What should a sales consultant have?

1 1 Essential qualities for successful marketers.

First, self-confidence-an essential psychological quality for marketers

"It is not because some things are difficult to do that we lose confidence; But because we lost confidence, some things are difficult to do. "

Mike, the greatest salesman in contemporary America, used to be a clerk in a newspaper. When he first joined the newspaper as an advertising salesman, he didn't want salary, but only got a commission on advertising fees. He made a list to visit some very special customers.

Before visiting these clients, Mike went to the park, read the clients on the list 100 times, and then said to himself, "Before this month, you will buy the advertising space from me."

In the first week, he made a deal with three of 12 "impossible" customers; In the second week, he made five more transactions; By the end of the first month, only one of 12 customers didn't buy his advertisement.

The next month, Mike didn't visit new customers. Every morning, as soon as the shop of the customer who refused to buy his advertisement opened, he went in and asked the businessman to advertise. Every morning, the businessman will answer, "No!" Every time the businessman said "no", Mike pretended not to hear, and then continued to visit until the last day of that month. The businessman who said "no" to Mike for 30 days in a row said, "You wasted a month asking me to buy your advertisement. What I want to know now is why you did it. " Mike said, "I didn't waste time. I am at school, and you are my teacher. I have been cultivating my self-confidence. " The businessman nodded, and then Mike said, "I also want to admit to you that I am at school and you are my teacher." You taught me to stick it out. For me, this is more valuable than money. To express my gratitude to you, I will buy one of your advertising pages as my tuition. "

Second, paying attention to etiquette taboos is a compulsory course for marketers.

"Reputation is not only a virtue, but also an ability."

In ancient China, at the beginning of children's enlightenment education, teachers should teach students manners, etiquette and congratulations. This is a lot of very complicated and difficult things to understand. Ordinary people know a little or nothing, but it doesn't matter. However, the marketers who deal with customers are different. At least, they should be clear about etiquette, etiquette and congratulations, because they are always used.

Think about the salesman in the 80 s, who had several packs of Hongtashan cigarettes in his pocket, and went on the rampage when he arrived at the enterprise. At that time, it was really chic, but if this trick is in today's 2 1 century, people will think that you are a salesman of township enterprises in remote areas and will not smoke your cigarettes at all. The title "Miss" was still very popular for young women in the early 1990s. Once upon a time, some places referred to miss escort as miss. Therefore, women in some places are unwilling to call her miss, which is obviously worth noting.

In the traditional culture of China, respecting the elderly is a great virtue. I used to call the old factory director, manager, secretary and director, and they all said they were satisfied with each other. However, with the implementation of the policy of younger cadres, "old" means not far from stepping down. Therefore, the word "old" is taboo among managers, and it is impolite to call others old managers and factory directors rashly. Everyone used to like to pretend to be a senior, but now they don't. Generally speaking, it is not difficult for marketers to be gentle and polite, and they can generally do it. What I particularly want to attract the attention of marketers here is that some are easily overlooked, but they are also the most deadly places. That is to say, when we go to see customers, we are usually not rude, and there is no special hint, but it is difficult for us to ensure that we can remain a gentleman after the business is not completed and the customers are deeply disappointed.

Since the business is not concluded, is it necessary for us to be more polite to others? As the ancients said, business cannot be benevolent. This is the basic accomplishment of a marketer. Actually, there is another business opportunity. If we miss an opportunity to do business, can't we get a good emotional exchange with the investment of this visit? This failure can naturally be the foreshadowing of the next success, leaving a good impression on customers, which is even more important than making a business, because the business will never be finished.

Customers come to the factory for inspection and business negotiation. I believe that the ceremony of picking up guests at the airport or station will be grand. Similarly, the welcoming scene is the same, but the difference is farewell. Many business friends say that the contact is unpleasant, and none of them are about picking up the station, but the dissatisfaction with the delivery station is everywhere. Yes, the general manager is very busy, and so is the deputy general manager. Of course, the business director is not idle all day. Since the business is not successful, everyone's opinions are too far apart, so we have to let an idle office clerk follow the salesman. However, this is too different from the grand reception with great fanfare, which makes people feel abandoned, and at the same time makes people feel that "this company will never come again", which is a fatal blow to the image of the company. So your so-called etiquette is aimed at possible business, not me. When the business fails, the etiquette is abolished and the friends are gone. What a sad thing!

