Chapter 4: The Selling Process

7/27/2019 2 Personal Selling Process-Notes
68 Chapter 4: THE SELLING PROCESS
8. Follows up with customers to provide service and ensure satisfaction, leading to

customer loyalty
9. Works as a member of a team of specialists to serve customers
B. Opportunities in Personal Selling
The demand for business-to-business salespeople is expected to grow sharply over the next
several years. Skilled technology salespeople, who are in short supply, may receive six-
figure signing bonuses, and some top performers can earn over $1 million a year.
The sales profession offers salaries, commissions, bonuses, sales contest prizes, and
relatively objective performance evaluations. In addition, salespeople may receive many
perks, including expense accounts, club memberships, company credit cards, automobiles,
cell phones, and laptop computers. Beyond tangible rewards, high-performing salespeople
also enjoy a high degree of recognition within their companies.
Because they interact with and know customers best, successful salespeople are among the
employees most likely to be promoted to senior management positions.
C. Careers for Different Types of Individuals
No particular cultural background, ethnic group, demographic trait or personality ensures
success in selling.
Women and minorities may be especially effective salespeople when calling on female and
minority customers.
D. Everyone Sells Something
Robert Louis Stevenson, the well-known novelist, once said: “Everybody lives by selling
something.” What Stevenson recognized is that all of us, whether we earn our living in sales
or not, must engage in persuasive two-way communication to convince (sell) others in
various situations at different times about various things, such as “selling” potential
employers on hiring you, rather than someone else with similar credentials.
Selling is not an art or innate talent but a discipline that almost anyone can learn.
II. WHAT SALESPEOPLE DO: STAGES OF THE PERSONAL SELLING PROCESS
The overlapping stages that form the personal selling process (PSP) include:
• Prospecting and qualifying
• Planning the sales call (preapproach)
• Approaching the prospect
• Making the sales presentation and demonstration
• Negotiating sales resistance or buyer objections
• Confirming and closing the sale
• Following up and servicing the account
The seven stages of the PSP are best depicted as a continuous cycle or wheel of overlapping
stages. Once the wheel of personal selling is set in motion, it continues to rotate from one stage
to the next. Thus, it’s easy to see that stage seven isn’t really the end of the cycle but rather a new
beginning because the salesperson’s follow-up and service activities can generate repeat sales or
purchases of new products and services as customer needs grow.
Figure 4.1. The Personal Selling Process
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Chapter 4: THE SELLING PROCESS 69
A. Prospecting and Qualifying

This is the stage of the selling process that gives the wheel its initial push.
Prospecting—continuously searching for potential new customers—is necessary for several
reasons:
•
To increase total sales

• Customers switch to other suppliers
• Customers move out of your territory
• Customers go out of business
• Customers die
• Customers’ businesses are taken over by another company
• Customers have only a one-time need for the product
• Relationships with some customers deteriorate, and they stop buying from you
•
Your buying contacts are promoted, demoted, transferred, or fired, or they retire or
resign
Prospecting requires salespeople to first obtain leads.
A lead is anything that points to a potential buyer.
Salespeople must qualify a lead in terms of four basic criteria that can be remembered by the
acronym N A M E, as follows:
• N—Need or want
• A—Authority to buy
• M—Money or ability to buy
• E—Eligibility to buy
1. Random-Lead Searching
Sometimes called blind searching, generates leads by randomly calling on businesses.
Examples of random-lead searching include:
• Door-to-door canvassing and cold calls
• Territory blitz of organizations
• Advertising
• Electronic mail and websites
2. Selective-Lead Searching: Direct Sources

This refers to systematic strategies to generate leads from predetermined target
markets.
Examples of direct sources of selective-lead searching include:
• Friends, neighbors, and acquaintances
• Personal observation
• Spotters
• Satisfied customers and former customers

