Sales And Marketing Advice For Small Business Owners - Some Tried And Tested Sales Techniques

When you're in the early stages of a sales conversation you'll often find yourself needing to handle some objections and reluctance to buy. A technique, well loved and used by many successful salespeople, is the 'feel, felt, found' approach. It goes something like this:



Customer: "I'm not really interested."



You: "I can understand that you feel that way. In fact, most of my best customers felt that way when I first spoke to them, but after we looked at the product/service in more depth, they found that the benefits we provided more than met their needs. What specific issues are you facing in that area at the moment?"



Here's another example:



Customer: "We're not in the market right now."



You: "I understand that you might feel that way in the current economic climate, Mr Smith. In fact, many of my customers felt the same way when I first contacted them, but they found that the advantages of our product/service were irresistible. Out of interest, what are your current priorities?"



You'll notice that the "feel, felt, found" technique is followed immediately by a question. Using the question helps you to move the conversation on from the initial objection and puts you firmly back in control. A vitally important point here is to use an "open" question, or one that means the prospect must give you information and cannot simply say "Yes" or "No" answer. Open questions help you to find out about a prospect's wants, needs and problems, and more about them as a person. Some examples of open questions in a sales situation are:



"How is that working for you?" "What are the timescales for that project?" "Who is responsible for running that department?" "When will that decision be made?" "Why is this a priority for you at the moment?" "Where will you be locating this piece of equipment?"



Of course, the questions you ask will vary according to what you sell and the prospect you are meeting and, before you go into any sales meeting, you should spend some time preparing some intelligent questions that are appropriate for your product or service and the client's needs. A great way to remember these "open' questions or to help your staff is to remember a poem that was written in 1902, by Rudyard Kipling. It's been used in training courses all over the world and it goes like this:



"I keep six honest serving men. (they taught me all I knew) Their names are Who and Why and When And How and Where and Who."



Closed questions, on the other hand, can be answered with a single 'yes' or 'no' answer and don't open up the conversation or give you much information. But that doesn't mean they're not useful. You can use closed questions to get specific information or to close a meeting. For example:



"Hello, Mr Prospect. It's a fabulous day, isn't it?"



In this example it's an easy opener for the conversation and puts the prospect at ease because he doesn't need to say a great deal in reply.



To close your conversation you could say:



"Does Friday morning at 9.30 suit you for our next meeting?"



You're bringing the meeting to a close with this one and the prospect will either reply with a simple "yes" or "no".



Good listeners are able to use open and closed questions at appropriate moments and steer the conversation towards the result they want. So don't forget to practice these techniques with colleagues, friends and family or even in the mirror. Practice until they sound natural and you can use them almost without thinking in your sales conversations. These techniques have been included in the skill set of successful sales people over many decades, for one simple reason - they work.





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Mike Newman is a noted business turnaround expert, entrepreneur and business coach. His wife, Trish is an award winning, international business leader. Together they offer no nonsense, practical advice to small business owners. Their website offers business coaching services, marketing tips, resources and success strategies for small business.