How often do you go to a sales meeting without a plan of attack? Do you ’wing-it’... hoping that things will work out just fine?

If you approach sales opportunities in this way, my advice to you is ’stop it’!

Here’s a simple ’game plan’ for your next sales meeting:

Before the meeting

1. Get into your head that your primary objective is to help the customer get the feelings that they want

2. Be very clear about what the ideal outcomes of the meeting could be. Securing an order is not always possible on a first visit, so what are the other positive outcomes you could achieve?

3. Know your market and your products & services inside out. What gives your products or services the edge over your competition?

4. Understand what benefits of your product or service will actually help your customers get the feelings they want... i.e. what’s in it for the customer?

During the meeting

1. Take time to establish what the customer wants. What will give the customer the feelings that they want?

2. Use open questions to find out what they want... questions that start with ’what’, ’when’, ’how’, ’who’, ’to what extent’... i.e. questions that can’t be answered with a ’yes’ or a ’no’

3. Listen and repeat back what you have heard.... show the customer that you understand their needs.

4. Honestly relate your service, product or idea to what the customer wants i.e. match their needs to the benefits of your products or services

5. Look for buying signals and get commitment to progress to the next stage. Don’t leave the meeting without agreeing what happens next.

After the meeting

1. Follow through on your promises!

 

For more on selling skills, contact  Mark Ace, 0117 9563 564 mark@mcassociates.info

<< More Articles