I cursed my luck because I had no shoes, and then I met a man who had no feet.
Sales are not a result of luck, they are a result of setting goals and performing the actions necessary to attain them. Goals can be short term or long term. Short term goals are to sell the product or service, but long term goals must be to establish a relationship.
The buzzwords of the day are "customer centric" and "customer satisfaction". Companies spend a lot of time trying to determine what the clients want. Much of these thoughts are without consideration that we are all customers and what we want is really quite simple. We want a good product for a good price and we don't want to feel ripped off.
What motivates us to buy? Since I work as an instrument manufacturer and sell services related to analytical methods and instruments this discussion will revolve around what I do, however, the same principles can be applied everywhere. So what do customers want, or what motivates them to buy?
It all starts with an idea. The customer has an idea, or dream to make more money, save money or save time. The idea turns into a desire. The desire is to make more money, save time and effort, and to do things others can't do.
With laboratory instrumentation the desire translates into an analytical instrument or technique. But the buyer is not buying an instrument. No, he is buying the results of all the samples that will be analyzed with it and the hope that a profit will be made. This profit will be realized by money, time savings, or both.
So, how does a sales person selling an analytical instrument make a profit? By understanding what the client/customer needs. To do this the salesman must understand the customer. He must know the customer's business. He must know why the customer would need what he is selling, what he will use it for. He must know who the customer's clients are, who the customer's customers are, and who the customer's competitors are.
The salesman must be an expert at the equipment he is selling. He must know why his prospectives client would need it and all potential uses so that he can seek out potential clients.
The salesman must know all about his competitor's products, not so he can compare them, but so he can determine a differentiator that sets his product apart from the competition. He must not sell on price alone.
Most importantly, the salesman must provide a quality service. He must provide a value to the client greater than the money that the client pays. The depends exclusively on the quality of the product sold. The product must be of value to the client. It must work. The laws of compensation cannot be broken. Follow these rules and you will succeed.
William Lipps
http://www.oico.com
(979) 690-1375 ext. 230
wlipps@oico.com
One Extraction, One Dilution, One Injection, Automation solutions.
Segmented Flow, Flow Injection, Discrete Analyzers, TOC Analyzers, Sample Introduction, Gas Chromatography, Gel Permeation, Purge & Trap
Expert Methods Consulting
http://www.williamlipps.com
Classical Wet Chemistry, HPLC, IC, GC, GC/MS, SFA, FIA, Discrete, TOC, TOX, UV-VIS, IR, Osmometry, Petroleum, Proximate Analysis, Extractions, Digestions
Source: www.articlecity.com
