How do the best businesses develop long term sales success? Get people to buy what they need.

Why is it that sales are such a hard thing to develop and drive? It’s as though consumers feel that they are always being ripped off. I believe this is because most managers put an emphasis on sales and profit as opposed to why customers and clients need what they have to offer.

The art of sales is about relationships and developing trust with your client. This, in turn, builds a long term big money clients.

But how do you develop an environment that fosters this kind of behavior from your employees and sales staff?

Change the culture of your business for the better

The way you and your employees perceive your company and the way you project your feelings onto the customer plays an important roll in developing a sales relationship.

For example, pawn shops tend to do better when the products are displayed randomly all over the store under dim lighting while the help is a casually dressed cashier. This gives customers the feeling that it’s a laid back atmosphere where they also believe they could essentially find some sort of amazing deal mixed in with the junk.

On the other end of the spectrum, when you walk into Saks they give you the feeling that everything in their store is precious as if it were diamond encrusted (and sometimes it really is). Everything is in its very own specially designed display center; giving the impression that the products and people who shop in the store are upscale and therefore higher class. Furthermore, the staff is educated about the products they sell, and are expected to adhere to a strict dress code while giving customers the maximum service possible.

Develop a sales strategy based on needs and benefits

Once you have everyone in your company on the same page and you have a strong grasp of the culture of your company you can build a sales plan.

The first step is to sit down with as many people as possible (preferably within your target market) and develop a few lists.

Remember don’t limit your lists to only a few ideas that you feel are the best ones. Write them all down. A bad idea to begin with can end up being a gem with some love and imagination.

There will be four lists to make:
• The benefits of the product
• The problems of the product
• What, when and why the consumer feels they need to buy your product or service
• How does it compare it to your competitor

As far as the list of problems and competitors: think deeply on why these factors keep people from buying from you.

Then find the solution that only your product offers, the very thing that makes it a superior solution to your competitors. You can also come up with a sound reason why the “problem” shouldn’t even be a factor when the consumer is making their buying decision.

Once you have collected the information, you want to choose your product’s key benefit and the most common reason the target market is in need of the product.

Train your staff to know these factors inside and out. This way when they make a presentation or a pitch they’ll highlight the factors that will move the customer to buy while not feeling as though they were conned into it.

The best thing to do next is to write a training manual based on the facts you have accumulated and consistently educate your staff. This education will give them confidence and a more relaxed approach to the sales process and keep them from being too “salesy”.

It will also give your staff a sense of pride and accomplishment because they will know for certain they are selling something beneficial to the client.

New ways to motivate staff

Bonuses for top sales are great but I think we should praise the staff that has the most consistent record of happy clients. Make all staff responsible for getting a review from customers and offer incentives for customer satisfaction and returned reviews.

Focusing your advertising and developing an effective marketing plan

Using the information from the newly written training manual, you now have focus and specific goals in your advertising. You can now effectively move your target market to buy from you.

All you need is good creative and an intuitive marketing plan aimed at showing the consumer, who already needs your product, why they need it.

If you don’t have the experience or resources to do focus groups or marketing plans you can always hire out. Many companies including Assurance Advertising offer these services for much less than what it would cost for you to do it in house.

So go for it; take the extra few hours this week and find out what it is that really sells your product then use it. Your pocket book will thank you!