TRAINING
How to add value as a salesperson
Selling a product or service may well be one of the hardest jobs of all in business, but learning how to add value to a potential buyer will go a long way to achieving this. Charles Barnascone (pictured), managing director of Newark-based training company Infinite Possibilities and one of the Chamber’s commercial training course leaders, offers five tips that will help salespeople go from “good” to “great”.
do you really add value to the customer conversation? First of all, let’s agree on the starting point. The verb “to sell” is derived from the Norwegian root of “selje”, which means “to serve”. If you’re already “good”, you will know about having a “service mindset”.
W
TIP 1: FOCUS ON THE CLIENT PROBLEM AND TRANSLATE YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE Great salespeople know how to understand and translate the problem their client is facing and solve it with the solution they are selling. The client doesn’t really care
about your product or service, but they do care what it does for them. So understand the client
problem or objective and then be able to articulate your offer in a way that has them see how you can help them. If the client could say “so what” to a claim about your product or service, then you’ve missed the mark.
TIP 2: BE INTERESTED IN YOUR CUSTOMER – GOOD SELLING IS “ASKING”, NOT “TELLING” This sounds really obvious, doesn’t it? But you’d be surprised how many times when I’m training salespeople that they really struggle with this. Open questions – beginning with
who, what, why, when, where, which, and how – gather information and help you understand the client situation and problem. Closed questions can then be
used to confirm what you know. The key is to be genuinely interested and good questions will give you access to the information to confirm that a client need exists, and whether you can solve it.
74 business network February 2021
TIP 3: DEMONSTRATE VALUE Great salespeople seek to understand the impact of the problem the client is facing. The bigger the problem, the more the client is prepared to spend to solve it.
Asking questions like “how does
the problem affect you, your customer, your colleagues?” will help you find the driving force behind the sale or purchase.
TIP 4: FIND OUT WHAT’S IMPORTANT The vast majority of a person’s motivation to buy is linked to their top four or five criteria for the purchase. So why guess what the criteria
is? Or worse, just try to shoehorn your product features into a conversation? Ask the client: “what’s important
to you about the solution to this problem?” Remember the genuine client wants to solve their problem so they won’t hide the answers to
hat makes a good salesperson exceptional? If you get the basics right, how
this question. Ask it a few times and then show a better match between your solution and the client’s criteria for purchase than your competitors do.
TIP 5: BUILD GREAT RELATIONSHIPS The fact of the matter is that people “buy” people. Really great salespeople know how to “read” reactions and are attentive to non- verbal communication signals so that they can adapt to the client and build great rapport. Let’s face it, people prefer to buy from people they like and trust. So we’re back at the beginning with “selje” and the service mindset.
Charles Barnascone is course leader for the Chamber’s Advanced Sales Excellence training programme, which will be held on 23 and 24 February. It costs £480 + VAT for members and £642 + VAT for non-members.
COURSES TAILOR-MADE FOR YOU
In addition to“off-the-shelf” courses, the Chamber also offers tailored sales training to businesses. Benefits include:
• Saves time – once trainers understand how companies do business and what they want to achieve, they can focus on key areas
• Application – businesses are more likely to apply a change that can easily be made within their current approach, rather than one they consider to be difficult
• Cost – as the tailored training takes less time due to it being easier to convey key messages – it’s possible to improve a salesperson’s performance more in a day than they’d get in a five-day standard course – it’s usually more cost-effective.
Training content ideas include preparing for a meeting; planning objectives and approach; building rapport quickly; questioning techniques; communicating value propositions; negotiating a solution; dealing with concerns quickly; and closing naturally. People who could attend include field sales professionals, account managers, internal support people, desk-based telephone salespeople and sales managers who support teams.
For more information, contact business training manager Vicki Thompson on 0333 320 0333 ext 2153 or email
vicki.thompson@
emc-dnl.co.uk
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