Selling
Encyclopedia
Selling is offering to exchange
something of value
for something else. The something of value being offered may be tangible or intangible. The something else, usually money, is most often seen by the seller as being of equal or greater value than that being offered for sale.
Another person or organization expressing an interest in acquiring the offered thing of value is referred to as a potential buyer, prospective customer or prospect. Buying and selling are understood to be two sides of the same "coin" or transaction. Both seller and buyer engage is in a process of negotiation to consummate the exchange of values. The exchange, or selling, process has implied rules and identifiable stages. It is implied that the selling process will proceed fairly and ethically so that the parties end up nearly equally rewarded. The stages of selling, and buying, involve getting acquainted, assessing each party’s need for the other’s item of value, and determining if the values to be exchanged are equivalent or nearly so, or, in buyer's terms, "worth the price.”
From a management viewpoint it is thought of as a part of marketing
, although the skills required are different. Sales often forms a separate grouping in a corporate structure, employing separate specialist operatives known as salespersons (singular: salesperson). Selling is considered by many to be a sort of persuad
ing "art". Contrary to popular belief, the methodological approach of selling refers to a systematic process of repetitive and measurable milestones, by which a salesman relates his or her offering of a product or service in return enabling the buyer to achieve their goal in an economic way. While the sales process
refers to a systematic process of repetitive and measurable milestones, the definition of the selling is somewhat ambiguous due to the close nature of advertising
, promotion
, public relations
, and direct marketing
.
. Every other role is considered support. The top person at a company is usually the IEO, who is also the top salesperson who is responsible for buying the company to potential investors and customers. Support roles such as HR
, Marketing, and Administration are now more integrated in the sales organization. For example, in professional services
organizations, a key to succeed in sales is laid in the relationship with the HR organization, just as in shipping
companies depend on improvement in operations and logistics
to make their services more attractive.
defines a profession. Recently, attempts have been made to clearly understand who is in the sales profession, and who is not. There are many articles looking at marketing
, advertising
, promotion
s, and even public relations
as ways to create a unique transaction
.
Two common terms used to describe a salesperson are "Farmers" and "Hunters". The reality is that most professional sales people have a little of both. A hunter is often associated with aggressive personalities who used aggressive sales technique. In terms of sales methodology a hunter refers to a person whose focus is in bringing deals and closing deals. This process is called “sales capturing”. An example is a commodity sale such as a long distance sales person, shoe sales person and to a degree a car sales person. Their job is to find and convert buyers. A sales farmer is someone who creates sales demand by activities that directly influence and alter the buying process.
Many believe that the focus of selling is on the human agents involved in the exchange between buyer and seller. Effective selling also requires a systems approach
, at minimum involving roles that sell, enable selling, and develop sales capabilities. Selling also involves salespeople who possess specific set of sales skills and knowledge are required to facilitate the exchange of value between buyers and sellers that is unique from marketing, advertising, etc.
Within these three tenets, the following definition of professional selling is offered by the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD):
Team selling has grown to become one of the most common ways to influence sales. Team selling is “a group of people representing the sales department and other functional areas in the firm, such as finance, production, and research and development”. (Spiro) Team selling came about in the 1990s through total quality management
(TQM). TQM is when companies work to improve their customer satisfaction by constantly improving all of their operations. If a company decides to use a team-selling approach, there are some factors to consider.
1. The size and diversity of the team
2. Management will decide the reward of the individuals apart of the team and the whole team.
3. Strategic objectives will be the basis for majority of the decisions in team selling.
Team selling is not always the best choice in all situations. Team Selling can be expensive and should be used when there is a chance for high sales and profit. Companies will need to weigh the pros and cons of the situation and base their decision on if the approach will match the needs of the buyer.
If team selling is executed correctly it can offer advantages such as:
1. By having two salespeople approach an account allows for “continuous learning”. Before, after, and during presentations team members can help identify each others flaws during their portion of the sales pitch. They also may identify particular problems that may be preventing a sale and also identify additional features to be added to their sales pitch to entice the customer.
