When it comes to selling the more professional you are the better you will close the sales. Like all other skills the skill of selling is learn-able. As it is in cooking, to cook a delicious dish you need to have the right ingredients inside so also for selling, you need to have certain fundamentals in place. Today we take a look at 6 basic fundamentals which should be there in every Sales Professional.
Business Knowledge : Every professional sales person should be well aware of the business climate both at home and in the overseas market. He should have sufficient knowledge to communicate about international and local business trends and marketing directions. This knowledge is easily available from the newspapers, magazines and internet.
Industry Knowledge: Professional people and specially people from the sales team should have very good knowledge about their industry. They should know all their competitors, aware of the products which are made by the competitors and always up to date about new trends in the industry. They should be well informed about the prices of not only their products but the pricing about the products of their major competitors. In addition to this they should have a well established network with people in their industry. This network will always give you information which you will not find anywhere else.
Company Knowledge: Professional Sales people should also be well informed about their own company. They should have full knowledge of the company’s policies and procedures. They should be able to represent the company well and be able to help customers by guiding them through any department or to any person as and when needed. They should be aware of the company’s objectives and the companies plans for the marketing and sales sector. They are supposed to be not only having good contacts and terms with their customers but also with the in house team. This leads to total support and fast elevation in the career.
Product Knowledge: This is the nucleus of sales and marketing. The customer before buying always wants to have more knowledge about the product. The more the knowledge the easy it becomes for the customer to take a buying decision. Large corporations spend millions in advertising just to educate the customers about their products and what it can do for the customer. Its very frustrating for the customer to meet a Sales person who is unable to answer his queries. For this reason you need to have complete knowledge of your product. Without sufficient knowledge you will never be able to persuade your customer into a buying decision. I can’t express enough how important this is. Please don’t misunderstand sales training with product knowledge. Both are entirely different, though both are important.
Selling Knowledge : This is also a critical factor in the area of Sales. You should have sufficient selling skills. After getting through the above four points you should be able to put things together. You should keep on reading, practicing new approaches, new presentations etc. You should always be updated in the quest for more sales. Reading, attending seminars and sales training always keep you updated and polished.
Attitude: People say attitude is everything and I think its rightly said. You need to keep a positive attitude always and specially in the sales career. You have to keep yourself mentally prepared to be your best. This part is very critical and will be discussed as a separate topic in future articles.
All said and done knowledge is king, But depends on how you get it and how you use it. So all the best.