In the world of sales, knowing the personal selling process is key to success. Every salesperson, whether newbie or pro, needs a solid strategy to navigate customer interactions. This blog breaks down the 7-step personal selling process, offering a clear roadmap to guide you from initial contact to closing the deal and more. By mastering these steps, you can build stronger customer relationships, address their requirements effectively, and ultimately drive more sales. Let’s dive into each step and discover how to optimize your approach for maximum impact.
What Is Personal Selling?
Personal selling is a direct face-to-face interaction between a salesperson and a potential customer to make a sale. Unlike other forms of sales communication, personal selling allows for immediate feedback, addressing customer concerns in real-time. This personal approach is a powerful tool, especially for complex or high-value products and services.
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Advantages And Disadvantages Of Personal Selling
Pros:
- Direct Interaction: This allows for more tailored communication and immediate feedback
- Relationship Building: It prioritizes building strong long-term customer relationships.
- Customization: The sales pitch can be adjusted to customer responses and needs.
- Detailed Explanations: It is good for complex products that need detailed explanations.
Cons:
- Cost: It may have a high cost per contact because of the personalized nature of the interaction.
- Time: It takes longer to reach a large audience than mass marketing.
- Skill: Success is dependent on the salesperson’s skills and personality.
- Consistency: Hard to keep the message consistent across different salespeople.
Steps To The Personal Selling Process
Here are some steps that can help businesses improve their personal selling techniques and build stronger customer relationships.
Step 1: Prospecting and Qualifying
The first step is prospecting and qualifying. This is about finding people or businesses that need your product or service. It’s about filtering out leads that won’t convert and saving time and resources.
Techniques:
- Use detailed reports to find high-potential prospects.
- Use automated tools to qualify leads based on your criteria.
Step 2: Pre-Approach
Once you have your prospects, the next step in the personal selling process is the pre-approach. This is about gathering information about the prospect and preparing for the first contact. Research the prospect’s needs, preferences, and pain points.
Techniques:
- Use customer profiles to gather information.
- Develop an approach strategy using analytics.
Step 3: Approach
The approach is the first contact with the prospect. It sets the tone for the whole selling process. Whether it’s a cold call, a meeting, or an email, the approach should be interesting and informative.
Techniques:
- Write personalized messages using the data you’ve gathered.
- Make sure your approach shows how your product or service solves the prospect’s problems.
Step 4: Presentation
In the presentation phase, you show your product or service, its features, and benefits. This is where all the hard work of prospecting and pre-approach pays off, as you can tailor your presentation to the prospect’s needs.
Techniques:
- Create custom presentations and proposals.
- Highlight the unique selling points that resonate with the prospect.
Step 5: Overcoming Objections
Overcoming objections is a key part of the selling process. Prospects will have questions and concerns that need to be answered before they can make a decision. Being able to handle objections smoothly can make or break a sale.
Techniques:
- Record common objections and responses.
- Use real-time data to back up your answers.
Step 6: Close
The closing phase is where you ask for the sale. This step in the 7-step process requires confidence and timing. You need to recognize buying signals and know when to pounce.
Techniques:
- Use closing techniques like the assumptive close or the urgency close.
- Watch the prospect’s engagement to time your close perfectly.
Step 7: Follow-Up
The last step in the personal selling process is the follow-up. This ensures customer satisfaction and opens up future sales opportunities. A good follow-up turns a one-time buyer into a repeat customer.
Techniques:
- Book follow-up activities so no customer is missed.
- Use feedback to improve your approach.
Is Personal Selling For All Businesses?
Personal selling is great but not a one-size-fits-all. Businesses with high-value, complex products or services benefit the most from personal selling. Companies with high volume, low margin products might find other sales methods more efficient. However, the personal touch can build strong customer relationships in any industry.
Qualities And Skills Required For Personal Selling
Here are some of the crucial qualities and skills required in the personal selling process:
- Communication Skills: Clear, persuasive, and empathetic communication skills are important
- Active Listening: It is important to listen to customer needs and respond.
- Resilience: The seller needs to know the best way to deal with rejection and keep going.
- Product Knowledge: Having a deep understanding of the product or service is crucial.
- Adaptability: Tailor the sales approach to different customers.
You might find this blog relevant: 8 Skills You Will Need to Become an Efficient Sales Manager
Personal Selling Strategies
Some of the strategies in the personal selling process include:
Solution Selling
Solution Selling is about how your product solves the customer’s problem. This involves identifying the customer’s pain points and showing how your product or service is the solution. By understanding the customer’s specific needs, salespeople can offer solutions that add real value and make it easier to buy.
More info: Transactional Selling Vs Solution Selling – Sales Strategies You Need to Know
Consultative Selling
Consultative Selling is being an advisor, not just a salesperson. In this approach, the salesperson builds a relationship with the customer and understands their business challenges and goals. The salesperson provides expert advice and solutions to help the customer achieve their objectives. This builds trust and positions the salesperson as a resource.
Relationship Selling
Relationship Selling is about building long-term relationships, not just immediate sales. This is about creating a connection with the customer, ensuring they are happy, and encouraging repeat business. By delivering great service and staying in touch, salespeople can turn one-time buyers into long-term customers.
Types Of Personal Selling
There are many types of personal selling, each for different sales environments:
Order-Takers
Order-takers are salespeople who respond to customer requests without aggressive selling. They work in retail or environments where the customer already knows what they want. Their job is to facilitate the buying process and ensure the customer has a smooth and happy experience. They don’t go out and find new customers, but their product knowledge and customer service skills are key to helping customers make informed decisions.
Order-Getters
Order-Getters are proactive salespeople who go out and find and persuade potential customers. They are often in B2B sales or industries where products or services require a more aggressive sales approach. Order-getters use various techniques to generate leads, such as cold calling, networking, and attending industry events. Their job is to identify customer needs, present solutions, and close sales. Their success depends heavily on building relationships and demonstrating the value of what they sell.
Missionary Salespeople
Missionary Salespeople focus on building goodwill and educating customers rather than immediate sales. They are often in industries like pharmaceuticals, where they provide detailed information to doctors and medical professionals who then decide whether to recommend those products to their patients. The goal of missionary salespeople is to create a positive perception of their products and build long-term relationships with key influencers. Their work is crucial in creating demand and building trust in the brand.
Conclusion:
The 7-step personal selling process is key to sales success. Each step from prospecting to follow-up requires planning and execution. Using the right tools can make this process more efficient and effective.
Kylas CRM helps you streamline your personal selling process with features to support every stage of the sales cycle. Manage your prospects better, tailor your presentations, handle objections with real-time data, and ensure consistent follow-up to build long-term customer relationships.
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