Selling technique

Selling technique is the body of methods used in the profession of sales, also often called personal selling.

Techniques in use in selling interviews vary from the highly customer centric consultative selling to the heavily pressured "hard close".

All techniques borrow a bit from experience and mix in a bit of guesswork on the psychology of what motivates others to buy something offered to them. Mastery in the techniques of selling can offer very high incomes, while failure in it is nearly proverbial. Coverage of the latter is popularized in works such as Death of a Salesman and Glengarry Glen Ross.

Because selling faces a high level of rejection, it is often difficult for the practitioner to handle emotionally, and is usually cited as the most common reason for leaving the profession. Because of this many selling and sales training techniques involve a lot of motivational material.

The various steps

A selling interview based on counseling needs to be done in several steps, in a consistent order, from the identification of the needs to a close in which the prospect accepts the seller's proposal. It is better not to omit or change the order of any of those steps.

• Prospecting
  • Referrals
  • Qualifying
• Presentation
  • Questions
  • Selling the sizzle
• Closing
  • Pre-closing questions
  • Tie downs
• Handling objections
• Handling prospect attitudes
• Confidence
• Empathy
  • Reading people

Some requisites

Good selling involves asking questions to elicit the prospect's needs and desires and finding the appropriate product or service that meets those needs and that the prospect is willing to pay for. If good prospecting (qualifying) is done, then the prospect may already be well suited to the product or service and the salesperson simply needs to lead the prospect to act on the desires and needs he/she has. A good salesperson is much more knowledgeable about their product or service than the prospect could ever likely be and can offer valuable information and insight to the decision making process.

In addition, an ethical salesperson will always make sure the prospect receives more value from the product or service they have purchased than they have paid.

Several universities now offer courses, or degrees, in selling. The annual National Collegiate Sales Competition is held at Kennesaw State University. This event draws student contestants from Canada, the USA and Mexico.

See also

• AIDA
• Bait and switch
• Choice architecture
• Contract of sale
• Cross-selling
• List of marketing topics
• Marketing
• Permission marketing
• Promotion
• Sales
• Sullivan nod
• Up-selling
• Value added selling

External links

• Selling interview
• Sales and Marketing Techniques
• Free Blog Offering Advice on Sales Training, Sales Skills, Prospecting, Closing - For The Furniture Sales Professional

References

• How to master the art of selling Tom Hopkins, Warner Books, 1980 & 1982, ISBN 0-446-38636-7
• Secrets of Closing the Sale Zig Ziglar, Berkley Publishing Group, 1985, ISBN 0-425-08102-8