The Art of Making the Sale

Introduction

Successful selling is something that is rarely seen today by the average person. Shopping has displaced selling across a broad part of our marketplace as consumers have taken more responsibility for learning about the products and services that they want to buy, and armed with that knowledge often turn to internet stores and marketplaces to make their purchases based mostly on price for items which they have chosen with little interaction or personalized guidance. While it may well be that they choose well and are happy with their purchases, there are many cases where the choice of product or service may be made in the absence of vital information that lurks in the "blind spot" of consumer knowledge and experience.

Selling, at its ideal, brings to bear specific expertise, experience and a higher level view of important contingent needs that can profoundly benefit the consumer by going through a process of discovery and forecast that can inform the consumer to opportunities and needs that they may not have foreseen. Intead of starting with features of a product, it begins with the need the client has, and explores that need in more detail to understand what the best solution will look like in order to present a complete soultion that will fully satisfy the needs of the customer, both the initially communicated needs, and those additional needs that are identified in the discovery process.

Contacting the Client

In the retail environment, this might be called greeting the customer. In service sales it might be called prospecting. For account representatives, it might be called cold calling, or lead follow-up or contact response. Whatever the sales environment or the terminology used, customer contact is an essential step to making the sale.

There are essentially two kinds of people who sell. The first kind are those who wait for someone to come to them to buy something. We normally call these people clerks. The other kind are those who are actively alert to opportunity or actively seeking out opportunity to make a sale. We normally refer to these people as salesmen or salespeople. Clerks are abundant. We can find them everywhere. Salespeople are special. They are generally more knowledgeable, and therefore more able to inform; more experienced, and therefore more able to anticipate needs; and more motivated, and therefore more able to engage the client in meaningful dialogue and discovery. If you are a salesperson, you will be actively looking for an opportunity to engage a client in discussion. The purpose of contacting the client is to begin a discussion.

I was once training a sales staff of a large retail store, and was working with a district manager who was rather rigid in his expectations of his staff. He told me that he thought someone should be fired if they went up to a customer and said, "May I help you?" He went on to tell me the three acceptable greetings that he wanted his staff to use. I told thim that the important thing was not to use a particular formula or avoid any particular verbage, but to engage the customer in conversation in order to begin the sales process. He said that if you started out with, "May I help you?" that you would kill any opportunity to make a sale. "Naturally, we both know that the customer will automatically respond with, 'no thanks, I'm just looking,' right?" I asked him. He agreed, and then dogmatically stated that it was impossible to make a sale if that was where you began. "Let's see if we can't get past that problem," I said, and led him to the sales counter, where a customer had arrived but had not yet been greeted. "May I help you?" I asked. "No thanks, just looking" came the expected reply. "What are you looking for?" I asked. The customer began to tell me what he was looking for, and the sales process was underway. When I understood what he wanted to do, I recommended a camera, some accessories that he would need, and then turned the sale over to one of the staff to ring through. All of this took about five minutes. It's not about using a particular greeting or avoiding a particular phrase. It's about beginning a conversation.

Qualifying the Customer

The term "qualifying the customer" has nothing to do with credit approval or getting a loan. It has to do with qualifying the customer's needs, or discovering what it is the customer hopes to do. It starts by engaging the client in a discussion.

Where do you begin? That depends on the specific products or services you'd like to sell, but it generally begins by asking general questions, followed by more specific questions. It might sound something like this...

"What are you looking for today?"

"I need to buy a new bicycle."

"What kind of riding do you do?"

"I do a lot of riding in the mountains."

"Do you ride off-road, or do you prefer a road bike?"

"I only ride on the road."

So you can see we've gone from the very general open ended question at the start, and then began to use more directive questions to quickly narrow the focus to the customer's specific use. This is probably a good time to begin asking contigency questions which can search for other uses for the product that are important to the customer.

"Where do you usually ride?"

"Mostly nearby, on the Poudre River Trails, but I like to ride up the canyon, and sometimes I take the bike to Dillon to ride the trails as well."

"How do you transport your bike?"

"Well, I need to get a bike rack."

"Do you have a hitch on your vehicle?

"Yes."

"Do you just ride for fun, or are you going to work a training program?"

"Well, I'd like to do some training."

At this point, if I were selling the product, I would have a good idea of a few bikes that would suit the client's needs well. I would also realize that the customer needs a bike rack, and has a hitch to mount one, that this person is interested in beninning a training program, and could use a bike computer and heart rate monitor to monitor performance and heart rate. I would have a range of other accessories such as hydration pack, water bottle, bike pump, spare tube, patch kit, wheel tool, recovery drinks and so on that would likely benefit the customer.

By going through the discovery process, a correct and complete solution can be recommended to the client to satisfy their individual needs.

