Establish Their Needs
How can I establish the client's or customer's needs?
It's very important that you establish the customer's needs, because you really can't start selling without it. You need to get the client talking and you need to listen. Because what you're trying to do is trying to match what you're able to sell, in the way of a product or service, to their needs. Don't try and sell people something that they don't want. For example, if you're trying to sell a space-saving gadget or something to somebody who's got plenty of space, don't bother, because they won't buy your product, and then you've lost your credibility.
What can I say to get the customer talking?
To get the customer talking ask open questions. Now those are questions which begin with how, what, when, where, why, who, and tell me. Those are questions that you can't answer yes or no. And they give you a lot of information. You can start with a question such as 'what did you have in mind?'. And then later on you can probe a little further by saying, 'what sort of size were you thinking of?' Or 'where were you going to install it?' Or 'who else is going to be involved in this particular project?' Just keep asking those open questions until you can establish fairly firmly what you think they want. Now, you can ask closed questions to establish facts. For example, 'is there a power point handy?' Now, if you are a hair dresser going into someone's house, you will need a power point for your hair dryer. If you want to do a demonstration on your laptop, you may need a power point for that. It is that sort of question to establish facts but keep on asking questions until you are pretty well sure in your own mind that you can match your service or product to their particular needs. And then you can describe the features and settle the benefits.
What are 'features' in terms of selling?
Features are the facts about your product or service: possibly what it's made of, where it comes from, and how long it will take to install. If, for example, you were trying to sell management consultancy, well, what exactly would you be doing? And this is where your product knowledge comes in; you know as much as you possibly can. And what you're trying to do is match your product to their needs. So emphasize the features that you think best meet your customers' or your clients' needs, and then you can sell the benefits.
What are 'benefits'?
Benefits are what they say they are really. They are the benefits of your features which the client will want. It could be for example that it's easy to use, that it's quick to install, that it's fashionable, that it's slimming, that it's keeping up with next door, because people always want to know what's in it for me, and so you sell the benefits and believe me, people buy benefits and not features.
What is 'selling up'?
Selling Up is advising your client, indeed persuading your client, that if they pay just a little bit more than perhaps they had first envisaged or possibly a little bit more than you had suggested in the first place, than that would better suit their particular needs. It may be, for example, that it's more durable, that it's more robust, it may be that it's made of a better fabric, or something like that. That's "selling up", it's adding value to your product, to your service, persuading the client that is the one that is right for them.
What is 'selling on'?
Well there's a very good example of that, you know when you go in and buy a pair of shoes nine times out of ten they try to sell you the cleaning product to go with it as well. That's selling on, its suggesting something a little extra that perhaps the client hadn't thought about. For example you could say, "Well would you like me to do the planting for you", if you happen to be in landscape gardening. Or you might say, "Would you like me to quote it for maintenance", perhaps you're installing somebody website or something, its adding something extra.
How can I get a customer to 'buy up' or 'buy on'?
To get a customer to buy up, or indeed to buy on, then you need to persuade them that, really, whatever it is that you're suggesting will meet their needs. You might like to reiterate what you've already said, go over the features again, go over the benefits again, and then perhaps say to them, "Well, had you thought of doing such-and-such a thing?" You're putting fresh ideas into their minds. But just watch their body language. See how they receive it. And don't push too hard, because if you do, you might well lose that sale.
