Sales Talk : Product knowledge

Product Knowledge : Most Important tool for the key to success!!

You finish your education with a high and land up in to the sales job that you thought would be the right one for you. You finish a great induction programme, by the company you were hired, that gave you the minute details that you required for the product to gain confidence on the field. Now its time for the real action!!

You start with a high and decide that you will excel in this new sales job and prove you were the right man for the right job. You start meeting new customers, interact with them and manage to stay on board by generating good enquiries from them. Couple of months down the line, you realize the efforts are not getting converted into success and most of the time you end up with just making offers.

Result is frustration!! You start thinking if you did a mistake by opting for this job. To an extent you start blaming yourself as you also know that your colleagues are successful and are ahead of you. It comes to a stage where you even start thinking if you have chosen the right career.

It’s a common story for most of the starters in Sales or marketing career. One of the prime reasons of an initial failure for many new sales engineers is the lack of product knowledge and approach on the field.

Even though you had the best of education, add a management degree to it, if you don’t have the right product knowledge, you are done. The induction training programme, even if it covers the entire range of products, is not sufficient to survive in this demanding and result oriented sales career. The sales engineer takes the training programme very seriously however doesn’t brush up his knowledge on the product regularly. There are always some points which he doesn’t understand which makes it difficult for him while introducing the product range to the customers he meets. Most of the time, things are stuck for basic information and the result is ignorance of key points in the introduction. Whenever he makes the introduction, he tries to stay in his comfort zones and introduce only those products for which he is comfortable with. The customer is most of the times not appraised with the right information and with whatever little information, manages to cooperate with the engineer and suggests to get enquiries from his purchase department. Sometimes, it is just a curious enquiry to get a price even when he doesn’t need the product. Finally, the sales guy makes an offer for which he never knows if he can get an order. If the product is high priced, the case doesn’t even make for a negotiation, as the USPs( Unique Selling Points) were totally absent.

Things could have improved, if the Sales engineer had brushed up his product knowledge regularly. The best way to execute it, is to read the product catalog and ask questions to himself from the customers point of view. Be in the customers shoe, think the way he might think. Understand from his point of view on the benefit he can have by using the product that you offer. Try to gather information on the most difficult questions and write the answers of these in your sales workbook. Always, ensure to be ahead with information that even your colleagues might not have, whether its relevant or not, but make an attempt. The most difficult questions to answers are the most basic ones which most of the time, you as a fresh sales engineer pretend to be very silly ones. Never be ashamed to ask your superiors such questions time to time. Every successful sales person has a similar story when he starts and only learns after years of experience. To shorten this period, you need to work hard on self education on the products and success stories from your colleagues. Learn from their mistakes and develop yourself to handle simple as well as difficult questions. A thorough knowledge on the products do wonders to your personality as a sales professional as you gain confidence within a very short time and your successful journey begins your way.

Sales Talk!

How to Overcome “Brush Off” Objections with the 1QQ Techniques
Written by Jim Domanski

Are you frustrated with prospects that shut you down and brush you off after you’ve finished your opening statement?

You know the type of objection I am talking about: you barely utter your name and the prospect says, “We’re happy with our present supplier,” or “I’m in a meeting,” or “I am busy right now,” or “Just send me something in the mail,” or any number of other brush offs. And just like that, the call is over.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can reduce the impact of brush off objections and speak to more decision makers if you apply a smart little technique called “1 Quick Question” (1QQ).

Brush Off Objections

As the name implies, a brush off objection is a reflexive objection that typically occurs at the beginning of a call. They occur because the prospect was not expecting your call and the automatic response is to toss out an objection. They do so out of the compelling need to protect themselves “from being sold” and out of the desire to get rid of you as soon as possible. Most tele-sales reps oblige them by lamely mumbling an apology and hanging up.

Sound familiar? Don’t be a victim.

How to Deal With the Brush Off

Three are three steps to dealing with the brush off objections.

Step #1: Empathize

When you hear a brush off your first step is to empathize with the client. Say something like, “I understand,” or “I appreciate that.” This does two things. First, it acknowledges the prospect’s objection. It shows you have listened to the remark and that you understand. Second, it buys you a second or two to collect your thoughts and respond.

Step #2: Ignore the Objection

Ignore what you hear. Don’t fall for the objection. It’s a mistruth. You know it’s a brush off and so does the prospect. Responding to the stated objection is therefore a waste of time. So don’t honor it with a retort. Ignore it.

Step #3: Ask “1 Quick Question”

Apply the 1 Quick Question (1QQ) technique. The 1QQ is simply a way to forge ahead with the call before the prospect hangs up. It is extremely easy to apply. Here are some examples to give you a feel for how it works:

Example #1:

Prospect: “I’m in a meeting right now!”

Rep: “I understand completely. Just one quick question before I go…”

Example #2:

Prospect: “I’m happy with our present supplier.”

Rep: “I’m happy to hear that. Jeff, one quick question if you don’t mind…”

Example #3:

Prospect: “We don’t need anything right now.”

Rep: “I appreciate that. Before I go one quick question.”

You can see the pattern. The rep empathizes but does not directly respond to the objection. Instead he uses the 1QQ technique. It works because the majority of prospects realize that they have been a bit dismissive and possibly rude. By politely asking ‘one quick question’, many prospects feel the need to soften up a bit and give you a quick answer before they terminate the call.

Now here’s the interesting thing. Depending on the nature of your question, one quick question often leads to two or three or more questions. Think of it as a wedge in the door. The better your question, the greater the opportunity to get your prospect to open up further.

How to Create Your 1QQ

The key to making the 1QQ work for you is your question. Your first step to developing 1QQ is to identify a pain, a problem or a predicament that the prospect typically experiences and that you can solve. You only have one shot at getting the wedge in the door so your question has to go directly to an issue that is significant to the average prospect.

Developing your 1QQ will take some time and thought but once you have it you’ll be able to use it with virtually every call. So think hard: what is the number one problem your clients experience?

For example, suppose you sell magazine subscriptions to educators that help the teachers plan their curriculum. The problem that many teachers experience is time and it takes to develop new, creative and effective class plans. Here’s one quick question that might work.

“Mr. Gunderson, one quick question before I go: do you find it frustrating and time consuming to prepare a daily curriculum for your classes?”

The second step is to have another question prepared. If possible, create a question that quantifies the problem. For instance, if Gunderson does find it frustrating and time consuming to prepare a daily curriculum your next question might be:

“If I may, roughly how much time do you spend preparing…say, on a daily basis?”

By doing so, the prospect begins to see the magnitude of their problem and may get curious enough to let you continue.

The third step is to pursue your line of questioning, identify the need and proceed as you normally would.

Summary

The 1QQ technique gives you an edge by helping to create an opportunity. While not every client will answer your one quick question some will and that’s the strength of the technique.