Professional Selling Chapter 6:

Types of Sales Communications:

1. Canned Presentations 2. Written Sales Proposals 3. Organised Sales Dialogues and Presentations

8 Dimensions of value:

1. Economic 2. Guidance and advice 3. Time 4. Quality 5. Simplicity 6. Emotional 7. Image 8. Relational

5 parts of an effective sales proposal:

1. Executive Summary 2. Customer needs and proposed solution 3. Seller Profile 4. Pricing and Sales Agreement 5. Implementation and Timetable

Sales Dialogue template (9)

1. Prospect information 2. Customer value proposition 3. Sales call objective 4. Linking buying motives, benefits, support info, reinforcement methods 5. current supplier 6. beginning of sales dialogue 7. Anticipated prospect questions and objections with planned responses 8. Earn prospect commitment 9. Building through follow up action

5 important dimensions of for evaluating sales proposals:

1. Reliability 2. Assurance 3. Tangibles 4. Empathy 5. Responsiveness

Reasons why a sales proposal might fail:

1. customer does not know seller 2. proposal does not follow customer specified format 3. executive summary does not address customer needs 4. proposal uses the sellers company jargon, which forces the reader to interpret the message 5. writing is flat, technical, and without passion 6. generic material does not match the targeted prospect, indicating a lack of customer-focused consultive selling 7. proposal is not convincing, and does not substantiate claims made 8. proposal has poor layout and glaring grammatical errors 9. proposal does not address key decision criteria, don't assume what is important to the buyer - ask! 10. proposal is vague, lacking specifics in key areas such as pricing and buyer/seller roles and responsibilities

ADAPT:

Assessment Discovery Activation Projection Transition into Presentation

Written Sales Proposals:

a complete self contained sales presentation on paper, often accompanied by sales calls before/after the proposal has been submitted, thorough customer assessment should take place before proposal is written

Sales Dialogue Template definition:

a flexible planning tool that assists a sales person in assembling important info to be covered with the prospect

Buying motives:

a need-activated drive to search for and acquire a solution to resolve a need or problem; the most important factors from the customers perspective in making purchase decisions

Earn prospect commitment:

a preliminary plan for how the prospect will be asked for a commitment related to the sales call objective

Features:

a quality or characteristic of a product or service that is designed to provide value to a buyer

Organised Sales Presentation

a sales presentation that allows a salesperson to implement appropriate sales strategies and tactics based on customer research or information gathered during pervious sales calls - feature two-way customer dialogue with a high level of customer development

Guidance and advice (8 dimensions of value):

access to experts, reduce channel of mistakes, vision (growth strategies)

Organised Sales Dialogues and Presentations:

addresses individual customer and different selling situations, allow flexibility to adapt to buyer feedback, most frequent used format by sales professionals - high level of customer involvement unlike canned sales dialogue

Sales Call:

an in-person meeting between a salesperson or sales team and a buyer(s) meet in person to discuss business.

Customer Value Proposition:

brief statement of how you will add value to the prospects bossiness by meeting a need or providing an opportunity. include a brief description of the product or service

Sales Dialogue:

business conversation between buyers ands sellers that occur as sales people attempt to initiate, develop, and enhance customer relationships - should be customer focused and have a clear purpose.

Prospect information:

company name/key person info, all key people involved in process, names, job tittles, departments and roles in purchasing decision

Sales Presentations:

comprehensive communications that convey multiple points designed to persuade the customer to make a purchase

Anticipated prospect questions and objections with planned responses:

comprehensive set of questions and objections with your corresponding responses

Responsiveness:

demonstrates the sellers willingness to work closely with the buyer to understand their unique situation, present viable business solutions, and ensure achievement of promised results

Emotional (8 dimensions of value):

doing the right thing, need for recognition, feeling of security

Tangibles:

enhances and differentiates the communication of the sellers message and invites readership by its content, structure, and overall appearance

Canned Presentations:

include scripted sales calls, memorised presentations, and automated presentations - can be complete and logically structured, do not vary from buyer to buyer, should be tested for effectiveness.

Assurance:

increase the buyers trust/confidence in the sellers ability to deliver successful results

Economic (8 dimensions of value):

increases revenues, reduce cost, maximize efficiency

Beginning the sales dialogue:

intro, thanks, agenda agreement, then begin ADAPT or transition to other sales dialogue or presentation

Image (8 dimensions of value):

look good to others, positioning for promotion, improve company image

Time (8 dimensions of value):

maximize uptime, reduce cycle times, free up time for other activities

Sales call objectives:

must require customer action such as making a purchase, supplying critical info, etc.

Implementation and Timetable:

purpose of this section is to make it as easy as possible got the buyer to make a positive purchase decision

Quality (8 dimensions of value):

reduce defects, longer product life, better service to commitment

Simplicity (8 dimensions of value):

reduce headaches, avoid potential risks, easy adoption within organization

Reliability:

reflects the sellers ability to identify creative and practical business solutions that will help the buyer achieve their goals and objectives

Empathy:

reflects the sellers thorough understanding of the of the buyers unique business environment, operations, organisation, improvement opportunities, needs, and objectives

Relational (8 dimensions of value):

repay a loyalty or commitment, strengthen a relationship, avoid a potential conflict

Building value through follow up action:

statement of follow up action needed to ensure that buyer-seller relationship moves in a positive direction

Executive Summary:

summary precedes full proposal - should clearly demonstrate the salespersons understanding of of the customers needs and the relevance of the proposed solution and to build a desire to read the full proposal

Benefits:

the added value or favourable outcome derived from features of the product or service the seller offers

Pricing and Sales agreement:

the previous sections are designed to build the customer value of the proposed solution - once the value has been established, the proposal should as for the order by presenting pricing info/delivery options

Customer Needs and Proposed Solutions:

the situation analysis should explain the sales persons understanding of the customers situation, problems and needs. The recommended solution is then presented and supported with illustrations and evidence on how the proposed solution uniquely addresses the buyers problems and needs.

Seller Profile:

this section contains information that the customer wants to know about the selling company

Linking buying motives, benefits, support information, and reinforcement methods:

this section should address the buying motives if all persons who will be involved in this upcoming sales call.

Rational buying motives:

typically relates to the economics of the situation, including cost, profitability, quality, services offered, and the total value of the sellers offering as perceived by the customer