A good sample presentation strategy that leads to a sale is a part of an overall good sales strategy.
Sampling, as it often called, is just a portion of the plan.
What else constitutes an effective strategy?
Can we break it down into practical steps?
That's what we're going to explore in this article.
Once you get to know what does a good strategy for sales looks like, you can use your understanding to come up with your own plan.
It's essential to customize a strategy because no 2 salesperson situations are alike.
There are bound to be differences, but with the right customization, they're all manageable.
The message I'm sending across to you is simply this: A good strategy puts the control in your hands, and not in others.
Before we get down to the juicy part, let's get the basics first:
A strategy is a plan of action--a 'game plan' if you will-- which you can execute to get to your desired outcome. A significant shift that I experience when talking about strategy is outlined in the book NEWSELL by Dr. Hewitt Gleeson. In the book, Dr. Gleeson said, many salespersons become discouraged to pursue a plan is because they face REJECTION and what happens when they put the power to CONTROL in their customers' hand.
Huh?!!!
If you think I just speak Spanish then what it actually means is letting the customers control the selling process is not strategic. A good strategy simply means YOU should be in control...
... And you can do that easily with a pure mind shift.
First of all, realize a critical point: You can't control the outcome. Your customer can.
If you realize now that you could not control the outcome then you can only work with one end which you have total control--and which Dr. Gleeson calls 'CHECK!' move--your 'open-ended' action.
What I mean by open-ended action is simply any action which you take will put the ball into your customers' court--you make a move, but it's up to them to react to it. A classic example of this move is asking the question; you throw in the subject, and your customers are free to answer them any way they like...
... And that's strategic because you control the asking; not the answering.
You see, whenever you concentrate on the end result (or CHECKMATE as coined by Dr. Gleeson), you invariably feel the tension and stress most of the time, and when you look closely, you know that the anxiety and stress have only one origin--the desire to control the end-result/outcome. This has created a more broken heart and burnout more than anything else.
In short--NO! But your end result should be something like these:
This strategy has been tested many times, with different products and in the various market; and the results are always the same--this strategy WORKS! Why? Because the salesperson is more than willing to put it to work...
... And frankly; that's all that matter.
A good sales strategy is the one that the whole sales force wants to do and wants to do more without being forced to. Compare this to your current sales philosophy--How different would the outcome of the sale be if you were to adopt this strategy?
The message I'm sending across to you is simply this: A good strategy puts the control in your hands, and not in others.
Before we get down to the juicy part, let's get the basics first:
- Strategy: A Contrarian Definition
A strategy is a plan of action--a 'game plan' if you will-- which you can execute to get to your desired outcome. A significant shift that I experience when talking about strategy is outlined in the book NEWSELL by Dr. Hewitt Gleeson. In the book, Dr. Gleeson said, many salespersons become discouraged to pursue a plan is because they face REJECTION and what happens when they put the power to CONTROL in their customers' hand.
Huh?!!!
If you think I just speak Spanish then what it actually means is letting the customers control the selling process is not strategic. A good strategy simply means YOU should be in control...
... And you can do that easily with a pure mind shift.
- Strategic Move: Doing The Power Switch
First of all, realize a critical point: You can't control the outcome. Your customer can.
If you realize now that you could not control the outcome then you can only work with one end which you have total control--and which Dr. Gleeson calls 'CHECK!' move--your 'open-ended' action.
What I mean by open-ended action is simply any action which you take will put the ball into your customers' court--you make a move, but it's up to them to react to it. A classic example of this move is asking the question; you throw in the subject, and your customers are free to answer them any way they like...
... And that's strategic because you control the asking; not the answering.
You see, whenever you concentrate on the end result (or CHECKMATE as coined by Dr. Gleeson), you invariably feel the tension and stress most of the time, and when you look closely, you know that the anxiety and stress have only one origin--the desire to control the end-result/outcome. This has created a more broken heart and burnout more than anything else.
- Does That Mean I Don't Need End Result?
In short--NO! But your end result should be something like these:
- Send customers updates on products and follow up with a call to ask if they receive it.
- Send a greeting card.
- Send 'white paper' on their subject of interest.
- Do a demo
- Invitation to a talk
- Asking them out for breakfast/lunch/dinner etc...
- Will This Work In Reality?
This strategy has been tested many times, with different products and in the various market; and the results are always the same--this strategy WORKS! Why? Because the salesperson is more than willing to put it to work...
... And frankly; that's all that matter.
A good sales strategy is the one that the whole sales force wants to do and wants to do more without being forced to. Compare this to your current sales philosophy--How different would the outcome of the sale be if you were to adopt this strategy?
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