• Endless chain
• Networking
• Centers of influence
• Internet (e-mails)
• Junior salespeople and sales associates
• Professional sales organizations
• Company records
• Mailing lists and directories
• Newsletters
• Surveys
3. Selective-Lead Searching: Indirect Sources
General announcements or calls to potential markets, hoping that prospects will come
forward and identify themselves.
Examples of indirect sources of selective-lead searching include:
• Postal or electronic sales letters
• Trade shows, fairs, and exhibits
• Professional seminars, workshops, and conferences
• Contests
• Free gifts
•
Unsolicited inquiries
• Telemarketing for prospects
Table 4.2. Looking for Business and Organization Leads
B. Planning the Sales Call: Preapproach
To ensure sales success, plan for the sales call by using the following seven steps:
Table 4.3. Seven Steps in Preapproach Planning
1. Prepare the prospect for the initial sales call.
Prepare the prospect for the sales call by using seeding, which refers to prospect-
focused activities carried out several weeks or months before a sales call. The
salesperson mails pertinent news articles to the potential buyer over several weeks,
thereby establishing a kind of “pen pal” relationship before calling to ask for an
appointment.
2. Sell the sales call
Sell the sales call appointment by prenotification using:
• E-mail
• Fax
• Mail
• Telephone
3. Gather and analyze all relevant information about the prospect
Gather detailed information about the prospect and the buying situation from sources
may include:
• Trade associations
• Chambers of commerce
• Credit bureaus
• Mailing list companies
• Government and public libraries
• Investment firms
Use the Internet to access information websites such as:
•
Thomas Register of American Manufacturers www.thomasnet.com
• Yellow Pages www.yellowpages.com
• Fortune Magazine www.fortune.com
• Forbes Magazine www.forbes.com
• Inc. Magazine www.inc.com
• U.S. Census Bureau www.census.gov
Table 4.4. Selective Electronic Sources of Information
4. Identify the prospect’s problems and needs
5. Identify the product features, advantages, and benefits
Identify the features, advantages, and observable benefits likely to be of most interest
to the prospect, with major focus on the benefits.
6. Select the best sales presentation and demonstration strategy for the prospect
7. Plan and rehearse your approach to the prospect
C. Approaching the Prospect
The old saying that “you never get a second chance to make a first impression” indicates
how important that first face-to-face contact with the prospect can be.
Four strategies for approaching prospects include:
1. Non-product-related approaches:
• Self-introduction
• Mutual acquaintance or reference
• Free gift or sample
• Dramatic act
2. Peaking interest approaches:
• Customer-benefit
• Curiosity
3. Consumer-directed approaches:
• Compliment or praise
• Survey
• Question
4. Product-related approaches:
• Product or ingredient
• Product demonstration
Table 4.5. Strategies for Approaching Prospects
When establishing objectives for a sales call, some salespeople set:
• Primary objectives (targeted outcome)
• Minimum objectives (lowest acceptable outcome), and
• Optimal objectives (best possible outcome)
Salespeople can use “S M A R T ” steps to set their objectives:
• S—Specific: Establish a specific, major objective for the sales call.
• M—Measurable: Ensure that your major objective is measurable or
quantifiable—for example, a certain number of units or dollar sales volume.
• A—Achievable: Make sure the goals you set are realistic and achievable.
• R—Relational: Always try to further a positive long-term relationship with the
prospect whether you achieve your major objective on this sales call or not.
• T—Temporal: If you can, establish with the prospect a specific timeframe for
achieving the major objective.
Ultimately, most sales calls should achieve one or more of three overall objectives:
a) Generate sales: Sell particular products to target customers on designated sales
calls.
b) Develop the market: Lay the groundwork for generating new business by
educating customers and gaining visibility with prospective buyers.
c) Protect the market: Learn competitors’ strategies and tactics and protect
relationships with current customers.
D. Making the Sales Presentation and Demonstration
Persuasive communication is at the heart of the selling process, and the sales
presentation/demonstration is the critical center stage or “showtime” for salespeople.
Remember the following issues during the presentation:
•
Ask the customer qualifying questions to uncover specific needs
• Present the products and services that will best satisfy those needs
• Stimulate desire for the offerings with a skillful demonstration
• Highlight their features, advantages, and benefits
a) F—Features are the obvious characteristics of the product.
b) A—Advantages are the performance traits of the product that show how it can
be used to help the customer better solve a problem than present products can.
c) B—Benefits are what the customer wants from the product.

