Small Business and Technical Sales Selling

Training - Cold Calling - KPI - Face To Face - Negotiation - Complex Solutions

Yes, you may have met them, the self styled and self obsessed sales machines that believe they can sell Ice to Eskimo’s and Space to Martians.

Today’s information age means that buyers are more educated than ever before. The biggest difficulty a buyer faces (and I can say this because I am also a buyer) is the amount of choice and confusion it brings.

Finding good, knowledgeable, committed individuals that can advise without their own personal agenda and issues interfering is as rare as plutonium in the playground. People buy when you help them achieve something.

Sometimes you have to help people make a decision that personally means you get little short term benefit from it. If done correctly it can build strong relationship s and open up opportunities that previously did not exist.

Your marketing should also be considered a sales tool. In fact your marketing should be opening doors while your face to face selling helps you walk through them.

Selling is about matching what you do with the needs of your prospects. This will require you to identify both the personal and business reasons that make your prospects buy.

People buy to avoid pain or create gain and it follows the principals of Maslows heirarchy of needs;

1. Biological and Physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.

2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.

3. Belongingness and Love needs - work group, family, affection, relationships, etc.

4. Esteem needs - self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility, etc.

5. Cognitive needs - knowledge, meaning, etc.

6. Aesthetic needs - appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc.

7. Self-Actualization needs - realising personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.

8. Transcendence needs - helping others to achieve self actualization.

Pain is usually the biggest reason for making a buying decision (and infact a motivation ofr most things), so identifying that pain and both who it effects and how can be a considerable factor in achieving a sale.

Businesses buy typically becuase their investment generates a return of some kind whether it be financial or productivity. Its about understanding what those gains are to the business and how you can demonstrate those gains.

You may have to meet certain criteria to become a supplier or go through certain processes to get a decision, identify what those are so that you can match your process with your prospects.

Somebody with economic control (a decision maker) will need to be involved to authorise the investment. Establish who they are, where they are and how you get to them.

There are usually events that cause people to buy, can you identify and find out what they are.

Lastly, who does the selling when you are not there. You need somebody to fight your corner and broadcast your message within your prospects business when your are not inside.

Being open with your flaws and even disadvantages can help you take a big step towards making a sale. When was the last tiem you met a perfect person or business ?

Would you rather help your customers buy from you or use the sales Snakes and Ladders to make a sale ?

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