In marketing activities, etiquette may be 1000% first, and consistency may be less than 30% from beginning to end. We are not going to enumerate many complicated details here, but to elaborate such an idea. Regarding etiquette, we must do our own work where we are negligent, so as to show our true colors as heroes.

Third, the skills of meeting customers.

"There are ways to succeed; There is a reason for failure. "

Salespeople who are new to the promotion industry often call customers directly and say, I want to see your boss. Or suddenly go to the door and go straight to the general manager's office, regardless of whether the other party likes it or not, seize the opportunity and say, "I am from a company, I think ..."

If so, nine times out of ten people will type it out with a bang. Be polite, he will tell you: "Our company will not enter XX for ten years!" Why is this happening? Now is the marketing era. Perhaps, before you, many marketers have come here to promote their products. Although it is your first time, the other party always thinks that marketing is a group or treats you as a category. In their words: "Ah, here comes another salesman!"

Therefore, the skill of meeting customers is very important. We can call a customer first and say that I am a salesman of a company. Can I meet your manager, or when is your manager available? I want to visit him. In this case, the other party will probably tell you that the manager is not here. Or, just hang up. Even so, the work must be completed. Breaking in rashly will not only fail to achieve your expected purpose, but may even block the way for your next visit. For the marketing of industrial products, that is to say, the customers purchased by the group are different from the mass consumer goods. They are all high school students, so time is tight and there are many things. Of course, if you disrupt their normal work arrangements, they will not be happy. What do people dislike most nowadays? Increase his time cost. If you suddenly occupy a person for an hour, it will increase his time cost for an hour. You're welcome, but if people don't think so, they will think: this person is always looking for trouble. So, is it impossible for all potential customers to see you? That's not true. One is just what they need. They shop around and take all the tourists. Your visit is just what they want, but it is rare.

Another is to make the other person feel that meeting you may be profitable. If the other party thinks it is profitable, they will meet you. Of course, this does not mean bribery, but they feel that buying your house is more cost-effective than buying someone else's house, and even feel safe.

We should realize that the overall economic behavior of society is mutually beneficial. Since it is not a rare product in short supply, it can be bought anytime and anywhere, and there are many door-to-door sales. Why do people have to buy yours? When you meet a customer, you must think of the above reasons. Because profitability is the basic business rule, and people can't think of any reason to see you. Maybe he just turned down a salesman. Need to convey accurate interest information to each other. However, don't exaggerate this interest to an incredible degree. Excessive exaggeration will certainly make Israel see through your motives, and moreover, it will produce an idea of not believing in you in your heart.

You must be prepared to visit customers and wait for a good opportunity. Otherwise, it will be counterproductive. Generally speaking, don't visit new potential customers on Mondays and Fridays. Every Monday, bosses have an internal meeting to arrange their work for the week. On Fridays and weekends, most people lose their minds early. If they can get off work a minute earlier, they will do the same. These two days are not good days for marketing, so we should focus on days like Tuesday to Thursday and see if there are good opportunities for each other. If the timing is wrong, you might as well give up your visit and wait for the next time. If the next time we meet, both sides talk very speculatively, you might as well tell each other when you visited your company, but ... the latter words can naturally be omitted, you just need to laugh. This will not ruin the situation, but also make the other party feel a little owed to you. Then you say: If we could communicate last time, we would be old friends, but … it's not too late, just like old friends.

Because of the characteristics of group buying and high goal, it is necessary to conduct one or more surveys before meeting customers to understand the basic situation of customers. Find out what they like best and what they dislike least. Knowing these two points, they will not be at a disadvantage in the negotiation. It is naturally a great thing to meet customers and have a casual meal, which can completely eliminate strangeness and establish friendship with future customers. Since feelings can be so harmonious, won't he give you the next business?

Fourth, don't fight unprepared, and investigate customers in advance.

