Conversations Revolving Around Your Added Value as a Sales Person With the advance in informational systems, be it search engines, shopping platforms or online social networking, customers have access to a lot of information that they previously couldn't get. These include information about your products, your prices and how to buy them. Be engaged in the future product offerings, future markets and future customers of your customers; Be Responsive to your customers' future needs and pro-actively suggest how you can help them meet their future goals; Be Resourceful and creative to customise or create future solutions for your customers' future Conversations Revolving Around Your Product and Service Offerings Hence, the question that customers are asking sales people is NOT "why should I buy your products or services". It's becoming "why should I buy from YOU?" Some sales people and managers may question that if sales people were to spend time solving customers' problems, do they still have the time to do the selling. More importantly, what if the solution to the customers' problems and challenges is our competitor's products? If you are not relevant to your customers' future needs, then you may find yourself being substituted by others who are. While a lot has been discussed about what kinds of media (online or offline) should we engage our customers,NFL Sideline Black United Jerseys, as well as how shall we measure the level of customer engagement our customers, very little was discussed about what should be the content of our customer engagement initiatives. In other words, if we want to improve the level of customer engagement, what kinds of information must we pass to them, AND what kinds of information do we expect in return. What this means for the sales person could be: Hence,Cheap Terrell Davis Jersey, it is not only important to engage with customers in the present tense, it is just as vital to engage them for the future. To do this, you will need to: In fact,Cheap Fran Tarkenton Jersey, many sales people and sales managers are lamenting that customers' loyalty is so low, they will just buy from anyone who can offer the same quality and a marginally lower price. Customers don't just buy from someone they like. More importantly, they buy from whom they trust; In a recent straw poll with sales and HR managers (from international companies in China) identifying what are some critical behaviours or competencies that drive sales results, the consensus was that most top sales people are helpful by nature; Given that most product features, quality, price, delivery, service standards are pretty much similar, the sales person could be the only differentiator in the entire sale. Small wonder that research by HR Chally shows that 39% of a customer's decision to buy from your company is based on the effectiveness of the sales person. Specifying the size of the room when selling hotel rooms or meeting packages; Emphasizing the hardware specifications when selling IT products; Selling the material rather than the benefits that such material can deliver Whatever is your best selling product may get obsolete very quickly; Whoever are your best customers may suddenly decide to buy from someone else; and Whichever are your most profitable territories may be swamped by competitors offering the same quality at lower prices Many sales people will argue that the buyers do have in-depth technical knowledge, and hence will appreciate the implications of the benefits that each product feature will deliver. However,Cheap Steve Smith Jersey, here is an illustration why having a conversation that revolves around your product benefits in addition to the technical features is essential to sales success. Conversations Revolving Around the Brightness of the Future Hence, in order to strike a conversation that revolves around your product or service offerings, you will need to: According to a market research conducted in 2006 (Eisenberg & Eisenberg), simply attaining a high level of customer satisfaction does not seem to guarantee the customer's business. In fact, 60% to 80% of customers who defect to a competitor said they were satisfied or very satisfied in the research just prior to their defection. Here are the 3 main conversation topics that any individual sales person can communicate with the customer, so as to actively engage the customer: The problem with implementing the above? Well, sales people are measured by current and not future performance. Especially when that future could be 3-5 years down the road. Still, smart companies and sales people who would like their customers to buy from them for years to come will commit some time and resources to partner with their key customers to create a future together. Do your research before seeing the customer, so that you know roughly what might be their needs; Build trust and credibility by focusing on your customers' needs, and NOT on your sales targets; Asking the right questions to understand the customer's needs without asking too many questions; Provide suggestions, if the customer shows signs that they haven't got a clue; Be proactive in presenting what your offerings can do for them; Don't just take the money and run, do remember to make sure whatever is sold is delivered on time and in good quality too,Packers Jerseys! Hence, if customers can buy your products off a catalogue or web site, they don't need the sales person to be a "talking brochure" or a mere "money collector". Instead, they need sales people to create value by: In fact, even much less has been discussed about how sales people can play a low-cost and active role to actively engage customers so that they help us deliver exceptional sales results. One of the key issues about doing business in today's world (especially in a fast developing economy like China's) is markets, along with customers' expectations, are changing very quickly. Conversations revolving around your product and service offerings Conversations revolving around your added value as a sales person Conversations revolving around the brightness of the future Being Responsive by pro-actively identifying current and potential challenges that the customer may face, as well as suggesting ways the customer can overcome such challenges; Developing win-win Relationships with multiple stakeholders or influencers so that decision-makers don't have to sell your products and services internally to their colleagues; or Being Resourceful or even creative to work across different departments or business units to provide customised solutions that fit the customers' every need, Being a Reliable and trusted source of information and provider of reliable products and services, etc. Even though the concept of selling benefits not features has been going around for decades, many sales people are still communicating features rather than benefits to their customers. These ranges from: If a customer is shopping for a new car, chances are the car sales person is going to open the hood to show the customer the "technical details". However, even if the customer knows nothing about car engines,Cheap Gaines Adams Jersey, chances are he or she will pretend that they know, and make some positive comments to the car sales person such as "Not bad" or "Looks good to me". Customers, in general, hate to admit they don't know certain things. As a sales person, you will need to present your offerings in ways they can understand. While how each sales team or sales person responds to such thorny issues will vary, here are some guiding principles: