When the sales month closes we can hear many excuses and justifications to explain what could not, was not wanted or done efficiently, without modifying the present result and the worst thing is that it continues to happen in the future.
This aspect is essential for those who must make decisions for sales management and unavoidably also for those who currently sell or are about to start in the profession.
Through the analytical process that each potential buyer or customer inexorably carries out since their interest is awakened due to a need or problem that is unsatisfied, something very important has changed so that they can make their best purchasing decisions.
In order to avoid the typical conceptual confusion that is generated between marketing and sales, let us know that marketing is the one who permanently generates, develops and promotes new ways of being happier and making the lives of potential consumers more successful in each market and niche.
Then, when defining the strategy to achieve this, the sale enters the scene, which is precisely the one who achieves the previously defined marketing strategy to materialize, generating the previously established results.
To begin to delve into the subject, let's analyze below which are the five stages of the analytical process through which we all go without exception and at different levels of consciousness, each time we are motivated to buy a product or hire a service:
- Interest in satisfying a need or solving a problem that we have Identify clearly what are the aspects of said needs or problems we want to satisfy or solve, respectively Discover a source that provides us with that product or services "tailored" to what we need or care Increase in importance in our desire to purchase that finally leads us to the next stage Make and execute our best purchase decision.
We know that the essential responsibility of the management of every professional seller consists in contacting each of the most qualified profiles of individuals in the market on a daily basis who can become clients of their offer.
Applying the techniques of "prospecting" should generate an important and growing portfolio of qualified opportunities who can be interviewed and perform their role in a highly productive manner during all months of the year.
In each of your daily interviews with each potential buyer or client, you must apply the " professional sales techniques " that allow you to induce them to go through each of the five stages previously described in order to always make their best sales decision.
Its strength is both in both aspects and in its update about what is inherent in the people who will potentially be able to buy from you in your stock market.
The new strengths of our potential buyers
Since I started in professional sales management I discovered that my knowledge, sales techniques and above all my permanent updating were my greatest strengths, and over time I discovered the value of being correct in this statement for its contribution to my management in all these years and the total certainty that it will continue to be so in the future.
The special focus placed on current or potential consumers in different market niches have shown me a sensible evolution in the last two decades.
Through my seminars and articles, I have reflected the fact that "people don't like to be sold." They always prefer to make their best decisions in the pursuit of your satisfaction as in the solution of your problem.
To this key aspect we must add the evolution and ease of access to the Internet, which has given them an excellent tool to investigate and compare the best options that exist in the market, both locally and internationally.
Since the appearance of Google, just by typing what worries them in the search engine, they access several pages of the site, each with ten sites that respond and provide the best solutions for your concern.
Then, with a simple "click" of the mouse, they open different pages that wonderfully inform you what they offer in relation to your interest.
This is how he learned to be clearer and more specific in his searches, helping him to clarify and understand his requirements more objectively.
The most important thing is that you also compare and choose online the best options you find in each search, always in order to find the best price, the best shopping facilities, and even the closest place to your home or with delivery to your most convenient address.
Graphics, photographs and videos are wonderful virtual sources in your hands to study each option and approach or specify the best solution there: "your purchase decision with almost total security and satisfaction".
The approach to the solution is due to the fact that the value or complexity of many products and services require from the consumer a direct and physical appreciation to carry out their purchase, to access the answers or queries they need, so many times it cannot be specified online.
The effect of this evolution on buyers in sales management
All the aforementioned aspects in consumer habits generate an effect on those of us who have the non-delegable responsibility to provide satisfaction through the most efficient and effective way.
In order to share which are the aspects that directly affect sales management in the face of this inexorable advance and evolution of the Internet, the following are mainly described:
- The potential buyer or client comes with the clearest and most objective idea of what they require, which facilitates the management of the seller to establish what he really wants to buy; In the vast majority of cases, the knowledge acquired in the search for the potential buyer They far surpass those of the traditional seller regarding the product or service, characteristics, price, conditions, other similar product or sales options Due to inefficient (or non-existent) initial training and their scant updating, many of the questions they ask Regarding the characteristics and benefits of the product or service that interests you, they do not obtain the answers required by the potential buyer, preventing them from advancing to the materialization of their purchase.The objections they raise with the valuable information obtained,They cannot be answered by the traditional salesperson to eliminate or minimize them correctly, thus missing many daily sales opportunities.The most professional salespeople of the competition in each field who can give you the answers to your questions as well as an accurate treatment of your objections they end up being the providers chosen and recommended by satisfied consumers and new customers.
These important changes in preferences and consumer behavior due to the continuous and inexorable advance of the Internet conditions sales management towards a new paradigm.
To deny it or not accept it, would be to do the same thing that the Swiss watch industry did in the 1970s when it did not initially want to accept quartz as the most efficient precision mechanism for measuring time and left the door open for Japan and China to meet. will take over the international market with this new technology.
A few years later when he appreciated the effect of his mistake in defending his old paradigm that the most accurate watches were Swiss-made mechanics and not accepting the new paradigm shift provided by the quartz movement, it was already too late.
Conclusions
The sale is and will continue to be the key management that contributes to the success of any business or activity according to the efficiency and professionalism in its exercise.
Faced with this new paradigm that sales management faces, based on the excess of information on the Internet for the benefit of the consumer, one can act in a different way.
Those who ignore or reject it, something similar to what was said above regarding Switzerland and its watch industry will happen to them. This will cause them to continue producing low monthly productivity in their sales results, by not deepening and strengthening in the aspects described in their management.
Traditional salespeople who intend to continue exercising their role without having yet discovered "what it does when it does it", and even more so if they do not know what I describe about this new scenario, may end up looking for another profession.
My explanation for this serious statement is due to the fact that the preferences and strengths acquired today do not give room to those who intend to sell but who are behind in this aspect, since by ignoring these changes in the behavior of their current and potential customers, they leave in evidence that they only care and worry about selling even at the cost of their total satisfaction.
And even if you try to hide it or disguise it, this is noticeable with the naked eye and within a few moments of starting the face-to-face interview with the traditional seller.
The other path lies in knowing and acting correctly in this regard, since any change or improvement in management in these aspects will result in a gradual positive change and improvement in the results obtained, avoiding feeding our own competitors in the market that are already strengthened to serve their potential buyers and clients as they demand and deserve today.
Any difference between the current and future preferences of the buyer with the training and updating of the seller is the key that must be adjusted until a perfect harmony is achieved. Otherwise, the business or activity will go down a path with many risks and with no way out.
But this no longer depends on the author of this article but now happens to be in the decision of each of those who sell and especially those who lead the management of their sellers.
Recommendations:
Sales Books:
- The Professional Selling Professional Retail Selling Keys to a Successful Selling Strengths to Professional Selling
Sales Reports:
- How to Become a Successful Salesperson (Free) Why Do People Buy? Effective Sales Arguments Professional Sales Techniques Your Effective Sales Management Method
Professional Sales Training:
Sales Consulting:
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