"No difference, no strategy; Without information, there is no decision. "

Customer survey belongs to the category of economic intelligence. Generally speaking, it can be divided into two categories. One is extensive customer survey, which broadly means that it may be a region, an industry or a field, and it is macroscopic, from which potential customers are screened; One is specific customers, that is, customers we are going to visit or are negotiating. It is an important job of marketing activities to know what you know and know what you know by investigating customers. When it comes to a project, a newly-built enterprise or the renovation of a residential building, on the one hand, it is necessary to find out whether its scale, overall budget and construction period are the same as those of its own enterprise. If it is different, there is no need to invest energy and time. But their scale, overall budget and construction period can almost give you a complete technical data. With these data, we can design marketing plans, make big plans for large projects and invest a lot of energy. On the one hand, to investigate the general situation of its responsible person, the more detailed the investigation, the better. Of course, it would be a waste to avoid involving other people's privacy, touching other people's privacy and being known by customers.

In addition to investigating the above two kinds of information, you should also know the decision-making procedures and level of customers in detail, and also know the situation of their old customers, so that you have a competitive advantage. Now is a changeable, rapid change and great change era. Changes among markets, governments and enterprises are accelerating, and decision makers are changing more frequently. If you don't conduct detailed customer surveys frequently, you may even lose old customers.

If there is a survey, it is necessary to establish a customer file, otherwise it is impossible to accurately grasp so much customer information by memory. The advantage of establishing customer files is that you can grasp the general situation of customers and make statistics on their usage. With the customer's technical data at hand, we can certainly judge the customer's replacement cycle.

For marketers, customer files are also a fortune. If we can establish a computer database and constantly supplement new materials, the effect will be better. The investigation of customers and the establishment of archives are regarded as an integral part of marketing, and intelligence and information work are of increasing value to future marketing. Take the network of trade associations as an example. This network system was established by professionals. It provides customers with complete information about manufacturing enterprises. While investigating customers, it is equally important to provide customers with their own information. If possible, the exchange of information between the two parties is the best form to realize information sharing between the two parties. The long-term trust relationship thus established is naturally a way for marketers to gain marketing advantages.

Investigation is a process of market detection and an important means to obtain information. Information is the basis of decision-making, and there are right and wrong decisions. Only the correct decision can produce positive results. Management emphasizes cost consciousness, so some managers become "pile watchers" and begin to "dig carefully" in some details, ignoring the "soft" investment and the essential difference between the industrial era and the knowledge economy era, that is, the importance of "soft resources". I don't know the truth that "doing it right once is the most effective means to reduce costs".

5. Marketing is not equal to promotion.

Nowadays, enterprises attach great importance to marketing, but some enterprises understand marketing as simple sales, that is, promotion. And plan marketing work according to the requirements of market transactions. This kind of understanding will be biased, laying a hidden danger for marketing failure.

Marketing is actually a comprehensive and operational science. It is a dynamic process from product design, quality and packaging to advertising and sales skills. This means that logistics marketing should comprehensively consider the marketing elements of all relevant links. From beginning to end, if marketing is understood as pure buying and selling in a narrow sense, its role will be limited.

Accustomed to equating marketing with promotion is an important reason for the low marketing level of some of our enterprises. Some business leaders always think that there is nothing mysterious about marketing, as long as the marketing technology is flexible and the purchasing and selling competitiveness is superior. Therefore, in the management of marketing, most of them focus on dispatching workers, rewards and punishments, reporting and communication, and sales arrangements, while ignoring the research on soft factors such as enterprise environment, product cycle, business intelligence, target market, and promotion strategy. Most of these enterprises have problems such as lack of marketing knowledge and low marketing skills when choosing marketing personnel. In many aspects, such as advertising planning and design, market research methods, marketing promotion means, contract formulation, etc., the operation is often chaotic, and even these things are not done at all. The salesmen of these enterprises only know how to sell goods through gifts, banquets and "kickbacks", and the lack of business knowledge is surprising. Furthermore, in the financial aspect, although some can calculate the purchase, sales and gross profit, some will not become the current price, but they lack a basic understanding of the basic concepts such as expense level, capital turnover, purchase and sale cost, capital profit and tax rate, and even can't understand the general financial statements. How can such marketers make marketing decisions according to the laws of market economy? What is even more incredible is that marketing behavior can be regulated by accounting.

