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Pearls of wisdom about selling techniques

By Jim Odom

Bruce Pearl is the Basketball coach for the men's team at the University of Tennessee. I heard him tell a TV interviewer that he tells his team to, "Focus on the PROCESS not on the END RESULT". He has achieved a new level of success since he has been at Tennessee for the past few years. This year, Tennessee was one point and 3.8 seconds away from going to the Final Four. No Tennessee men's basketball team had ever made it to the Elite Eight until this year. Therefore, I am going to call these tips, "pearls" of wisdom.

Remember that it's the LITTLE things that count. Something as simple as how your business smells can sometime make a customer want to acquire the product you are selling. We want to appeal to all the senses. Sometimes it's how well prepared we are to answer their questions. The process begins long before the customer gets to the gallery. Here is the "process" to a sale:

1. Preparation

This means being prepared both mentally and physically. Dressing and looking professional are very important. You only have one chance to make a good first impression on a customer. Better to over-dress than to dress too casually. Customers will ask your opinion if they feel you are professional. Make sure you get ready to sell before getting to work by leaving all your personal problems at home. Put a smile on your face before greeting that first customer.

The more you know about the product you are selling, the more likely the customer is to trust you. The more they trust you, the more likely you are to make a sale. Also, know your inventory. It's even important to know where your inventory is located in your business. If you come in after a day off, look to see if things have been moved. The more intelligent you can sound when demonstrating your product, the more apt you are to make a sale.

2. Greeting

Greeting is possibly the most important of the steps in the sales process. Why?....You only get one chance to make a good first impression. With qualifying and closing, you will have more than one opportunity to succeed. If you give the customer the wrong impression about your ability or whether or not he will enjoy working with you, the opportunity for a sale is lost.

Act enthusiastically. Stop whatever you are doing to make the customer feel welcome. If you are on the phone when a customer comes in, put the caller on mute or hold and tell the customer you will be with them in just a moment. Customers want to do business with someone who enjoys their job and projects enthusiasm. Greet the customer quickly. Don't let the customer feel unimportant or like they are an intrusion on whatever you were doing. Stand up and step from behind the desk or counter to greet the customer. The desk or counter becomes a barricade between you and the customer. Remain standing and near the customer during their entire visit to your business. Going back to the desk indicates you are finished with them. VERY IMPORTANT, Do not ask questions that the customer can answer, "no". Examples of questions NOT to ask: "Can I help you?"...."Is there anything in particular you are looking for?"... Can I help you find something?"...."Would you like for me to show you the newest product?"..."Would you like me to show you my favorite product?"... "Are you familiar with our products?" ... If one of their possible answers is, "NO" or, "NO, I'm just looking.", then don't ask that question in that way.

Instead ask open ended questions that require the customer to give you more than a one word answer. Examples are: "Let me show you the newest product...What brings you in to the store today? What kind of product are you looking for?"....etc.

3. Sales presentation

Immediately after the greeting, the next step in the sales process is giving a professional presentation. We are also multitasking here. As you give the presentation you are establishing yourself as a professional and beginning to build a relationship with the customer. You will find that other of the topics in the sales process begin to overlap. While you are giving the presentation, you may BEGIN building rapport and qualifying. It's important that you not start the qualifying process too early and it's VERY IMPORTANT that you not start closing too early. Closing too early is like asking for someone's hand in marriage on the first date. They will either not take you seriously or they will RUN.

4. Engage the customer Build Rapport (relationship) with the customer

This is a very important and often overlooked part of the selling process. Many sales professionals attempt to close a sale before they have built the the trust and confidence of their customers. Engaging the customer actually begins as soon as the customer enters your place of business. Many of the processes listed here are overlapping. Just don't make the mistake of beginning to ask closing questions until you have built the proper relationship with the customer.

6. Ask qualifying questions

Now it's time to start the qualifying process. Up until now, you have tried to avoid asking the customer questions that he might answer "no" to. When you begin to qualify the customer, now you have to take a chance that he WILL say "no" to you. You have to begin to find out if they are a "buyer" or a "looker".

The secret to qualifying is LISTENING. You need to ask questions, yes, but you need to listen to the customer and learn from what they are saying. Listen for clues to their ability to purchase a more expensive item than most buyers. Also, try to make the customer "visualize" your product in their home. Ask them something like, "Can you see this in your home/driveway/patio, etc. If they are really interested, this question will allow the customer to visualize owning your product. This is an important step in the selling process. Of course, you may also get an answer like, "Oh, I'm not really thinking of purchasing now. I don't really have a place picked out for this now. I'm just looking." At least you now know that they are not a serious buyer AT THIS TIME. Don't give up on them too soon. They still need your attention and maybe they will develop into a buyer at a later time. Continue to treat them professionally, but you may want to move to a different customer for now.

