market Knowledge
Gaining Market Knowledge by the
Salesman involves understanding :
 What you are selling?
 Who you are selling to?
 Who the users are ?
 Who are the Decision Makers?
 Who are the Influencers?
 Who are the Payers?
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PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE IN EFFECTIVE SELLING

20. Gaining Market Knowledge
Gaining Market Knowledge also involve understanding the Buying Centre
The Buying Centre is the individual or group of individuals that facilitates,
participate in determine and execute the buying decision. In some
organisation, the buying centre usually involves more than one individual.
According to Engel Blackwell and Miniards there are five possible members
of the buying centre which are as follows:
 Initiator: This is the individual that triggers off the buying decision process.
 Influencer: This is the individual that persuades the purchase of the
product.
 Decider: This is the individual that determines what is finally done either
because he possesses the moral of financial authority.
 Buyer: This is the individual that carries out the actual buying by visiting
the supplier and concluding the exchange process between buyer and seller.
 User: This is the individual that consumes the product 20
PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE IN EFFECTIVE SELLING

21. Understanding Company
The salesman must understand the company he is
working for, its policies as regards salesmen and
personal selling, its pricing policies, its credit
policies as well as its remuneration policy.
The salesman must also understand the degree of
empowerment given to him, the areas and the
limitation of the empowerment.
There are situations whereby a salesman can within
a threshold offer discounts or give away some
products as samples. Most of the things the
salesman will need to know are contained in the
Sales Manual and the Employees Handbook.
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PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE IN EFFECTIVE SELLING

22. Understanding Sales
Territories
After being assigned to a territory, the salesman must study the
territory as to the size, demography and potential. Not all
territories are the same. While some territories are dry, others
are fertile and hence different strategies are required in each of
these type of territories.
The salesman must ensure that he guards the territory fiercely and
jealously. He must:
 Look at himself as the CEO of the territory.
 Understand the terrain and its peculiarities and challenges.
 Keep existing customers
 Create new customers
 Meet customers expectations and solve their problems
 Assist distributors to sell to end users
 Provide after purchase support
 Give adequate feedback back to the company
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PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE IN EFFECTIVE SELLING

23. Determining Selling Intensity
Selling intensity relates to the extent of selling efforts
required in order to achieve the company’s selling
objectives
The product being “ pushed” by the salesman is
much more than the physical product we all see (i.e.
“goods”). At times a product may be a service ( an
“intangible” product). At times salesmen add “extras”
to what they are selling. These extras are in form of
additional benefits that are not included in the sales
package but which can further cement the
relationship. For example free maintenance for a
defined period of time.
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PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE IN EFFECTIVE SELLING

24. Understanding Product
Failure
It is essential for the salesman to properly
understand the reasons for and implications of
product failure. Product failure depicts a situation
where the product fall short of the target objectives
that actually warranted its production and which
situation can warrant its discontinued production or
patronage.
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PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE IN EFFECTIVE SELLING

25. Whatever got you where
you are today is no longer
sufficient to keep you
there
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PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE IN EFFECTIVE SELLING

26. Conclusion
Gaining product knowledge is key to
the success of the salesman as well
as the overall selling efforts as no one
can sell what he is ignorant about.
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PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE IN EFFECTIVE SELLING

27. It’s A Privilege Sharing Knowledge With You
Ayo ADEYEMI MBA, ANIM,FNIMN
adeyemiayoade@gmail.com
Tel: 07058479138
THANK YOU
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