Demonstrating the Solution

When you have reached the point in the discovery process that you fully understand the client's needs, and you also know what you can offer that will satisfy those needs, it is time to demonstrate the solution. This could involve an actual product demonstration, but in many cases, demonstration is mostly or completely verbal. After all, we could be talking about a service, and it might not be something that can be shown to the client. The key is to communicate what the solution is, focusing on how it satisfies the various points of the customer's needs. If you have carefully qualified the customer's needs, your solution should be an ideal fit. Be alert to any confusion or uncertainty the client may express. After all, you could be using terminology or concepts that are less familiar to the client than they are to you. You are the expert, after all. That's probably why they came to you for assistance. When you have completely demonstrated that the solution you present is the correct one, it is time to close the sale.

Closing the Sale

Closing the sale is really a mere formality, but one which should always be observed. To do otherwise would be like a man talking about honeymoon plans with his sweetheart before he has asked and she has consented to marry.

Closing a sale can be done in many different ways, some of which can sound cheesy or pushy, but the main thing is to choose a way that you are comfortable using, and which does not offend the client. I personally prefer not to use something like "can I wrap that up for you?" unless I am prepared to actually wrap it. But that's just me. You might be comfortable with that approach. Some like to ask, "Will that be cash or charge?" That is an "assumed close", so named because you are obviously assuming they are buying in order to ask that. Of course if you have received buying signs, such as the client asking for the complete price, what the payment terms are, or if you take a check, the client has assumed that you are ready to write the sale, so that makes sense.

I prefer to close a sale with two particular lines most. "Would you like to take that today?" or some similar terminology, or if the client seems hesitant in any way, "What do you think?" The second is an open ended close that allows for more questions if there is any sign of uncertainty.

The main thing to remember is this. If you have taken the time to qualify the customer well, and have adequately demonstrated a complete solution, you have earned the right to ask for the sale, and it would be awkward not to do so. It is actually a failure in customer service to fail to ask for the sale when it is appropriate.

Completing the Sale

When you have closed the sale, that is, the client has agreed to purchase your product or services, it is time to make sure that the customer has everything that they need to satisfy their needs as you understand them. Let's take the sale of a fly rod, for example. A fly rod is just a stick until you attack a line to it. And for the line, you need a reel, and there is backing material which goes on the reel before the line. Then you need a leader and some tippet, which is finer, more expendable line at the end of the leader. And all of that won't catch a fish unless you have some flies to go with it. And you probably don't want to carry those flies in your hand or your pocket. You need a fly box to put them in. And so on. Now it is possible that your client already has some or all of what they need to complete the solution, but it is your job to make sure.

Now, this is very important. It is not your job to make sure that they buy everything they need. It is your job to explain each of the additional products or services that they should have, and to offer them the choice to buy them. If they absolutely need something to get the job done, tell them so. But respect their right to choose what they wish. If there are things that they should really have that they choose not to take at this time, write them down, put down the prices, and explain that they can refer to this later to add the other items when they are comfortable doing so. If you are polite, friendly and professional, they will probably come back to you to get the other items when the time comes.

Leaving the Customer with a Good Impression

There is an odd thing that happens with many people after they make a purchase. They were so sure at the point of sale that they made a good choice, but then they begin to doubt that it was really the best choice for them after all. This is a very common human response. I have seen it for years, and it does not mean that there is anything wrong with the client, or with you. It is just human nature.

The first and most important thing to remember at the point of the putting together the whole package is to congratulate the client on making an excellent choice, and reaffirm that this really will be a great solution for them. This is not being disingenuous or manipulative. At least it's not if you are honest and have really put together the best solution for them. Think of this as an important aspect of customer service that a professional salesperson is required to perform.

By taking this easy step, you will make the customer more confident in and happier with their purchase. You will also greatly reduce returns and cancelled orders. This mutally beneficial step will save both you and the client a lot of trouble later. After all, if you really found the best solution for them, it is in no one's interest to have them look for something different later, is it?

Follow up

If you have the client's contact information, which you should on any significant purchase, remember to follow up with a phone call, email or card after an appropriate time to insure that all is well, and to see if they have any questions you can assist them with. This usually takes very little time and effort, but you can be sure it will set you apart from most people in sales, who simply run from one deal to the next, concerned about their own results, but with little regard for how their clients are doing. Your reputation will shine like the stars in a world where professional salesmanship is rarely seen.

Conclusion

The art of making the sale is well worth learning. You will add value for you clients with every transaction. You and your employer will benefit financially. And anything that is really worth doing is worth doing really well.

About the Author

The author has years of experience in sales, sales management and sales training. He has written the in-house sales training manuals for three corporations, and has trained sales managers in how to use those materials to prepare their staffs to better serve their clients.