Articles
Published February 2001
Successful Selling Strategies for the Entrepreneur - Part 3
If you want to be successful, know why people will buy your product or service. Whenever I lecture on salesmanship and in my book "Fail-Proof Your Business," I stress the importance of understanding what moves customers to action.
While you may be lucky and the power of your personality brings you some initial success, be careful, because it is a basic principle of sales and promotion that to consistently sell a product or service and to enjoy lasting success, you understand the reason(s) why anyone will buy it. A fundamental of salesmanship is to discover customer motivation. A sale requires the benefit of the product appeal to the self-interest of the prospect. Selling is not exploitation, but an act that benefits buyer and seller. To be successful at it, be prepared- know your product or service.Your sales presentation must be built on your knowledge of specific reasons why potential customers should buy your offering. I remember a sales manager who began his sales training sessions by asking his trainees to list ten specific and objective reasons why a prospect should buy. He insisted on answers with depth. He would not accept generalities such as; "our quality is better" or "our product superior." He demanded specific reasons. He was adamant that his salesforce be knowledgeable about the company and its products. It was his opinion an informed salesperson is confident and convincing. I agree with him.
Test yourself. Can you list at least five significant reasons to buy your product or do business with you? Do you know specifically what is different or unique about your product(s) or company? Is there anything? Look to the areas of: quality, specific performance characteristics, customer services, warranties, customer testimonials, and pricing policy for possible answers. The more factual and detailed your answers, the more effective your sales and marketing messages will be.
If you cannot develop realistic reasons to tell a prospective customer what is unique about your company, your product or your service- how can you create a presentation that will work? How can you attempt to sell your wares with any degree of credibility or confidence if you are ignorant of the attributes of your offer? Sales consultants and trainers stress the importance of believing in your company, your product, and yourself. In my opinion, there is no better way to develop strong inner feelings of enthusiasm and confidence than knowing and understanding why customers should and will buy from you.
Successful Selling Strategies for the Entrepreneur:
Part 1
Part 2
