Section 6 focuses on specific benefits that are important to the prospect, the information that is needed to support claims made to stated benefits, and sales tools such as visual aids that can reinforce them. After the salesperson has gathered all the information needed (i.e., buyer has need, who are the competitors, and what are the specific sales presentation objectives), he or she must determine what specific features/benefits are of interest to the buyer (part A). Those features/benefits of high importance to the buyer and his or her buying motives should be covered first. It may only take one or two benefits to gain commitment. During this stage, the salesperson should be using information (e.g., satisfied clients, success stories) to support the claims for each benefit (part B). The salesperson must be able to support competitive claims for each benefit that he or she discusses with the customer (i.e., how does this benefit compare to your competitors?). The salesperson will not always be asked to provide support for claims for claims he or she makes, but he or she must be prepared to offer support for competitive claims if asked to do so by the customer. Different ways to support competitive claims include testimonials from satisfied customers, third-party information as provided by research studies or trade publications, and any other type of evidence that the salesperson may develop to support his or her claims.
The salesperson should have at sir or her disposal visual sales aids that can help sell a point (section 6, part C in the checklist). salespeople must realize that although what they say is important, it is extremely critical to pay attention to how they say it and how they illustrate it with appropriate sales tools. The salesperson should be cautious with the use of humor, talking care to avoid anything that may be exploitative, tactless, or self-deprecating.
Salesperson should remember that sales tools are to be used only to make the sales message more credible, more clear, and more memorable. They should support the main points in the presentation rather than bombard the prospect with information. Too many illustrations, films, and demonstrations can confuse the prospect and be counterproductive to the sales effort. Module 7 covers sales tools and their value to the sales presentation.
Section 7 addresses the critical first few minutes of the sales call. During the first few minutes of the sales call, the salesperson must establish rapport with the prospect, focus his or her attention on the offering, and make a smooth transition into the presentation. The salesperson must be sure that he or she properly introduces himself or herself when calling on a new prospect. During the first few minutes of the
Checklist asks the salesperson to specify key competitors along with their strengths and weaknesses. By knowing their own product’s strengths and weaknesses as well as those of competitive products, salespeople are better equipped to position their offering competitively. If the prospect is already buying a similar product, knowledge about the current supplier can give the salesperson important insight into which buying motives and product attributes are of likely importance to the buyer.
Section 5 asks the salesperson to determine the objective for his or her sales call. Salespeople must have an objective for each sales call. Many salespeople think there is only one objective and that is to get an order. Other sales objectives do exist. For instance, during an introductory call the objective may be simply to introduce the salesperson and his or her company and to gather information on the buyer’s needs. Eventually, the major sales presentation objective will be to present the proposal for the buyer’s acceptance. After the sale is made, the objective may be to follow up and determine whether the customer is satisfied with the salesperson’s efforts. The salesperson can also look for openings to cover additional objectives. Gwen Tranguillo of Hershey’s always looks for ways to introduce other products in her presentation if the buyer expresses interest. Gwen made a major sales presentation on a Halloween display of king-size candies and found the buyer very interested in adding more king sizes immediately. She shifted gears and gained commitment on the new king-size display and later in the presentation went back to her Halloween proposal. At the very least, the heart of any presentation should be to advance the process toward an order.