Qualifying the Customer...

Filed in archive Sales on April 30, 2008

Do you have a good sales technique?

© Brian Teutsch

Now I am not talking one of those stereo typical used car salesman sales approaches, I am talking about a good way to sell product to your customers. Today I am going to give you the first two steps in a sales process, a process that will make the customer comfortable with you so you can find out their needs and find them the best product for to help them with their needs.

We can all think about how some salesperson tried to sell us something but we had no interest in it or tried to sell us the wrong product. In fact, after reading this I would recommend that anyone who is selling products should go around to other stores and see how well the salespeople sell.

The first step in the sales process is pretty simple and that is icebreaking. If you go up ask a customer how you can help them, they are programmed to respond with "we are just looking".

However, if you just say hello to the customer and do some chit chat for a couple of minutes you will break down those barriers. Remember you may be a small business owner but you are still there to take their money. Icebreaking can including asking about how they are enjoying the weather (or joke about bad weather), your local sports team (especially if they come in with shirts or hats on), or anything else you can come up with.

Next you ask them what brought them in and how can you assist them.

Let's say you sell electronics and they come in for a printer, next you will want to ask them questions about what their needs are.

For example:

Who will be using this printer?
How many pages a day due you print?
Do you print color?

What you are trying to find out, is what their needs are for a printer.

In the future I will go over other aspects of the selling process. Another good source of sales information is the Sales and Sales Management Blog.