Sales Technique Pitfalls

Much has changed over the last twenty years. For sales professionals in most industries, this has given rise to an increasingly diversified sales market.  There are various explanations for how this has come to be:

• Mergers and acquisitions carried out by major groups lead to a natural increase in the range of solutions offered by them. Such is the case, for example, in the banking industry, where a consultant may have a range of up to 100 products. Or the case of insurance companies that also carry out banking activities. The result? Sales professionals are inundated and bombarded with products. They struggle to learn about - never mind sell - all of those products that are remarketed ever more frequently in order to keep up with current trends. For example, new pension plans monopolize a significant portion of banking business endeavors. The same phenomenon is replayed throughout the IT service industry, in which companies have merged with consultancy firms, thereby creating mega-entities capable of almost anything - from restructuring cash-flow during the staff coffee break to subcontracting back-office accounting in Prague or Mauritius.
• The reduction of margins in markets where competition is fierce has led to many companies selling associated services to compensate and push their offer higher up the value chain. In the case of car sales, for example, a salesman no longer earns money by selling a new vehicle, but rather earns his wages thanks to financing options (hire purchase, leasing, straightforward credit, etc.) associated with additional services (tire replacement, mileage maintenance contracts, breakdown coverage, reimbursement of the initial outlay in the event of an accident or theft, etc.). These offers comprise up to 40% of vehicle sales and are without doubt the main moneymaker for dealerships and engineers. Nowadays, a good car salesman must be more passionate about financing than about cars and more clued-up on selling a solution rather than a product.
• The IT revolution has become unavoidable in many sectors; offers have changed dramatically as a result of new technology. The fax salesman must now sell telecommunication server solutions. The photocopy machine salesman must now sell local network digital printing solutions - and even global facilities management solutions - in order to cater to all of the company's printing needs. Where we could once get by knowing 4 or 5 product applications, salesmen are now expected to have in-depth knowledge of a company's IT systems. As is the case with the numerous aspects of industrial equipment following the introduction of digital machine tools and Computer Aided Design (CAD).

In light of these challenges, many salesmen are left somewhat helpless, abandoned, and exposed. Traditional sales techniques and associated training insist on ‘determining the needs of the client,' which calls for an essential phase of reasoning. Fact. Yet, how do we go about achieving this when we have 20 or 30 offers - that are occasionally at odds - and only 50 minutes to present them?

The best market researchers know how to approach their business vision, choosing 2 or 3 offers beforehand that they would like to sell without trying to talk about everything. The trick is to select these offers before meeting your potential client and imagine the pressures they are under, the problematic situations they may face, and the areas in which they most interested. Preparation and opportunism are now more than ever your keys to success.