Because of this, we must attach great importance to changing the low level of marketing team. The most fundamental thing is that enterprises should fully understand the broad meaning of marketing, learn to use all-round marketing work, and insist on grasping all business tasks contained in broad marketing from beginning to end. Only in this way can we get out of the traditional marketing barriers, enter a new realm of generalized marketing in the modern sense and open up a new world of marketing.

Six, how to choose the best time to visit

Earlier, we discussed the skills of meeting customers, and mentioned that the timing of your visit is directly related to the quality of your visit and whether you can do business with potential customers in the future.

How to choose the best visit time? By the way, a thick line was drawn in the last section. When is the best time? What I want to say is that there is no best time at all, and all this must be judged and chosen by marketers themselves. A good opportunity to visit, the distinction between industries and the specific habits of potential customers must be considered. In developed countries, there are even those who specialize in this subject, because the sales promotion industry in developed countries is still dominated by insurance sales. Therefore, professional researchers pay more attention to social professional groups, which is very different from marketing visits. Their ideas can be used for reference, but they are of no reference value to social groups and individuals.

From my personal marketing experience, I can only grasp one thing, that is, choose the free time of the bosses. This time is usually around 10, and around 3: 30 in the afternoon. Generally, bosses are a little free at this time. However, in practice, this is not entirely the case. My personal suggestion is this: after making an appointment by phone, go to the manager's office of the potential customer early and let the office director or secretary control the time. In most cases, the office door will not be closed to the guests. Of course, it is better to stay in the office and negotiate directly with the boss, but it is a step. You can go in and out and say goodbye when you leave. In fact, successful business is closely related to timing. Timing is a kind of waiting and a kind of assurance. There are so many wonderful opportunities in the world that we all missed them. Without their attention and persistent pursuit, we had to watch helplessly and waste it in vain. Therefore, marketers should always grasp one thing: don't consider their own aspects, but must consider each other, so that the satisfaction of each other is our fundamental. According to this principle, when is the best time to visit? At this time, a potential customer can see you, and he offered to give you a business. That is, approach, stand by and move.

Seven, the three stages of marketing evolution

At first, the promotion was primitive. When the goods are insufficient, promotion seems unnecessary. After entering the market economy, both the types and quantities of goods are much richer than before, and the competition is becoming increasingly fierce, so enterprises begin to pay attention to promotion. In order to sell goods more effectively, salespeople began to actively explore various marketing strategies. The original method was called "social marketing". At this stage, people think that personal qualities and social skills are very important for successful promotion activities. People think that the best salesman should be smiling, polite, eloquent, persuasive and charming. This is the most primitive way to promote sales.

In the second stage, people have a new understanding of sales promotion, and salespeople pay more attention to another method, that is, explaining the function and appearance of products to potential users. They think that as long as users can understand the performance of products well, users will buy them to meet their own needs. Compared with simply thinking that users will buy any manufactured products in the first stage, this is a big step forward.

In the third stage, with rapid economic development, commodity production is extremely rich, and supply exceeds demand. Manufacturers have to compete fiercely for users. The harsh reality makes enterprise managers and marketers realize that in order to succeed, they must meet the increasingly diverse needs of users, instead of trying to convince users with their own products as before. Manufacturers should decide what they should produce according to the needs of users. This new view is gradually accepted by enterprises, which is called market-oriented negotiation and promotion. Using this method, salespeople often try to understand the actual needs of users and help them solve them. Now many companies have adopted this method, and they think that solving the actual needs of users is the overriding central issue. Only in this way can we save the small and establish a good long-term cooperative relationship. Many companies adopt this method, on the one hand, it is the result of external competition, on the other hand, it is also the need of promotion. Because it reveals the essence of sales promotion, that is to meet the needs of users.