In preparing sales presentations to achieve specific objectives, you can use several
alternative sales presentation strategies, including:
a) Stimulus-response
Salesperson asks a series of positive leading questions.
b) Formula
Salesperson leads the prospect through the mental states of buying (attention,
interest, desire, and action).
c) Need satisfaction
Salesperson tries to find dominant buying needs.
d) Consultative problem solving
The most frequently recommended and most successful sales presentation
strategy for today’s professional salespeople, it focuses on the prospect’s
problems, not the seller’s products. It emphasizes the partnership of buyer and
seller and stresses win-win outcomes in negotiations.
e) Depth selling
Experienced salesperson employs a combination of several sales presentation
methods.
f) Team selling
Salesperson makes the sales presentation to a group of decision makers from
different functional areas.
Several sales presentation strategies are identified above, but most professional B2B
salespeople find the consultative problem-solving strategy to be most effective, along with
tactics that anticipate likely interactions between buyer and seller.
Table 4.6. Sales Presentation Strategies
1. Adaptive versus canned sales presentations
a) Adaptive selling
It stresses the adaptation of each sales presentation and demonstration to fit each
individual prospect.
b) Canned (or programmed) selling
Although adaptive selling is generally best, canned or program selling refers to
any highly structured or patterned selling approach.
Both adaptive and canned sales presentations can be effective when matched with
the appropriate prospect in a designated sales situation.
E. Negotiating Sales Resistance or Buyer Objections

Objections are statements, questions, or actions by the prospect that indicate resistance or an
unwillingness to sign a purchase agreement. Without sales resistance, there would not be any
need for salespeople.
Sales resistance can be categorized into either valid or invalid objections. Salespeople need
to recognize each type in negotiating with prospects or customers.

1. Valid objections
Valid objections are sincere concerns that the prospect needs answered before he or she
is willing to make the commitment to buy. Types of valid objection include:
a) Product objections
Product objections usually concern the features, advantages, and benefits
associated with a product or service. When prospects use this form of resistance
to purchasing, salespeople should provide additional information to reassure
them.
b) Price objections
Price objections are the most frequently raised form of initial resistance. To
counter price resistance, salespeople must show that their product or service
offers the prospect higher value per dollar spent than competitive offerings.
c) Promotion objections
Promotion objections are commonly used as a resistance tactic when the seller is
known not to promote products aggressively. To overcome this resistance,
salespeople may have to offer buyers promotional allowances or cooperative
advertising arrangements, special rebates, or purchase incentives.
d) Distribution objections
Distribution objections typically involve the physical movement of products
through the channels of distribution. These forms of buyer resistance include
concerns about long delivery time, high delivery costs, and large-quantity
stocking requirements.
e) Capital objections
Capital objections generally revolve around budgetary issues that prospects give
as an excuse for not purchasing products now. This resistance tends to increase
with the price of the product or service.
f) Source objections
Source objections may result from negative publicity about unethical, illegal, or
inefficient business practices by the seller. Conversely, the seller company may
not be well enough known for the prospect to feel comfortable purchasing from
it. Source objections also can result from the prospect’s loyalty to a competing
firm.
g) Needs objections
Needs objections are raised by prospects who feel they simply do not currently
need or have use for the products or services being offered. Handling “no need”
objections requires innovative approaches by salespeople to educate prospects on
the potential benefits to be derived from purchasing their products.
2. Invalid objections
Invalid objections are merely defense mechanisms used by prospects to stall, slow
down, or prevent the sales process from proceeding. Invalid objections are typically
irrelevant, untruthful, delaying, or latent reasons for the prospect’s unwillingness to

negotiate. They are difficult to identify and overcome because the prospect does not
deal with the salesperson in a straightforward, honest manner. Types of invalid
objection include:
a) Latent objections
Latent objections
prospect to reveal,are
so hidden and sometimes
they remain unspoken.too personal or embarrassing for the
b) Stalling objections
Stalling objections are usually delaying tactics articulated by such comments as
“Around here, all decisions are shared, so just leave your product literature for us
to look over, and we’ll get back to you if we’re interested.” It is usually a waste
of time to attempt to overcome repeated prospect objections that appear invalid.
c) Time objections
Time objections are delaying tactics that usually surface in prospect statements
such as “I’ve got to prepare for a meeting in ten minutes, so I don’t have time to
talk now,” or “I’m just too busy for the next several weeks with a special project
to meet with you.”
d) Unethical objections
Unethical objections include actions or attitudes that seem unprincipled or
immoral. Examples of unethical resistance to buying include excuses about not
doing business with a particular ethnic group or religious persuasion, use of
sexual overtures, and soliciting bribes or kickbacks.
Table 4.8. Types of Valid and Invalid Objections
3. Specific techniques for negotiating buyer objections
Various methods have been developed and tested to handle prospect objections, which
are classified under five categories: put-off, switch focus, offset, denial, and provide
proof.
Suggestions for handling each objection are also offered below.
a) Put-off strategies
(1) I’m coming to that —put off things like price until the end so you don’t
turn off the prospect early.
(2) Pass-off —keep a pleasant expression but say nothing.
b) Switch focus strategies
(1) Alternative product —switch focus to another model.
(2) Feel, felt, found —trace own experience with product.
(3) Comparison or contrast —compare product with another.
(4) Answer with a question —Why do you think?
(5) Humor— use lighthearted humor to ease tension and redirect the focus.
c) (6)
OffsetAgree and neutralize —give some level of agreement, then explain benefit.
strategies
(1) Compensation or counterbalance —counter an objection that cannot be
denied by citing an even more important buying benefit.
(2) Boomerang —turn the objection into a reason for buying.
d) Denial strategies
(1) Indirect denial —agree with prospect’s objection but follow with a
disclaimer.
(2) Direct denial —tackle the false rumor head-on.
e) Provide proof strategies

