Ssm lecture-04 (selling skills & strategies)

07/06/10 1
By :
Prof. Amit Kumar

07/06/10 2
“A student pursuing management education from IILM-
Graduate School of Management, for example may find
himself or herself placed in a firm as a Sales Manager.
Our goal is to prepare the student for the exciting
challenges related to leading sales organizations in
today’s hyper-competitive global economy”.
IILM-GSM
Importance of this course
Selling & Sales Management

07/06/10
IILM-GSM
Selling & Sales Management

07/06/10
Contents
• Introduction: Who is a successful seller?
• Selling & Buying Styles
• Selling Skills
– Communication Skills
– Listening Skills
– Negotiation Skills
– Conflict Management Skills
– Problem-Solving Skills
• Selling Situations
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Selling & Sales Management Selling Skills & Strategies

07/06/10
Who is the Successful Seller?
Who is a successful seller? One of the prominent
myths in selling is the idea that successful
salespersons are born, and it is difficult to acquire
skills that can turn an average salesperson into a
successful one.
Selling skills are a set of characteristics that are
necessary for a salesperson to possess, failing which
he may not be successful in selling. It is not correct to
assume that successful salespersons are born. The
essential skills for successful selling are:
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Selling Skills
Selling Skills
Listening
Skills
Conflict management
and resolution skills
Negotiation
and
bargaining
skills
Problem
solving skills
Effective
communication
skills
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Selling and Buying Styles
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Concernforthecustomers
(1,9) People Oriented
I am customer’s friend,
I want to understand him and
respond to his feelings and
interests so that he will like me. It
is the personal bond that leads him
to purchase from me.
(5,5) Sales technique Oriented
I have tried an effective routine for
getting a customer to buy. It
motivates through a blended
personality and product emphasis
(1,1) Take it or Leave it
I place the product before the
customer and it sells itself as and
when it comes.
(9,1) Push the product Oriented
I take challenge of the customer and
hard sell him, polling on all the
pressure it takes to make him buy
(9,9) Problem Solving Oriented
I consult with the customer so as to
inform myself of all the needs in his
situation that my products can satisfy.
We work towards a sound purchase
decision on his part, which yield him
the benefits he expects from it.
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Concern for Sale

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Selling & Buying Styles
In figure, the salespeople in position (1,1) believe in
the physical display of the product and assume that
customers will buy by it themselves if the logistics are
managed.
This is possible in the market where customers do not have
many choices or in product categories in which customers
do not place any importance to issues like product
demonstration and briefing by the salespeople.
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Position (1,1)

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Fast moving consumer goods are in this category where
the advertising and other promotion programmes bring the
customer to the retail counter (by a pull method) and the
store presence and visibility make the brand sell itself.
Here the sales force has the least role to play as they do
the business of physical transfer of goods to the customer
contact point.
Similarly, in a market where the demand exceeds supply so
much that the customer is bound to take what is being
offered, this kind of selling will be very effective as it
involves very low cost due to non-use of advance selling
techniques and few or no calls by the salespeople.
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Position (1,1)

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• Salespeople in the (9,1) position are more product-
oriented and they always try to push the product for
sale.
• They try to sell the product without caring for the
customer demand patterns. They feel that it is
possible to sell any product.
• They do not consider the customer’s buying intension
and do the hard sell by putting all the pressure to
realize a sale.
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Position (9,1)

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• The salespeople in the (1,9) position treats himself as
a friend of the customer.
• This is predominantly the relationship domain and the
salespeople are involved in the relational selling,
where they try to understand the customer and
respond to his feelings and interests so that the
salesperson is able to establish a personal rapport
with the customer and realize a sale.
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Position (1,9)

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• Salespeople (in the 9,9 position) are problem solvers. They
consult with the customer so that they understand his
situation and all his needs, and then suggest a product that
can solve his problem.
• They work with the customer towards a sound purchase
decision on his part that will help him get the desire results.
• This is basically consultative selling and is normally seen in
the software and consultation selling industry where the
salespeople take note of the customer’s briefs and come
with a solution that best fits the customer’s problems.
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Position (9,9)

