Art of the Sale

After 20 years as a salesperson, it has become apparent that basic sales strategy is not being passed on to new sales reps. The sales process is an art built on a 5 step process that creates the structure of a presentation. The steps are always required to move from prospect to closed transactions but every sale and salesperson is unique and this creates sales styles. These steps are not complicated or technical and so every new sales representative can incorporate them into a foundation to increase their success in the competitive world of sales.

The five steps are: Introduction, Fact Finding, Presentation, Objection Handling, and Close. Each step in the process are crucial to success and they must be followed in that format to ensure the desired outcome. It doesn't matter what product is being offered to a prospective customer, it can be inexpensive article of clothing or an ultra luxury vehicle, each of these steps are required and must be completed in that order or the following step will not be successful.

Introduction. The first step and the foundation that all the other steps will be built on is truly the most important. This step is unique to every sales person in any industry. The phrase "you do not get a second chance to make a first impression" is crucial in the sales process and needs to be customized to each reps individual traits, experiences and personality. It is crucial to use these characteristics to build trust between the salesperson and the prospective customer. Trust is required through the entire process to ensure each step is completed correctly. Countless times, new sales reps introduce themselves then present their products without first developing trust which most of the time leads to a polite 'thank you' and a lost opportunity. If the rep is funny than humor should be incorporated into this phase or if the rep is well traveled then that should be integrated into their process. It is crucial that the rep use only what is true to them or the prospect will feel the process is not authentic.

Fact Finding. The best sales people excel at this step in the process and those who continually have difficulty rush through this and move to the presentation phase. In reality, not finding out everything thing that the prospect needs makes the sales presentation lacking details that can create issues later in the process. Are you talking to the decision maker? What is good and bad about their current vendor? Why are they in the market today opposed to another time? Everything you need to create a successful presentation comes from the question you ask during fact finding. Based on your industry or products, the standard questions you need to ask will become apparent with experience, and based on the level of trust and rapport that has been established will make the amount and quality of information more valuable.

Presentation. This step is what most people consider the sale or what people believe to be selling. In movies, the pushy or aggressive salesperson is trying to convince a customer they need something that is being shown but is not truly needed. They resort to using tricks or pre-rehearsed scripts to try to move the process forward. A best example of this is telemarketers that sound like they are reading from a page and there is nothing tailored to the potential customer.

The Presentation step is simply offering the customer exactly what they need at that moment in time. This sounds difficult but in reality all that information should have been determined in the Fact Finding step. Knowing all the customers requirements then tailoring a presentation to meet all of those details takes the guess work out of the process. This can turn an average salesperson into an expert faster than any script, trick or sales incentive.

Objection Handling. No matter how good you have built trust, determined needs and presented a solution that meets all customers requirements, it never ends that easy. There will be issues or details that were not discovered earlier or were adequately addressed in the presentation. These objections are common and hint that you rushed through one of the earlier step. These late stage issues need to be addressed to move to the last step in the sales process. If objections are followed by more objections, then this could mean there are trust issues, but facing each one with honest solutions will help move the customer to the last step.

Close. Completing a sales transaction will always require asking the customer for payment. ABCs of sales states you must always be closing. In reality, the salesperson should only close when you have presented a product, service or solution that is specifically tailored to the needs of the prospect and resolved any issues that may have been brought up after the presentation. The salesperson needs to always push at this point for payment. Once a prospect has agreed your solution is what is required, then asking for payment is appropriate and not rude. Customers never volunteer to pay and letting them have time to consider everything is not going convert to a closed transaction most of the time.