MARKETING STRATEGIES VI

Three Major Steps
A direct selling situation usually consists of three major steps as follows:

• Qualifying the prospect. Determining the prospect's needs and wants so that you can then explain your product or service in terms that will show how its features provide those benefits.
• Presenting the product. Describing your product and its features in terms of the benefits that the prospect seeks.
• Closing the sale. Securing the prospect's commitment to buy your product or service.

Qualifying
In the first step, qualifying the prospect, you want to learn why the prospect needs or wants your product or service.

Perhaps you sell sewing machines. A prospect has seen your ad for a low-priced model and has arrived at your shop. Naturally, you have a variety of models and you want to find out which model is best suited to the customer's needs. By simply taking the order for the lowest priced model, you might be doing a disservice to both yourself and the customer. If the customer simply wants a machine to hem dresses or patch jeans, perhaps the lowest priced model is entirely adequate. If the customer plans to make clothing for a family, a higher priced machine might be better suited to the customer and more profitable for you.

Asking Questions
How can you find out which machine is best suited to the customer's needs?
By asking questions such as:

• "How do you plan to use the machine?
• "How often do you sew?"
• "What types of sewing do you do?"

These questions help you learn more about the customer's needs and wants.

Indirect Questions
Qualifying questions should be indirect questions, usually beginning with words such as Why, What, When, and How. These questions usually cannot be answered with a simple "Yes" or "No." They require more complete answers that reveal buying motives.

You can learn about your customer by asking about competition. This is particularly helpful when selling high-ticket consumer goods or when selling to commercial and industrial customers.

If a person is buying a replacement for something he already owns, you can ask questions about the product he now owns. "What kind of refrigerator do you now own, Mr. Baker?" When Mr. Baker tells you that he now owns an Electromat X99, you might ask other questions such as:

• "Is that the 12 cubic foot or 15 cubic foot model?"
• "Is it equipped with automatic defrost?"
• "Does it have automatic ice-making?"

The answers to these questions will help you lead into such features of your more expensive refrigerators as larger capacity, automatic defrost, and an automatic ice-maker.

Presentation
The second step in direct selling is presenting the product. An effective presentation often depends upon the information received in the first stage, qualifying the prospect. This permits you to explain the features of your product, and its advantages, so that your prospect clearly understands its benefits. Qualifying information lets you direct your explanation to those specific benefits in which the particular prospect has expressed an interest.

Transition to the Close
The presentation is followed by the primary objective--closing the sale. This is most effective if introduced as a smooth transition from the presentation. Sometimes it's easy. The prospect, absolutely convinced of the advantages of the product and the benefits that it offers, will come right out and buy it. More frequently, it's up to the salesperson to bring up the closing question.

Trial Closes
An easy way to do this is through trial closes. A trial close is a question that is asked to determine the prospect's readiness to buy. The following is an example of such a question:

"Are you satisfied that our product will help you reduce your maintenance costs?"

If the answer is negative, you can reemphasize how your product reduces maintenance costs or you can ask the prospect to be more specific about the cause of his or her doubt.

Seeking Agreement
If the prospect agrees with the salesperson on a series of points, it becomes difficult to say no when the salesperson asks for the order. However, the prospect who disagrees on a number of points will probably defend this position by also saying no when the salesperson asks for the order.

The salesperson should seek agreement on a number of points such as:

• "Don't you think the self-defrosting feature of this refrigerator is a real convenience, Mr. Baker?"
• "You probably need a larger refrigerator than your present one, don't you?"

The salesperson probably knows the points to which the prospect will agree. The idea is to summarize them and ask them consecutively to establish a pattern of agreement, one that will make it difficult for the prospect to say no when the salesperson asks for the order.

Benefit Summary
Another effective transition is a statement that summarizes product benefits, such as the following:

Ms. Perkins, I think you'll find that the Brand X washer has everything you're looking for. A partial load cycle saves you water, energy, and money. Temperature controls protect your fabrics. And Brand X's reputation for quality assures you that this machine will operate dependably for a long time with little or no maintenance."

Closing the Sale
Now let us look at the most vital factor in the selling process--closing the sale. All previous steps have been taken with one purpose in mind--to close the sale, to get the prospect to buy.

Unfortunately, many salespeople fall apart at this stage. The salesperson is afraid that a negative response will end communication with the prospect forever. Having maintained a sociable communications level up to this point, the salesperson resists the possibility of rejection. This is a perfectly natural reaction for many people.

