13 Nov 10 Which School of Marketing Thought You Belong To?
There coexist two schools of marketing thoughts. One propagates the ideas of blasting the audience until one becomes insensitive or one turn into a buyer. There is another school of thought that cajoles you to build relationship with your audience and treat them the way you will treat your better half. Which of the two schools of marketing thoughts do you agree with?
Before you show your loyalty to one and thrash the other one calling it a complete waste of money, I must tell you that neither of the two is wrong, and either of the two could be dangerous. It all depends upon your approach, and how you handle the tool. Let me throw some more light on the two schools to help you make informed decision on the marketing tool to use.
“Long sales page is what cut it for us”
This is the view of old school of marketing who believes in the power of mass media advertising, long sales letter, and multiple direct mail copies. Marketers subscribing to this school of thought believe in handling all the customers’ objection through a elaborate sales page. They are of the view that they get only one chance and limited opportunity to influence customers’ decisions, and they should use it to maximum.
Sales cycle is often shorter here. People either buy or they don’t from marketers of this school.
“We are close buddy. We will not sell you”
This is what the other camp of marketers believes in. Marketers swearing by “relationship first” maxim often lead you in believing that they have your best interest in their hearts, and no matter what they will not try to sell you anything. It is only when you have spent some time with them that they start recommending (read selling) products to you.
Sales cycle for this kind of marketing ranges from long to very long. People, because they trust this group, often buy more than one product from them.
Which side are you on?
So, which group of marketers do you belong to? The “long sales copy” one or the relationship one? As said earlier, there is nothing right or wrong about the either of the two. It all depends upon how you use it.
For me, I believe in both of them.
Tags: Audience, Best Interest, Decisions, Direct Mail, Hearts, Loyalty, Mail Copies, Marketers, Marketing Sales, Marketing Tool, Mass Media, Maxim, Maximum Sales, Media Advertising, Objection, Old School, People, Relationship, School Of Thought, Waste Of Money
21 Jul 10 How to Handle Client’s Objections?
No matter what business you are into, and what is the nature of clients you have, every client or customer (whichever term is applicable for you) has certain objection that needs to be handled before it open his wallet for you. This is one fact of any business, whatsoever.
There is another fact, and it is related to objection handling. No matter what objection your clients have, or what problem they say they have, you can handle it and that too by following a set of steps given below.
Sincerely listen to what he has to say
Do not object or stop your client from speaking his heart out. Cutting him short is a sign of weakness. Let him speak not only and try to understand his point of view on the matter at hand. More so because he may himself tell you the answer to the objection he has raised.
Make him talk
If your client is not the kind who bares his heart out then make him talk. Ask questions that will make him reveal more about the objections. More often than not clients reveal the solution when talking about their objections, so make them talk.
Ask questions related to the objection your client raised
Ask questions to unearth the reason behind the objection raised by your client. Quite often, the issue raised by the client is mere a disguise (or external appearance) of the real objection he has. You need to ask relevant questions so that you can unearth the real reason behind his denial to make a purchase now.
Do not try to prove them wrong
Proving your clients wrong is the worst thing you can do in a sales situation. You are not there to win a debate, so do not go with that mindset. Let you client speak about his problem, and except that whatever he says is write, after all he is the one who is there stuck in a problem.
Be gentle to him, and even if you have to say that your client is wrong, say it in a way that it does not hurt his ego. It should not appear that you are playing the one-upmanship game. Make him realize that you are trying to solve his problem by understanding his point of view of the situation.
Take notes
This is vital, and notes taken when the client was talking will also help you in addressing his concern. Take notes, but not in a way to break is stream of thought. Your note taking should go undetected.
The things I have discussed above about objection handling are very important. You need to cultivate yourself in such a way that the above given objection-handling technique becomes part of your nature. Inculcate these into yourself, and practice it until it becomes your nature.
Tags: Debate, Denial, Disguise, Ego, External Appearance, Game, Heart, Mindset, Objection, Objections, Point Of View, Real Reason, Relevant Questions, Wallet
14 Dec 09 3 Steps Sales Process
The sale does not begin when a salesman goes out to the market and talks to the prospect, nor do they end when the deal is signed and money is taken from the prospect. This is just one part of the sales process, and a successful salesperson knows that. In this blog post, I am going to tell you about all 3 phases though which a salesperson has to pass in order to become successful in his chosen career.
Pre-sales
Pre-sales is the phase in which a salesperson make a list of the probable buyers, qualify them, fix a meeting, and study about the prospects. This phase is important as it gives the salesperson idea about who client is, what he does, and what approach to take during the meeting.
Sales
This is the second phase where actual sales happen. A salesman meets the client, know client’s problem deliver the sales pitch presentation, tell the client about his company, offer the solution to client’s problem, ask questions, and handle objection. This phase is very important as this is the phase in which you meet the client and talk to him in person about his problems, and tell the client how the product you are offering is going to solve his problem. Do not over promise. Over delivery (delivering the solution that exceeds expectation) is great, but over promise is bad. This phase culminates with asking for order and making a sale.
Post-sales
This is the third and final phase of a sales process. This is a “follow-up and thank you” phase in which you, the salesperson, need to call up or write an e-mail saying thank you for his time, and if you have not yet got the order than mention that you are looking forward to serve him. And if the product was sold then you should ask the client if he or she is facing any problem with the product you sold. This is very important step and it helps you build rapport with your client.
Each step in the sales process has a role to play. Missing any of the steps is risking business.
Tags: Career, E Mail, Expectation, Final Phase, Money, Objection, Pre Sales, Prospects, Sales Pitch, Sales Presentation, Second Phase, Successful Salesperson
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