(1) Case history —tell experience of a satisfied customer.
(2) Demonstration —dramatize major advantages and benefits.
(3) Propose trial use —offer free trial use.
F. Confirming and Closing the Sale
The close is that stage in the selling process where the salesperson tries to obtain agreement
from the prospect to purchase the product.
There are five categories of closes:
• Clarification closes
• Psychologically oriented closes
• Straightforward closes
• Concession closes
• Lost sale closes
1. Clarification closes
a) Assumptive close
Assume that the purchase decision has already been made so that the prospect
feels compelled to buy.
b) Choice close
Offer the prospect alternative products from which to choose.
c) Success story close
Tell a story about a customer with a similar problem who solved it by buying the
product.
d) Contingent close
Get the prospect to agree to buy if the salesperson can demonstrate the benefits
promised.
e) Counterbalance close
Offset an objection that cannot be denied by balancing it with an important
buying benefit.
f) Boomerang close
Turn an objection around so that it becomes a reason for buying.
g) Future order close
If a prospect does not have a current need, but may have one in the future, the
salesperson can ask for a commitment from the prospect to purchase at a future
time.
h) If-when close
Asking the prospect to provide a clarification as to when an order will be placed,
as opposed to if an order will be placed.
i) Probability close
Although seemingly comparable to the if-when close described above, the
probability closing technique asks the prospect to assign a quantified likelihood
of signing a sales contract in the near future.
j) Suggestion close

Gets the prospect to accept the advice offered without giving it a great deal of
thought. A salesperson can suggest that customers who have purchased the
product have reported high levels of satisfaction, thereby suggesting or implying
that the prospect should purchase it, too.
2. Psychologically oriented closes

a) Stimulus-response close
Use a sequence of leading questions to make it easier for the prospect to say yes
when finally asked for the order.
b) Minor points close
Obtain favorable decisions on several minor points leading to eventual purchase
decision.
c) Standing-room-only (SRO) close
Suggest that the opportunity to buy is brief because demand is great and the
product is in short supply.
d) Impending event close
Warn the prospect about some upcoming event that makes it more advantageous
to buy now.
e) Advantage close
This variation of the impending event close emphasizes the specific advantages
of making a timely decision, while still stressing a sense of immediacy.
f) Puppy dog close
Let the prospect take the product home for a while and, as with a puppy, an
emotional attachment may develop, leading to purchase.
g) Compliment close
Commend prospects for raising interesting and intelligent questions to subtly
flatter their egos so that they agree to sign the sales order.
h) Reserve advantage close
In this slight variation of the advantage close described above, salespeople
identify a number of merits for purchasing a product, but save a few to use if the
prospect exhibits resistance yet again.
i) Dependency close
Used to break the choke-hold that a competing firm has over a prospect’s
business by suggesting that the prospect have an alternative supplier to reduce the
risk of being dependent on one supplier.
3. Straightforward closes
a) Ask for the order close
Ask for the order directly or indirectly.
b) Order form close
While asking the prospect a series of questions, start filling out basic information
on the contract or order blank. Or hand the order form and a pen to the prospect.
c) Summary close
Summarize the advantages and disadvantages of buying the product before
asking for the order.
d) Repeated-yes close
This variation of the summary close requires a salesperson to pose several
leading questions to which the prospect has little choice but to respond in an
affirmative manner.
e) Benefits close
Also a variation
present of of
a synopsis thethe
summary
various close,
salientitbenefits
requiresthat
the the
salesperson to identify
sales solution offers.and
f) Action close
The salesperson simply hands the prospect a pen along with the contract, and
frequently the prospect, almost by reflex, will sign.
g) Negotiation close
Both the buyer and the salesperson negotiate a compromise, thus ensuring a win-
win agreement.
h) Technology close
The salesperson more effectively summarizes key value-added benefits for the
prospect by using technologies such as PowerPoint, Excel, or other multimedia
tools.
4. Concession closes
a) Special-deal close
Offer a special incentive to encourage the prospect to buy now.
b) No-risk close
Agree to take the product back and refund the customer’s money if the product
doesn’t prove satisfactory.
c) Management close
When salespeople do not have the authority to make the prospect’s requested
commitments or concessions, they can elicit the assistance of a senior sales
manager who has the authority to make the necessary decisions to close the sale.
d) Takeaway close
Used as an emotional fear appeal to cause anxiety that the prospect may lose out
on a special deal or incentive. A salesperson could suggest that the special offer
to provide an ancillary product or service free of charge is available only for
another week, thereby evoking an immediate purchase.
5. Lost sale closes
a) Turnover close
Turn the prospect over to another salesperson with a fresh approach or better
chance to make the sale.
b) Pretend-to-leave close
Start to walk
prospect away, then
has relaxed “remember”
his or another benefit or special offer after the
her sales defenses.
c) Ask for help close
When the sale seems lost, apologize for not being able to satisfy the prospect and
ask what it would have taken to get him or her to buy; then offer that.
Table 4.10. Types of Closes
B. CRM Training and Rewards

