The Selling Process

• Process by which a salesperson identifies and

locates the prospects, separate prospects
from suspects, approaches them and makes a
sales presentation, handles their objections,
and closes a sale.
The Selling Process
Salesperson’s Knowledge Universe
Product
knowledge
•Feature
•Benefits
•Styles
•Origin
•Price

Company Competitor’s
knowledge knowledge
•History •Industry
•Finances Salesperson’s structure
•Management knowledge •Market share
•Size universe •Market behavior
•Policies and •Other policies
procedure
 Prospecting
50 potential prospects 50 potential prospects
15 Qualified prospects 25 Qualified prospects
6 Interviews 17 Interviews
1 sale 7 sales

No Yes

Successful prospecting
Process of prospecting

Identify and define prospects

Search for sources of potential

accounts

Qualify the prospects from the

suspects
 Methods of prospecting
 Cold canvassing(door to door)
 Endless chain customer referral(referral)
 Prospect pool(database)
 Centers of influence(opinion leaders)
 Non competing sales force(complementary products)
 Observation(look around)
 Friends and acquaintances(close connects)
 Lists and directories(existing customers)
 Direct mail(mail and e mail)
 Telemarketing(inbound and outbound)
 Trade shows and demonstrations(customers)
 Preapproach
• Information gathering about the prospect.
Sources of information: the Internet, industrial
directories, government publications, intermediaries,
etc.
• Precall planning
• Setting call objectives
• Tentative planning of sales strategy: which
products, features and benefits may meet the
customer needs
 Approach
• Make an appointment to meet the prospect
• Make favourable first impression
 The Selling Process
• Pre approach to selling
• Approach to the customer
• Methods of sales presentation
• Stimulus response –canned approach/ presentation
• Formula method - AIDA
• Need satisfaction - FAB
• Team selling – Accounts + technical support + logistics + IT +
finance to deal with purchase + operations + supply chain +
materials + finance
• Consultative selling – problem solving
• Types of sales presentation
- canned presentation : standard
- organized presentation : as per need
- tailored presentation : Customised
Methods of handling customer objections
 Superior feature method - feature
 Yes…But method- tactful handling
 Reverse English method- rephrasing and giving solution one by
one
 Indirect denial method- indirect assertive handling
 Pass out method- ignore
 Comparison method-with other close options
 Direct denial method-negate
 Another angle method-positive frame
 Narrative method-story/slice of life
 Testimonial method-opinion leaders/influencers
 Question or WHY method-question on question
 Methods of handling price objections
Method
Breaking down the price into smaller
units
Converting to lower priced items
Firing the customer
Postponing
Quantifying differences
Showing returns on investments
Stressing exclusive features and
differences
Talking about ultimate costs
Using comparison
Strategy
Salespeople take the price of the product and divide it by the number of years of
use, take into account the appreciation in the market, and compare the product
with those of the competitors to show the same as a product advantage.
Salespeople counter the price objection of a prospect by showing him/her a
lower priced model and comparing it with the higher priced one.
Salespeople call the objections bluff.
Salespeople avoid answering the objections early in the interview and postpone
the price question till the closing of the sale.
The salesperson tries to quantify the differences explicitly as much as possible.
The salesperson tries to show that the product gives more in return than the
current level of investment.
Salespeople compensate for a higher price by indicating features and benefits
that are absent in competitor’s products.
Salespeople tactfully talk about the initial cost and the total cost including
installation and servicing costs.
Salespeople compare the price of the product with the other competitor’s
product that have also gone higher or with the discomfort of the cheaper
alternatives.
 Closing the sale
Methods of closing the sale
• Assumptive close-asking personal details, date
of installation etc.
• Caution-making customer cautious about
availability of product
• Direct-direct closure without any persuasion
• Ownership suggestion- to impress upon social
stature

Follow-up action
Thank you