Although this method is very useful for enterprises, it is only one of the many methods of marketing concept. The concept of marketing means that the realization of enterprise goals depends on an accurate understanding of the desires and needs of the target market, and meets the requirements of users in a more effective way than competitors. Enterprises can not only rely on personnel to promote sales when meeting the needs of users, but also other departments of enterprises should fully support them. Do a good job in internal marketing, because internal marketing is the premise and foundation of external marketing.

In the third stage, the enterprise has established a new marketing concept, and the widespread adoption of the marketing concept makes the enterprise shift its focus from short-term demand to long-term demand of users.

The new and old concepts in the three stages of marketing evolution are shown in the following table:

Before-

1, enterprise product salesman.

2. Try to create user needs.

3, sales promotion (let users listen to the salesman)

4. Manipulate sales skills

5. Goal: sell immediately.

6. Disappear.

7. Going it alone rarely cares about the actual problems of users.

8. Use new technology or understand its help to users.

Now-

1. Marketers face users.

2, it should be to achieve user needs.

3. Listen to users' needs and communicate with them (let marketers listen to users)

4, help and service marketing skills

5. Goal: Establish a long-term relationship.

6, good after-sales service, to ensure customer satisfaction.

7, often work in the form of expert groups.

8. Use the latest communication technology and computers to serve users.

8. Rejection is the beginning of acceptance

"Those who achieve great things must have the heart of God, and those who beg also."

Many times, salespeople are rejected by customers, and some customers really don't need them. However, customers in need will also refuse your sales promotion for many reasons. There is a statistic in foreign insurance industry. In insurance promotion, only one out of every six customers can buy insurance. In the current China market, the success rate is much lower than this. If the success rate can reach 6: 1, the market will be extremely hot.

Marketers should remember that customer rejection is a routine attitude. We can't be discouraged by the rejection of 100 customers. Rejection is the beginning of acceptance. A customer can get to know you from a cold refusal, and after a long time, he may become a friend. So there is no need to try to convince customers in a short time at the beginning, and admit the other party's refusal first. At this time, you should feel that the time has not come for the customer to accept me. The most important thing for me now is to accept his rejection. However, I have passed the information to him, and I can find a suitable time and way to let my customers accept me and buy XXX from me in the future. Therefore, rejection is a test for marketers. Repeatedly refuse to visit repeatedly, and repeat simple things. Some salesmen have taken marketing courses and listened to the experience of old salesmen, so they often have a heroic passion. They imagine marketing as a very happy career, where they can run around without work every day, and no one is staring at them. They thought of walking into the customer's office. The customer was very enthusiastic about serving tea and cigarettes, and smiled and said loudly, "Ah, you're just in time. We really need your xx." This kind of scene can only happen in a salesman's dream, but it is impossible in real life. If everyone is so short of XX, why do salesmen still sell it? Just sit in the sales department of the company and wait for customers to come to the door. Therefore, while choosing marketing as a career, we should be prepared for difficulties.

Marketers must have tenacious professionalism and persevere, and realize that rejection is inevitable. If they can't meet rejection more than once, they will be discouraged and will be devastated. Failure is the mother of success. To stand up in failure, smooth sailing is very rare in the marketing field. You should remember that a salesman is always a lonely warrior. After being pushed out of the door, he can raise his hand and knock again. Perhaps, the opportunity is at the last blow.

Since rejection is common, it is not impossible to learn from it. For example, when we are rejected, we might as well ask questions and judge why the other party refused from the reasons for rejection. The customer said, "There are still many XXX in the warehouse compound, so we don't want XXX." At this time, you might as well go to the customer's warehouse compound to see if XXX is really a lot. If not, it may be the customer's excuse, and it may be that they need it, because what he said is not "we don't need it, we don't need it." But there are many people lying there. Therefore, this customer can't be easily let go. If you go back and ask, the customer may say that you ordered and you came late. However, you must not think that they really placed an order, but also to send you away. A survey by a Japanese marketing company shows that when customers refuse to sell, 70% customers refuse without proper reasons. Besides, two-thirds of people are lying.