To develop the skills of empowerment and customer relationship building needed for
effective CRM, salespeople need appropriate training programs. They must be trained and
rewarded for proactively taking initiatives that build customer relationships.
Traditional sales quota systems for motivating, evaluating, and rewarding the sales force
need updating
customers to include
through tangible
empowered CRMgoals and rewards for cultivating and retaining key
activities.
KEY TERMS
Wheel of Personal Selling— Depiction of the seven stages of the personal selling process (PSP) as a
continuous cycle of stages carried out by professionals in the field of sales.
Prospecting— First step in the PSP, wherein salespeople find leads and qualify them on four criteria:
need, authority, money, and eligibility to buy.
Lead— The name and address or telephone number of a person or organization potentially needing the
company’s products or services.
Preapproach— The approach-planning stage of the PSP.
Approach— The first face-to-face contact with the prospect.
SMART Objectives— A method of setting sales calls objectives that are s pecific, measurable,
achievable, relational, and temporal.
Adaptive Selling— Modifying each sales presentation and demonstration to accommodate each
individual prospect.
Canned (or programmed) Selling— Any highly structured or patterned selling approach.
Objection— Anything that the prospect or customer says or does that impedes the sales
negotiations.
Valid Sincere concerns that the prospect needs to have addressed before he or she will be
willingObjections—
to buy.
Invalid Objections— Irrelevant, untruthful delaying actions or hidden reasons for not buying.
Close— The stage in the PSP where the salesperson tries to obtain the prospect’s agreement to purchase
the product.
Trial Close— Any well-placed attempt to close the sale; can be used early and often throughout the
PSP.
Follow-Up— Customer service provided not just after the sale is closed, but throughout the PSP.
REVIEW AND APPLICATION EXERCISES
1. Why do you think so many successful CEOs of top companies have come up through sales? [LO
1]
Because they interact with and know customers best, successful salespeople are among the
employees most likely to be promoted to senior management positions. Many CEOs of Fortune
500 corporations began their careers as sales representatives. As direct revenue generators,
salespeople are vital to the success of their companies. Unless its products and services are
profitably sold, a company cannot stay in business long, and its employees will lose their jobs.
Thus, because of their customer orientation and knowledge of the competition, many salespeople
have risen through the ranks to become CEOs.
2. What qualities do you think are needed by top-performing salespeople of today and tomorrow?
[LO 2]
Because salespeople generally have the greatest influence in reducing customer defection, their
efforts largely determine the effectiveness of customer relationship management (CRM) strategies
for increasing customer loyalty. Because they are heavily involved in CRM, contemporary top-
performing salespeople should have the following traits:
• Are customer oriented
• Think mainly about serving customers
• Develop sales calls strategy to achieve specific objectives
• Listen to and communicate meaningfully with customers
• Sales presentation focuses on customer benefits
• Think in terms of helping customers solve problems
• Goal is to develop long-term, mutually beneficial relationships
• Follow up with customers to provide service and ensure satisfaction leading to customer
loyalty
• Work as a member of a team of specialists to serve customers
3. Describe the seven stages in the professional personal selling process (PSP). Why are they
depicted as a revolving wheel? [LO 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]
a. Prospecting for and Qualifying the Prospect— involves identifying potential customers and
determining their need, authority, ability, and eligibility to buy
b. Planning the Sales Call (the Preapproach)— involves the planning necessary to prepare for
the sales call
c. Approaching the Prospect— involves the salesperson’s initial contact with the prospect
d. Making the Sales Presentation and Demonstration— involves identifying the prospect’s
needs; presenting the product’s features, advantages, and benefits; and demonstrating the
product
e. Negotiating Prospect Resistance and Objections— involves understanding and negotiating
reasons why prospects resist buying
f. Confirming and Closing the Sale— involves convincing the customer to make the purchase
g. Follow-up and Servicing Customers— involves all actions necessary to maintain the account
These stages are depicted as a wheel because the process does not end. It continues to spin from
one interconnecting and overlapping stage to the next. After the follow-up, repeat sales and new
customer needs rotate the wheel back to the first stage for another revolution.
4. Salespeople spend more time on prospecting than on any other of the seven PSP stages. Why do
you think this is so? [LO 4]
A company’s current customers may leave for various reasons—death, bankruptcy, relocation, or
switching to other suppliers. Thus, to increase or even maintain sales volume, salespeople must
continually search for potential new customers, called prospects. But prospecting requires
salespeople to first obtain leads, which is basically the name and address or telephone number of a
