Using Your Sales Tools KIT

Once you've collected your sales KIT and your marketing tools, you're probably anxious to put them to work. Hold on! There's more that you need to know: how to use these powerful tools. Imagine buying a large chest of tools at the hardware store before you really know how to use them. Without some initial guidance, you might use a large wrench to pound in a nail.
Of course, there are many variables, including what, how, to whom, and when you are selling, as well as what sales tools are available to you. Following are some general guidelines for ways to put your sales tool kit to work efficiently.

Opening the Sales KIT Your product knowledge, customer information, and trustworthiness can be used within any part of the sales process. However, you and your customer will benefit most if you measure it out as needed rather than dump everything you know on the new buyer. That means you should first take some measurements of what your buyer knows. How can you do that?

Ask questions about the buyer's job.

Ask about the most critical problems the buyer must solve.

As possible, determine what training level and expertise the buyer has.

If the buyer uses a technical term, ask for a clarification. How it is answered can help you determine what level of technical understanding the buyer has.

It's critical that you don't get ahead of your buyer when offering your product knowledge. You must match the buyer's pace rather than force the buyer to keep up with you. For example, explaining how your new hydraulic widget works won't be helpful to the buyer if you haven't determined that first there is a basic understanding of hydraulics. “Have you had much experience with hydraulic components?” Don't assume this knowledge unless you're talking with a mechanical engineer.
Earning trust, too, must be carefully gained. If you already know exactly how to solve your buyer's problem with the model 928 widget, don't blurt it out and expect an order. Instead, walk the buyer through the purchasing process so that he or she first recognizes that the best solution is the 928. Your job is not to just offer solutions, but to sell solutions. Doing so will help you build valuable trust.

In your sales career, you must dedicate time and effort to learning new things: details of new products, new applications for current products, what your competitors are offering, and how best to help buyers solve their relevant problems. Make sure that you dedicate at least 10 percent of your time to learning new things for your job. This percentage should never become zero. If you stop learning you will stop selling.

Using Marketing Tools 

As noted earlier, there are numerous types of marketing tools — samples, printed and A/V collateral, and image collateral. How and when you use them can be as important as what.
Your first task is to identify your primary marketing tools and how best to use them. For example, a business card is often an initial collateral that tells who you are and how to contact you. A pamphlet will tell more about your products and/or services, but no one buys products from a pamphlet. Printed brochures may be appropriate for introducing a new buyer to your merchandise line. White papers offer more detail and can answer comparative questions for the buyer. A catalog can offer more specifics on a group of products and can encourage ordering. Each component has a function. It is your job to use the appropriate collateral to help your buyer learn and trust.
Audio and video collateral can help build customer knowledge and trust, though it typically doesn't have the detail that printed material offers. A/V collateral is more useful earlier in the selling process to help the buyer understand the product and the seller. Once trust is developed, most buyers want more detail that is better offered in printed collateral.

by Dan Ramsey

http://www.netplaces.com/