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• A salesperson in position (5,5) is a professional who
keeps balance between concern for customer and
concern for sale.
• such sales people use various sales techniques to do
prospecting and sales presentation. Their sales pitch
is based on blend of personality and product
orientation.
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Position (5,5)

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Selling Situations
 Maintenance selling
 Developmental selling
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Selling Situations
Maintenance selling
 Typically maintenance selling involves the art of servicing
the existing accounts, securing promotional cooperation,
counting inventory and taking replenishment orders and
deliver the products.
 In advertising world, these kind of salespeople are called
client servicing executives who provide services to clients
and also take the orders as and when required.
 There is no question of prospecting for this kind as it is
done with the existing customers.
 In IT sector, these salespeople are posted at the client
site and are responsible for solving the client’s problems.
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Selling Situations
Developmental selling
 Salespeople engaged in developmental selling are called
BDE as they try to contact the potential customers and
build business for the firm.
 They are the real salespeople who try to do prospecting
from the leads either available in the organization or
collected by them, and then take the prospect through the
whole process of selling to realize a sale.
 Getting orders is a characteristic of developmental selling.
Here the salesperson must seek for the potential
customers and obtain their order.
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Communication Skills
IILM-GSM
• A salesperson needs to understand the communication
process before he develops his own strategies for
successful selling.
• Sales communication can be both personal and non-
personal.
• Personal communication is sure to take customers from
one level to the next level of the decision process.

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IILM-GSM
Chandrakant Sen is the sales manager at USHA
Corporation and he was giving a presentation that a new
product would deliver higher profit to the customer,
SAIL. When he was quizzed to display how the
organization will be befitted, he touched a couple of keys
in his laptop and ran a graphic program to show
diagrams to the customer during the presentation that
illustrated his idea and proposition.
This shows effective communication will help people in
realizing a sale and handling objections successfully if
the salespeople have done their homework properly.

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Communication Process
Noise
Channel
Feedback
Intended
Message
Sent Message
Encoding
Perceived
Message
Received
Message
Decoding
Sender Receiver
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• Communication can take the form of verbal and non-
verbal.
– Verbal communication consists of words arranged in a
meaningful patterns.
– Most basic form of communication is non-verbal in nature.
Facial expressions, gestures, spatial relationships and
attitude towards time and people are included in non-
verbal communication.

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Managing Body Language:
Salesperson can take care of their verbal and non-verbal
communication while making sales presentations. The non-
verbal cues taken together are called body language, various
elements of which have been as:
 Personal Appearance
 Posture
 Gestures
 Facial Expressions
 Eye Contact
 Space Distancing
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Listening Skills
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• The sales manager has to be very good listener and use
his listening skills to lead towards sales.
• Effective listening can be explained by the example of a
doctor who is attending a patient.
• Good listening also enhances the impact of what the
salesperson speaks to the customer, and increases the
ability to negotiate with customers.
Research suggests that people are only 25%
efficient in their ability to listen. An average person
remembers only about half of what is being told to
him after 10 minutes, and forgets half of that within
48 hours.

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Listening Skills
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There are three types of listening:
1. Content Listening
2. Critical Listening
3. Empathetic Listening

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Process of Listening
Attendance
Interpretation
Evaluations
Remembrance
Response Action
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Conflict Management Skills
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Conflict in sales org. is more evident than in any other
org. This is due to the fact that there is always conflict
of interest among people at different levels as the
goals are different at each level of the org.
A sales manager wants his salespeople to cover his
territory as thoroughly as they can whereas
salesperson are interested in realizing the desired
sales through a few loyal customers. The vice
president is interested in getting better results from the
same cost to show the board that resources are being
used efficiently.

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Conflict Defined
Is a process that begins when one party
perceives that another party has negatively
affected, or is about to negatively affect,
something that the first party cares about.

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Conflict can be classified as:
• Functional: This conflict supports the goals of the
group and improves its performance.
• Dysfunctional: It hinders group performance.
• Task: These are disputes over the content and goals
of the work.
• Relationship: It is tussle based on interpersonal
relationships.
• Process: It is fight over how works get done.

