Salespeople know that they're supposed to sell to the customer's needs. Here is the classic?and tragically wrong?way they usually learn to do it: Uncover the first need. Begin a product presentation Evgeni Malkin Womens Jersey , covering features and benefits, and then attempt to uncover another need and then give more product talk, etc.
Research shows that presentations like this are 25 percent less effective than those in which a thorough needs assessment is followed by a summary of all of the customer's needs. You will be far more successful if you begin by uncovering and agreeing on at least three relevant needs that the customer perceives as important. Only then should you begin a product presentation tailored to address those needs.
Never present your product until you have agreed on at least three important and relevant needs.
Here's how to do that:
? Ask questions designed to draw out the customer's needs'specifically, problems or opportunities that can be best addressed by the unique capabilities of your company or your products.
? Take notes while the customer talks. This shows that you're a good listener and that you actually care.
? Summarize and reach agreement on needs. When you believe you have uncovered at least three strong and relevant needs Kris Letang Womens Jersey , summarize them and check your understanding with the customer. In this way, you reach agreement on the customer's needs. Use this format to gain agreement:
?As I understand it, you are looking for a way to ?_____, ______ Conor Sheary Womens Jersey , and ______. Is that correct? If the customer says no, ask more questions and do more listening. Only after the customer agrees that you correctly understand those three important needs should you begin to present the capabilities of your company and your product. You are now prepared to make that presentation in a far more powerful way by focusing directly on issues the customer already has agreed upon as vital problems or opportunities.
In The Field:
Financial consultant Brad Martin describes his experience with the Action Selling approach to needs identification as a revelation and a radical departure from the way he was originally trained.
Martin works for a large financial services company. Like many salespeople, he was taught to respond to each customer need as quickly as he was able to uncover it. So he would spot a need, present a product feature and benefit to address it Tom Kuhnhackl Womens Jersey , and then fish for another need. ?That worked all right,? Martin said, ?but sometimes I ran into trouble by presenting capabilities that didn't quite match the prospect's needs when they were considered as a whole. This meant I later had to deal with many more objections than necessary.?
The problem is that customer needs do not exist individually, in a vacuum. They are interrelated.
Martin learned in Act 4 of the Action Selling sales training program to uncover and agree on at least three needs before presenting his solutions. ?Now my sales presentations are much better focused Greg McKegg Womens Jersey , and fewer objections surface,? he said. ?I am closing a significantly higher percentage of my prospects.?
Have you ever made a bad hire and wondered how it happened? The resume looked good, the candidate seemed to interview well ? he or she said all the right things ? yet after you made the hire you realized you made a big mistake. How could that happen? What went wrong?
Recruiting good candidates is not an easy task for any manager. The process is complicated. Candidates often know what to say and do to get the job. And the process is going to get more difficult.
As the economy continues to improve, your current employees who were concerned about changing jobs during the recent recession are now starting to look for other opportunities. According to a recent America Online study Bryan Rust Womens Jersey , 58 percent of the 5,000 respondents said they may or definitely will start a job search when the economy improves. At the same time, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports by the year 2010, we will be short 10 million workers in the United States alone.
So what should you do? Make recruitment the focus of everyone in the organization.
But just saying that everyone should be involved won't get it done. As with all things Justin Schultz Womens Jersey , when managers spotlight an issue and measure the results, good things often happen. So here are seven additional secrets to improve your overall recruitment program:
Look at your organization. Ask yourself, why would anyone want to work here? Why do you? What makes your organization attractive? Organizations are good at promoting themselves as part of the sales process, and you should do the same with recruitment. In recruitment Olli Maatta Womens Jersey , you are selling the organization to prospective employees. So take a hard look at the things that distinguish your organization and promote them. Show candidates why they should want to work for you. At the same time, if there are skeletons in your closet (e.g. recent layoffs or bad publicity) be prepared to address them in the job interview. Good candidates do their homework, and they will probably know about this.
Profile your ideal candidate. This sounds simple, but so often employers do not know which candidate will be successful in their organization and which one will fail. Knowing this is critical. Often we start the recruitment process without truly understanding what we are looking for. Job descriptions are helpful. They define the education Mario Lemieux Womens Jersey , experience and tasks the new hire will perform. What they do not do is identify the traits, those qualitative factors that tell you who will fit and who will not. To do this, ask yourself these questions: What type of person is most successful in our organization? What type isn't? A good tip is to profile your most successful employees. What makes them successful? Get your employees involved in this process. They often have great insights.