SIX STEPS TO SALES SUCCESS

There are six steps, or phases, to any successful selling process.

1. The "Target" Stage
This step helps you understand exactly what you have to offer that's unique and exactly which target audiences can best use what you have to sell. It takes some time, but your success ratios will be much higher because you'll be focusing your efforts only on those prospects who have a high probability of buying. Then you'll work to see that these prospects have a positive image of you before you call on them.

2. The "Contact" Stage
Making contact with your prospect is the first critical test. Apart from product knowledge, no other facet of the sales process makes a greater impression on the customer. In the first few minutes, you often make, or break, the sale. In that time, your prospect sizes you up and decides if you're the type of person he'd like to do business with.

This contact may be in person, over the phone, or by letter. Each makes a different impression and has its advantages and disadvantages. But the key, regardless of which approach you use, is for you to build credibility and trust. When prospects sense you have their best interests in mind, the rest of the sales process should follow more easily.

3. The "Explore" Stage
The purpose of the Explore stage is to get enough information to know the customer's needs and what it'll take to fulfill them. To do that, you need to listen to what the prospect says, but you also need to know how to ask questions.

What you want to look for are the prospect's problems and opportunities. The problem, or need, is the gap between what a customer wants and what he or she now has. This gap already exists.

An opportunity, on the other hand, is something extra that can be added. For example, a new market, or a better avenue of distribution, or an untapped promotional vehicle. A resourceful salesperson can create an opportunity.

4. The "Collaborate" Stage
The goal at the "Collaborate" stage is for you and your prospect to find a solution that meets the prospect's needs. You do this by taking the prospect's ideas and combining them with your own to arrive at a solution that makes sense to both of you.

Rather than using a monologue, the best salesperson engages in a dialogue to keep the prospect involved in a give-and-take. As you discuss a solution, explain how it will work in your customer's environment. Most customers don't care how something works; they want to know what it will do for them, how it will solve their problems. So the collaborative salesperson speaks the language of benefits rather than features.

5. The "Commit" Stage
Top salespeople are always in step with their customers. They make sure there's agreement every step of the way. So by the time they get to the point of asking for the sale, it's a matter of when, not if.

But the ultimate goal is not just closing the sale. The ultimate goal is gaining a truly committed customer. So the "Commit" stage is critical in building a potential long-term partnership. It requires trust, respect, and open communication on each side. You can't work through all the stages of a sale and then at the end try a manipulative closing technique to clinch the deal. That doesn't make sense and it doesn't work.

Both of you need the information the other has. If the customer has a concern, it's because he or she can see something you can't. So you need to find out what that is and address it. Savvy salespeople see objections not as rejections but as "midcourse corrections" that can steer them toward, not away from, their sales destination.

6. The "Assure" Stage
This is where most salespeople drop the ball. But for the collaborative salesperson, the real job starts when the customer says yes.

Assuring customer satisfaction is indispensable to exceptional sales success. If you make sure the customer is satisfied, you are more likely to get repeat business as well as referrals.

You can solidify your relationship with buyers by, first, being absolutely clear about their expectations. If you conducted the earlier stages well, you should already have a pretty good handle on those standards.

Monitor the criteria by staying involved with the customer. If there are problems with the product or service, see those not as setbacks but as a chance to show how much you care about your customers. Think long term. All future sales and referrals depend on your ability to reaffirm your commitment to quality and service.

ARTICLE TAGLINE FOR DR. TONY ALESSANDRA

Dr. Tony Alessandra has authored 13 books, recorded over 50 audio and video programs, and delivered over 2,000 keynote speeches since 1976. The ideas in this article, and many others, are adapted from Dr. Alessandra's book, The Sales Professional's Idea-A-Day Guide (Dartnell). If you would like more information about Dr. Alessandra's books, audio tapesets and video programs, or about Dr. Alessandra as a keynote speaker for your group, call (800) 222-4383 or visit his website at http://www.alessandra.com.

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