The personal selling process involves nine steps that a salesperson must go through with most sales. Understanding these steps is necessary to being effective in sales. Prospecting. The first step in the process involves prospecting. With this step in the process, sales representatives look for new customers they can potentially sell their products to. This can be done by cold calling or by going out into the market and talking to people. Often, this part of the process is a numbers game and the sales representative has to contact many people to generate a few prospects. Pre-approach. The pre-approach is the second step in the personal selling process. At this time, the sales representative prepares for the first contact with the potential customer. During this stage, the sales representative looks for any information that he or she may have about the customer. To the extent possible, a salesperson tries to uncover a buyer's needs. Approach. The approach is the next step in the process and it is also one of the most important. During this step, the sales representative takes a minute or two to try to get to know the prospect. This phase usually involves some small talk to warm up the prospect and to help them to open up. Presentation. During this phase of the process, the sales representative makes some kind of presentation. This can involve demonstrating the product or service and showing the customer why they need it. The sales rep should focus on the features and benefits of the product or service during this part of the process. Trial close. The trial close is part of the presentation and it is an important step in the selling process. Known as a temperature question, this is a technique to establish the attitude of the prospect towards the presentation and the product. It is done after the presentation to determine how close a buyer is to buying a product. Determine and overcome objections. In some cases, the sales representative will have to overcome objections by the customer. Sometimes these objections come during the trial close. Many customers have questions and concerns at this point of the sales process. If the sales representative can answer the questions and overcome any objections successfully, the barriers for a successful sale will be removed. Close. After the objections have been removed, the only thing left to do is close the sale. This can involve writing up an invoice and providing any final information to the customer. At this stage in the process, you may need to negotiate the final sales price and any payment terms. Follow up. The follow up is the last stage in the personal sales process. After the product or service has been delivered, the sales representative follows up with the customer to find out if they're pleased. If there are any issues with the product, the sales rep can work with the customer to get them resolved. If the customer is happy, the sales rep can also try to obtain additional referrals from the customer. So, as you can see, sales involves a wide range of activities with most of the work revolving around the nine steps of personal selling. Sales have been around ever since the beginnings of commerce but now scholars have studied the art of selling and today, the business of selling can be learned, understood, and applied by using these principles.
