At present, many sales training focuses on the behavior of a salesperson, such as how to start, how to explain products, how to deal with problems and so on. Their starting point is from a personal subjective point of view, ignoring that the essence of communication is dialogue, and the effect can be imagined. "Sales is not said by one person, but by two people", which is the first clear concept to do a good job in sales training.
Sales, like drama, itself has a process of beginning, development, climax and ending, and it is dialogue that constantly promotes the sales process. So, what is the dialogue part?
The main body of the dialogue consists of three parts: speaking, listening and asking questions, which is also emphasized by many sales trainings. However, regardless of the name and form of the training course, the problems to be solved are nothing more than two aspects, that is, not only what to know, but also how to do it; ;
1. Listen: Listen to what? How to listen?
Listening is the most important part of conversation. According to the survey of 2000 sales conversations conducted by sellraise sales research institute, top salespeople usually spend 60%-70% of their time listening. When God created man, he had two ears and one mouth, so the ratio of listening and speaking was required to be 2: 1. Why is listening so important? Because understanding each other's problems and real needs is the premise of successful sales. If you want customers to tell you the answers you want to know, just be a good listener. From the customer's point of view, the more customers talk, the more they like you. Because your listening brings him not only courtesy but also respect. Your listening gives your customers a channel to pour out their grievances. What you have to do is to make your customer feel safe and comfortable, and tell his pain and joy, his distress, his most concerned issues and so on without pressure. So, in the process of listening, what should the salesman listen to?
1) problem point
The author once asked the business personnel in the training: "What do salespeople do?" Some people say that selling products to customers; Some say it is to provide solutions for customers; Others say it is to serve customers; No matter what the answer is, in the final analysis, sales are successful because products or services can help customers solve their problems. In the actual sales dialogue, there will be many kinds of problems, which are difficult to distinguish between true and false and unpredictable. And your task is to listen to the real problem, which is the core and the biggest headache for customers. The customer will not tell you himself. You should know this, so you should guide with questions.
2) Excitement point
Customers buy from two starting points: avoiding pain and pursuing happiness. The problem point is the "pain point" that makes customers feel pain, and the excitement point is the reason to make customers feel happy. I remember a book called Pain and Happiness. In fact, this is also the truth in sales, and it is also the process of making customers feel pain and happiness at the same time. The typical sales process usually makes customers think about the seriousness of the problems they face first, and then expect the happiness and satisfaction after solving the problems, and the products sold are the best carrier and scheme to solve the problems and gain happiness. The key to listening to stimuli is to listen to conditions and emotional words that are easy to make customers feel sensitive, and at the same time pay attention to body language coordination at each specific stage.
3) Emotional vocabulary
When customers feel pain or excitement, they usually express it through some words in conversation, such as "great", "great", "how is it possible" and "very dissatisfied". These words show the subconscious orientation of customers and their deep views, so pay special attention when listening. Generally speaking, at the moment of closing a transaction, customers always make emotional decisions. Therefore, whenever the customer reveals a signal that is beneficial to the purchase transaction in the dialogue, we must seize the opportunity and make it happen in time.
4) Sensitive conditions
Price, discount, preference, delivery, guarantee, maintenance, after-sales service, various forms of purchase commitments, etc. ;
5) Body language
Under the influence of sales dialogue (especially interview)
The influence of words is 7%- 10%
Sound influence 20%-30%
Physical influence 60%-80%
It is obvious from the above ratio that body language is a very important way of communication. In general sales training, the explanation and analysis of body language are often ignored, which is also a very fatal defect. Therefore, sellraise pays special attention to teaching skills and methods on how to distinguish body language in sales training. In the process of sales dialogue, common positive body language includes: tilting the head, touching the face, sucking glasses, leaning forward, fingertips, sticking out the thumb and holding hands behind the head; Negative body language includes: pretending to pick fluff, pulling the collar, blinking slowly, putting your legs on the chair and rubbing your hands slowly; Customers are always used to "insincere" in sales, and they should know how to grasp the psychological dynamics of customers through unconscious body language.
How to listen? First of all, listening is not only a listening problem, but also a comprehensive behavior that needs to use a variety of senses. Not only the ears should listen, but also the eyes should observe, and the hands should write and record. And use interlanguage (such as "really? What else? " Nodding, smiling, eye control, silence and pause, etc. Show that you care about your customers. Listening is often combined with leading questions to exert the greatest strength. The following is the relevant explanation of the "problem".
