Effective Selling

5. Do They Need Your Product?

Compare these two statements, with two different approaches to selling:

Salesman 1: 'This PC has lots of RAM. I recommend it.'

Salesman 2: 'This PC has enough memory for you to handle word processing and the management accounts. It's just what you need.'

Salesman 1 is selling the product. His sales pitch will be the same for every customer he talks to. Salesman 2 has found out the prospect's needs, so he can then sell the benefits of his product. He will sell many more PCs than Salesman 1.

5.1 Use open questions (questions that cannot be answered 'Yes' or 'No') when investigating potential customers' needs.

• 'What garden accessories do you currently sell?'
• 'Why do you buy them from Germany?'
• 'What are you looking for when you buy this type of shelving?'

5.2 Listen carefully to what the prospect says.

• Top sales people talk little and listen a lot.

5.3 Make sure your prospects understand their own needs and opportunities.

• 'So when your customers buy sheds, they don't buy shelves for them. If they did, what would the extra sales be worth?'

5.4 Confirm that the need is important enough to merit taking action.

• 'So would you be interested in adding an extra £20,000-worth of sales a year by stocking shelving?'