Page 170 - Marketing the Basics 2nd
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162 Marketing: the Basics
again, we make the point that marketing dollars, pounds, euros and yen should only be spent on those who have a high potential to get to the next part of the funnel and ultimately to become loyal repeat profitable customers. Learning this type of discipline is one of the hardest lessons for budding marketers.
PRE-APPROACHING
Having established a list of qualified customers, the salesperson then starts the second stage of the selling process, which is called the pre-approach. The pre-approach stage entails researching information about the prospects: What are their needs? How large is the company? Who are their existing suppliers? Who is the person (or people) that approves a purchase? To learn about the prospective client, the salesperson can consult their personal contacts, industry and online sources and analysts.
APPROACHING
Armed with enough background information, the seller can devise a sales strategy as to which method is best to approach the prospective client. The seller should decide if a letter or a phone call will be sufficient, or if a personal visit is needed to begin a relationship. First impressions are vitally important in building goodwill between the two parties. The more favourable impression the seller makes, the more favourable the buyer will be to make a purchase.
The next three parts, presenting, objection handling and closing can best be summarized as part of a professional sales call.
THE PROFESSIONAL SALES CALL
When done well a professional sales call is more pleasure than a burden for a customer. A key starting point is to realize that most salespeople spend much too much time talking and nowhere near enough time listening. When you think of the typical used car or electronics store salesperson we cannot help but think of them as a non-stop talker, this is exactly wrong. On average an excellent salesperson spends more like three-quarters of their time listening


























































































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