7. Close the sale

During the qualifying process, you may have determined they are a serious buyer. The way they answered you qualifying questions determine if it is now time to begin closing the sale. Begin by asking "soft" closing questions like size and color. If they seem to agree or mention that they like a specific size or color, move to the "hard" closing questions. Those questions are pointed more towards how the customer will pay or take delivery. "Will you be taking this with you, or shall we ship it?" "Do you want to use a check or a credit card for payment?"... These are just a couple of examples of hard closing questions.

Remember that if you do not ask for the sale, the customer will feel like that you are unsure whether they should proceed or not. Failing to ask for the order is the biggest single mistake most sales professionals make. Fear of failure is the chief reason. Up until now, you have become friends with the customer. Now it's time to ask them for money in exchange for the product you are selling.

This is not the time for fear. If you work on commissions, this is where you earn it. Not asking for the sale is a lot like flirting with a pretty girl and then not asking her out. (I'm married, so don't tell my wife I used that analogy)... but you get the idea. Asking for the sale is the hardest part of the process but the most rewarding when the customer says yes.

Remember to focus on the process, not on the end result.

Contributor's Note

I sell art in a retail environment. You can use these techniques in almost any selling situation including phone sales

It's good to have long term goals, but it's easier to focus on what will help you attain that goal

Obviously I am not a mathematical genius

Hi, Jim (Sorry - can't even blame my sight so it must have been my short term memory) - all very good points but the most important of all (possibly number 5?) is DO NOT SELL.

People love to buy and they love to have a reason to buy and, guess what, they do not have to like you to buy from you. This is one of the biggest falacies that has crept in to the selling training over the past 10 to 15 years.

In a sales presentation, fact finding is the NUMBER ONE aspect on which to concentrate. Forget building a rapport, it isn't important because the person you should be talking about is the person you are presenting to. He doesn't care if you live in the same town, go to the same church or belong to the same club. He cares about only one thing - the problem that you have identified that he needs to cure.

One of my most successful trainees had a simple introduction to prospects - "Hi, my name is Chantal. I have looked at your advertising, it isn't working, is it?"

My own introduction was "Hi, I'm Arthur. I want to show you how to save money next month and where to find new cash customers. Can we speak now or should I come back tomorrow?"

Chantal simply challenged the prospect while I gave an alternate close. many of my clients, even after several years, did not know me well enough to say whether they liked me or not - but they liked the money I saved and made for them - our relationships remained strictly business.

Arthur, please don't attribute this wonderful intel to Frederick. He is brilliant but couldn't have possibly written an intel THIS brilliant.

Now more seriously, depending on the product, you may be right about people not needing to like you to buy from you. Our product is fine art. In all the training that I do, getting the customer to like you, is the one thing I harp on the most.

I have one town where we have multiple locations within walking distance. I have seen times when a customer would come in one location and spend an hour talking to one art consultant, then walk down the street to buy. I firmly believe it was because they didn't "connect".

One example is a customer who visited one of my galleries. He was in a wheel chair. He left and visited a second gallery where the art consultant told the man that he had a twin brother who was wheel chair bound. This art consultant offered to bring the art down to eye level for him, and he ended up purchasing 13 pieces of art totaling over $20,000. I think it was because they "connected', or if you will, he liked the second art consultant.

I totally agree with your point about DO NOT SELL. Sorry I didn't bring that up in the intel and thank you for pointing that out.

Nice site and presentation, plus good points to ponder. However, paging down 2+ times to read words that contain articles and conjunctions are a bit toooo much for me. Generally, if it is in outline form, it sticks longer :)
Sandra Gibson
Power Play Multi Media Productions
South Central Michigan Virtual Tour Provider
http://www.powerplaymmp.com

I agree about the paging down 2+ times. I was trying to make this the be all end all treatise on the subject. I actually edited it down a bit... hence the missing #5 everyone points out. I thought about going back and editing the numbering after it was pointed out, but that would have made the intel perfect in every way... I'll just leave with the one flaw (two if you count too long)

I have found that there are two kinds of people. Those who wonder what happened and ask where's #5?, those who make things happen (I will make #5) and those who can't count!

5. Pre sell. I have noticed something about the most successful businesses. They have NO salespeople. If you go to Walmart's you are already sold on what you are going to buy before you ever walk in the door. Walmart's has only two types of sales. Pre sold and Impulse sales. It's no accident that they wear uniforms which say "May I help you. They don't try to sell you anything and guess what... that makes you buy more not less.

They arrange their store to suggest something to buy as you are going to get what you went there to buy. Impulse sales are usually high margin items. Look at all the goodies by the checkout stand.

