Sales are an integral part of a company’s overall marketing system. Without proper organization of the sales department and customer service systems, the sales funnel can hit a wall of poor service, greatly reducing the overall effectiveness of marketing efforts. Sales are a business process just like any other, and it’s possible to digitize them using both qualitative and quantitative indicators.
Advanced Sales Technology – Omni-7
The foundation of a company’s sales system is the sales technology and the creation of scripts. Let’s clarify: a script is not just a template for an operator to recite. Primarily, it’s a specific sequence of actions that include mandatory speech modules. However, the content of these modules isn’t strictly fixed and can vary through numerous possible variations.
General Sales Rules
Consider these as fundamental truths or choose to ignore them, but I’ll base it on the fact that general sales rules apply universally across all industries without exception. The zero stage of sales technology is relevant for both incoming and outgoing calls, correspondence, and personal meetings.
- Positive attitude, smile – it’s alright to be grumpy or complain about life at other times.
- Confidence in the product and its usefulness – if you don’t believe in the product, haven’t sold the idea to yourself, you won’t sell it to others.
- Loud, confident, clear speech: avoid filler words, slang, and profanity.
- Stop-words: a list of speech constructions prohibited from usage (to be covered in a separate article).
- Eliminate awkward silences and unnecessary pauses.
- Always have in mind the maximum and minimum goal in any communication.
Sales Technology
Greeting — Qualification — Seizing — Initiative — Identifying Needs — Presentation — Handling Objections — Closing the Deal
First Stage: Greeting
You can’t make a second first impression, so engage immediately. The obligatory elements are:
- Intonation, mood.
- Greeting (“Good day”).
- Name, company name.
- Purpose of the call/readiness to listen/questions.
Starting a call is a big deal.
Lazy and uninterested operators are the Achilles heel of all sales.
Second Stage: Client Qualification
Depending on the situation, communication may follow different scenarios. At the qualification stage, the appropriate behavior for the subsequent script is chosen. This gives us an understanding of the fundamental interest in our product. Possible qualification criteria include:
- Wholesale/retail.
- Incoming/outgoing.
- Target/non-target.
- Hot/warm/cold client.
Third Stage: Seizing Initiative
The essence is to make the conversation manageable from the seller’s side. This is possible only if the seller asks questions. It follows the “KGB” principle (Client Says More): the less the sales manager speaks, the better – fewer chances to say something off-putting, more opportunity for the person to express themselves (give us more information).
The foundation of this module is to explain why questions are asked and get agreement on this. It psychologically frees the sales manager in the dialogue. Objections arising at this or any other stage are generally handled similarly; the schemes will be in a separate section later.
Hearing, or better yet, listening to the customer is half the sale.
Fourth Stage: Identifying Needs
Depending on the product and communication goals, a list of questions (5-6) is created to determine the customer’s needs and select the optimal offer. In general, it’s similar to the popular quiz-marketing technique in online marketing. Questions should be useful and meaningful, leading to specific conclusions and actions.
Fifth Stage: Presentation
Initially, before preparing scripts, a property-benefit table is created. From all the company’s advantages, specific benefits are created for the customer. Based on the preferences from the fourth stage, during the presentation, the seller creates a company presentation, proactively addressing the request. A good presentation can avoid complexities in the following stage.
Sixth Stage: Handling Objections
A matrix of standard objections for processing is created in advance – an objection matrix containing a maximum number of objection variants. Then, in handling objections, the approach used is:
Agreement – Explanation – Question – Redirect
This way, the objections themselves don’t take on a negative connotation: while the person is on the line, they retain interest, but naturally, questions arise about your proposal, which you subtly turn into advantages.
The goal and outcome of the script should always be on your mind.
Having a goal helps avoid situations like “talked for 20 minutes, didn’t agree on anything.”
Seventh Stage: Closing the Deal
The most underestimated stage of sales. A common scenario is when the seller asks and tells everything but fails to close the deal and says goodbye. Whose fault is it, and what to do?
The overall goal of sales technology is to agree on the next step. Therefore, aim for the maximum goal and close on it (make a sale, receive an advance payment, get preliminary agreement, etc.), or if it didn’t work out, proceed with plan “B” and close on the minimum goal (get necessary contacts, agree on a call/meeting/correspondence/quotation).
When announcing the price, the most important thing is to eliminate pauses and conclude the sentence with a well-phrased question.
Example: “The product costs 100 rubles including VAT and delivery. Payment in cash or by card?”
Conclusion on Sales Technology
The 7-stage sales technology allows the development of effective scripts that, once implemented, can increase the conversion of sales department communications with clients and make the sales department’s work process manageable.
