Selling Skills Part 1. Discovering Your Clients Needs
Monday, June 29th, 2009The Sales Profession Has Changed the Lives of Millions of People Worldwide
Being a master of the sales process has been invaluable to me over my lifetime. My ability as a master sales professional has truly changed my life. Once you understand the sales process, you can sell any product or services in the world. I also believe that every human being on this planet is involved in sales, one way or another. Unfortunately, most people have no clue of what they are doing in sales. I would say that 80% of the people in the world who are in sales couldn’t sell a get out of jail free card to a prisoner on death row. These are the same individuals that think they will be great at sales if they talk your ear off. Talking a lot doesn’t make you a master sales professional. It only makes you a master of being a pain in the butt.
Selling Skills
I am going to start a new series called “Selling Skills”. I truly believe that everyone will benefit from this series whether they are in sales or not because selling skills are essential to our day to day lives. Whether we are selling a product or a service, or selling ourselves to an employer, or if we are selling our children the benefits of a proper education, we are all sales people. However, there is a big difference between a sales person and a sales professional. When you are done with this series, you will have the same skills as a sales professional.
Born Salesmen
We have all heard someone say, “He or she is a born salesmen.” There is no such thing as a born salesmen. Sales professionals are made, they are not born. You will become a sales professional by studying the sales process and then applying what you’ve learned to real life situations.
Selling Skills Part 1 “Discovering Your Clients Needs”
Most sales people will make the critical mistake of not discovering the needs of their clients. I know you might be thinking, “Who would be so stupid to not find out what their clients needs are?” However, you would be surprised how common this mistake is. Most sales people will not take the time to get to know their clients by asking the proper discovery questions to find out what their clients needs are. Instead they will present the product or service that they think are the best for their clients because it happens to be their favorite one or they might present the product or service that has worked for their previous clients in the past. Or the worst is when a sales person will push a client towards a product or service because it has a special bonus on it. Every clients needs are different, if you don’t realize this you will not be successful in sales.
The biggest mistake you can in sales is not finding out your clients needs because it shows your prospective clients the following:
1. This person doesn’t care about me.
2. This person doesn’t care about my needs.
3. This person only wants to sell me something.
If your clients are feeling any of these two reasons you will be unsuccessful. You will be telling instead of selling.
The Discovery of Your Clients Needs are Critical to Your Sales Presentation
The most important part of the sales process is your discovery questions. This is the beginning of your sales presentation where you will ask your clients the necessary questions to find out what they needs are. Ask questions like:
1. What are they trying to accomplish with their new product or services?
2. How would they use your product or services?
3. What product or services have they been using?
4. What did they like the best about their previous product or service?
5. What did they like the least about their previous product or service?
6. If they could design the perfect product or service, how would they do it? What options or features would it have?
7. What is wrong with the product or services that they are using now?
8. What is the most important factor of their decision to select a new product or service?
These are some sample questions that you might ask during the discovery of your sales presentation. Remember, your questions are going to be different depending on the product or services that you are selling. You are doing the presentation for your clients, not yourself. By asking these discovery questions. Your clients are going to tell you exactly how to sell them. However, you don’t want to start selling them during the discovery process because it is just a fact finding time. Don’t start selling after each question you ask them because they will stop telling you this valuable information. If they see that you are using their answers against them, they won’t answer you with the truth. Buyers are liars. (Sometimes) Make notes in your head or on your presentation materials so you don’t forget what they told you. Once you have this information you will design your presentation around the needs of your clients as you show them how your product or service will solve all their problems. As a sales professional, you are looking to find a need so you can solve the problem for them. Sales professionals are professional problem solvers. The sales process isn’t a wrestling move, it is not something you do to your clients. It is something that you do for THEM. I repeat, the sales process is for your clients benefit and not yours.
Dale Carnegie said, “THE ONLY WAY TO MAKE SOMEONE DO SOMETHING IS BY GETTING THEM TO WANT TO DO IT.”
The only way you are going to get them to want to do it is by getting them to see how your product or service will be the solution to their problems.
I will be doing a Selling Skills section every week. Part 2 will be on Fab’s. (Features, Advantages, Benefits)
Hooman Hamzehloui 2009
www.HoomanCan.com