When it comes to ecommerce, finding the best, most forward-thinking approaches is vital to long-term success. No matter how well your present sales approach is working, you should also be searching for others—the world of ecommerce can be fickle, and what works for you today may cause you to fail miserably tomorrow.
Why does this happen? Simply put, sales are often based on the feelings and emotions of customers—what makes one person feel compelled to make a purchase may make another feel totally repulsed. For instance, if you create a home security commercial that causes fear, but also provides a suitable remedy, customers will be more likely to purchase these products. On the other hand, if the potential customer finds the commercial to be funny or corny, they are less likely to do business with you.
In an age where interactions are becoming increasingly comfortable and less personal, finding ways to connect with potential customers can make all the difference. For this reason, sellers are turning to a personal sales approach to increase sales numbers and improve customer experience.
What is Personal Selling?
Personal selling is a sales method that focuses on landing one deal at a time instead of pitching sales to the masses. This is an excellent method for those who have the time and resources to deal with customers on an individual basis.
Although it can seem intimidating and time-consuming to some, it is actually a great method of securing sales. Interested in trying out this approach? Here are a few important steps that must be taken to properly execute a personal sales pitch:
Step 1: Finding Prospects
To make a personal sales pitch, you must find someone to pitch the sale to. This method can vary depending on the industry. For instance, if you sell auto insurance and have obtained a list of people who have recently received auto insurance quotes, those would be your prospective customers.
Step 2: Pre-Approach
Now that you have your prospects, you must decide the best way to approach them. If you are dealing with people locally, you may contact them to set up a meeting. On the flip side, if you are dealing with people strictly via the web, you may want to set up a live chat or simply email them your approach. Either way, the best approach is the one in which you feel most comfortable making your sales pitch.
Step 3: Approach
From there, you will want to find the most interactive way to present the prospect with the benefits and features of your goods or services. This part of the process does not involve sales; rather, you are simply presenting the prospect with the information in a way that is entertaining and hopefully gets them excited about the product. Whether you decide to do a visual, written, or verbal presentation (or some combination of all three), make sure it is something that you feel will compel your prospect to buy.
Step 4: Pre-Closing
After the presentation, you should find out how the prospect feels about the product so far. If they have very positive feelings, you may continue on to your closing. However, if they have questions and/or objections, you should focus your attention on neutralizing those.
Step 5: Objections
Make a list of rebuttals based on the most common questions and concerns about your product or service so that you can handle potential rejections. For instance, if your items or services are a tad pricey, you might want to tell customers about your payment plan options.
Step 6: The Closing
Although this is often the least favorite part, it is certainly the most important. A good closing doesn't just ask for the sale—it assumes the sale has been made. For instance, instead of saying "would you like to sign up for my service?", you might say something like, "which service package can I offer you?". The point is to be confident without being too pushy.
Step 7: Following Up
Repeat customers are important. However, if you fail to follow up, this may be their last transaction. Set a reminder to call, email, or even visit the customer to find out how the product or service is working for them and if there is anything you can do to enhance their experience. Moreover, this might be an excellent time to offer other accessories or upgrades that can help enhance their experience as well.
Modern customers are growing tired of grandiose, overly technical, and impersonal sales methods. Whether you currently prefer to pitch to large groups of people or are skilled at dealing with people one-on-one, learning the ins and outs of the personal sales method is a worthwhile venture to combat this trend. By taking the time out of your day to present your products and services to individual customers, you will establish trust in your prospects, which can translate to sales.