2. Q: What? How to ask?
The ability to ask questions determines the sales ability of salespeople. What questions should you ask, or what is the main function of the questions?
First of all, use questions to lead to customer descriptions;
Why do you always feel passive in sales conversations? The reason is usually that you keep talking and your customers keep asking. Many salespeople are trained to cater to customers' needs at any time, instead of guiding them. The phenomenon is that customers keep asking questions, which makes the salesman very tired and embarrassed. Although the salespeople are tired, they are very happy inside. They thought that the customer's problems were honestly explained, and the result naturally came. These salesmen are so good that customers have been asking questions, but they are actually testing your cards. And you don't know what the customer really cares about and where the main problem is, you will only be led by the customer. How can we cut into the key points of customers? Moreover, you have been talking without asking, giving the impression that you are forcing him to sell and putting pressure on him blindly. The reason why customers are willing to talk to you is that they hope you can make suggestions on your major. Just like a doctor, diagnose the current situation, and the best way to diagnose is to ask questions strategically. When doing sales training, the author emphasized the importance of "ending with questions" many times in the dialogue, and through repeated practice, the salesman developed the habit of "ending with questions", with remarkable results.
Second, test the customer's reaction by asking questions;
After you explain to the customer with great care, you are eager to know how much the customer listened, understood and responded. The average salesman usually talks a lot, and then ends with a discussion (period), and then stops immediately, without the following. At this time, the customer's performance is usually "OK, I see, let's talk about it another day" or "I'll think about it". If you ask, "What do you think?" Or "Do you know this"? The effect will be much better. At least the customer won't turn you down coldly. Asking questions gives customers a chance to explain their ideas.
Third, use questions to control the process of dialogue;
The process of dialogue determines the direction of sales. Generally speaking, in the customer-centered consulting sales cycle, there are two complementary cycles, namely, the customer's psychological decision-making cycle and the salesman's sales behavior cycle, as shown in the following figure. The left list shows the customer's psychological decision-making cycle in the sales process, and the right list shows the sales behavior that the salesperson should make at each customer's psychological decision-making stage.
about
Satisfaction-Prepare in advance
Yes.-welcome to the opening.
Standard confirmation requirements
Evaluate-explain the point of view.
Purchase-negotiation transaction.
Use-implementation service
At each stage, asking questions will promote the sales dialogue.
For example, in the opening stage, it is usually necessary to start with a curious question, such as "May I ask you a question?" Use situational questions to collect customer information, such as "How did you get into this industry?" "What is the current sales situation of your products?" Wait;
In the stage of confirming requirements, you can use diagnostic questions to build trust and establish specific details, such as "Do you need large servers or small office computer equipment?" It can be confirmed by focus questions, such as "What are you most worried about in XXX?" ;
In the stage of expounding opinions, the role of asking questions is to confirm feedback and enhance persuasiveness. Confirmed questions such as: "What do you think?" To enhance the explanatory power, you can generally ask questions in three stages, and then have a special discussion;
In the negotiation and closing stage, the function of asking questions is to deal with objections and pave the way for closing. See below for the part dealing with objections. In the closing stage, we usually use hypothetical questions to discuss, such as "When do you think we can accept our service if there are no other questions?" This is a question of advancing and attacking, retreating and defending. After asking questions, pay attention to pause, keep silent, and throw the pressure on the customer until the customer speaks his mind. Never, after asking questions, don't ask yourself first, and don't answer first.
Fourth, asking questions is the best way to deal with objections;
There are two reasons for this disagreement. First, it stems from human curiosity; Second, because your explanation is not appropriate, the customer did not fully understand; From the perspective of curiosity, human curiosity is endless. If you meet a customer who "asks what's next", you should pay attention. And if we don't make good use of questions, we will only say that we are always in a position of "passive beating". When a customer asks a question, you can try asking him, "You asked a very good question. Why do you say that? " In this way, you can "turn from defending to attacking" and take the initiative.
When customers don't fully understand, they are usually silent, hesitant or simply shy away, pretending to have a little knowledge. Excuses such as "no need", "think about it" and "leave information for later" appear frequently. At this time, the key to your question is to ask the customer's understanding. For example, "What do you think of this?" Or "that's not important, why do you say that?" Ask a few more "why", and then use permeability questions, such as "what else", to get more information in the most difficult part of understanding.
