SALES GUIDE : PROCESS
A sales process comprises the series of steps a prospect follows from initial contact with a company to a purchase decision. Effective sales processes match the natural steps a typical buyer takes to decide to make a purchase. Ineffective sales processes aren’t aligned with buyers’ needs and create a disconnect with the market.
​
MWS products and services are marketed and sold to 2 main groups of clients:
-
Corporate Organization
-
Entrepeuners: Trainers, Training Providers, Agents
The 'hot-button' and driving force to purchase MWS may be different, but the underlying decision making still remains the same: 'how can MWS benefit them and accelerate what they want to achieve.'
The purpose and direction of a sales prospect in summary is to:
-
Gain attention - How do I get the decision-maker to recognize that my company have the products and services they may need?
-
Establish interest - How do I get the prospect engaged in a decision process regarding my products and services?
-
Conduct discovery - How do I work with the prospect to customize and justify the use of my products and services and begin to get his/her buy-in?
-
Present/propose - How do I package my complete value proposition for delivery to the prospect?
-
Close - How do I reach the final commitment?
​
​
The 7 Key Steps
The Sales Process has 7 key steps:
-
Prospecting / Lead Generation
-
Pre-approach
-
Approach
-
Making the presentation
-
Overcoming Objections
-
Closing the Sale
-
Follow-up
​
Prospecting / Lead Generation
Prospecting refers to identifying and developing a list of potential clients. You can seek the names of prospects from a variety of sources including trade shows, commercially-available databases or mail lists, company sales records and in-house databases, website registrations, public records, referrals, directories and a wide variety of other sources. Prospecting activities should be structured so that they identify only potential clients who fit the profile and are able, willing and authorized to buy the products and services. Once prospecting is underway, it then is up to the sales professional to qualify those prospects to further identify likely customers and screen out poor leads.
Identify the opportunities:
-
Know the demographics for the MWS products and services
-
Write down a list of friends and families that can help refer you
-
Ask for referral from your present clients
MWS Country Rep will assist the MWS Premium Resellers with lead generation through marketing activities being held. The MWS Premium Resellers may be invited to jointly undertake some of the identified activities.
​
​
​
Pre-approach
Before engaging in the actual personal selling process, sales professionals first analyze all the information they have available to them about a prospect to understand as much about the prospect as possible. During the Pre-approach phase of the personal selling process, sales professionals try to understand the prospect's current needs, current use of brands and feelings about all available brands, as well as identify key decision makers, review account histories (if any), assess product needs, plan/create a sales presentation to address the identified and likely concerns of the prospect, and set call objectives. The sales professional also develops a preliminary overall strategy for the sales process during this phase, keeping in mind that the strategy may have to be refined as he or she learns more about the prospect.
At this stage you want to do your research:
-
Internet search
-
Company’s Annual Report
-
Demographic/characteristics of the person you are meeting
​
​
​
Approach
The approach is the actual contact the sales professional has with the prospect. This is the point of the selling process where the sales professional meets and greets the prospect, provides an introduction, establishes rapport that sets the foundation of the relationship, and asks open-ended questions to learn more about the prospect and his or her needs.
The 7 Basic Steps to an Initial Personal Contact Call aka Cold Call
-
Give a greeting that includes your name and who you are with.
-
Ask for the name of the decision maker (if you don't already have this information) and if he/she has a moment to speak with you.
-
Once you have an audience with the appropriate person, verify that they are the person that you were told to speak with. If they are, then deliver your opening statement.
-
Wait for their response and listen carefully.
-
If their response is favourable, proceed with only one or two qualifying questions and listen. Otherwise, if there is no interest, and if it is apropos, use a "mover" question and then proceed to step number seven
-
Be direct and ask for a meeting. Schedule the time.
-
Thank them for their time and say goodbye leaving them some type of a brochure, or literature, as you go.
​
​
​
Making the presentation
During the presentation portion of the selling process, the sales professional tells that product "story" in a way that speaks directly to the identified needs and wants of the prospect. A highly customized presentation is the key component of this step. At this point in the process, prospects are often allowed to hold and/or inspect the product and the sales professional may also actually demonstrate the product.
Audio visual presentations and/or slide presentations may be incorporated at this stage and this is usually when sales brochures or booklets are presented to the prospect. Sales professionals should strive to let the prospect do most of the talking during the presentation and address the needs of the prospect as fully as possible by showing that he or she truly understands and cares about the needs of the prospect.
​
​
​
​
Overcoming Objections
Sales professionals seek out prospects' objections in order to try to address and overcome them. When prospects offer objections, it often signals that they need and want to hear more in order to make a fully-informed decision. If objections are not uncovered and identified, then sales professionals cannot effectively manage them. Uncovering objections, asking clarifying questions, and overcoming objections is a critical part of training for sales professionals and is a skill area that must be continually developed because there will always be objections. Sometimes, when a sales professional finds a way to successfully handle "all" his or her prospects' objections, some prospect will find a new, unanticipated objection-- if for no other reason than to test the mettle of the sales person.
