UNIT w C Iz, m (, (, EP fr m 6 " BUYING AND SELL|NG Things have come a long way since the days when peddlers went from door to door setting wares from a pack. Now advertisements pop up as text messages. Goods can be ordered by mail order. We can compare prices, get quotes, check if an item is in stock and place an order without moving away from our computer screen. ln some ways, the methods of buying and setling have undergone a revolution, and in others, tittte has changed since the early 1900s when keywords in sales were service and relotionships. A modern sales force uses a mixture of tried-and-tested techniques and new technology to increase sates. The foundation of modern sales techniques was developed in the 1950s and includes gaining the client's interest, buitding desire by showing product features or giving samples, increasing conviction by comparing the product with competitors or using statistics to hightight benefits and, finally, ctosing the deal, One of the main strategies lor buitding a sotid customer base is through relationship se[[ing. It costs more than five times as much to win a new customer as it does to maintain an existing client. So it makes sense to find ways to encourage customer toyalty. Most people react with suspicion to hard-sell, high-pressure techniques, even ifthey are genuinely interested in the product. lnstead, relationship setting involves a [ow-pressure, soft-sell approach. The salesperson listens carefulty to the needs of a client and works with them to find solutions taitored to their requirements. This involves maintaining regutar contact and buitding trust by keeping promises and being accessible when a customer needs hetp. ln addition to encouraging repeat orders, such an approach promotes good service. This encourages word-of-mouth referrals which can lead to additional sates. Where a real relationship exists between client and supplier, competitors find it more difficult to entice customers away with promises of lower prices or speciaI deats. Modern technotogy complements this approach. A Customer Relationship Management system (CRM) uses software to track interactions between the customer and the departments within the company which are supptying goods. Marketing, Sates and Customer Services can cotlate and access information about customers in order to address their needs quickty and efficiently. Another modern sates technique is called high-probability selting. This uses a detailed series of questions to focus efforts on ctients who activety require the product or service that a company has to se[[. This saves the clients time, and the sales team does not need to prepare a detailed proposat that is untikely to be accepted by the potential customer. Sales techniques need to be adapted in accordance with each customer profile. The most effective techniques use technotogy to modernise traditionaI customer-care methods. The clients are encouraged to feel that they are more than f ust a signature on an order form. Read on Jill Konrath: Snap Selling, Portfotio Penguin, reprint edition 2012 Brian Tracy: The Psychology of Selling, Thomas Nelson, 2010 Geoffrey )ames: How to Say it: Business-to-Business Selling, Prentice Hall Press, 2010 Naomi Klein: No Logo, Fourth Estate, 10th edition 2010 MicheI Chevalier, Geratd Mazzalovo: Pro Logo, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003