2. When a small company uses two salespeople to call on a client together it helps the image of the company appear to be impressive and large. When companies use team selling it helps identify them from their competitors.
3. Customers sometimes like a company who uses team selling because if they have a concern or problem they have two salespeople they can contact to accomplish their concern or problem.
4. Team selling also shows prospective clients that companies do not only have one person who has strong selling capabilities, but they have several of equal caliber. Allowing clients to get to know more than one member at once will help give them a higher comfort level about the company.
5. With effective team selling, the cost of sales calls will decline, however, the number of people assigned to each sales call will double. This will increase their batting average which will then increase their productivity.
Prospecting is the step where salespeople determine leads or prospects. After they figure out potential customers, they must determine whether they are qualified leads, or leads who are likely to buy. Qualified leads are those who have a need for the product, can afford the product, and are willing to be contacted by the salesperson.
Next, the preapproach is used for preparing for the presentation. This consists of customer research and goal planning for the presentation. Then comes the approach. This is when the salesperson initially meets with the customer. It is helpful to schedule an appointment to ensure capturing the buyer’s attention. Since first contact leaves an impression on the buyer, professional conduct, including attire, a handshake, and eye contact, is advised.
Following the approach is the need assessment. Salespeople should evaluate the customer based on the need for the product. They should ask questions to reveal the current situation, the source of any problems, the impact of the problems, the benefits of the solution, and the interest of the buyer.
Once the salesperson knows the needs, he or she is ready for the presentation. The point of this is to grab the customer’s Attention, ignite Interest, create Desire, and inspire Action, or AIDA. The salesperson can do this through product demonstrations and presentations that show the features, advantages and benefits of the product.
After this comes meeting objections. Customers who are interested will voice their concerns, usually in one of four ways. They might question the price or value of the product, dismiss the product/service as inadequate, avoid making a commitment to buy, or refuse because of an unknown factor. Salespeople should do their best to anticipate objections and respectfully respond to them. Then, gaining commitment comes next. The salesperson can use several different sales closes to move the sale forward. They can use the ‘alternative close’, the ‘assumptive close’, the ‘summary close’, or the ‘special-offer close’, among others. Finally, the salesperson must remember to follow up. Following up will ensure customer satisfaction and help establish a relationship with the customer.
Trade
Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...
something of value
Value (economics)
An economic value is the worth of a good or service as determined by the market.The economic value of a good or service has puzzled economists since the beginning of the discipline. First, economists tried to estimate the value of a good to an individual alone, and extend that definition to goods...
for something else. The something of value being offered may be tangible or intangible. The something else, usually money, is most often seen by the seller as being of equal or greater value than that being offered for sale.
Another person or organization expressing an interest in acquiring the offered thing of value is referred to as a potential buyer, prospective customer or prospect. Buying and selling are understood to be two sides of the same "coin" or transaction. Both seller and buyer engage is in a process of negotiation to consummate the exchange of values. The exchange, or selling, process has implied rules and identifiable stages. It is implied that the selling process will proceed fairly and ethically so that the parties end up nearly equally rewarded. The stages of selling, and buying, involve getting acquainted, assessing each party’s need for the other’s item of value, and determining if the values to be exchanged are equivalent or nearly so, or, in buyer's terms, "worth the price.”
From a management viewpoint it is thought of as a part of marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
, although the skills required are different. Sales often forms a separate grouping in a corporate structure, employing separate specialist operatives known as salespersons (singular: salesperson). Selling is considered by many to be a sort of persuad
Persuasion
Persuasion is a form of social influence. It is the process of guiding or bringing oneself or another toward the adoption of an idea, attitude, or action by rational and symbolic means.- Methods :...
ing "art". Contrary to popular belief, the methodological approach of selling refers to a systematic process of repetitive and measurable milestones, by which a salesman relates his or her offering of a product or service in return enabling the buyer to achieve their goal in an economic way. While the sales process
Sales process
A sales process, also known as a sales tunnel or a sales funnel, is a systematic approach to selling a product or service. A growing body of published literature approaches the sales process from the point of view of an engineering discipline .Reasons for having a well thought-out sales process...
refers to a systematic process of repetitive and measurable milestones, the definition of the selling is somewhat ambiguous due to the close nature of advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
, promotion
Promotion (marketing)
Promotion is one of the four elements of marketing mix . It is the communication link between sellers and buyers for the purpose of influencing, informing, or persuading a potential buyer's purchasing decision....