We would appreciate if you would send in as many questions that you may encounter during your sales process.
Objections happen. If you perform the sales or persuasion process well, you will succeed in seriously reducing the number of objections, but they may still happen.
Objections can be transformed into an opportunity. For example, you can increase the understanding of the other person's circumstance and to get closer to them, building a more trusting relationship.
Real objections take work, but if they can be resolved, you've got the sale!
Persuade your way through
In persuading your way through an objection means working to change the way they view the objections. You can wear them down such that they no longer view the objection as being worth pursuing. You can also change the way they view them more positively such that they have an 'aha' experience that leads them to perceive the objection as being no longer important.
Concede your way through
You can also concede your way through, giving in and effectively buying their commitment. If they object to the price, you can always give other options. If they don't want it now, you can come back next week.
Concession can be both a useful approach, especially if you are facing a threat of losing the whole deal. If you give them an inch, then they may want to take a mile. But this is not necessarily so, and a prepared concession strategy can pay dividends.
Tipping the Bucket Technique
Tipping the bucket not only gives you the advantage of knowing their reasons not to buy, it also shows that you are interested in them personally and want to solve the problems that they have. This builds trust and may enable you to reframe the situation as joint-problem-solving rather than you trying to sell and them fending you off with objections.
'Tipping the bucket' is a simple, but perhaps counter-intuitive thing to do when the other person objects. What you do is to ask for more objections. In fact you ask for all the objections you can get, thus 'tipping the bucket' of objections that they have been thinking about. The advantage of this is that you now know all the reasons they have for not buying and can decide what to do about them.
Examples
-
Are there any other reasons why you are not yet ready?
-
What else is stopping you from implementing it today?
-
It sounds like you have several problems here. What else is on your mind?
Reframing Technique
Reframing uses what the other person has given you, which makes it more difficult for them to deny it. When they object, reframe their objection as something other than a 'no' so you can continue with your selling.
-
Reframing the objection as a misunderstanding (and take the blame for this, yourself).
-
Reframing the objection by taking the subject and turning it around.
-
Reframe a small difference as being the critical difference.
-
Reframe 'required specific experience' to 'relevant experience'.
Examples
-
I can see that this is not making sense. Sorry - let me put it another way.
-
The cost may be high, but the cost of inaction may be higher.
​
​
​
Closing the Sale
Although technically "closing" a sale happens when products or services are delivered to the customer's satisfaction and payment is received. However, for the purposes of our guide, we shall define closing as asking for the order and adequately addressing any final objections or obstacles. There are many closing techniques as well as many ways to ask trial closing questions. A trial question might take the form of, "Now that I've addressed your concerns, what other questions do you have that might impact your decision to purchase?"
Close from the beginning. Don't confuse this idea with the hard sell; the cutthroat approach alienates many potential customers. Instead, explain your agenda. Tell the prospect exactly what you're selling and how it can benefit their business. Being up front about your intentions promotes an honest, mutually respectful, and rewarding discussion — paving the way for a smooth close.
Closing does not always mean that the sales professional literally asks for the order, it could be asking the prospect how many they would like, which title they would prefer, when they would like to take delivery, etc. Too many sales professions are either weak or too aggressive when it comes to closing. If you are closing a sale, be sure to ask for the order. If the prospect gives an answer other than "yes", it may be a good opportunity to identify new objections and continue selling.
Learn to recognize when potential customers are ready to buy. A customer might indicate they're ready by asking questions about the product or the buying process: "How long would delivery take?" "How many days is the trainings for trainers?" or "Is there an upgrade available?" Other signs include complaints about previous vendors and interested comments such as "Really?" or "Good idea."
​
​
​
Follow-up
Follow-up is an often overlooked but important part of the selling process. After an order is received, it is in the best interest of everyone involved for the sales person to follow-up with the prospect to make sure the product was received in the proper condition, at the right time, installed properly, proper training delivered, and that the entire process was acceptable to the customer.
-
Processing the order
This is a critical step in creating customer satisfaction and building long-term relationships with customers. If the customer experienced any problems whatsoever, the sales professional can intervene and become a customer advocate to ensure 100% satisfaction. Diligent follow-up can also lead to uncovering new needs, additional purchases, and also referrals and testimonials which can be used as sales tools.
This is also a great time to ask for a referral. One of the most critical skill a Sales Professional needs to have.
Ensure the clients are subscribed on the mwsBuzz and http://www.miniworkshopseries.net so that we can continously create electronic touch points.
