Discuss various sales strategies utilized by sales people. Also, explain the different stages of the sales process.

These sales strategies differ depending on the customer. These are divided into four categories – Script based selling, Needs-satisfaction selling, Consultative selling, and Strategic partnering.

Script based selling – In this strategy, the sales people rely on a standardised sales script. When an organisation believes that not all the salespeople can make a sales-pitch that results in sales, it makes an effort to make a standard script which has proved results in the past. Some salesmen are good at convincing customers, so the management takes help of these salesmen in creating a standard script. This standard script is shared with all the salesmen for sales-pitch. Basically, a salesmen is given different scripts to memorise or points to remember. Then the salesman asks different questions to a potential buyer. Depending on the response from the customer, the salesman utilises the scripts he was trained on to answer and convince the buyer. The points that meet the buyer’s needs are given emphasis in the talk. For this kind of selling, an organisation can employ fresh graduates with no sales experience. They are given training on standard scripts and points to remember to make an effective sales-pitch.

Needs satisfaction selling – In this form of selling, the salesman asks different questions to the buyer to understand the needs and wants. Basis the needs and wants, the salesmen makes changes to the sales pitch tailoring it to the buyer’s needs. Although the product is a standard product, but the salesman tries to match the benefits of the product with the needs of the buyer. For example, a person may be looking for a Television with a 32 inch screen while another person’s need is a television with good sound. A salesman can offer the same television set to both these people emphasising on the expected feature in the TV set. The emphasis or stress is given more on the need apart from additional benefits that the customer will get. This kind of selling is mostly done by salesmen who are good at interacting, have good analytical and problem solving skills.

Consultative selling – Consultative selling provides a customised solution to the customer’s needs. The salesmen work with their buyers as well as the engineers or specialists over a longer period and get a product created for the buyer.

Strategic partner selling – In this form of selling the relationship of the buyer and the seller moves from consultative stage to strategic partnering. For the growth of each other’s business, the seller and the buyer get into a contract to jointly work with each other and share expertise. For example, a auto manufacturer can get into a contract with an organisation which has expertise in making auto engines. Similarly, many auto manufacturers get into long term strategic partnership with insurance providers.

The sales process –
A sales process has many stages. It starts with approaching the customer and ends with after sales service in case of a successful sale.

Approach – The approach starts with taking permission from the customer to share information. The salesman makes efforts to get the buyers attention to continue with the sales approach. Before the needs of the customer can be identified, standard benefits of the product and its success story (if applicable) are shared with the buyer. Collateral helps salesmen support their claim about the product. The printed material or digital material that salespeople use is known as Collateral. The material is based on customer feedback, studies conducted or customer testimonials.

Identifying the needs – Further, the buyer’s permission is sought and the sales process moves to the next step of Needs-Identification. The salesman asks questions to identify the needs of the buyer. For example, a salesman from an insurance company with asks questions about tax savings, number of people in the family, dependents in the family, etc.

Sales Presentation – This stage is a presentation stage where the salesman matches the buyer’s needs with the offering/ product. He/ she highlights the features of the offering that match the needs of the buyer. For example, a salesman selling a laptop will highlight the long battery life of the laptop for a buyer who travels a lot.  So the feature highlighted here by the salesman is complementing the need the customer mentioned in the needs-identification stage.

Customer objections/ counter points – At any stage a customer can show disinterest in the sales process. It can be as simple a reason like not having time for discussion or a more direct response like – I don’t like this feature and it doesn’t benefits me. Here further probing is needed to understand the exact need to dispel a misunderstanding. The salesman can ask to meet at another convenient time for the discussion or highlight the warranties and guarantees associated with the product.

Closing the sale – Once all the objections of the buyer are handled, the salesman can ask for sale. It can include delivery of the product immediately or for a later stage in case of a large consumer good or capital goods. This stage may include paper work or even a next meeting for closing the formalities.

After sales service – Most of the organisations believe that the cost of losing one customer is equivalent to the cost of gaining four new customers. An effective customer service should be in place for a long term relationship with the customer. This helps the firm get new customers as well through word-of-mouth promotion by the existing customer.