Knowledge of your product line – even a thorough understanding of your targets and their industry – isn’t enough to ensure sales success today. Customers expect much more. They need partners who offer the right solutions to critical problems. They need people who respond quickly with the latest information, services and technology. They need sales teams that build relationships and advance competitiveness.

Research reveals that even the most seasoned sales professionals are finding it harder to manage all these expectations. This is seen in statistics showing that large numbers of people, as many as three of every 10, leave sales every year.

“How you prepare for the sales challenge can be key in building sales success,” said Bill White, partner in the integrated marketing firm of MillerWhite, LLC. The firm, through its public relations service line, has partnered with Steve Hanes, president of Hanes & Associates, Inc., to customize training programs that prepare sales professionals to meet this challenge. White added, “Through this partnership with Hanes, we’re able to offer the best name in sales training – Dale Carnegie – but at no additional cost to our clients.”

“Working with an integrated marketing firm like MillerWhite and its clients is really a plus for us as trainers,” Hanes said. “It allows us to build sales programs based on marketing objectives that have been identified through investigation, analysis of the company’s needs and the MW Fusion^SM process. We have a much clearer idea of how we can help the client through sales training.”

Hanes, who offers Dale Carnegie Training in central Indiana, pointed out, “There is a way to help make selling more manageable – and to increase sales force retention rates – a buying/selling process that is easy to learn and follow. People who have understood this process and developed the skills sets have been effective in boosting their sales big-time.”

Hanes offered the following points summarizing this buying/selling process.

New Opportunity: To start, analyze the marketplace to target prospects who will benefit most from your product or service. Your universe should include existing clients as well as potential clients.

Pre-Approach: Research your prospect’s business to discover current challenges and opportunities. Next, customize a benefit statement that aligns your product with the prospect’s requirements.

Initial Communication: Write a strong “why meet” statement directed to a selected decision-maker at the prospect company. Contact the manager by phone or by letter, building on your “why meet” statement to win the appointment.

Interview: Take advantage of this opportunity to ask the right questions. Develop a Q&A strategy to help you uncover critical business priorities and goals. Ask about performance issues, delivery requirements and budget restrictions. Listen intently to each answer and ask follow-up questions that deepen your understanding.

Solution Development: Gain an edge for yourself by demonstrating the ability to be a strategic business partner. Deliver the right solutions to the right problems. This involves analyzing the information you’ve gathered from research and meetings. Develop a value-added solution that weaves together your product knowledge with your understanding of the prospect’s business.

Solution Presentation: Focusing on facts, benefits and applications will help you deliver a persuasive presentation. Facts help you differentiate your company and products from the competition. Benefits zero in on how the customer will gain advantage from your products. Applications define how customers can use your product in the business.

Customer Evaluation: Bring your customer to center stage right after finishing the presentation. Listen to the response without interrupting or becoming defensive, and offer any needed clarification or details. Translate buyer resistance into questions you must address more persuasively – and use facts, testimonials and success stories to alleviate concern.

Commitment to Buy: Close the sale by asking the customer to buy or skip ahead and discuss steps to take once the sale is closed. When you feel confident the customer is motivated to buy but is hesitating on a final decision, help move the process forward by creating a chart that weighs the pros and cons of the purchase.

Follow-Up: Assure customers they’ve made the right decision – and build customer loyalty – by excelling at follow-through. Be sure the product is delivered as promised and that it meets or exceeds the customer’s expectations. Earn repeat business by staying in touch with clients and being a valuable resource.

“The sales process can keep you on track,” White said. “As you learn it and use it over and over again, you are able to offer your customer a working relationship in which you are a member of the team, proactively anticipating problems and responding quickly with solutions. It’s that kind of partnership that helps you turn prospects into long-term customers.”

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