person or organization potentially needing the company’s products or services. Before considering
a lead to be a valid prospect, the salesperson must qualify it in terms of need or want , authority to
buy, money to buy, and eligibility to buy. One way to remember these four qualifiers is the
acronym NAME, each of which is a prospecting stage. Encompassing an extremely time-
consuming process, when companies or individuals pass all four of these screens, they become
prospects for a sales call, after which salespeople can plan the next step of the personal selling
process.
5. Describe the different sales presentation strategies, including the advantages and disadvantages
associated with each one. [LO 5]
a. Stimulus-response. Salesperson asks a series of positive leading questions. Advantage or
disadvantage: Customer develops habit of answering yes, which may lead to a positive
response to the closing question. Can appear manipulative to sophisticated prospects.
b. Formula. Salesperson leads the prospect through the mental states of buying (attention,
interest, desire, and action).
Advantage or disadvantage: Prospect is led toward purchase action one step at a time, as
the prospect participates in the interview. May come across as too mechanical and rehearsed
to win prospect’s trust and confidence.
c. Need satisfaction. Salesperson tries to find dominant buying needs.
Advantage or disadvantage: Salesperson listens and responds to the prospect while
“leading” the prospect to buy; the salesperson learns dominant buyer needs and motivations.
Salesperson must not overlook latent needs of prospect that are not articulated.
d. Consultative problem solving. The most frequently recommended and most successful
sales presentation strategy for today’s professional salespeople, it focuses on the prospect’s
problems, not the seller’s products. It emphasizes the partnership of buyer and seller and
stresses win-win outcomes in negotiations.
Advantage or disadvantage: Through the parties working together to understand and solve
problems, the salesperson forges a trusting, consultative relationship with the prospect.
Salesperson and buyer negotiations focus on a win-win outcome and a long-run relationship.
e. Depth selling. Experienced salesperson employs a combination of several sales presentation
methods.
Advantage or disadvantage: A customized mix of the best features of all of the strategies
that draws on most of their advantages. Depth selling requires exceptional salesperson skill
and experience.
f. Team selling. Salesperson makes the sales presentation to a group of decision makers from
different functional areas.
Advantage interactingTeam
or disadvantage:
seller organizations selling involves
and cooperating counterparts
to find solutions tofrom both the
problems. buyer and
Salesperson
serves as coordinator of the buyer-seller team interactions.
6. How should salespeople view buyer objections and resistance? [LO 6]
An objection is anything that the prospect or customer says or does that impedes negotiations.
Even after an effective sales presentation and demonstration, most prospects and customers are
likely to ask more questions and resist making the purchase. However, salespeople shouldn’t be
discouraged by prospect resistance or objections. Buyer objections or resistance can be both a
challenge and an opportunity because prospect objections are usually positive signs of interest in
the sales presentation and indirect requests for more information so that the prospect can justify a
purchase decision. Before you make a sales call, it’s always a good idea to anticipate prospect
objections and prepare appropriate responses to win the sale.
7. Identify the five basic techniques for handling buyer objections, and give examples of each one.
[LO 6]
a. Put-off strategies
• I’m coming to that—put off things like price until the end so you don’t turn off the
prospect early.
• Pass-off—keep a pleasant expression but say nothing.
b. Switch focus strategies
• Alternative product—switch focus to another model.
• Feel, felt, found—trace own experience with product.
• Comparison or contrast—compare product with another.
• Answer with a question—why do you think?
• Humor—use lighthearted humor to ease tension and redirect the focus.
• Agree and neutralize—give some level of agreement, then explain benefit.
c. Offset strategies
• Compensation or counterbalance—counter an objection that cannot be denied by citing
an even more important buying benefit.
• Boomerang—turn the objection into a reason for buying.
d. Denial strategies
• Indirect denial—agree with prospect’s objection but follow with a disclaimer.
• Direct denial—tackle the false rumor head-on.
e. Provide proof strategies
• Case history—tell experience of a satisfied customer.
• Demonstration—dramatize major advantages and benefits.
• Propose trial use—offer free trial use.
8. What is a trial close? Give some examples of trial closes. When should they be used? [LO 5, 7]
A trial close is any well-placed attempt to close the sale; it can be used early and often throughout
the selling process. Professional salespeople should be prepared to close anytime, anywhere
because they know their ABC’s (i.e., Always Be Closing ), which advocates making trial closes
throughout your interaction with the prospect. One of the most straightforward closing
approaches, when the salesperson and the prospect seem to be in agreement, is simply to ask,