As for the question of how to ask, professional sales organizations have done a lot of research in this regard. The author has specially studied the professional questioning training such as spin and pss, and each research system has expounded its own theory from its own standpoint. There is no certain questioning mode, only certain questioning principles, and the specific questions still depend on the object. In general, there are the following aspects that need attention.
First of all, politeness issues control the atmosphere.
At the beginning of the conversation, use polite questions to show enough respect for customers. For example, "May I have your name, sir/madam?" "May I ask you a question?" Or "can I talk to you now?" .
Second, curious questions stimulate interest.
The most fundamental reason for being rejected by customers is that you have not aroused enough interest from customers. The reason why you use questions to stimulate your interest in buying is because asking questions gives customers enough imagination, and it is more effective to impress customers than to try to impress them. The typical curious question is: "Do you know why?" "Do you want to know how our service can help your company increase revenue (reduce cost/improve efficiency)?" Wait a minute.
Third, influential problems have deepened the pain of customers.
The customer's delay in signing the bill may be the biggest headache for the sales staff. Every day when you greet your customers with specific cooperation intentions, they all give you hope for cooperation, but they don't give you a clear answer. What should you do in such a customer situation? I have done hundreds of sales, and such customers have encountered the most. Whenever the sales are unfavorable, I will make a summary when I return to the company to see if there is a better way to solve this problem. In fact, the reason why trading is unfavorable is that we pay too much attention to the result, not the process. It should be said that clinching a deal is not a separate act, it should be an inevitable link in sales, and the best way to improve the disadvantage of clinching a deal is not to study the transaction itself, but to explore what preparations you have made for it and whether it is sufficient. Why do customers think it doesn't matter whether you have your product or not? That's because you didn't cause him enough pain. You asked the customer questions, but his scars were not fully exposed. You should ask influential questions, so that he can further realize the seriousness of the problem, so that he can't ignore it and improve the urgency of the problem to be solved. For example, "If this problem persists for a long time, what impact will it have on the development of your company?" "Why is this so important?" Or "What does your boss think of this problem?" Many managers are afraid that the boss will blame themselves for not doing well.
Fourth, ask questions about permeability to get more information.
Joe? Kalman is a famous American gold medal life insurance salesman and the first salesman to be re-elected as the president of the American Million Round Table Club for three times. One of the secrets of his success is that he is good at asking sharp questions. If a customer says "your product is too expensive", he will say "why do you say that?" "What else?" "Then what?" "What else?" Shut up immediately after asking questions, and then let customers say "the more customers talk, the more they like you", which is a famous sentence that every salesman should remember. Usually, the reason given by the customer at the beginning is not the real reason. The advantage of penetrating questioning is that it can dig out more potential information and make a correct judgment more comprehensively. Usually after you say the last question, the customer will meditate for a while, think carefully and tell the real reason for refusing or buying.
Fifth, diagnostic questioning builds trust.
Diagnostic questioning is characterized by asking questions in sentence patterns such as "yes", "yes", "do you want" and "yes or no". For example, those who sell computer products can start by asking, "Are you used to using a desktop or a laptop?" Salespeople use this diagnostic question, which has many functions, such as collecting information, clarifying the truth, verifying conclusions and speculation, and narrowing the scope of discussion. Customers only need one or two words, characters or simple gestures such as nodding or shaking their heads to answer these questions, which is concise and clear, without great pressure. More importantly, such diagnostic questions have narrowed the distance with customers, and salespeople can show their specialties by asking such questions. The premise of making good use of diagnostic questions is to do a good job of customer data analysis, think about the content and order of questions in advance, and achieve good results of hitting the nail on the head, analyzing thoroughly and building trust quickly. However, excessive use of closed-ended questions will put customers in a passive position, suppress their desire and enthusiasm for self-expression, and produce a feeling of silence, oppression and interrogation. Therefore, it is best to use closed questions moderately and use them together with open questions.
Six, "repeat the customer's original words+professional opinion statement+rhetorical question" (three-stage) to enhance persuasiveness.
Asking customers to tell you more information can bring you closer to your customers. But to convince customers, it is not enough to just give them a chance to speak. Customers are willing to talk to you because they want you to give professional and constructive advice. True persuasion must be combined with professional opinions. Persuasion often occurs after the customer raises an objection. No matter what the customer puts forward, you must first identify with the customer. The best way to identify with the customer is to express empathy and simply repeat the original words of the customer, such as: "Manager Li, I understand how you feel now, as you just said …" After controlling the customer's emotions, you should make your personal professional statement, such as "Generally speaking, this problem mainly occurs. But don't forget to end with a question, such as "What do you think? ",to consult customers.
