S1-SNS-L7 The conceptual selling concept.pptx

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1. L7- SELLING TO CUSTOMERS – THE CONCEPTUAL SELLING CONCEPT Selling and Negotiation Skills Prof.Karen Reuben

2. THE “NO SELL” SELLING (BASED ON “CONCEPTUAL SELLING” BY MILLER-HEIMAN) The Conceptual Selling Concept Prof.Karen Reuben

3. The link between Strategic Selling and Conceptual Selling While Strategic Selling focused on the strategy for planning the overall sales process, Conceptual Selling is the suggested tactics or approach for the face- to-face meeting with clients. While Strategic Selling is useful in business to business selling situations and overall account planning, the Conceptual Selling process is useful in any selling situation, whether it is a complex sale (Business to Business) or transactional selling (Business to consumer). Prof.Karen Reuben

4. The idea of Conceptual selling For centuries sales success was attributed to product knowledge and the belief that it could solve any problem that the buyer did not even know she had. This magic wand could turn the most difficult buyer into a willing victim by buying whatever the salesperson was selling. This belief is no longer valid in this day and age of the savvy customer and in order to build win-win relationships, ‘product knowledge’ is the last tool in the sales kit. The rule as suggested by the authors’ is to start by ‘listening’ to the prospect and to her perception of your product or of her own situation. This perception is what the authors call the ‘Concept’ and the process of selling to this concept, is ‘Conceptual or No sell Selling’. Prof.Karen Reuben

5. Understanding the Buying decision-making process Conceptual Selling Prof.Karen Reuben

6. Why your customers’ really buy “ People buy for their own reasons, not for yours” and “No one buys a product per se. What is bought is, what the customer thinks the product or service will do for him or her”. Instead of focusing on controlling the sales process through glib talk and product presentation, discovering the real reasons the customer wants to buy, is the ideal way to start the sales process. As difficult as it is to discover those reasons, sales success depends on doing just that – and staying in touch with customer’s reasons, even when they change, (as they often do) from one sales call to another. Prof.Karen Reuben

7. The customer’s decision-making process Buying is a special case of decision-making Every time one of your customers makes a buying decision, she makes them in a series of predictable and logical steps. The individual's decision making process also takes place in a predictable and logical sequence that can be identified and tracked by the seller. By systematically following this sequence and helping your customers to follow it, you discover one of two things, either a) there is a solid fit between their needs and your solution or b) there is no fit and you should not be doing business together. By ignoring or working against the customer’s decision-making process, you ensure confusion, resentment and sooner or later, lost sales. Prof. Karen Reuben

8. The Individual Decision Process 1. Understand Cognitive Thinking 2. Generate Divergent Thinking 3. Select best Convergent Thinking Prof.Karen Reuben

9. The three types of thinking In his book “The Nature of Human Intelligence” J.P. Guilford’s clinical research showed that human decision-making involved three distinct and inter-related thinking processes. These processes he discovered, follow a natural order or sequence 1. Cognition Thinking - which allows the decision-maker to understand the situation he or she is facing 2. Divergent thinking - that helps the person to explore options and solutions and 3. Convergent thinking – that enables the person to select the best solution. Prof.Karen Reuben

10. Cognition thinking Cognition is the process by which raw information is given sense and structure and provides you with a clear mental picture of what you are facing – ( asks Q’s such as Why? What? Where? When? etc.) Cognition thinking is critical in selling because unless both you and the customer understand the parameters of the mutual situation, you will not be able to find a satisfactory conclusion and the result will be a poor fit or poor solution that does not help solve the customer’s concept of his problem . This means that an effective sales process must begin with questioning, that helps makes sense of your customer’s cognition or understanding. Prof.Karen Reuben

11. Divergent thinking The second stage of the decision-making process is called divergent thinking. It is the natural second step, as you cannot do good divergent thinking unless you first have clear cognition. In divergent thinking the decision-maker considers a variety of solutions that might address her particular needs. (Thoughts like How about?…We could…What if?....Let’s consider….’) The point of divergent thinking is to explore possibilities through brainstorming and not to exclude them. Your customer needs to spend time sifting through all possibilities and you as a seller, have to let your prospect’s divergent thinking run its course, cause if you don’t do that, you will generate confusion, resentment and very likely a ‘no-win’ outcome to the sale. Prof.Karen Reuben

