STEPS TO THE SALE

1. Introduction:

When answering the phone give:Company NameYour name."Good morning; Smith Realty; Mrs. Anderson speaking"
Remember, this is your "first impression" with the customer. This one area is very important. The customer may decide whether or not to do business based on how they are treated when they call your company.

2. Finding A Need:

Ask "open-ended" questions. Questions that can't be answered by a yes or a no. Let the customer talk as much as they want without interruption. Remember, the person asking the questions is in control of the conversation.

What are they asking for? Have they done this before? What did they like about their last experience? What didn't they like? What was the level of service? Each product or service should have a group of questions that are commonly asked. Brainstorm with each other for answers to these questions without losing control of the conversation.

3. Recommendations And/Or Up-Selling:

As with our car analogy above, you can't recommend a car without asking a few questions. To present the product , you might say something like, "Based on what you told me, here is what I recommend...."As an up-sell, "I have had several people add.......to this package."

4. Overcoming Objections:

An objection is not really an objection. It is a request for more information. The point to keep in mind is that there are only two kinds of objections:

Valid Objections - I'm a size 18 this is a size 6, is a valid objection.

Invalid Objections: - Most common is "It costs too much." Or, "Well, it sounds good but I need to think about it before I spend that much." In most cases this is not a valid objection. If they couldn't afford it why bother looking?

What they are really saying is, "You haven't shown me enough benefits to justify the price." If they really and truly can't afford it, they are not a valid customer. You haven't lost anything. If they can't buy from you they can't buy from the competition either.

5. Closing The Sale:

The First Rule Of Selling Anything: "When logic and emotion come into conflict, emotion always wins." If you think customers are going to sit down and make logical comparisons of the merits of your product or service against your competitor...you are mistaken. They will purchase on emotion and create a logical argument to justify their decision. Remember the "fact-finding" section? This is where you show the benefits of the items they said they wanted.

No one wants a one-inch drill bit, they want the benefit that the one-inch drill bit will give them. They want the one-inch hole. As a result price is seldom an issue. It is usually a defensive excuse or an invalid objection. People buy benefits and benefits are almost always emotional. Benefits give a feeling of "well-being" and "well-being" is an emotional "feeling."

The Second Rule Of Selling Anything: Ask for the order. The reason most often given by people for not buying is, "No one asked me to."

An easy way to ask is, "If you have your credit card handy I can start processing your request."

MNIDA