Effective Sales Roles To Achieve Selling Success Part 2

-
To achieve selling success, a salesperson should masterfully play a repertoire of roles, to project a more professional persona.  The salesperson should skillfully utilize a mix of roles fit for the selling situation he or she might be in, and clinch sales and make customers satisfied and happy.

I will attempt to define the roles based on my experience as a salesperson:
  • Front-liners - Salespersons usually are the first to interact with customers.  A first impression can make or break a sale.  A salesperson's decorum and demeanor should project a professional selling persona.
  • Revenue-generator - In the traditional view, salespersons were expected to contribute to the company's topline. Back in the day, during sales huddles, the sales manager would cajole salespersons to hit the number by month's end.   Now, companies are training salespersons to be more conscious of the company's middle line, as well as bottom-line performance while they do business with customers especially the big ones.
  • Service provider - Service should be the primary consideration of every salesperson. After-sales service is equally important to secure customer loyalty. 
  • Troubleshooter -  The role of the salesperson in this case is to identify a customer's problem and solve it for them.  Salespersons should not hide the moment an irate customer calls up and complain. Salespersons should exhaust all means to solve the problem. Solving the problem might turn into an opportunity for future business. 
  • Negotiator/Intermediary - Negotiations are perceived as "upmanship" - beating the other party. A successful salesperson should never maintain this position but rather negotiate for a win-win situation for both sides.  The salesperson's aim in this role is for everybody to go home happy.
  • Communicator - The marketer's role is to communicate the brand's image, but today it is not only the domain of marketers, but salespersons have also been tasked to communicate the brand directly to its customer and improve brand equity.
  • Consultant - the expansive experience of a salesperson exposed to numerous situations providing solutions to the customer can classify the salesperson as an expert.  He can be viewed as a reliable consultant. This type of role should provide a customer with the ideal product or service for them. Extensive knowledge of the company's products or services is important.  The value of what suitable product for a specific customer should be strongly recommended. Especially if a customer is looking to cut costs sacrificing long-term benefits. The salesperson should maintain its stand rather than giving in to the customer's false assumptions, and in the future would call up as an irate customer. On the other hand, there are situations where the customer shares inside information, a salesperson should be ethical in keeping "under wraps" customer proprietary information or trade secrets to ensure a long-lasting and trusting relationship. 
  • Strategic collaborator - rather than an adversarial relationship, an effective salesperson should establish a more collaborative relationship, constantly working towards mutual business benefit. A salesperson's attitude is to work with customers for the long haul and keeping in mind the customer's as well as the company's long term goal.

On my next blog, I'll be sharing processes that will ensure selling success.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Seventies - The "Disco" Era

-
Image
The seventies was undoubtedly the "disco" era.  As a teenager, I listened and danced to the distinct sound of that era. When "Saturday Night Fever" hit the movie theaters in 1978,  I became an avid fan of the Bee Gees and other bands that played the disco sound.   Besides listening to disco sound, I also mimicked dance steps like the "swing" and "L.A. shuffle" from a local popular TV show the "Penthouse Seven." I strutted my stuff every time  I danced with a partner at birthday parties held in friends' residences. Bands that dished out disco tunes during the '70s were  ABBA  with their  song "Dancing Queen";   Donna Summer 's   goosebumps-raising song "Last Dance."  Other bands like  KC and the Sunshine Band ,  The Trammps ,  Van McCoy ,  Gloria Gaynor ,  The Village People ,  Chic , and  The Jacksons   also flooded the radio airwaves in the '70s .   I even followed their progress over...
Read more

Grandfather@50

-
Image
I will be turning 50 before the  end of this year, and what better way to usher in my golden boy status is becoming a bonafide grandfather.  I now have a grandson, his name is Samien. He was born on April 25, 2012. His parents say that the name means "to be heard".  I guess their choice was right because when Samien cries, he is really heard by everybody. I noticed remarkable things in Samien.  While just a new born, he showed to us that he has strong legs and arms.  He can push himself upwards in the crib and was tireless in raising his small arms every  now and then.  Also, he is not the quiet type because he always cries and laughs unlike other babies inside the nursery who are peacefully asleep.  At three months old, he speaks amusing although unintelligible syllables.  Also, at three months, he is rather long for babies his age and quite heavy for a three month old baby.  He weighed in at 5 kilogram during his visit to his pedia...
Read more

Organic Rice in the Philippines For Healthy Living

-
Image
Do you prefer healthy living? Go organic rice! Health buffs would like to get their hands on real organic rice. If you're one of them, do you know which ones are authentic organic rice? This blog will tell you all you need to know about organic rice. Some people think that organic rice is red and brown rice variety only.  Not really. It comes in other varieties and colors such as white, black, etc.  The idea that red and brown alone are organic rice is wrong.  These rice varieties are now sold under specific brands in leading supermarkets in the Philippines, however, not all of them are organic rice. But how will you know if you're buying organic rice or not? Organic rice is farmed without using synthetic fertilizer and chemical pesticide inputs. Besides the inputs, there are other things to consider such as -  How was it planted? What were the farming methods used? Was there contamination along the supply chain until it has reached the end consumer? There...
Read more