12. Convergent Thinking Once the decision-maker has had the opportunity to consider all available options – the final step is to select the best one for her particular situation. In convergence the buyer narrows down and focuses on one solution for the problem- It is decisive, but only a step in the decision-making process. If you spend enough time on the earlier two steps, then converging on the final answer becomes a quick and automatic operation. Since buying is a form of decision-making, it means selling should also follow the same sequence. However, traditional selling worked the other way around i.e. presenting the features and functions of your product without understanding the Buying Influence’s concept, and then hoping that the buyer finds the fit as you see it. Prof.Karen Reuben

13. Traditional V/s Partnership (Joint Venture ) Selling. Traditional Selling involved two false assumptions One that all potential buyers can use your product And second that if you only show and tell them about it, they will appreciate the obvious benefits and rush to buy from you. Joint Venture selling on the other hand acknowledges that the burden of making the sale rests on both buyer and seller. There is no assumption that the customer already has a need for the customer’s product, on the contrary, the entire questioning process and cognition phase of the sales call, is geared to determining upfront, whether or not there is really a need. In the longer term establishing dialogue with the customer in this way, brings even greater benefits, though win-win outcomes. Prof.Karen Reuben

14. Why strive for win-win? Conceptual Selling Prof.Karen Reuben

15. Why strive for win-win? To ensure that your success will last from customer to customer and from sales call to sales call, getting the individual order is never enough. You also need Satisfied customers Long-term relationships Solid repeat business with your regular customers Enthusiastic referrals to new prospects Win-lose – leads to buyers revenge / backlash Lose-Win – buying the business is settling yourself for losing, by raising buyer expectations. Lose-Lose – works like a magnet quadrant, as all win-lose or lose-win deals, eventually land up there. Prof.Karen Reuben

16. The Challenges of win-win Problem 1 - ‘There is no fit’ - What if the product you are selling does not fit the customers current business or personal needs? – the simple answer is, you should walk away from the business or ‘maybe’ if you can bring them and their company something that nobody else can provide, you could consider remaining in the game. Problem 2 – ‘I’ve got to meet quota’ – Educate your management that you will all reap benefits in the long run by working with your customers, rather than against them. Problem 3 – ‘My competition is under-cutting me’ - this is problem of deciding whether to play lose-win. Here you have three choices 1. You can stay Lose-Win for now, in expectations of future returns, Prof.Karen Reuben

17. The Challenges of win-win ( Prob. 3 contd .) 2. You can sell your product on a ‘value added’ basis showing better value in your product or 3. Let this piece of business go. Problem 4 : “My customer won’t let things stay ‘win-win’”- No matter how hard you try to work it out with each individual client, there are always going to be people who like to see you lose. In dealing with such people the advice is –after you have sized up the situation and determined that the person does not care that you lose, get up and explain ‘Sorry, we can’t make that happen’ and quietly back out the door. Should you turn down business?!!!! In certain situations you need to and you should. Prof.Karen Reuben

18. Rules for maintaining win-win Don’t oversell on expectations Don’t get pulled in for a giveaway Hear the customer out Be willing to walk, where necessary Prof.Karen Reuben

19. Identifying the ‘concept’ Conceptual Selling Prof.Karen Reuben

20. Identifying the ‘Concept’ In Conceptual Selling a ‘customer’ means anyone who could have an impact on your sales, - past, present and future A customer’s concept is her ‘mindset’ or her ‘solution image’ of what she wants to get done. ‘Companies don’t have concepts, but individuals do’ – hence concepts are always subjective and internal to the individual. Each buying influence has his own ‘concept’ and these concepts are dynamic i.e. they can change – so the rule is never make assumptions about a customer’s concept. You need to re-verify the concept each time you meet the same customer for a specific sale. Prof.Karen Reuben