Correctly judging the reasons for rejection will help you succeed. As long as we find a glimmer of hope in these reasons, we must stick to it. In the process of rejection, constantly cheering yourself up will not affect your visit to the next customer. A salesman who has done very well for decades said, "How many customers do I plan to visit every day? I will take a notebook with me to record the companies I visited and the reasons why they refused, so that I can go home and analyze them." The number of visits is a hard indicator. Finish your plan every day, never be lazy, or think: forget it, there is no hope to come again. This is all wet. Maybe hope for the next one.

Some customers, who patronize more often, are familiar with each other and may make friends. If you visit 10 times, the customer will not accept you once and refuse you with all kinds of lies, and the customer will instinctively feel a little ashamed, or moved by your behavior, and even hope to have a business for you, otherwise it will disappoint your painstaking efforts. In marketing work, human feelings are a great success factor. Sometimes every visit to a customer is equivalent to an emotional investment. When the customer remembers to pay this favor, your luck will come.

But remember, in marketing activities, your enemy is not the customer, but yourself. You should constantly beat yourself and say to yourself: no! I can't retreat, I must move forward, and my success will be next time. Shopping malls, like battlefields, can completely imagine themselves as an indomitable warrior, and there is the possibility of victory after repeated breakthroughs.

How can we succeed without failure? Without refusing, what else can we talk about sales?

Nine, you must check the necessary preparations before visiting customers.

When a marketing salesman visits a customer, he will usually be psychologically prepared the night before, design a good way to visit and expect the effect of the visit, but sometimes he will leave the most inconspicuous but important things behind when he goes out. For example, the product album, contract text or letter of introduction are used up, and the pen is out of ink. I didn't notice it before I went out. It was not until we talked about business with customers that we found that there was no contract, or the pen was out of ink when we signed the contract. A strict business manager, in the face of this situation, is likely to cancel this business with you, because he may regard your behavior as your business management quality is not high, and the salesman talks about business without contract and quality certificate ... This is not only a joke, but also a major liability accident in marketing work.

I once met such a thing, that is, I attended an ISO90002 training course for senior managers, and the teacher was from Taiwan Province. At that time, my ballpoint pen was dull and difficult to write, and it was extremely difficult to take notes. This situation was discovered by the teacher, who immediately gave an example. He said: There seems to be something wrong with this gentleman's pen. From the perspective of ISO9002 management, this is due to the negligence of preparation. Why don't you check your pen before you go out Such pens should be thrown away at once. How good can this pen record be? The problem of tools is an important factor leading to the decline of product quality. If this happens in my enterprise, I will fire the employee immediately.

A pen is not easy to use. In our eyes, it may just be difficult to write. However, from the perspective of strict management, we made the mistake of carrying and using bad tools. Of course, if you extend it to the army, you are holding a gun that may not work. From this point of view, this problem is really serious.

Generally speaking, marketers will put contract texts, various certificates and product manuals in folders, so the probability of making mistakes is relatively low. Sometimes, considering that it is in your bag by memory, you may be too lazy to read it. It is necessary to remind marketers that memory is sometimes unreliable. Therefore, it is very important to have a routine inspection every time you go out, just as it is important for soldiers to check guns and ammunition before going out. The difference is that soldiers' mistakes will lead to the loss of life, but there is no such ending in shopping malls. However, the loss of a completely successful enterprise is different from the death of a soldier.

Preparation is really boring, but it's no big deal. It's no trouble to form a habit. The problem is that we often ignore it, because we always consider the overall situation, so the section is easy to be ignored. Desire always makes people forget. Remember: there is only a slight difference between success and failure.

X. how to lock in customers?

To realize the commercialization of products, the first task is to determine the target market, which is the premise for products to enter the market. Market segmentation is the basis of selecting the target market. The process of selecting the target market is actually a process of market investigation and analysis. Only when an enterprise finds and determines its business object, that is, the "target market" in the process of investigation, can it comprehensively use the marketing combination means such as products, prices, channels and promotions to formulate its business objectives and directions, thus improving its management level and enhancing its market competitiveness.

In the process of product management, enterprises must sensitively capture customer information and keep up with customer requirements so as not to be "abandoned" by customers. The concept of market segmentation has been accepted by modern enterprises, which constantly analyze customers to distinguish different customer groups as the starting point.