Preparing your customers for the sale
by Dr Greg Chapman
The easiest people to sell to are those who want to buy- but not everyone who enquires or whom you contact is ready. They may be in your target niche, and need your product, but do they want it? To convert the ‘Needers’ to ‘Wanters’ you must prepare them for the sale. The best way to do this is to have a defined process that facilitates this conversion.
Here are five steps that can be used to prepare your customers:
1. Create rapport
People like to buy from people they like. For example, in a restaurant, your waiters should be friendly and helpful and ask about your customers’ day. For business-to-business, this might mean providing customers with engaging and helpful information on your website. Good website information will make your visitors feel they are in the right place, and that you understand their problem.
2. Establish need
Take the time to find out what your customers want. So in a clothing store, ask for what sort of occasion are they looking to buy an outfit. In a non-retail situation, you might ask them to fill out a questionnaire. This step could also involve establishing budget. If they are not forthcoming, as often is the case, you might indicate pricing ranges and ask whether that was in the price ballpark they were expecting. It is best to avoid price sticker shock.
3. Create desire
Having established need, you can focus on the product or service that most suits your customer so you are not wasting their time and yours trying to propose something that they will ultimately reject. If need has been properly established, you will be able to be quite specific on how your product will address their need. How it will make their life better, save them time or save them money. This is not about the features of the product, it’s about selling the benefit. This could be a discussion of how your service has assisted others in similar situations.
4. Building value
At this stage the features of your product or service should be mentioned in a way that will justify the price you want to charge. This might be a discussion of the quality of the ingredients of the dishes on the menu, or the number of users your system can support.
5. Closing the sale
During the previous steps, no attempt has been made to close the sale. The steps have all been designed to prepare the customer for the sale. At this point, you should know what the customer needs, and have now made them want it. They are aware of the price, and have provided you feedback that they see the value. Any objections have already have been handled. So all you need to do is ask for the sale. It could be as simple as asking; “When do you want to start?”
Having defined your sales process, document it with scripts, questionnaires plus other marketing materials that you use. Staff needs to be trained and their performance measured. When you have a system that turns buyers from ‘Needers’ to ‘Wanters’ your sales will skyrocket.
May Your Business Be – As You Plan It
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