21. Three Clues to look for when identifying the customer’s concept Focus on results – Customers like everyone in business are looking for results. Only when they think that you can provide them with results, they will want to hear more about your product. The conceptual results a customer expects always related to one or more of basic three areas Discrepancy or perceived gap Importance or urgency Solving a problem Prof.Karen Reuben

22. Customerised Selling In a highly competitive environment, where buyers have a vast array of choices, customerising the sale is the only way the seller can survive in the long run. There are two essential selling tasks – first you need to understand the customer’s concept: what this individual feels is important to accomplish, fix or avoid. And secondly , you need to ‘connect’ your product/service by relating – the specifications, price, packaging, capabilities, technologies, demonstrations, proven results etc., to meet this ‘concept’. Prof.Karen Reuben

23. Advantages of selling to the ‘concept’ It allows you to learn more about your customer, than you would possibly learn, if you started off by pitching the product first. By drawing out the customer’s current interests and concerns, you can focus on the results that he or she really wants. Because focusing on concept first is so rare, you can differentiate yourself from the competition. You can minimise the importance of ‘price’ by showing the customer that you are interested in delivering value. It is the ideal way to position yourself with the person who makes the final decision. Lastly, it enables you to spot early in the selling cycle those customers or situations that you cannot win, hence you should not pursue. Prof.Karen Reuben

24. Developing the customer’s concept The customer’s ‘concept’ is dynamic and like everything else in selling, it evolves in response to the customer’s own perceptions and expectations. It evolves in response to the information the customer gets from your competition . It can also evolve with you , as you work with your customer, to refine and shape the concept to your mutual advantage. It is always preferable for you to manage the evolution of the customer’s concept with her, rather than allow it to be shaped by her alone or your competition. Thus the customer’s concept is not something waiting to be discovered, but, something to be developed, and preferably together. Prof.Karen Reuben

25. Getting started Conceptual Selling Prof.Karen Reuben

26. Four questions to ask yourself before the sales call Q1. Why am I here? Q2. What do I want the customer to do? Q3. Why should the customer see me? Q4. Do I have credibility? Prof.Karen Reuben

27. Q1. Why am I here? Sales people call on customers for a number of reasons. Some calls are general and aimed at developing, building or sustaining a relationship, by sharing information, learning about their company, etc. The distinguishing characteristic of a sales call however, is that you go into it, with a ‘single sales objective’ Your single sales objective is a specific revenue objective, or new business you anticipate, by calling on this person- it defines ‘why you are there’. Prof.Karen Reuben

28. Your single sales objective Five Criteria: You sales objective is Product/Service related : It tells you exactly which product/service you intend to sell and how much. Specific clear and concise : There should be no ambiguity and it must be clearly understood. Measurable : Once the objective is achieved, you should be able to measure your accomplishment Tied to a time-line : It should set a deadline within which it is to be achieved Not connected by ‘and ’: Using ‘and’ means having dual or more objectives. Each sales call should have a single objective. Prof.Karen Reuben

29. Q2. What do I want the customer to do? In order to get to your single sales objective, you need to secure incremental achievements along the way. For this you need to set near-term accomplishments for each call – we call these ‘action commitments’. An ‘action commitment’ is a customer’s promise to do something concrete for the buy/sell process, to help move things forward on to the next step or stage. While setting near-term goals for the call, make sure it is not too general or unrealistic and should be framed from the customer’s perspective. Ideally you should never end a sales call without getting a specific promise which we refer to as the ‘action commitment’ . Real commitment involves an opportunity cost, where in the customer is willing to give up some of her time to do something concrete for the sale. Prof.Karen Reuben

30. Best action and minimum acceptable action The idea in setting ‘best action targets’ is to be sure that the action you want, is appropriate for “where you are in the selling cycle”. The action commitment should be specific, focused on what the customer will do, measurable once it is done, moves the sale forward and should be realistic. The minimum acceptable action is the least you will settle for, because it is the least the customer can do, to make it clear to you that there’s still a mutual interest in producing a win-win outcome. If you are unable to get the minimum, you should a) ask questions to uncover why the customer is resisting b) revise your minimum acceptable action downward in response to what is happening . And if these tactics do not help then c) shut your briefcase and walk out. Prof.Karen Reuben

