Post-match analysis
Analyse in detail how you succeeded when you were successful, and what went wrong when you failed - learn from your successes and your failures.
Before calling a potential new customer - a prospect - or an existing supplier, we should have in our mind a sequence of logically progressive steps that lead to a conclusion that can only be a sale – a close.
We should, therefore, decide:
- What do we already know about the buyer and his/her business?
- What else do we need to find out?
- How can we find this out?
- What benefits are most likely to appeal?
- What is the most effective way in which we can present these benefits?
- What problems, snags, objections are likely to arise?
- How can we deal with them?
- What sales aids, literature, examples of our work, do we need?
- What is the specific objective to be achieved on this call?
Our checklist for successful creative selling is:
- Focus - we must focus the attention of the customer on what we want to talk about.
- Involvement - we involve the customer by asking questions.
- Need - we must identify the buying motives of customers.
- Suitability - we must match the benefits of our products or service to the buying motives of the customer.
- Objections - objections must be handled.
- Action - remember to ASK FOR THE ORDER (we're bad at this bit).
Good luck.