“Shall we write up the order?” But the close need not be that blatant. Often, the salesperson can
accomplish the same result with a more subtle assumptive close question, such as “When do you
need the product delivered?” Another concern for many new salespeople is determining when to
try to close the sale. There’s no single best time. The close can happen at any time during the sales
process—in the first few minutes of the first sales call, or in the last few seconds of the sixth. Trial
closes are simply attempts to test the prospect’s readiness to buy. Examples include statements
like “Do you think this product will meet your needs?” or “So, what do you think?” Closing
attempts, though, are especially appropriate in three situations:
• When a presentation has been completed without any objections being raised by the
prospect, try to close. Doing so may elicit objections from the prospect.
• When the sales presentation has been completed and all questions and objections have been
addressed, closing is logical.
• If the buyer indicates an interest in buying the product by giving a “closing signal,” the time
is appropriate to close.
9. Name and explain as many closing strategies as you can. [LO 7]
a. Clarification closes
• Assumptive close. Assume that the purchase decision has already been made so that the
prospect feels compelled to buy.
• Choice close. Offer the prospect alternative products from which to choose.
• Success story close. Tell a story about a customer with a similar problem who solved it
by buying the product.
• Counterbalance close. Offset an objection that cannot be denied by balancing it with
an important buying benefit.
• Contingent close. Get the prospect to agree to buy if the salesperson can demonstrate
the benefits promised.
• Boomerang close. Turn an objection around so that it becomes a reason for buying.
• Future order close. If a prospect does not have a current need, but may have one in the
future, the salesperson can ask for a commitment from the prospect to purchase at a
future time.
• If-when close. Asking the prospect to provide a clarification as to when an order will
be placed, as opposed to if an order will be placed.
• Probability close. Although seemingly comparable to the if-when close described
above, the probability closing technique asks the prospect to assign a quantified
likelihood of signing a sales contract in the near future.
• Suggestion close. Gets the prospect to accept the advice offered without giving it a
great deal of thought. A salesperson could suggest that many customers who have
purchased the product have reported high levels of satisfaction, thereby suggesting that
the prospect should also purchase it.
b. Psychologically oriented closes
• Stimulus-response close. Use a sequence of leading questions to make it easier for the
prospect to say yes when finally asked for the order.
• Minor points close. Obtain favorable decisions on several minor points leading to
eventual purchase decision.
• Standing-room-only (SRO) close. Suggest that the opportunity to buy is brief because
demand is great and the product is in short supply.
• Impending event close. Warn the prospect about some upcoming event that makes it
more advantageous to buy now.
• Advantage close. This variation of the impending event close emphasizes the specific
advantages of making a timely decision, while still stressing a sense of immediacy.
• Puppy dog close. Let the prospect take the product home for a while and, as with a
puppy, an emotional attachment may develop, leading to purchase.
• Compliment close. Commend prospects for raising interesting and intelligent questions
to subtly flatter their egos and make them more receptive to making the purchase.
• Reserve advantage close. In this slight variation of the advantage close described
above, salespeople identify a number of merits for purchasing a product, but save a few
to use if the prospect exhibits resistance yet again.
• Dependency close. Used to break the choke-hold that a competing firm has over a
prospect’s business by suggesting that the prospect have an alternative supplier to
reduce the risk of being dependent on one supplier.
c. Straightforward closes
• Ask for the order close. Ask for the order directly or indirectly.
• Order form close. While asking the prospect a series of questions, start filling out basic
information on the contract or order blank. Or hand the order form and a pen to the
prospect.
• Summary close. Summarize the advantages and disadvantages of buying the product
before asking for the order.
• Repeated-yes close. This variation of the summary close requires a salesperson to pose
several leading questions to which the prospect has little choice but to respond in an
affirmative manner.
•
Benefits close. Also a variation of the summary close, it requires the salesperson to
identify and present a synopsis of the various salient benefits that the sales solution
offers.
• Action close. The salesperson simply hands the prospect a pen along with the contract,
and frequently the prospect, almost by reflex, will sign.
• Negotiation close. Both the buyer and the salesperson negotiate a compromise, thus
ensuring a win-win agreement.
• Technology close. The salesperson more effectively summarizes key value-added
benefits for the prospect by using technologies such as PowerPoint, Excel, or other
multimedia tools.
d. Lost sale closes

