Introduction

Introduction

What is selling?

• Selling is the process of persuading/influencing a person or organization to buy something from you.

• "Influencing and persuading people to buy from you"

• Persuading: to make them do something

• Convincing: to make them believe something

3 ways to persuade (Aristotle):

• Logic (Logos): facts, data, evidence, reasoning
• Emotions (Pathos): fear, love, hate, anger, happiness, sadness
• Pressure: psychological pressure, social pressure, physical pressure, threads

Sales Function

Roles:

• generate revenue
• interface between company and customers

Missions:

• drive the sales process
• gets feedbacks, market intelligence

Marketing vs Sales

Marketing: processes to create, deliver and communicate value to customers to capture value in return

Organizations:

• formal collection of people and resources to accomplish a set of goals
• for profit: primary goal is to maximize shareholders value
• non-profit: do not have profit as primary goal
• focus on profitability

Value

Different types of value

• Intrinsic value: value of the product itself (it cost 2€ to produce a pen, then the intrinsic value is 2€)
• Economic value: value of the product in the market (the pen is sold for 5€, then the economic value is 5€)
• Use value: value of the product in terms of usage (if I don't need a pen, then the use value is 0€)
• Customer value: expected net gain in transaction (oerceived benefits - perceived price or cost or received benefits - cost of pains of acquiring the benefits)

benefits

• tangible: physical, measurable
• psychological: emotional, intangible

pains:

• use of resources (HR, time, energy, training)
• changes
• risks

Marketing -> One-to-many -> Market Sales -> One-to-One -> Customer

B2B Sales Process

It is more difficult to sell in B2B than B2C

• demand more based on needs (must satisfy profitability goals)
• more ecomplex offering (higher prices, longer decision cycles)
• more "rational" decision process (decisions needs to be justified, buyers are professionals)
• several persons decide (need to persuade more than one person)

Different objectives:

• customer acquisition: find new customers, start process from scratch

• customer retention: sell more to existing customers, focus on relationship and excellence

• inbound: customer comes to you (sellers deal with active buyers)

• outbound: you go to the customer (prospects might not know they need your product)

Leads -> Prospects -> Customers Leads: Potential customers Prospects: someone who has shown interest in your product Customers: someone who has bought from you at least once

Sales Meeting: Opening -> Discovery -> Argumentation -> Dealing with objections -> Closing -> Follow-up

Preparing

• Determine the best approach
• Deal with questions and objections
• Project competence and professionalism

Know your business

• know your company
• know your offer (features, advantages, benefits, USP, UPB, have proofs, general sales conditions)
• know how to present your company & offer (elevator pitch, presentation, deck)

Know your prospect

• Internal

• • Business size, turnover, staff number, sites, maangement
• • Decision center (names, positions, responsabilities and locations)
• • Potential pains: issues, problems, risks, changes

• External

• • Market (customers, tremds, futur demand)
• • COmpetitors, threats, opposites

Know your competition

• Their offers
• Your differentiation - competitive advantages
• Their strengths and weaknesses
• Their relationships, their strategies, their problems, etc.

Know meeting specific

• Where you are in the sales process
• Know your goals
• • Primary goal (establish contact, get more info, move on to next step, close the deal)
• • Secondary goals
• Identify information you'd like to ask
• Customize presentations for the prospect

Best practices

• Be on time
• Dress nicely
• Respect personal space
• hand shakes (condifent, not automatic, eye contact, smile)
• exchange business cards at the beginning
• take notes (shows that you are listening, makes words more valuable, you don't forget, used for writing minutes of the meeting)

Opening

1. Introduction yourself: name and company
2. Small talk / Ice breaker
3. Exchange business cards

• Refer to the context
• State the purpose and agenda
• Seek approval
• Verify timing
• Present your company

Discovery

• which solution to offer

• strongest benefits

• adapt your argumentation

• build rapport

• qualify the customer

Questioning

• Developing and drill down

• Mirror questions

• Echo questions: repeat what they said

• Ricochet questions: "what do you mean by..."

• Relay questions: "What do you think?"

• Suggesting questions: Don't you think...

• Alternative questions, to anchor: Do you prefer ... or ... -: Consequence questions: What if...

• Educative questions: Did you know...

Reformulating

To check and show that you have understood

• deductive reformulation: draw a conclusion from the premises

• interpreative: reformate using a different angle

• synthetized reformulation: emphasize twhat is important

• facts

• measurable

• qualifying the problem

-> uman factors -> often subjective and hard to measure (optionions, feelings, motivations, focus)

• S: security

• P: Pride

• N: New

• C: Comfort

• M: Money

• S: Sympathy

• Listen. Do no interupt. Be focused

• Show that you iisten. Maintain good eye-contact, takes notes.

• Show that you care. Empahtically, put yourself in their shoes.

• Understand. What is said but what is meant and felt, ask questions.

• Show that you understand. Reformulate.