What’s a sales call?

Written by Michael A. Lafond, President of Volitio Group International Inc.
mlafond@volitio.qc.ca

www.volitio.qc.ca
Volit
io is a company specialised in International Marketing and Sales

Every company is looking for the best representation possible into their markets. Whether you use agents, distribution houses direct salespeople or any type of telemarketing, the person making the call represents you and the product or services you provide.

You need the best technical employees to create and build an idea into a successful commodity, and this no matter how good or exclusive your product is. Unless you get somebody to talk about it, to represent it, it will never become what you had hoped it to be, a SUCCESS.

Your sales force is and will always be your first customer. That person, representing your organisation, has to believe in more than the product to be successful in sales.

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, 
but in rising every time we fall…

Confucius


Company

One of the first action that we do after having introduced ourselves to a customer is to present our business card.

What’s on a business card?

This card is the proof of who you are. Simply said; it is the non-verbal introduction to what you are about to offer. The logo and the name of the company will become the focus of the first minutes of the conversation.

The representative has to introduce the company he is working for or representing.

A customer will want to know more about the company.

·        Who are they?

·        How long have they been in business? Where are they?

·        How successful are they?

Those questions are the introduction to the relationship this customer will have with your company. Customers today are knowledgeable professionals wanting to know as much as possible before doing anything.

Today they buy a name, a reputation and a know-how. Why do we put our company’s name on all of our literatures? Because we want it to be known… and we don’t want people to forget it.

Now that the customer knows more about the company and its mission, the product and or service become a complement to the philosophy, thus the importance of the company’s introduction.

Products/Services

The second stage of a sales call will be the introduction of the product and/or service you provide.

This has to be well defined and explained in such a way that the customer can relate to the application. We cannot forget that customers will purchase on the basis that by purchasing your product/service his organisation will bring one of its costs down.

If, by using the product you are manufacturing, the customer does not see any benefits and a return on their investment, you now have a 99.9% chance of failing in your task…to make a sale.

Too many times we see organisations putting too many efforts on the technical aspects of the product and not enough on the reasons why potential customers should have to use or incorporate it in their own operations.

The representative’s responsibilities are to present it in such a way that the customers will see the purchase as a VALUE and not only the VALUE of the purchase. In sales terms it is call the perceived value.

Representative

You have established an understanding of the company and the company’s offer with your customer. Some of you might think that, this is all that’s needed to come up with a good agreement or an order…

Wrong! Would you believe me if I told you that the company I’m working for or representing today is the best corporation in the world if I didn’t projected the same type of image as the corporation I just introduced to you? That’s true! We always reflect who we are and whom we are associated with.

Every business relationships starts with only two peoples. These two peoples have to have something in common to want to go further. It can be the product, the service or the company. But let us not forget that the human aspect in all of this will never be, for those matters, diminished.

The relationship between your users and customers and your sales force is the most important of them all. Your representatives have to understand what is expected of them and then they will work with their customers accordingly. Let them be creative and open about their work. Compensate them well and look after them like you would like them to look after you.

After all, this might be business… But without people business would not exist.