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Stage I
Potential
opposition or
Incompatibility
Stage II
Cognition &
Personalization
Stage III
Intentions
Stage IV
Behaviour
Stage V
Outcomes
Antecedent
Conditions
Communication
Personal
Variables
Structure
Perceived
Conflict
Felt Conflict
Conflict handling
Intentions
Competing
Collaboration
Compromising
Avoiding
Accommodating
Overt Conflict
Party’s
behaviour
Others
reaction
Increased
group
performance
Decreased
group
performance
Conflict Management Process
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Stage-I: Potential opposition or Incompatibility
The first step in the conflict process is the presence
of conditions that create opportunities for conflict to
arise. They need not directly lead to the conflict, but
one of these conditions (Antecedent Conditions) is
necessary if conflict is to surface.
1. Communication
2. Structure
3. Personal Variables

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Communication: can be a source of conflict.
Deepa had worked in SCM at Bristol Hotel for 3
years. She enjoyed her work in large part because
her boss, Ranjan, was a great guy to work for.
Then Ranjan got promoted 6 months ago, and
Vijay took his place. Deepa says her job is a lot
more frustrating now.

07/06/10
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Communication: can be a source of conflict.
“Ranjan and I were on the same wavelength. It
is not that with Vijay. He tells me something
and I do it. Then he tells me I did it wrong. I
think he means one thing but says something
else. I don't think a day goes by when he is not
yelling at me for something. You know, there
are some people you just find it easy to
communicate with. Well, Vijay is not one of
those.”

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Structure: can be a source of conflict.
Meera and Rubina both work at InStyle- a large
discount furniture retailer. Meera is a salesperson
on the floor, and Rubina is the company credit
manager. The two women have known each other
for years and have much in common: they live
within two blocks of each other, their oldest
daughters attend the same middle school and are
the best friends. But, these two women are
consistently fighting battles with each other.

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Structure: can be a source of conflict.
Meera's job is to sell furniture, and she does a heck
of a job. But most of her sales are made in credit.
Because Rubina's job is to make sure the
company minimizes credit losses, she regularly
has to turn down the credit application of a
customer with whom Meera has just close a sale.
It's nothing personal between Meera and Rubina;
the requirements of their jobs just bring them into
conflict.

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Personal Variables: (Personality, Emotions and Values)
Have you ever met someone to whom you took an
immediate disliking? You disagreed with most of
the opinions they expressed. Even insignificant
characteristics- sound of their voice, they
personality- annoyed you. We have all met people
like that. When you have to work with such
individuals, there is often the potential for conflict.

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Stage-2: Cognition and Personalization
Cognition is the mental process of knowing, including aspects
such as awareness, perception, reasoning, and judgment.
• Because a conflict is Perceived conflict does not mean
that it is personalized. In other words, 'A may be aware that
B and A are in serious disagreement, but it may not make A
tense or anxious, and it may have no effect whatsoever on
A's affection towards B’.
• It is at the Felt conflict level, when individuals become
emotionally involved, that parties experience anxiety,
tension, frustration.

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Cooperativeness:
• Attempting to satisfy the other party’s
concerns.
Assertiveness:
• Attempting to satisfy one’s own concerns.
Cooperativeness:
• Attempting to satisfy the other party’s
concerns.
Assertiveness:
• Attempting to satisfy one’s own concerns.
Satge-3: Intentions
Decisions to act in a given way.
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Dimensions of Conflict-Handling Intentions
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Stage-3: Conflict Handling Intension
1. Competing: Each party pursues its own interests,
regardless of the impact on the other party.
2. Collaborating: Both parties in a conflict try to satisfy
fully the concerns of both parties.
3. Avoiding: One party withdraws from or suppresses the
conflict.
4. Accommodating: One party agrees to place the
opponent’s interests above its own.
5. Compromising: Both parties agree to give up
something.