• Turnover close. Turn the prospect over to another salesperson with a fresh approach or
better chance to make the sale.
• Pretend-to-leave close. Start to walk away, then “remember” another benefit or special
offer after the prospect has relaxed his or her sales defenses.
• Ask for help close. When the sale seems lost, apologize for not being able to satisfy the
prospect and ask what it would have taken to get him or her to buy; then offer that.
e. Concession closes
• Special-deal close. Offer a special incentive to encourage the prospect to buy now.
• No-risk close. Agree to take the product back and refund the customer’s money if the
product doesn’t prove satisfactory.
•
Management close. When salespeople do not have the authority to make the prospect’s
requested commitments or concessions, they can elicit the assistance of a senior sales
manager who has the authority to make the necessary decisions to close the sale.
• Takeaway close. Used as an emotional fear appeal to cause anxiety that the prospect
may lose out on a special deal or incentive. A salesperson could suggest that the
special offer to provide an ancillary product or service free of charge is available only
for another week, thereby evoking an immediate purchase.
10. Why should salespeople be empowered in their dealings with prospects and customers? [LO 8]
In recent years, their roles have shifted from merely selling goods and services to building and
maintaining long-term, mutually profitable relationships with valued customers. As their
companies’ front-line representatives, salespeople are the ultimate customer relationship builders.
CRM has been called an inevitable—literally relentless—movement because it represents the way
customers want to be served, and offers a more effective and efficient way of conducting business.
Kotler and Armstrong define CRM as “the overall process of building and maintaining profitable
customer relationships by delivering superior customer value and satisfaction.”
It is critical for sales managers to empower salespeople by enabling them to promptly address
customer needs and negotiate mutually satisfying agreements with them. In practice,
empowerment should seek to strengthen the flexibility, self-confidence, authority, and
effectiveness of salespeople as they try to fully satisfy customers and achieve CRM objectives.
One important way to empower salespeople is to give them more financial flexibility to commit
company resources in serving customers—approving reimbursements for unsatisfactory products,
negotiating price discounts, providing purchase incentives, and resolving customer complaints. By
being able to make on-the-spot decisions, salespeople can enhance their image and competence
with customers and thereby feel more psychologically empowered and motivated for CRM.
INTERNET EXERCISE
1. You have been appointed to work as a U.S. sales representative for Airbus Industrie, which has
just developed the Airbus 380—a state-of-the-art, double-decker aircraft that carries from 550 to
900 passengers. Using the websites provided in Table 4.4, conduct a Web-based search for
detailed information about the airline industry. More specifically, to help you plan the sales call
and make your approach successful, find the following information:
• Addresses and locations of the headquarters of major players in the airline industry
(passenger airlines and cargo carriers)
• Sales, market share, profits, and size of each major competitor
• Regions of the United States, and of the world, where each airline operates
• Type of aircraft the airline currently uses
• Names, addresses, e-mail addresses, and telephone numbers of purchasing managers for all
of the airlines and cargo carriers

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8. Follows up with customers to provide service and ensure satisfaction, leading to

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