31. Q3. Why should the customer see me? A ‘Valid Business Reason’ is something that gives a potential buyer a reason for wanting to spend some of his or her valuable time in meeting with you, hence should be stated from the customer’s perspective. Stating the Valid Business Reason shows that you are prepared and it minimizes your call time, by letting both you and the buyer focus on mutual goals. Stating a Valid Business Reason decodes as ‘ Time is valuable’ and also says that you are courteous and efficient. It also gives the customer sufficient time to prepare queries for the seller and sets the mutual expectations for the call . Prof.Karen Reuben

32. Preparing the ‘Valid Business Reason’ There are five things to bear in mind while preparing a valid business reason. 1. The reason should address the consumers ‘concept’ and should be seen as providing a solution. 2. It should give the prospect a reason to give high priority to your call. 3. The reason should be clear not ambiguous. 4. It should be related to the customer’s business and not your own and 5. lastly, it should be stated precisely and concisely. Prof.Karen Reuben

33. Setting Appointment Expectations 1. Clarify your selling responsibilities in the call – what you will be speaking about. 2. Clarify the customer’s responsibilities – mention what information you expect to receive in the call. State the valid business reason or purpose derived from the customer’s perspective. Identify the people to be present, so that you meet with the right people. If you are planning a presentation, then identify the material needed, such as an overhead projector, board, etc. Prof.Karen Reuben

34. Q4. Do I have credibility? As seen in the Strategic Selling Concept, if you can’t convince your potential buyers that you can be trusted, your sales purpose is defeated. Establishing your personal credibility and that of your company is a must. Because different people will trust you for different reasons, it’s useful to understand the common elements of credibility. These can be broken down to the following four areas 1. your experience, 2. your knowledge, 3. your presentation of yourself and 4. your associations. It is important to check that you have credibility and not just assume you do, by looking for evidence that you do, such as the customer asks ‘how’ instead of ‘why’ questions, is ready to talk about your product, shares data with you or even tells you outright that you have their trust. Prof.Karen Reuben

35. Guidelines to earn credibility Ask precise and necessary questions Listen intently Be Yourself – don’t put on an act Don’t be a ‘Know-it all’ Stay ‘win-win’ Keep your promises and Perform / Deliver as per the expectations you created. Prof.Karen Reuben

36. The Sales Call – Getting Information Conceptual Selling Prof.Karen Reuben

37. The Sales Call – communication process 2. Giving Information 2. Getting commitment 1. Getting Information Prof.Karen Reuben

38. Learning to listen Effective selling is the art of establishing dialogue. In a vast majority of cases, sales success begins with the ability to ask good questions and then listen- to the answers. Good questioning and listening, allows you identify clearly and clarify early in the sale process, whether a company is an appropriate account match for your company. It helps to establish rapport with the customer, understand their concept and reinforce your credibility as well as identify differences between you and your competition. Despite the advantages, few sales people spend their time planning and preparing good questions prior to the sales call, so that they can get the information that they need, to personalise the pitch. Prof.Karen Reuben

39. Developing questions While developing questions to get missing information from the client, the questions you ask must - 1. Elicit the information you need 2. Be phrased in an effective manner 3. Be presented in an appropriate sequence We will now see how to (a) select the most appropriate question for a given sales stage (b) how to phrase those questions effectively and c) how to arrange them in a sequence that will create a positive flow of information between you and each of your customers. Prof.Karen Reuben

40. The Five Question Types The five types of questions typically used on a sales call are- 1. Confirmation questions – to validate data. 2. New Information questions- to update data. 3. Attitude Questions – identify personal needs. 4. Commitment Questions – to identify your progress 5. Basic Issue Questions – to help identify customer concerns that could result in the loss of the sale. We will discuss ‘commitment and basic issue questions’ when we reach the ‘getting commitment’ stage. Right now we will look at the first three questions. Prof.Karen Reuben

