© Vlerick Business School
SALES COMPETITION
WORKSHOP 1: PROFESSIONAL SELLING
5/11/2012
PROFESSIONAL SELLING: THEORY AND
APPLICATION
“Professional selling is the interpersonal
communication process in which a seller
uncovers and satisfies the needs and wants of a
prospect to the mutual, long-term benefit of
both parties.”
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STEPS IN THE SALES PROCESS
1. Lead Generation
2. Lead qualification
3. Needs Identification: SPIN Selling

Situation

Problem

Implication

Need Payoff
4. Feature/Benefit Presentation
5. Marketing Plan and Business Proposal
6. Close
7. Objection Handling
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FIRST IMPRESSION
 You have only one chance to make a favorable first
impression
 Your looks
 Your actions
 Your manner of speaking
 Salespeople must be conscious of the
communication signals they are sending
 Visual
 Vocal
 Verbal/Non-verbal
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Three V’s
LOMBARDI TIME
 Lombardi Time states:
"Show up for every important business meeting 15
minutes ahead of the scheduled meeting time"
 The idea is to use the 15 minutes to:
 Catch your breath
 Collect your thoughts
 Preplan what you want to accomplish in the meeting
and how you'll go about it
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COURTESY AND COMMON SENSE
 Ask permission to sit
 Never clutter the prospect’s desk or floor without
asking his/her permission
 Watch the tone of your voice
 Always be courteous but not overly friendly or
pushy
 Never be presumptuous
© Vlerick Business School
STEPS IN THE SALES PROCESS
1. Lead Generation
2. Lead qualification
3. Needs Identification: SPIN Selling

Situation

Problem

Implication

Need Payoff
4. Feature/Benefit Presentation
5. Marketing Plan and Business Proposal
6. Close
7. Objection Handling
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LOOK FOR CLUES
 Your prospect’s desk can provide clues about their
personality, communication, and work style.
 What could these clues indicate?
 A clean desktop (to-the-point)
 Organized piles on the desktop (project manager)
 Multiple drawers and filing cabinets (detail oriented)
 Papers and clutter (busy, frantic)
 Boxes and piles on the floor (transition)
What clues may show up for different social styles?
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SOCIAL STYLES MATRIX
Analytical
Low
Driver
RESPONSIVENESS
“What I need are practical
suggestions”
• Industrious
• Persistent
• Serious
• Vigilant
• Orderly
“Show me bottom line results”
• Determined
• Demanding
• Thorough
• Decisive
• Efficient
Amiable
Expressive
“Show concern for me and my
High
problems”
• Supportive
• Respectful
• Willing
• Dependable
• Personable
“I like competent, imaginative
salespeople”
• Personable
• Stimulating
• Enthusiastic
• Dramatic
• Inspiring
Low
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High
ASSERTIVENESS
PLANNING PRESENTATION OPENERS
 Openers are introductions
 All sales presentations need effective and brief
introductions
 Salespeople must, in the opener, introduce themselves,
the company, and the reason for calling on the prospect
 Show the prospect that you are aware of his/her situation
and that you have a product that can help
 An effective opening statement is essential to get the
prospect’s attention
 Salespeople sometimes find that a minute or two of
friendly conversation relaxes prospects and makes for an
effective opening strategy (rapport building)
© Vlerick Business School
OPENING THE PRESENTATION
What makes some salespeople standout?
 The best sales professionals know:
 How to emphasize benefits in their presentations
 That the most effective presentations must start and
finish with the prospect’s needs and wants as the
focus
 A key question for salespeople as they endeavor to
maintain their competitive position is to ask:
“What could make the customer more delighted?”
© Vlerick Business School
OTHER TYPES OF OPENERS
 Benefits
 Probing questions
 Third Party referral (AKA- Name dropping)
 Sincere compliment
Which will be best for the different social styles?
© Vlerick Business School
TYPES OF QUESTIONS
Open-ended Questions
Closed Ended Questions
 Broad scoped
 Alternative choice
 Diagnostic
 Narrow scoped
 Single outcome
 Yes or no
 Surgical
 Who, what, where, when how, why
 Can’t be yes or no
© Vlerick Business School
Inquiring
Questions
STEPS IN THE SALES PROCESS
1. Lead Generation
2. Lead qualification
3. Needs Identification: SPIN Selling

Situation

Problem

Implication

Need Payoff
4. Feature/Benefit Presentation
5. Marketing Plan and Business Proposal
6. Close
7. Objection Handling
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THE SPIN QUESTIONING STRATEGY
Situation Questions
• Achieve fact-finding objectives
• Have low selling impact
• Useful at focus of receptivity
Problem Questions
• Achieve uncovering satisfaction objectives
• Have moderate selling impact
• Useful at focus of dissatisfaction
Implication Questions
• Achieve objectives of developing and channeling
dissatisfaction
• Have high selling impact
• Useful at focus of dissatisfaction and focus of
power
Need-payoff Questions
• Achieve objectives of rehearsing and selectively
channeling customer attention
• Have high selling impact
• Useful at focus of dissatisfaction and focus of power
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TRIAL CLOSING
 SOCE questions also have 'closing the sale' benefits
 Trial closing is a process that helps you find out
where a person is in the commitment to buy
 The goal of the questions is to receive a 'Yes'
commitment to move forward in the sale
 The easiest way to formulate a trial close question
is by using an 'If/Then' scenario
© Vlerick Business School
REACTING
 Be empathetic
 Receiving verbal and non-verbal signals that reveal
true needs
 Processing these signals to gain insight into the
prospect’s situation
 Using the information received from signals to
develop probing questions
 Convincing prospects that their needs are being
communicated and understood
 Uncovering latent needs (Not Evident)
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RESPONDING TO TOUGH QUESTIONS
 When your prospect asks you tough questions at
this stage, you should:
 Restate the question
 Ask
 “What do you think?”
 “What makes you ask?”
 Start with a general reply
 Don’t fake it
You must listen to be able to respond!
© Vlerick Business School
EFFECTIVE LISTENING
 Effective listening consists of three discrete stages
in the listening process:
1. Sensing