Seventh, be silent after asking questions and throw the pressure to your opponent.
What should I do after asking questions? Many people like to make mistakes that make them hold their breath or ask themselves questions. Because there will be a time lag in the process of dialogue, ordinary people can't stand the suspension of the dialogue process. They try their best to fill the gap between conversations, which is an innate habit. Top sales experts attach great importance to the post-questioning treatment, and they strive to overcome the inertia after asking questions. Usually after asking a question, immediately shut up, pause, look at the customer, nod and smile until the customer says what he wants to hear. In Wall Street, where financial giants gather, there is always a legend about the interview experience of investment banks. The most famous story is the "silent interview": when you walk into the room, the other person says "hello" without saying a word, and the other person stares at you, but he still stares at you when you say you are coming for an interview. You start telling some silly jokes, and he just shakes his head without expression, but just when you are at a loss. Like a strict investment bank interview, the sales process is actually a process of control and anti-control. If you can't hold your breath and don't take the initiative in the conversation, you have lost at the beginning.
3. say: say what? What can I say?
According to the form of sales, sales theory can be divided into three types: public speech, demonstration and interview. The first two mainly rely on professional presentation skills to cooperate with relevant personnel and departments, and the third is the most widely used sales description form at present. Simply put, sales is to introduce yourself and your products to customers in a complete paragraph, cooperate with professional image, product display, guide questions, and reach a deal with customers. Sales instructions are mainly used in the following two aspects:
1) proposal
Customers are willing to take the time to talk to you. They must think there is something wrong at this stage. I hope you can give me some suggestions and specific guidance. Salespeople need to be familiar with products and companies when they enter the company. Both product training and program content have undergone systematic knowledge training. Now in the explanation of the dialogue, the problem to be solved is to establish a flow of ideas for the sales staff to explain the suggestions. According to the current situation summary, cause diagnosis, key analysis and solutions, the overall proposal and scheme description process are carried out. So, how to explain each stage in detail? In summing up the current situation, the best way to explain it is to be consistent with the customer, repeat the original words of the customer, such as "as you just mentioned …", and make a summary, which should be organized, such as explaining it according to the sentence pattern of "the first … the second … the third …"; In the aspect of cause diagnosis, to show personal professionalism or authority, it can usually be used in sentences such as "investigated by authoritative institutions" or "According to my personal experience, this phenomenon is mainly due to ……"; In the focus analysis stage, it is necessary to classify and deepen the problems, and finally summarize the symptoms, such as "In short, the biggest problem you are facing now is how to improve the poor sales performance in a short time?" ; In the solution stage, for products with more competitors, we can use the comparative interpretation method (Franklin comparison method) to emphasize our own advantages. Draw a "t" on the white paper. The left column indicates your own product, and the right column indicates your opponent's product. Then compare the various functional indicators horizontally, especially when you write down these summarized information in words, which can make the customer feel that you are writing the evaluation on paper on his behalf. Let him see for himself what is good and what is not. This situation can make him feel that what you said is reasonable. Let customers do multiple-choice questions, it is better to give them true or false questions. The author calls this sales description method "a piece of paper, a pen, walking the world". For general products, the interest statement -fab method is used to impress customers and find out the interests hidden behind the product characteristics and advantages. Corporate customers are concerned about whether your products can increase their income, reduce their costs or improve their efficiency. If you further use the characteristics and advantages of the product to explain how you meet the above interests of customers, the chances of getting orders will greatly increase.
2) Objection handling
In the sales dialogue, the customer's objection and the salesperson's objection are mutual processes. The explanation of objections and the way to explain them are also topics of concern to salespeople. Generally speaking, the explanation of the objection handling part can be roughly divided into the following parts:
First, the identification part. No matter what the customer says, we must think that he is right. Therefore, the first step of opposition is to learn to agree. Commonly used identification explanations are "that's good", "it doesn't matter", "what you said is very reasonable" and "your question is very good".
Second, ignore the objection and postpone the treatment.