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 The Conflict Resolution Process:
- lumping
- avoidance
- coercion
- mediation
- conciliation
- adjudication
- negotiation
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Negotiation Skills
• Negotiation occurs when someone else has what you want,
and you are prepared to bargain for it and the vice versa.
• Successful negotiation is an attempt by two parties to achieve
mutually acceptable solutions. (win-win)
• Negotiation is very important in selling because majority of
selling is done without a list price.
• In B2B selling and services selling, the success of selling
largely depends on how a good negotiator the salesperson is.
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Negotiation Skills
Let us take an example of a student Mr. Kumar who did not
take
Up any job after graduating from a business school and wanted
to develop a new computer game that he believed would be
highly successful. However, it would take a long time to
program it. He needed to earn for his living also.
He met one of his classmates Shankar, who had joined a large
MNC after the business school. Shankar liked his idea and
agreed to put it through to his management. But Shankar’s
organization could offer only Rs.1 Lakh.
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Negotiation Skills
Kumar said it will take him ten months to develop the product
and while Rs.1 Lakh will enable him to survive during this
period, it was not enough as a reward. He suggested that
Rs.1 Lakh should be treated as an advance against future
profits and that he and the company share the profit in the
ratio of 25:75. Eventually the deal was finalized at 20:80.
The computer game was launched in a big children fair
and was a huge success. It brought great rewards to
both company and Mr. Kumar. This is an example of
win-win situation.
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Negotiation Skills: Zone of Agreement
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Seller’s
Reservation Price
(Seller wants S
or more)
Seller’s Surplus Seller wants to
Move X up
Buyer’s Surplus
Buyer’s
Reservation Price
(Buyer wants B
or less)
Buyer wants to
Move X down
Zone of AgreementFinal Contact
S
B
x

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Problem-Solving Skills
• Besides the negotiation skills, one also needs problem-
solving skills for effective selling.
• The consultative selling approach suggests that a
salesperson should not be a mere order taker; he should
rather act as a problem-solver and a consultant to the
customer.
• These roles are more significant for high-tech selling and
B2B selling.
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Characteristics of Ineffective/Effective
Problem-Solver
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Characteristics Ineffective problem-solver Effective problem-solver
Attitude Thinks nothing can be done;
Gives up easily
Believes the problem can be
solved
Actions
Lies back and expects that a solution
will come naturally; Jumps to
conclusion very fast
Re-evaluates the problem,
Re-describe the problem,
draw sketches and write
equations
Accuracy Does not check Checks and Recheck
Solution
Procedures
Does not break the problem, lets it be
as it is, Not know where to start, fails
to identify key concepts, relies on
guess, no proper plan, quits and
withdraws easily
Breaking into smaller
problems, starts at a point
where he understands better,
uses fundamental concepts,
use qualitative & quantitative
equations, keeps a track of
changes and progress

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Problem Solving Skills
Stephen Covey in his famous book ‘The
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’
lists seven habits that make people more
effective problem-solvers.
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Problem Solving Skills
Habit I: be proactive
Habit 2: begin with an end in mind
Habit 3: put first things first
Habit 4: think win–win
Habit 5: seek first to understand, then to be understood
Habit 6: synergize
Habit 7: renewal
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Define the problem
Generate alternative solutions
Decide the solution
Implement the solution
Evaluate the solution
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Problem Solving Process

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Problem
Definition
Techniques
Find out origin of
the problem
Explore the
problem
Present
desired state
analysis
Evaluate
problem
statement
Statement
and
Restatement
Dunker’s
diagram
Problem Definition Techniques
1
2
3
5
4
6
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Achieve the desired state
Possible path to the desired state
Path 1 Path 2 Path 3
Solutions to implement & paths to desired solutions
Solution 1
Solution 2 Solution 3
General Solution
Functional Solution
Specific Solution
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Dunker’s Diagram

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Decision on the best solution
Approval
Planning
Carry through
Follow up
Evaluation
I
M
P
L
E
M
E
N
T
A
T
I
O
N
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Solution Implementation Process

Ssm lecture-04 (selling skills & strategies)

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