Personal Selling Skills

According to Schuster & Danes(1986),

successful selling should include:
Asking questions
Providing product information, making

comparison, offering evidence to support claims

Acknowledging customers viewpoints
Agreeing with customers perceptions
Supporting the customers
Releasing tension
Lecturer 5

Personal Selling Skills

The
The personal
personal selling
selling process
process
Theopening
opening
The

Follow-up
Follow-up

Need&&problem
problem
Need
identification
identification

Presentation&&
Presentation
demonstration
demonstration

Closingthe
thesale
sale
Closing

Dealingwith
with
Dealing
objections
objections

Negotiation
Negotiation

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Personal Selling Skills

1. The Opening

Tidy appearance (hair/dressing)

Open with a smile, a handshake
Introduce yourself and company
Wait for the buyer to indicate you sit down/ask
if you can sit down
Start with talking some social matter, if buyer is
in a hurry, state your reason of visiting promptly

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Personal Selling Skills

1. The Opening
E.g.
How is your business going?
Your company is a well-known company, is there
any other branch in HK, or elsewhere?
I can see that you appear to be interested in our
product. What kind of style or design had you in
the mind?
Can I help you? No, thank you, Im just looking

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Personal Selling Skills

2.Need and problem identification
Salespeople should avoid making a sales presentation
in the same rigid way, without finding out the needs
of customers:
Preference
Budget
Purpose of using
Special requirement

Use open question(require more than one word

answer) to guide the customer to give information on
the need or problem:
Why do you select this model?
Is it for your personal use? Or you buy for others
Why did you dissatisfy with the old one?
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Personal Selling Skills

3. Presentation and Demonstration
Understanding of customers needs enables the
salesperson to choose the most appropriate products
from his/her range to meet customer requirement.
The salesperson knows which product benefits to

stress. (different customers place different priority on

the features of the same product). A salesperson should
associate the product feature with customer benefits.
Benefits can be at two level:
Products
The supplier of the products(brand)
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Personal Selling Skills

3. Presentation and Demonstration
Only mention features is not appropriate:

Too much features mentioned of highly technical

product may confuse customers who are not familiar with
the product.
Salesperson should:
the house is situated 4 miles from the company where you
work(product feature) which means that you can easily at
work within 15 mins(benefit)
This watch has installed the alarm function(product feature)
which enables you to set time whenever you wish(benefit).

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Personal Selling Skills

3. Presentation and Demonstration
Keep on asking questions to customers during presentation.
The questioning procedure allows the salesperson to adjust
the speed and content of the presentation.
It also allows the salesperson to communicate more
effectively as the seller know how to vary the presentation to
different buyers.
When a buyer is reluctant to buy, or change the old supplier
to the new one, the salesperson can try to offer:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Reference selling
Demonstrations
Guarantees
Trial orders
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Personal Selling Skills

4. Dealing with objections
Objections mean:

The buyer is interested in the product

Highlights the issue which are important to buyers
The buyers are not yet convinced

Five approaches to deal with objections

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Listen and do not disturb

Agree and counter
Straight denial
Question the objection
Forestall the objection
Turn the objection into a trial close
Hidden objections
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Personal Selling Skills

4. Dealing with objections (cont)
1. Listen and do not disturb
Salesperson disturbs usually because: wrong

2.

objection, trivial, impatient

Should: listen carefully and respectfully, buyer may
appreciate if the claim is dealt seriously/ reasonably.
Agree and counter
Salesperson first agrees that buyer is sensible and
reasonable, then put forward the alternative view:
yes, .but. technique
Create a climate of agreement rather than conflict
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Personal Selling Skills

4. Dealing with objections (cont)
E.g. Agree and counter
I can appreciate your concern that the product is more
expensive. However.
Thats absolutely right. The price is a bit more expensive, thats
why I want to show you that

3. Straight Denial

This method should be handled carefully as it

potentially creates direct conflicts with customers. It
can be used when the buyer is clearly seeking factual
information.
Buyer: I expect now is the low season so prices are cheap
Seller: No, its not correct. Now is just the starting of peak
season
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Personal Selling Skills

4. Dealing with objections (cont)
4. Question the objection

Salesperson could ask the nature of the objection to

clarify the specific problem.
Buyer: I am sorry I dont like this model
Seller: Really? Could you tell me why you dont like? Is it
because of the color or the design or the price?

5. Forestall the objection

Anticipate an objection and plans its counter
Raise as part of the sales presentation
Pro: salesperson can control the time, unexpected
question to buyer may be more convincing
Con: unexpected question to buyer may be risky.
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Personal Selling Skills

4. Dealing with objections (cont)
6.

Turn the objection into a trial close

A salesperson attempts to conclude the sale without harming

the selling process

Usually it will be used after the selling process is well under

way, the salesperson judges that only one objection remains
If I can satisfy you that the price of this model is no higher than
that of the Shop XX, would you buy it?

7. Hidden objections

Buyers may prefer not to raise objection to avoid offence or

prolong the sales interaction(in the no-buy situation, buyers
always keep no comment or say be back again)
The salesperson should uncover buyers hidden objection or
concern, by asking questions like:
Is there anything so far you are not sure about
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Personal Selling Skills

5. Negotiation

1.

2.

Sellers and buyers may negotiate price, credit terms,

delivery time, trade in value, etc.
Its all depends on the bargaining power and the
negotiation skills of both parties.
Start high but be realistic- when the seller expect the
buyer ask for huge concession for purchasing. So
price is high but must be realistic.
Attempt to trade concession for concession- Seller
give concession to secure the sale. if you are prepared
to pay by cash, I can offer additional 2% on the price

3.

Buyers negotiation techniques-

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Personal Selling Skills

6. Closing the Sales

Asking the buyers to say yes or no

Some buyers are inevitably give negative response,
salesperson should not avoid closing sales because of
the feeling of being rejected.
A major consideration is timing. Salesperson should
be aware of the buying signal of buyers (whether
buy or not)

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Personal Selling Skills

6. Closing the Sales--Techniques Examples:

Simply ask for the order:

Shall I reserve you one?, Would you like to buy it?

Summarize then ask for the order:

well, Miss, we have agreed that this model meets your

requirements of low price, multi-function,maintenance
guarantee, shall I place an order for this model?
The concession close: if you are willing to place an order
now, I will offer an extra 1% discount

The alternative close:would you like the red or blue one?

The objection close: if I can convince you that this model is
the most economical, would you buy it?

Action agreement: when the sales cycle is long (industrial

product) it is not appropriate to close the sale immediately.
May be you need time to consider the product again, I hope we
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can make a deal next time.

Personal Selling Skills

7. Follow-up
Ensure the customer is satisfied with the purchase
Put off follow-up call (industrial/trading product)

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Personal Selling Skills

Conclusion:
Buyers buy from their friends,

not from their enemies

Be persistent, be sensitive, be polite
Failure today doesn't mean failure
tomorrow

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