how to sell

the days when you could pressure the customer by rattling off numbers are over. the customer today has a lot of choices and if the product feedback is not good ( social reviews ) , that product will not sell , it’s that simple.

the sales person today cannot talk down to the customer. they need to act as an expert guiding the customer to their needs.

For example , if a customer is looking for a laptop computer. (s)he walks into a store and is guided towards the laptop section.

the first thing the salesperson ideally needs to do is find out the requirements

is it for browsing the internet , office work ( documents ) , programming , entertainment , gaming , etc.

Once that is established , you can lock down on the specifications – the processor , the memory and hard drive space needed. in case the laptop is needed for office work , they can add on software like ms office or it’s equivalent.

then comes the budget – you can see what fits into the customer’s budget and start with the lower range and slowly increase the price from one model to the next – it has to be a small increase , so that the customer does not feel the big price jump.

most laptops come with a one year warranty. but if the customer is afraid of the product and would like some peace of mind , you can offer an additional two year warranty for a small amount from a third party.

next come the additional things – the small things.

when you spend close to 1000 us dollars or inr 50,000 for a laptop , the small peripherals are just add-ons and don’t hurt that much

for example , a wireless mouse , blue tooth speakers , a protective shoulder bag to carry the laptop in and protect it from sudden jerks , shocks .

so , you would ideally make money on the warranties ,the small extras.

next , you need to find at which stage of the buying , the customer is in. if they have just started , ask them if you can have their contact number , in case the price drops or if an upgrade to that laptop arrives. also ask them for a convenient day and time to call.

once you have the number, you should have at least three follow-up calls with that customer to close the sale or if the customer is not interested

trust us , by the end of the first interaction , most salespersons know if the customer is interested in buying with them or not.

people still trust a physical store near their home so that they can followup on complaints or carry the item to the store and exchange the item in case of any problems.

Here is a funny video – what if shopping in a store was like online shopping