Introduction of the Host

N. Rajesh Kumar, a graduate in Commerce, has over 20 years of field experience including 5 years of handling a Profit Centre and a couple of years of International Selling experience. He started his career as a Sales Executive and in a short span of time, was given the responsibility of handling the entire Country. Having started his sales career at a very early age he has had opportunities of working for different companies in various industries like - Telecom, Office Automation and Computer Networking.

He has been conducting Training Programmes on Professional Selling Skills (PSS) for over 8 years now, based on his vast practical experience.

About the Class - Monthly

Lesson 09 - The Approach

The salesperson has less than 60 seconds to make a positive impression on the customer. If the salesperson fails at this stage, he or she is unlikely to make a sale - in fact as many as 50% of sales perish in the first minute.

Opening Statements:

Every customer you call on has got business problems. What you have got to do is identify the problems and explain to him in one brief opening statement how your product or service can eliminate his problems. Bear in mind that you are not selling a product or service, but a solution to these problems.

It is absolutely essential to avoid boring opening statements like:

"Good morning Mr. Customer, I represent xyz Company. I happened to be passing by and thought I would give you a call".

What makes statements like these boring in the eyes of the customer is that these salespeople are talking about themselves, their companies and their products without once indicating what they can do for the customer.

News Approach

Most sales people will get a pretty good opening statement from newspaper reports or television. On occasion, a news report may center on a customer's business; government grants, price increases, new factories in the area etc. An opening statement might read something like:

"I was reading in the newspaper in the morning that your company is planning for a major expansion program and I would like to show you how my company can help you."

Referral Approach

Quite a number of professional salespeople work only on recommendations from other customers. It is the most successful of all opening statements:

"Mr. Customer, I understand that we have a mutual friend in Mr. Venkatesh. He recommended that I should contact you as he believes I have something that will be of considerable interest to you."

Bonus Approach

You could use this approach to encourage the customer to do business with you for the first time. You could say:

"Mr. Customer, should you accept our offer, you will receive a special introductory discount of say 20% on all purchases."

Class Schedule:
Friday, 28th March, 2003       Lessons Lessons 9A - The Approach continued.

Queries on this lesson?
Mail us at onlinesellingskills@sitagita.com

or write to us Onlinesellingskills, Sitagita Com Ltd.,
47, Chamiers Road, Chennai - 600 028.

Courtesy: Institute of PSS, No.14-A, Natesan Nagar,
Alapakkam Main Road, Chennai - 600 116. Tel: 044-476 7299 Mobile: 98400-40444