You Don't Have To Be Great At Sales To Make Sales.
January 19th 2012 11:10
Link: www.theprofitfrog.com
When all you're doing is helping the customer to buy, it's easy.
Today I chose to be inside the garden's "outdoor leisure" department, surrounding myself with lawn mowers, garden hoses, outdoor furniture and pruning shears amongst so many other items.
I am not terribly well versed in these products so I knew it would be a challenge for me should a customer ask me any curly questions, about the lawn management equipment, for example.
Undoubtedly those questions came, when one customer wanted to buy a 4-stroke 4-blade lawnmower. Another wanted a chain saw, and a third wanted a set of long bladed tree loppers. I had to get assistance from my colleagues who work in the department because I couldn't answer their questions.
What I did notice, however, was that I was quite good at the up-sell. Two ladies were examining the eskies, and after several questions and a few discussions between themselves, I was able to convince them of the merits of the more expensive esky with the wheels, handles and greater capacity than the size they originally indicated interest in. They bought a product $60.00 more expensive.
Another customer seemed happy to browse without help, however he did eventually come to ask for advice on what hose to buy based on the price differentiation between one brand's two products. After explaining about hose kink resistance, reinforcement and UV ray protection in the more expensive product and then asking him a series of questions to identify what the hose was for, I could see him focusing more on the expensive one rather than on the cheaper one that he had picked up. He bought the more expensive hose kit.
Even when I was asked a question about the lawn mowers and the customer specifically had his mind made up about the one he wanted, I helped him load it in his trolley - but not before first asking if he had all his lawn maintenance products such as fertiliser, hoses, and even oil for his mower.
While I wasn't able to secure add-on sales, it did stop the customer momentarily as he thought about these additional purchases to which he responded that he had some at home and could manage till next time.
Being great at sales - or even reasonably okay - comes down to asking the right questions. It is all about the questions because for the most part, customers already know what they want. Some just can't articulate it until you present them with an option which clearly does not fit their mental picture. They most often can tell you what they don't want.
It is up to you to ask the right questions to help eliminate the no-good from the great, narrowing down the margin till your questions help the customer to work out what they want to buy without you having to do an extra ounce of selling.
With all the questions you ask, you gain the power over the situation because you become armed with information the customer gave you with which you can use to persuade them to make further purchases, or to up-sell them on more suitable products.
Selling does not have to be hard. Even if you don't know your product that well, you can still ask lots of questions because by doing so you can uncover enough information that you may just be able to direct the customer toward a purchase of a product they may never have considered or would normally not purchase.
Want to know what questions to ask?
Ask the Profit Frog - asktoday@theprofitfrog.com
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