Chapter - 8
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Customer oriented selling: The degree to which
salespeople practice the marketing concept by
trying to help their customers make purchase
decisions that will satisfy customer needs
Saxe and Weitz have characterized customeroriented selling as:
The desire to help customers make satisfactory
purchase decisions
Helping customers to assess their needs
Offering products to satisfy those needs
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Describing products accurately
Avoiding deceptive or manipulative influence
tactics
Avoiding the use of high pressure sales
techniques
Research studies have shown that successful
selling is associated with the following:
Asking questions
Providing product information, making
comparisons and offering evidence to support
claims
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Acknowledging the customer’s view point
Agreeing with the customer’s perceptions
Supporting the customer
Releasing tension
Having a richer, more detailed knowledge of
the customer
Increased effort
Self-confidence in one’s own ability
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In order to develop personal selling skills it is
useful to distinguish seven phases of the
selling process
The opening – Initial impressions
Need and problem identification – needs
analysis
Presentation and demonstration – Reference
selling, guarantees, trial order
Dealing with objections
Negotiation
Closing the sale
Follow up
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The opening : Initial impression can cloud later
perceptions, so it is important to consider the
ways in which a favorable initial response can
be achieved
Need and problem recognition: Need analysis
approach suggests that early in the sales
process that sales person should adopt a
question and listen posture
Use open ended questions to make the
customer to talk instead of using close ended
questions
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The Presentation and Demonstration:
Having identified the needs and problems of
the buyer, the presentation provides the
opportunity for the salesperson to convince
the buyer that they can supply the solution
Many sales situations involve risk to the buyer
and the buyer may be reluctant to change from
the present supplier. There are four major
ways by which risk can be reduced:
Reference selling, demonstrations, guarantee
and trail orders
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Dealing with objections: Objections are any
concerns or questions raised by the buyer
The effective approach for dealing with
objections involves two areas
Preparation of convincing answers
Development of a range of techniques for
answering objections in a manner which
permits the acceptance of these answers
without loss of face on the part of the buyer
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Following techniques can be used to
overcome objections – Refer fig 8.2
Listen and do not interrupt
Agree and counter
The straight denial
Question the objections
Forestall the objection – raise the objection
Turn the objection into a trail close
Hidden objections
Start high but be realistic
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Attempt to trade concession for concession
Implement behavioral skills
Buyers’ negotiating skills
Closing the sale:
The ability to close the sale
Sales people to take the initiative
Some sales people are reluctant to close the
sale fearing rejection by the buyer
A major consideration is timing
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Closing techniques which the sales person
can use Refer to fig 8.4
Simply ask for the order
Summarize and then ask for the order
The concession close
The alternative close
The objection close
Action agreement
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Follow up
For most companies repeat business is the hall
mark of success and the follow up call can play
a major role by showing that the sales person
really cares about the customer rather than
only be interested in making sales
E-mail can be used for follow up especially in B
to B situations
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