Business is about sales. Sales are about relationships. Relationships are about communication.
How strong is the communication within your business?
Businesses spend money in hopes of generating more sales. Think about it. How much does your company spend on advertising? Branding? Distribution? Marketing? Promotions?
In business every penny is spent with the hopes that the investment will have a high return in the sales process. How much money does your business lose when the sale isn’t made?
Right now companies, big and small, are getting nervous. The struggle with our nation’s economy has lead to layoffs, bankruptcies, closings, and, at the very least, weakened sales. If sales aren’t being made, then the company will continuously lose money and will have to resort to drastic measures.
What can you do to maintain or even increase your sales in the upcoming year?
Well, if sales are about relationships, and relationships are about communication, improving communication during the sales process will bring you the best and quickest results.
Here are 5 basic steps you and your sales team can use to increase your revenues, no matter the state of the economy:
1) Problem Solving: What is the problem that your product or service is solving? This may seem like basic knowledge, but very often we get caught up in the features of our products rather than the benefits. The clearer you can illustrate the benefits and how the problems will be fixed, the quicker and easier you’ll be able to make a sale.
2) Rhetorical Questions: The key to making a sale is to get your customer in the “habit” of saying yes. By planning a strong series of rhetorical questions (with the answer “yes” built into the question), you create an interactive experience with the customer, rather than talking at the customer. Of course, you want to be careful to not create trite rhetorical questions. Asking something like, “Do you want to make more money?” is not the most effective use of this technique. Your customers are smart, don’t talk down to them.
3) Personalize the Dilemma: The more you learn about the customer’s problem, the more you are able to personalize their dilemma. Think of it this way. If you have a wound, you want it to be healed. But if the wound continues to get irritated, the quicker you want the medication to heal it. If you are able to learn about the specific problems of your customer, then you will be able to draw specific examples from there situation during the selling process. They will have even more urgency to purchase your product or service.
4) Paint the Picture of the Future: Once you have accomplished steps 1-3, you will now want to describe a clear picture of how their life would be different/better with your product or service. Since you have “irritated the wound”, you don’t want to dwell on that irritation, nor do you want them leaving in an irritated state. It is better to illustrate not just how the product or service will fix the problem, but what life will look like with the problem fixed.
5) Answer Questions: This step should be sprinkled in throughout your selling process. Your sales pitch should never be a monologue. You can best serve your customer by being knowledgeable of your product or service and answer any and all questions the customer has. In fact, have points within your presentation to prompt the customer for questions. Now you have established a strong communication foundation which will lead to a successful business relationship.
