Unit 5: Selling

Types of selling:
1.
Personal Selling: Any form of direct contact between a
salesperson and a customer.
2.
Retail Selling: The salesperson answers customers’ questions
about the product or its features.

Types of Selling Cont.
3.
Business-to-Business Selling: Take place in a
manufacturer’s show room or in a customer’s place.
3.
Telemarketing: Selling over the phone.
Goals of Selling: help customers make buying decisions,
creates profitable relationships.
A.

B.
less expensive to keep current customers happy than to make
new customers.
Consultative Selling: Provides solutions to customers’
problems by finding products that meet their needs.
C.
Feature Benefit Selling: Matching characteristics of a
product to a customer’s needs and wants.
1.
Product Features: Physical or extended attributes of the
product.
2.
Customer Benefits: personal satisfaction a customer gets from a
product.
D.
Customer Buying Motives: What motivates customers to buy
Hi Sarah
E.
Customer Decision Making: Some customers need no help from
salespeople, and others require time and effort

Types of customer decision making:
Extensive Decision Making: Used when there has been little or no
previous experience with an item.
1.
EX:
Hi Erin
2.
Ex:
Limited Decision Making: Used when a person buys
goods and services that he or she has purchased
before but not regularly.
3.
Ex:
Routine Decision Making: used when a
person needs little information about a
product.

Pre-Approach: preparation for face-to-face encounter with
potential customers.
A.
Product Information:

Find info through experience, written publications, &
other people.

Businesses offer discounts to employees so they can test
merchandise.

Labels provide info for clothing items and prepackaged
goods.
Industry Trends: sales people read periodicals to gain insight
into the industry.
Prospecting: looking for new customers.
B.
C.
1.
2.
3.
Employer leads: firms employ telemarketing teams to generate
leads.
Directories: lists businesses that may be potential customers
Newspapers: provide good leads for some salespeople.
4.
Commercial Lists: salespeople buy lists of potential
5.
Customer Referrals: satisfied customers give salespeople
6.
Cold canvassing: potential customers are selected at
customers from companies specializing in categorizing
people.
the names of other people who might buy the product.
random.
D.
Preparing for the Sale in Business-to-Business Selling:
pre-approach depends on ifthe sales call is with a previous
customer or a new one.
E.
Preparing for the sale in retail selling:
1.
Straightening, rearranging, and replenishing the stock.
2.
Adjusting price tickets before and after special sales.
E.
Preparing for the sale cont.
1.
Learning where stock is located and how much is
available.
2.
Arranging displays.
3.
Keeping the selling and display areas neat and
clean.
F.
Company Policies and Training:
1.
Training: 4-step process used by sales managers who are
responsible for training new sales personnel.
2.
Compensation and Sales Quotas: salespeople are
compensated by straight commission, straight salary, or
salary plus commission.

Sales quotas: dollar or unit sales goals set to
achieve in a specified period of time.
3.
Legal and Ethical Issues: sales associates may
engage in hard-selling tactics, may lie to a
prospective customer.

Selling process: matching customer needs and wants to
features and benefits of a product or service.

Seven Steps of the Selling Process:
1.
Approaching the customer-greeting the customer face to
face.
2.
Determining needs-learning what the customer is looking
for to decide what products to show and which product
features to present first
3.
Presenting the product- educating the customer
about the product’s features and benefits.
4.
Overcoming objections-learning why the
customer is reluctant to buy, providing info to
remove uncertainty, and help the customer to
make a satisfying buying decision.
5.
Closing the sale-getting the customer’s positive
agreement to buy.
6.
Suggestion selling-suggesting additional
merchandise or services that will help your
customer enjoy the purchase.
7.
Relationship building-maintaining contact with
the customer after the sale

Approaching the customer

3 purposes:
 begin conversation
 establish a relationship
 focus on the product.
The Approach in Business-to Business Selling:
A.
depends on prior dealings with the customer or the
pre-approach.
The Approach in Retail Selling:
B.


quick approach
undecided customers=encourage them to look around.
I.
The Three Methods of Approach in
Retail Selling

Service Approach: asks the customer if he
or she needs assistance.

Greeting Approach: welcomes the
customer to the store.

Merchandise Approach Method: asks questions or
makes comments about a product in which the customer
shows interest.

Using Conversation Skills: Approaches customer and
starts talking about the merchandise.
I.
When to Determine Needs:
Example of determining wrong needs:

Salesperson: “This is one of our most popular tennis
rackets. It’s perfect for you- the grip is the correct size and
the large sweet spot can improve your game.”

Customer: “That’s very interesting; but, I’m not buying the
racket for myself. It’s actually a gift for my nine-year-old
daughter.”
II.
How to Determine Needs:
Three methods:

Observing: look for buying motives that are
communicated nonverbally.

Nonverbal communication: is expressing yourself
without words.
Listening: pick up clues to the customer’s needs that you

can target for the product presentation.
Questioning and Engaging the Customer: 1st ask
general questions about the intended use of the
product and any previous experience with it.
1.

Use words like: who, what, when, where, why, and how.
IV.
How to Refine Your Questioning:
Open-ended questions: more than a yes or no
answer.

Do’s and Don’ts Guidelines:
1. Do ask open-ended questions that encourage
customers to do the talking.
2. Do ask clarifying questions to make sure you
understand customers’ needs.
3. Do not ask too many questions in a row.
Makes customers feel they’re being crossexamined.
4. Do not ask questions that might embarrass
customers or make them defensive.