41. Confirmation Questions These questions, which are usually asked at the beginning of the sales call, serve a dual purpose They help verify information that you have. And they help you find discrepancies in it Some common areas where these are used are – to verify your customer’s concept Business issues that may have arisen since your last meeting (such as budget/ time frame issues) and Any possible changes in organizational structure. Confirmation Questions should be used to verify any or all data that you come across in the sales process, either at the beginning of the call or before presenting the product (solution) or to summarize and confirm ideas, or to move the discussion forward. – Key words – ‘Still, Remain, Continue, Now, Currently’. Prof.Karen Reuben

42. New Information Questions These questions usually follow or build on confirmation questions by seeking more clarity. They could be explicit or exploratory in nature. The purpose of the new info. question is threefold 1. to clarify your understanding of what your customer is trying to accomplish, fix or avoid 2. to update your information and 3. resolve any information discrepancies. While phrasing these questions you can use the five “W” i.e. who, what, when, where and why, with the exception of using “how much’ or ‘how’ instead of “why” as it often sounds confrontational, unless spoken or phrased softly. Key words are – ‘Tell me, Elaborate, Show me, Explain, Describe, Demonstrate’. These questions can be used anytime you have exposed a gap in your information. Prof.Karen Reuben

43. Attitude Questions These questions focus on how your customer personally feels about the results and how she, individually will win or lose in this sale. Such questions seek to discover the individual customer’s values and attitudes, which are important in determining Concept and ensuring win-win. They also frequently serve to uncover unidentified personal concerns. Most customers want to talk about their feelings and welcome the opportunity to personally react to a sales proposal. These questions typically use key words like ‘What, How, Which, Describe’ along with words like ‘Attitude, Feeling, Opinion, Reaction’. Prof.Karen Reuben

44. Establishing ‘Superb Communication’ The best questions in the world won’t do you any good, unless you listen carefully to the answers. In order to achieve ‘Superb Communication’, you need to avoid ‘question shock’ (a steady barrage of questioning). This happens when salespersons do not wait sufficiently long for a reply. ‘Golden Silence’ is the only reliable cure for question shock. Here, you simply pause for three or four seconds at two different points in the questioning process; after you ask a question, and after your customer responds, to give him time to elaborate. Prof.Karen Reuben

45. The Sales Call : Giving Information Conceptual Selling Prof.Karen Reuben

46. The Sales Call – communication process 2.Giving Information 3.Getting commitment 1.Getting Information Prof.Karen Reuben

47. Giving Information Giving information is supposed to be what salespersons do the best. The difficulty of the product pitch is that the information you have about your product, may or may not be the information that your customer needs to make a sensible purchase decision. That is why, in this phase, you need to share product information selectively, so that it facilitates a better understanding of the customer’s situation and enables you to work together in finding appropriate solutions. In order to be effective the information you give your customer has to do two things Help you identify and demonstrate the fit And make it clear that your solution is significantly better and different from that being offered by your competition. Prof.Karen Reuben

48. The importance of ‘differentiation’ Buyers can perform selection either by randomly picking, or make the selection by differentiating – i.e. acting on a perceived distinction between one option and all of the others. ‘Differentiation’ helps the buyer to set your proposal higher in the list of choices, by highlighting the feature that is unique about your product/ service or company, and which connects directly to his or her concept. By demonstrating a ‘unique strength’ or ‘relative uniqueness’, you give the client a reason to favor your proposal over others and this in turn diminishes the importance of price competition. Some of the areas you can demonstrate unique strengths are People, Process, Product, Service, Experience, Customers, Reputation, Technology, etc. Prof. Karen Reuben

49. Using the joint venture approach While making the buying decision people follow the natural thought process, which begins with cognitive thinking or understanding, moves to divergent thinking or consideration of options, and ends with convergent thinking, or the selection of the best option. In Joint Venture selling, the salesperson facilitates this natural process, which makes buying infinitely easy for the customer. It is also easier on the seller, making it lesser stressful for him. The advantage that joint venture selling has over traditional selling is, that it facilitates the customer input into the solution. As one savvy executive put it, ‘People don’t resist their own ideas’ Prof.Karen Reuben

50. The Sales Call: Getting Commitment Conceptual Selling Prof.Karen Reuben

51. The Sales Call – communication process 2. Giving Information 3.Getting commitment 1.Getting Information Prof.Karen Reuben