There are real objections and excuses for customers' objections. Sometimes customers just want to show off their knowledge. We can usually ignore such customers. The so-called "neglect", as the name implies, is that when customers raise some objections, they don't really want to get a solution or discussion, and these opinions have nothing to do with the immediate transaction. You just need to agree with him with a smile and express your approval and praise. Such as "you are so humorous"! "well! What a brilliant idea! " Or "We'll talk about this later. The thing is ... ",and then go on. Customers won't mention it again in the future, and you don't have to mention it again.
Third, give examples to prove the explanation.
It is more convincing to explain with examples from third parties. "Third party" refers not only to old customers or product users, but also to authoritative industry analysis reports, data statistics and so on. When customers doubt the truth of your explanation, they can generally use the explanation sentence of "feel, feel, and then", such as "Teacher Chen, I understand your feelings very well. I have a customer, Mr. Zhang, who felt the same way at first, and later spent some time … "or" According to alexa's authoritative traffic statistics report … "and so on.
Iv. explanation of compensation
When a customer raises a factual objection, you should admit it and accept it gladly, instead of trying to deny the fact. But remember, you should give the customer some compensation to achieve psychological balance.
For example, customer: "The design and color of this fur coat are very good and refreshing, but the quality of leather is not the best." Salesman: "You really have a good eye. This leather material is not the best. If you choose the best leather, the price will probably be more than 50% higher than now. " You know there is no perfect product in the real world. For customers, of course, the more advantages the product has, the better, but there are not many key points that really affect customers' purchase or not. The function of compensation method is to effectively make up for the weakness of the product itself.
Compensation method is widely used, not only in dialogue, but also with practical effects.
For example, Avis has a famous advertising slogan "We are second, so we work harder!" This is also a way of compensation.
Fifth, explain the use of force.
Boss: "Your company spends too much money on advertising. Why not save the money as a discount for the purchase of goods and make our profits better? "
Salesperson: "It is because we have invested a lot of advertising expenses that we will attract customers to buy designated brands at designated places, which will not only save your sales time, but also sell other products by the way, and your total profit will be the biggest!" .
This method is taken from Taiji Chuan. This is the characteristic of Australian boomerang. Throw it hard and it will bounce back to its original position. The basic method of using coercion in sales is that when the customer raises some objections about not buying, the salesperson can immediately reply: "This is exactly why I think you want to buy!" In other words, the salesperson can immediately turn the customer's objection directly into a reason to buy.
Sixth, the explanation of value cost.
Let's look at an example first.
A consultant from a consulting company went to a company to sign an agreement. The general manager said, "I don't know why your company sent three consultants to improve our inventory and procurement system." Two months need 6.5438+0 million, which is equivalent to almost 200,000 per person per month. I can ... I can hire several factory directors for this money. "
He thought the price was high and raised an objection. What did the consultant say? "General manager, according to the monthly inventory and data provided by your company, the amount is 60 million. With the increase of production quantity year by year, the inventory is also rising gradually. It took only two weeks for our consultants to learn all about your factory's purchasing operation process, production process and on-site production operation in detail, and made an improvement plan. After half a year, your company's inventory has dropped to 30 million, and your interest has dropped by 3 million every year. The cost you saved is enough to pay for our consultants. "
The general manager said, "That's true, but how can you ensure that the inventory will drop to 30 million?"
The salesperson said: "To reduce inventory, the purchasing operation mode should be improved, and the delivery date and delivery quality arrangement production operation mode should also be adjusted and changed. The reduction in inventory is only the final result, so you must agree to sign this contract. You will receive a report every week, which will tell you what we have accomplished this week and what we accomplished last week. At this time, you can monitor my performance, and we will let you see clearly that every penny you invest can really be rewarded. If you don't think it's worth it, you don't have to pay it. Therefore, through the evaluation, you can come to the conclusion that the consulting fees you pay to this enterprise are all allocated from the expenses you save. In fact, you can improve the quality of factory management without paying any extra fees at all. General manager, I sincerely suggest that this is really worth a try. If you sign this agreement now, I can arrange to start this project in a month and a half.
What salespeople do is value cost explanation, also called value cost analysis. When your sales can really improve work efficiency, increase income or reduce costs for customers, you can choose "value cost method".
The above is about the application of explanation in dialogue. In addition, in the explanation, we should pay special attention to some lethal lexical changes, such as replacing "buy" and "sell" with "own", replacing "sign a contract" with "accept service" or "reach cooperation" and replacing "contract" with "agreement" or "form"; Replace "but" with "at the same time" or "if"; These are the details that salespeople should pay attention to.