The actual receipt of messages
2. Processing

Activities that occur in the mind of the listener
3. Responding

Acknowledgement of the receipt of the message
© Vlerick Business School
STEPS IN THE SALES PROCESS
1. Lead Generation
2. Lead qualification
3. Needs Identification: SPIN Selling

Situation

Problem

Implication

Need Payoff
4. Feature/Benefit Presentation
5. Marketing Plan and Business Proposal
6. Close
7. Objection Handling
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SOLUTION SELLING
 Solution selling is the stage at which the
salesperson
 Assumes a knowledgeable role
 Begins to earn the right to be an advisor to the
prospect
 Customizes her presentation of product features and
benefits to the prospect’s specific needs and wants
© Vlerick Business School
FEATURES-BENEFITS INVENTORY FORM
Product: _____________
Product Features
Customer Benefits
Customer Coding
1.
1a.
Customer 1
1b.
Customer 2
1c.
Customer 3
2.
2a.
Customer 4
3.
3a.
Customer 1
3b.
Customer 4
© Vlerick Business School
V = Q/P
Where V = Value, Q = Quality, and P = Price
The value of a delivered product or service increases
as the quality of that product/service increases or the
price of that product/service declines
SELL BENEFITS NOT FEATURES
 Deal only in facts
 Sell the prospect results
 What the product will do--not what it is!
© Vlerick Business School
STEPS IN THE SALES PROCESS
1. Lead Generation
2. Lead qualification
3. Needs Identification: SPIN Selling

Situation

Problem

Implication

Need Payoff
4. Feature/Benefit Presentation
5. Marketing Plan and Business Proposal
6. Close
7. Objection Handling
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MARKETING PLAN
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BUSINESS PROPOSAL
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© Vlerick Business School
STEPS IN THE SALES PROCESS
1. Lead Generation
2. Lead qualification
3. Needs Identification: SPIN Selling

Situation

Problem

Implication

Need Payoff
4. Feature/Benefit Presentation
5. Marketing Plan and Business Proposal
6. Close
7. Objection Handling
29
© Vlerick Business School
TRIAL CLOSE
 After answering all the prospect's questions and
concerns, it is time to trial close again
 The salesperson can ask the prospect any of the
following questions:
 “What do you think?"
 "How does all of this sound?"
 "How do you feel about what I’ve said so far?"
© Vlerick Business School
TRADITIONAL CLOSING TECHNIQUES
 Asking for the Order
 Assumptive Close
 Alternative Choice Close
 Summarizing the Benefits
 The Probability Close
 Continuous Yes
© Vlerick Business School
 Reserving an
Advantage
 Single Benefit Close
 Similar Situation Close
 Price Reduction Close
 Asking for a Trial Order
STEPS IN THE SALES PROCESS
1. Lead Generation
2. Lead qualification
3. Needs Identification: SPIN Selling

Situation

Problem

Implication

Need Payoff
4. Feature/Benefit Presentation
5. Marketing Plan and Business Proposal
6. Close
7. Objection Handling
32
© Vlerick Business School
HANDLING OBJECTIONS
 Effective salespeople are able to:
 Anticipate objections
 Answer them with confidence
 Probe for more concerns
 Quickly get back to motivating the prospect/customer
to make a decision in favor of purchasing
© Vlerick Business School
ANTICIPATING OBJECTIONS
 Salespeople must be able to anticipate:
 Prospects’ objections and prepare answers before
making sales calls
 Questions concerning how the technical aspects of
the product/service solution can help prevent the
occurrence of problems
 Value improvements
© Vlerick Business School
FIVE CLASSIC
OBJECTION-HANDLING TECHNIQUES
 Forestall the objection
 Compensate
 Counter
 Boomerang
 Feel, felt, found
© Vlerick Business School
SALES COMPETITION…NEXT STEPS (1/2)
 Deadline upload videos for qualification round
 November 30, 2012
 Selection of participants for the Vlerick Sales
Competition
 December 7, 2012
 Vlerick Sales Competition
 February 5, 2013
 Starting at 2pm
 Ghent Campus
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© Vlerick Business School
SALES COMPETITION…NEXT STEPS (2/2)
 Workshop 2: Intro in CRM systems
 Monday, December 10, 2012
 6.30PM-8.00PM
 Gent Campus
 Workshop 3: Selling CRM systems
 Thursday, January 17, 2013
 6.30PM-8.00PM
 Gent Campus
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THANK YOU!
DEVA.RANGARAJAN@VLERICK.COM