Even the returns desk is a disguised effort to get you in the store again. Their total marketing is geared to getting you in the store right down to the landscaping in the parking lot. Then they let the store do the work.

Thanks for adding my number 5. I wouldn't have mentioed pre-selling but you make an excellent point...especially about Frederick. Oh, and one more point about Walmart etal not selling: they primarily sell necessities of life. Of course there are impulse purchases galore after you get inside. I suppose my training outline is not as universal as I first had imagined. My sales are geared more towards customers who come to a location where they purchase things they may WANT but not what they NEED.

I think that there are some very valuable tips in that article, Jim! Especially the part about making a good first impression is key. People remember that moment - possibly more than any other. (At least, that is my own experience.)

So true, you only get one chance

Hi, Jim (got it right that time!)
Having spent most of my young life with a blind father it makes me very sad that you think that bringing art down to a wheelchair bound person is note worthy.
I well remember when I took the family to a zoo and asked for a braille guide. As though it was the most natural thing in the world, my father and those who wanted to stay with him, were taken round the zoo and into the cages of most of the animals by one of the keepers. We were all allowed to feel the animals, hold those that were small enough and have any other hands on experience my father requested.
When I went shopping with my father it was quite normal for special care to be taken so that he was able to handle and test any merchandise before he bought it.
When I spent some time in a wheel chair, it was a natural reaction for people to bring things down to my level if I wanted to see them.
Nowadays, if I take someone out in a wheel chair they are often ignored - in a café, for example, I will be aked "what does he want?" as though the wheel chair indicated imbecility.
One of the things that drives me from shops is the 'too helpful' staff. I detest being asked 'Can I help you?' while I am looking around. When it comes to people selling to me on my doorstep, face to face, I don't give a rat's derriere who is selling it - I want to know which of my problems it will solve.
In the world of art, I own some very nice pictures but I bought them because I like them and the salesman was bright enough to wait for me to make my choice. When I bought 'Rourkes Drift' I was delighted when the salesman said 'Not really' when I asked him if he would like the picture in his lounge - it showed me that he cared more about what I wanted than what he could earn from me. I also bought 'End of the Day' because it was the picture he said he would have in his lounge.
I never asked his name and never met him again but I have had those pictures for over twenty years now.

The reason I thought it noteworthy to mention the art consultant bringing the art down to eye level is to point out how he "connected" with the customer, not that I thought this was above the "call of duty". Many times, a sincere comment about a mutual issue or common interest, can be an ice breaker. The common interest was that he knew how his brother felt when product was out of reach and tried to make the customer comfortable.

Thank you for sharing these pearls, Jim. Over the years, I have sold Tupperware, Insurance, Amway, Singer sewing Machines, GMC trucks,Lawn and Garden equipment and Ford Cars and Trucks. Most sales are lost, because the salesperson doesn't ask for the order. If and only If they have followed the process.
Best wishes.
Frederick

That makes it more clear why the Old Coot wanted to give you credit for the intel...He knows that with that resume, you could have done even a better job

Thanks for following and all your timely comments.

You are more than kind, Jim. I am a selftaught artist and would have gladly given up all of the other sales experiences to be able to know and sell art.
Best to you.
Frederick

You need to post something you have done. I don't think I have seen any of your work. I went back and took a new look at your profile...nothing about your art there Go ahead and show it off.

Thank you again, Jim.
If you check my intels,"One Piece Of paper A Month" and "From Tree To Rocking Horse", you'll see a little of my work.
I'll do some others soon.
Best wishes.
Frederick

I found "One Piece Of paper A Month", but not the other one. There is a lady here in Gatlinburg that has a similar painting style and sells quite well in one of the local galleries.

I like the bud vase, that takes an artistic flair as well

Thanks for the link. I searched the data base for the two examples Frederick mentioned and only found one. We may need to get Frederick's autograph while he is still humble

Humble farm boy has always been my moto, Jim although that usually brings laughter. I don't understand why!
The titles of two art related intels are,"Mother Nature Makes It Different" Oct.26, 2009 and "Woodcarving From Tree To Rocking Horse", Sept.1,2009.
Thanks again for your interest.
Best wishes.
Frederick

frederick Apr 15, 2010 11:17

***** Outstanding. It's up to 4 and 1/2 now. We'll get it to 5 stars.

It's really quite ironic that this intel used to only be rated three and a half stars. So I wrote an intel titled "Three and a Half Stars, You Have to be Kidding". Now this intel gets a high rating and people are probably wondering why (even with tongue in cheek) I wrote the intel complaining of only 3 1/2 stars. I never was "really" complaining, I just have a weird sense of humor.

Stay tuned for my next article. It's along the same lines as your second one about low ratings. Should be posted soon!

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