Face to face, over the phone or via your website; communicating with your customers successfully could prove to be the impetus of a thriving business.
To capture customers interest and ultimately their custom, your business needs articulate people with an abundance of social skills who can communicate comfortably in any given situation … without this your business building blocks are in danger of tumbling to the floor.
Customers must be made to feel that they ‘need’ the products you sell. If you have sales people conveying bland messages about the product or service on offer, you will never hang on to their attention and let’s face it, holding their attention is what will make or break a sale.
When it comes to sales – customers don’t just need to hear what good value your product is – they need to know what it can do for them! If you are selling a typing service, don’t just show what professional documents you can produce for a reasonable price, emphasise also how the customer will have more time on their hands to pursue other things.
Remember also that passion can sell anything. It doesn’t matter if your company sells dog food or IT equipment, if you can convert basic information into a passionate speech about your product, you will always get customers.
Ensure that your sales staff spend time listening to potential customers. People don’t like to be on the receiving end of a script that doesn’t leave a spare moment for contribution – customers need to feel able to interject with their own thoughts, observations or questions. Ensure your sales staff takes this on board and that they ask open-ended questions in return. Open-ended questions will ensure they get more detail about your customers therefore enabling them with each person as an individual. The more you know about a customer, the more you can tailor a product or service to their needs.
Some people approach sales with a pushy, go out and get em philosophy but sometimes it may be far more productive to drop the sales / customer barrier as this can lose people before the first hurdle.
Sales people can be the making of your company. Ensure they know the product they are selling, are sensitive enough to judge a persons likely responses within minutes but that they are self-assured and charismatic enough to be able to bring your services to life.
Reward them! Give them incentives so that they have the drive to sell. Most people in sales are motivated by commission, without this they will lack interest and this will lose you valuable custom.
