THE SOUL OF A SALE

Before you can know the Anatomy of a sale, you must first understand the "Soul of a Sale".  The word "soul" comes from the Greek word "psyche" which has to do with thoughts, feelings, desires, affections, and aversions. 

The first thing to remember in sales is that every decision we make is emotional.  We then use logic to justify it, but ultimately every choice is designed to satisfy some emotional need or desire.  Many business people make the mistake of pragmatically filling the desires of their prospective client or customer, without realizing that there is some underlying emotion to their buying decision.

At the very core, sales is the successful mutual fulfillment of a need or desire.  In the vast majority of cases, desire will win out over need.  When you understand the “psyche” of your buyer, you will be able to build your presentation to connect with them emotionally and exponentially increase your business.

As your Coach, it is my job to help you bring your skills to the fore and help you discover the needs and desires of your clients.  We will explore what you desire to do in your sales presentation, and what you are willing to do.

 Whether you are looking for a simple evaluation of your methods, or an in-depth study of your overall sales program, we can help.  Our services are available ala cart or on a discounted package plan.  As a member of any Pre-Paid Legal Services  or GoSmallBiz plan you are entitled to one 30-minute coaching session per month at no additional charge.  This bonus coaching is dependent on available times and is subject to change at any tim

THE ANATOMY OF A SALE 

Sales is more than the idea of being able to think fast and have a pithy comeback.  The process of a sale is actually a very systematic thing.  There are specific parts and specific procedures for getting to those parts, which, if performed in a logical and professional manner will result in business being transacted. 

INTRODUCTORY BENEFIT 

The opening statement of any presentation should be designed with one key element in mind.  That being, “It’s not about you, it’s about them”.  Your prospect does not really care how impressed you are with your product or service, they care about what your product or service will do for them.  They really don’t even care how much better your product or service is to your competition.  They only care about how your product or service is going to make their life better, and ultimately how they will feel after owning or using it. 

ASSESSMENT INTERVIEW 

Your ability to bring your prospects to a place of wanting your product or service will be in direct relationship to how well you meet their needs or desires.  Once you’ve gotten to the place of making a presentation it should be customized to meet whatever your prospect has told you they are willing to buy.  There are a number of steps to this process, but ultimately it comes down to asking your prospect what they want the new product or service to do that their old product or service did not do, and what do they not want their new product or service to do that they had to live with in their previous product or service.  Most people don’t like change, so if they’ve given you the opportunity to present why you should replace what they have been using, make sure you make it worth their time.  Help them to feel good about the change. 

QUESTIONS ARE THE ANSWER: 

The more questions you ask, the more powerful you become.  That’s because questions will lead you to the answer of what it is that your prospect wants.  Questions will also show your prospect the reason why they should own your product or service.  There are basically two types of questions that you need to become a master at asking.  They are; 

1. Directive questions:  These are questions that lead the prospect to a pre-determined conclusion.  The purpose of Directive Questions is to help the prospect discover your product or service.
2. Non-directive questions:  These are open ended questions that give the prospect freedom to roam.  There are a number of things that this line of questioning will open up for you, but the end goal is fact finding so that you can provide the prospect with what they really want. 

PRESENTATION 

You specific presentation should be custom tailored to your industry, but all presentations should include some very important basics; 

1. It should only address those areas the prospect has told you they are interested in.
2. It should be designed to elicit some sort of emotional response.
3. It should have more stories than facts.  Stories sell, facts tell.
4. It should help the prospect see their self using the product or service. 

OBJECTIONS 

There are really only two types of objections.  Hard objections and easy objections.  I know that sounds amazingly simplistic but it’s really true.  Let me explain the differences. 

HARD OBJECTIONS: Whenever a prospect poses an objection that is beyond your ability to comply or reform.  Hard objections have to do with those things that are impossible for you to change.  It may be, price, size, delivery time, compliance issues, or any of a number of other issues. 

EASY OBJECTIONS: Usually occurs when a prospect has misunderstood your presentation or you have not adequately cover a need or desire in your presentation.  Easy Objections are also sometimes emotionally based and can be dealt with via a timely illustration or logical line of questioning. 

OVERCOMING OBJECTIONS:

In the Coaching process we deal with the specific objections that are hanging you up and apply some time tested techniques to evaluate and overcome them.  This topic cannot be dealt with in a paragraph or two. 

THE CLOSE

 The close of a sale can take place at any point in the Sales process.  It is the natural conclusion to a logical conversation that highlights a positive emotion.  The Close must, and will be the topic of another completely separate conversation.  As your Coach, I will help you see how you can Close A Sale literally at every step in the process.  It will be the last thing you do in the Sales Process, but it needn’t be the last thing you attempt.