Various Techniques
A variety of techniques can be used to close the sale. The best approach often depends upon the salesperson's individual selling style, the prospect, the product or service that is offered, and the salesperson's earlier success in convincing the prospect of the advantages of the product and the benefits that it offers.

Direct Close
The direct close assumes that the prospect is ready to buy. In closing, the salesperson asks a direct question such as the following:

• "We can deliver your sofa next week. What is the address that we should
  ship to?"
• "You want this in green, don't you?"
• "Will this be cash or a charge?"
• "Would you like to put this on a budget plan?"

Assumptive Close
The assumptive close is a modification of the direct close. The salesperson assumes that the prospect is ready to buy, but asks less direct questions, such as:

• "Which color do you prefer, red or green?"
• "Which model do you prefer, the standard or the deluxe?"
• "Have you decided where you would like the machine installed?"
• "Shall I call an electrician to arrange the installation?"

Dealing with Delay
Not all closing attempts are immediately successful. The prospect may delay, unable to make a decision. If so, the salesperson should ask the reason for the delay. The reason will often help the salesperson plan the next course of action in reestablishing the presentation of the product or service.

For example, the prospect might say: "I think I'll stick with my present machine a while longer." If you properly qualified the prospect earlier, you might respond: "But didn't you say that repair costs were running awfully high? Isn't it worth a few dollars to know that you will save on maintenance costs, and not have to worry about a breakdown at a critical
time?"

Dealing with Objections
A prospect may express some objection, real or imaginary, to your product. An objection should never be considered a barrier to a sale. Once you know about it, it is no longer a barrier, simply a hurdle that must be cleared.

A prospect may say, "Your price is too high." First of all, try to find out how much too high. Perhaps it can be reduced. Or, the objection might be a signal to reemphasize more features of the product that offset any apparent price disadvantage.

Open-ended Close
In the open-ended close, the salesperson asks open-ended questions that imply readiness to buy, such as:

• "How soon will you need the sofa?"
• "When should I arrange for installation?"

The prospect's answer to these questions leads to an easy close. If the prospect needs the sofa in three weeks, the salesperson can respond, "Then I'll need an order right away, to assure you of delivery on time."

Action Close
The salesperson takes some positive step toward clinching the order, such
as:

• "I'll write up the order right now and as soon as you sign it, we can deliver."
• "I'll call the warehouse and see if they can ship immediately."

Urgency Close
The salesperson advises the prospect of some compelling reason for ordering
immediately.

• "That's a pretty tight schedule. I'll have to get an answer from you very quickly if we are going to be able to meet it."
• "That item has been very popular and right now our inventory is running pretty low."
• "Our special price on this product ends the 15th of the month."

Choosing the Closing Technique
The choice of closing techniques will depend upon you, your selling style, your customer, and the facts. Regardless of the technique that you choose for your business, the most important thing to remember is that you pursue some closing technique and don't avoid this critical step.

Developing Selling Skills
Some people seem to be born with natural powers of persuasion. At an early age, they can easily convince a person of the value of some product or service. However, not all people have these inherent skills.

These skills must be developed, and the way to develop them is through the use of a logical, well-considered, planned selling system of qualifying, presenting, and closing.

These skills can be learned. With planning, practice, and diligent pursuit, almost anyone can sell.

The ability to sell is particularly critical in small businesses where the owner is often called upon to conduct the entire selling effort personally. Even if the owner does not sell personally, the sales force must be trained, supervised, and directed.

Selling Skills and Other Marketing Techniques
Any marketing technique that you use must incorporate many of the same selling concepts that were explained in the direct selling situation.

Consider how the basic principles of qualifying and product presentation apply to the development of an advertising message. You cannot qualify the prospect directly by asking questions--unless you can afford a costly marketing research effort. Instead, you must make certain qualifying assumptions about your prospects. What are their needs and wants? What benefits do they seek?

These answers then determine the benefits that you will stress in your
product message. The message must explain your product in terms of these
benefits.

• "Our insulation will save you money."
• "Won-Kote latex paint is easy to apply and lasts longer."
• "Our trained technicians will repair your television set and back it up
  with a 12-month warranty to put an end to your maintenance worries."

Closing
An advertising message seldom has a specific "close," but it should have an objective. This objective should be expressed in terms that incorporate the concepts of the closing techniques of a direct selling situation.

• "Don't you owe it to yourself to look at our new line of washers before your present one fails?"
• "Buy now while the special price offer lasts."
• "Call today for a free estimate, before winter sets in. Our estimator will show you how much you can save with all-weather insulation protection.