52. Speaking about - Commitment Among the various forms of promotion, face-to-face selling is the most expensive, therefore for a successful sales call today, you need to ensure that every time you go out, you come back with something to show for the time and money spent . That something doesn’t have to be the order itself, but what you do need on every call is some measurable degree of ‘Action Commitment’. On a first call to a new customer, you have no choice but to commit yourself with no guarantee of customer commitment, but not on subsequent calls. Whatever level of commitment your customer agrees to, it should indicate that he is willing to spend some of his company’s time and resources, just as you have. Prof.Karen Reuben

53. Commitment Questions Commitment isn’t free or automatic, so if you want commitment on every sales call, you have got to ask for it. A good commitment question does more than simply move you towards the close. It also gives you information that tells you how far away you are from the final close, suggests the timing of events that have to happen to move the sales forward, and tells you what aspects of your customer’s concept you may have to explore further, before you can hope to secure the necessary incremental progress. It works like a ‘compass’. Commitment questions often function well at or towards the end of the sales call , however you can use it whenever you need to check on your current position or you are uncertain what needs to be done to move a selling process forward. Prof.Karen Reuben

54. Mutual Commitment The bottom-line in asking commitment questions is, to confirm mutual commitment to the sale. Commitment means a time, a date and a specific agenda. It means your client is interested enough in what you have said, to give you more time in taking things forward. Without a commitment, you may be wasting your time and further calling would be a waste of time. Key words used in Commitment questions are – Decide, Direct, Determine, Schedule, Propose, Provide, Recommend, Agree, Secure. Prof.Karen Reuben

55. Addressing Basic Issues Sometimes you find yourself in a position, where initially you had some progress, however you have suddenly not been able to get commitment from the client to move things further. This may be because he or she perceives a ‘personal loss’ or ‘no-win’ in accepting your solution. In conceptual Selling we define it as a ‘basic issue’ involved. The sooner you, as a seller, are able to spot and deal with a potential buyers lose feelings, or basic issues, the sooner you’ll be able to move the selling process forward. A Basic issue and an Objection may both impede the selling process, but are two very different things. Prof.Karen Reuben

56. Addressing Basic Issues While an objection is a manifestation of an underlying basic issue, it is basically a symptom of the more deeper cause or ‘basic issue’ which is lying hidden in your customer’s reluctance. It may involve negative feelings about you, about your proposal, about your company, or something else unrelated to the sales situation. Basic Issues, like any mental picture, are subjective, intangible and personal. Overcoming an objection is therefore different from addressing the basic issue, which is important for any long-term business relationship. Prof.Karen Reuben

57. Addressing Basic Issues Basic Issues can manifest themselves in the following signals – hesitation, questioning attitude, repeated objections, failure to commit, argument, or passive resistance. Some possible reasons for Issues are:- loss of power, control, credibility, self-esteem, job-security, lack of recognition, seen as ‘me-too’, etc. While dealing with a Basic Issue, never judge a Basic issue and never assume you know what the Basic issue is. In order to identify the Basic Issue, you need to ask a particular type of question to help search out the hidden reason why the individual feels she is going to lose – this is the fifth type of question that we call – ‘the basic issue question’. Prof.Karen Reuben

58. Basic Issue Questions A Basic Issue question is a specialised form of commitment question, that seeks to uncover negative feelings, and help you understand what you can still do, to turn the situation into a win. Key words while phrasing these questions are “Doubtful, Puzzled, Unclear, Uncomfortable, Hesitant, Concern, Uncertain, Issue”. You should ask a basic issue question whenever you encounter a basic issue signal, no matter how trivial it may seem and the earlier you do this in a sales call the better. Better late than never however, when you missed noticing the issue earlier on. Or a common place to ask a Basic issue question is towards the end of every sales call. You need to try and resolve the basic issue, to get the sales process back on track. Prof.Karen Reuben

59. Assessing the call In many cases success comes not to the person who puts the most effort during the performance but to one who has already put so much into the rehearsing, that he can manage the performance as if by instinct. Work on pre-planning the sales call and work with a sales call guide that maintains a record of your performance and helps you decide on your course ahead Prof.Karen Reuben