COVER STORY By Bob Clements
SUCCESSFUL SALES STRATEGIES SERIES (PART II): Following is the second of a three-part series: I
n the first article of this series, I wrote about the selling process and focused specifically on the first two elements: greeting and qualification. The greeting is the first part of the selling process and the one element that is most overlooked by salespeople. From the moment potential customers enter your dealership, you begin uncovering their perspective on how they will buy and whether they are open or closed toward interacting with you. We moved from the greeting to qualification. At this stage of the selling process, we learned the importance of building rapport and the value of asking specific questions that lead potential customers to tell us what they are interested in buying, and how they will go about making that decision. At the end of this step, we have a customer who is com- fortable and the information we need to
transition into doing a presentation or demonstration of our equipment.
Making the transition It is important as you move customers
from qualification into the presentation process that you determine the most effec- tive way to present your products to them. You will find that people primarily buy based upon one of three ways: what they see, what they hear, or how it feels to them.
With that in mind, I like to ask customers a quick question such as, “Would you prefer if I showed you some of the features on this mower first, told you about the mower, or let you just hop up on the seat and get a feel for it?”
By asking that question before I begin
my presentation or demonstration, I am making sure that what I do from the very start is going to have maximum impact on the individual’s buying decision. Customers
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