While there are many customer pain points, I think it is a good idea to just remind you of a few. The following is good advice for a new sales manager.
The key to pass on to your salespeople is to build such a great relationship with the customer and value in the product that the customer trusts the salesperson to give them a fair price upfront. Other than that, tell your salespeople to hold out their hand and the customers will shake it. It is amazing how often it works!
Everyone has heard the above before, but HOW do you do it?
The most successful way that I found was to ignore the product and talk about the customers’ favourite topic: Themselves!
Once you find common ground, customers tend to drop their salesperson guard and you are seen as less likely to mess them around. The next best spot to further the rapport building is during the product demonstration. If your salespeople can link something the customers said at the start, back to the product and provide a good recommendation to them, they will trust you even further, as it shows that your salespeople are genuinely interested in them.
The next part is the price. You need to give the customer a fair discount, as they may still shop with you (depending on the product). As long as the price you gave them is reasonable, in comparison to the price they got elsewhere, they will still come back to you because they like you. You also need to throw in a couple of non-tangible benefits related to your product which no one else will offer.
At the end of the meeting/presentation, they should ask the customer when they would like to be followed up. Whatever they say, it is imperative that you do the follow-up when you say you will because:
1. The customer will be blown away that you have actually done what was agreed (as most salespeople don’t). The customer will probably not remember the arrangement, until you remind them, and then they will be impressed.
2. It shows them that you value them as a customer – that they are not just another sale and that they matter. Salespeople typically invest a lot of time with a customer at the start, but then don’t follow up as the customer has asked – and that always amazes me.
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Extract from the book – ‘Sales Manager Reset’. Copyright © MMXVII Allan Lorraine ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any informational storage or retrieval system without the expressed written, dated and signed permission from the author.