During a training session on the topic “Professional Sales Perspective” at a hardware and electronics business, the instructor asked the students: “What are we selling?”. During a training session on the topic “Professional Sales Perspective” at a hardware and electronics business, the instructor asked the students: “What are we selling?”.
Most of the answers were: “We are selling televisions, refrigerators, electronics, refrigeration, household appliances…”. The lecturer continued to ask: “So, what are our competitors selling?”. The students answered in unison: “Yes, exactly the same!”.
Many people would think that this teacher asked a silly question. Which salesperson doesn’t know what product they are selling? Who doesn’t know what their competitors are selling?
Why don't customers buy products?
Many sales staff, when interacting with customers, "talk endlessly" about the composition, chemical formula, names of components, chemicals, and very confusing functions of the product, while what consumers care about, what benefits the product brings to them, is not explained in detail.
In particular, in many cases, emotional benefits are much more important than functional benefits. Emotional benefits contribute greatly to customer satisfaction.
Take a cup of coffee for example. If you go to a coffee shop in District 12, Thu Duc, or Binh Tan, the price of a good cup of coffee is only about 10,000 VND.
But the same cup of coffee, even if not as delicious, if you sit in a similar coffee shop in District 1 or District 3, the price will probably be double, triple, or higher, even though the space may be narrower, the decoration worse, the service staff less enthusiastic... And many other similar examples with beauty salons, restaurants, clothing stores...
In terms of function, these products and services may bring similar benefits, but in terms of emotions, the benefits will be very different. People who are willing to spend three or four times more money to sit in a fancy restaurant or cafe in District 1, are not necessarily just buying food and coffee; but buying emotional benefits, and the satisfaction that emotional benefits bring. That is the satisfaction of showing "class" and luxury, being "respected" by others for daring to "spend" lavishly and "spend lavishly".
The success of sales lies in knowing how to evoke and “sell” those emotional benefits to customers. And, those who want to become professional salespeople need to clearly identify that you are selling benefits, not products!
Another important, but not yet popular, point of view in the sales “world” is: “Help customers buy, not just sell”. Many salespeople (and businesses) try every way to sell products, and “push” products to customers and that is the end of their responsibility.
In many cases, sales staff try to persuade and plead with customers to buy on their behalf; meanwhile, the factor of how to make customers "voluntarily" buy is not focused on.
“Helping customers buy” means making them believe that their purchase decision is a good one. “Helping” means explaining the benefits of the product (both functional and emotional) so that they can make their own decision to buy instead of being pressured or begged to buy.
Only then, when they leave with the item, will the customer feel comfortable because they have made the decision to buy it. Part of the satisfaction lies in the belief that they have done the right thing. Thanks to that, the next time, the staff will have the opportunity to meet these customers again.
The idea that “Customers don’t like to be tricked” also needs to be emphasized. Salespeople who have been trained for a few days in persuasion skills often use the “tricks” they learned when they learned about this topic quite blatantly. Unfortunately, many customers with a high sense of “vigilance” can easily recognize that the salesperson is using “tricks” to lure them.
There is no persuasion that is more successful than sincerity and genuine concern for the customer’s interests. The most profound “martial art” is “no tricks”, that is, “martial arts that are not martial arts”. The “masters” of sales are those who show sincerity to customers (sincerely). They know how to “tell” customers that they have no “tricks”, other than genuine concern for the customer’s interests. They only seek to “help customers buy”.
One of the simplest and most effective ways to show concern is to be willing to wholeheartedly advise customers to buy products from other companies, if your company does not have that product, or has it but does not meet the customer's requirements. In many cases, this sincerity creates sympathy and trust for customers, so that they come back to buy again next time.
Professionalism in sales, first of all, must be expressed in the sales perspective. From the perspective will lead to psychological developments and expressions through behavior. If the salesperson is imbued with the above professional sales perspectives, they will understand the customer's mind. This has a decisive meaning to the success of the "deals".
Nguyen Huu Long (TBKTSG)