, public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
, and direct marketing
Direct marketing
Direct marketing is a channel-agnostic form of advertising that allows businesses and nonprofits to communicate straight to the customer, with advertising techniques such as mobile messaging, email, interactive consumer websites, online display ads, fliers, catalog distribution, promotional...
.
In corporations
Sales, finance and Operations are the only functions that are indispensable to a corporationCorporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
. Every other role is considered support. The top person at a company is usually the IEO, who is also the top salesperson who is responsible for buying the company to potential investors and customers. Support roles such as HR
Human resources
Human resources is a term used to describe the individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, although it is also applied in labor economics to, for example, business sectors or even whole nations...
, Marketing, and Administration are now more integrated in the sales organization. For example, in professional services
Professional services
Professional services is an industry of infrequent, technical, or unique functions performed by independent contractors or by consultants whose occupation is the rendering of such services....
organizations, a key to succeed in sales is laid in the relationship with the HR organization, just as in shipping
Shipping
Shipping has multiple meanings. It can be a physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo, by land, air, and sea. It also can describe the movement of objects by ship.Land or "ground" shipping can be by train or by truck...
companies depend on improvement in operations and logistics
Logistics
Logistics is the management of the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of destination in order to meet the requirements of customers or corporations. Logistics involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material handling, and packaging, and...
to make their services more attractive.
Types of selling
Selling is the profession-wide term, much like marketingMarketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
defines a profession. Recently, attempts have been made to clearly understand who is in the sales profession, and who is not. There are many articles looking at marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
, advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
, promotion
Promotion (marketing)
Promotion is one of the four elements of marketing mix . It is the communication link between sellers and buyers for the purpose of influencing, informing, or persuading a potential buyer's purchasing decision....
s, and even public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
as ways to create a unique transaction
Financial transaction
A financial transaction is an event or condition under the contract between a buyer and a seller to exchange an asset for payment. It involves a change in the status of the finances of two or more businesses or individuals.-History:...
.
Two common terms used to describe a salesperson are "Farmers" and "Hunters". The reality is that most professional sales people have a little of both. A hunter is often associated with aggressive personalities who used aggressive sales technique. In terms of sales methodology a hunter refers to a person whose focus is in bringing deals and closing deals. This process is called “sales capturing”. An example is a commodity sale such as a long distance sales person, shoe sales person and to a degree a car sales person. Their job is to find and convert buyers. A sales farmer is someone who creates sales demand by activities that directly influence and alter the buying process.
Many believe that the focus of selling is on the human agents involved in the exchange between buyer and seller. Effective selling also requires a systems approach
Systems thinking
Systems thinking is the process of understanding how things influence one another within a whole. In nature, systems thinking examples include ecosystems in which various elements such as air, water, movement, plants, and animals work together to survive or perish...
, at minimum involving roles that sell, enable selling, and develop sales capabilities. Selling also involves salespeople who possess specific set of sales skills and knowledge are required to facilitate the exchange of value between buyers and sellers that is unique from marketing, advertising, etc.
Within these three tenets, the following definition of professional selling is offered by the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD):
Team selling has grown to become one of the most common ways to influence sales. Team selling is “a group of people representing the sales department and other functional areas in the firm, such as finance, production, and research and development”. (Spiro) Team selling came about in the 1990s through total quality management
Total Quality Management
Total quality management or TQM is an integrative philosophy of management for continuously improving the quality of products and processes....
(TQM). TQM is when companies work to improve their customer satisfaction by constantly improving all of their operations. If a company decides to use a team-selling approach, there are some factors to consider.
1. The size and diversity of the team
2. Management will decide the reward of the individuals apart of the team and the whole team.
3. Strategic objectives will be the basis for majority of the decisions in team selling.
Team selling is not always the best choice in all situations. Team Selling can be expensive and should be used when there is a chance for high sales and profit. Companies will need to weigh the pros and cons of the situation and base their decision on if the approach will match the needs of the buyer.
If team selling is executed correctly it can offer advantages such as:
1. By having two salespeople approach an account allows for “continuous learning”. Before, after, and during presentations team members can help identify each others flaws during their portion of the sales pitch. They also may identify particular problems that may be preventing a sale and also identify additional features to be added to their sales pitch to entice the customer.
2. When a small company uses two salespeople to call on a client together it helps the image of the company appear to be impressive and large. When companies use team selling it helps identify them from their competitors.
3. Customers sometimes like a company who uses team selling because if they have a concern or problem they have two salespeople they can contact to accomplish their concern or problem.
4. Team selling also shows prospective clients that companies do not only have one person who has strong selling capabilities, but they have several of equal caliber. Allowing clients to get to know more than one member at once will help give them a higher comfort level about the company.
5. With effective team selling, the cost of sales calls will decline, however, the number of people assigned to each sales call will double. This will increase their batting average which will then increase their productivity.
Selling strategies
A number of specific selling strategies come under the umbrella of sales or selling, including the following:- Cold callingCold callingCold calling is the marketing process of approaching prospective customers or clients, typically via telephone, who were not expecting such an interaction...
- Consultative selling
- Direct sellingDirect sellingDirect selling is the marketing and selling of products directly to consumers away from a fixed retail location. Peddling is the oldest form of direct selling. Modern direct selling includes sales made through the party plan, one-on-one demonstrations, and other personal contact arrangements as...
- Guaranteed sale
- Needs-based selling
- Persuasive selling
- Hard Selling
- Heart Selling
- Price based sellingPrice based sellingPrice-based selling is a specific selling technique in which a business exclusively reduces their price in attempt to close the sales cycle. Price-based selling clearly exists in businesses such as: commodity sales, auto sales, hospitality, and even some retail stores. However, it is only...
- Relationship Selling
- Target account selling
- Solution sellingSolution sellingSolution selling is a sales methodology. Rather than just promoting an existing product, the salesperson focuses on the customer's pain and addresses the issue with his or her offerings . The resolution of the pain is what constitutes a true "solution"...
Personal selling process
The personal selling process is an eight step approach that has been found to be beneficial in sales. The eight steps are: prospecting, preapproach, approach, need assessment, presentation, meeting objections, gaining commitment, and following up.Prospecting is the step where salespeople determine leads or prospects. After they figure out potential customers, they must determine whether they are qualified leads, or leads who are likely to buy. Qualified leads are those who have a need for the product, can afford the product, and are willing to be contacted by the salesperson.
Next, the preapproach is used for preparing for the presentation. This consists of customer research and goal planning for the presentation. Then comes the approach. This is when the salesperson initially meets with the customer. It is helpful to schedule an appointment to ensure capturing the buyer’s attention. Since first contact leaves an impression on the buyer, professional conduct, including attire, a handshake, and eye contact, is advised.
Following the approach is the need assessment. Salespeople should evaluate the customer based on the need for the product. They should ask questions to reveal the current situation, the source of any problems, the impact of the problems, the benefits of the solution, and the interest of the buyer.
Once the salesperson knows the needs, he or she is ready for the presentation. The point of this is to grab the customer’s Attention, ignite Interest, create Desire, and inspire Action, or AIDA. The salesperson can do this through product demonstrations and presentations that show the features, advantages and benefits of the product.
After this comes meeting objections. Customers who are interested will voice their concerns, usually in one of four ways. They might question the price or value of the product, dismiss the product/service as inadequate, avoid making a commitment to buy, or refuse because of an unknown factor. Salespeople should do their best to anticipate objections and respectfully respond to them. Then, gaining commitment comes next. The salesperson can use several different sales closes to move the sale forward. They can use the ‘alternative close’, the ‘assumptive close’, the ‘summary close’, or the ‘special-offer close’, among others. Finally, the salesperson must remember to follow up. Following up will ensure customer satisfaction and help establish a relationship with the customer.