The final presentations have been eye opening for me on how hard it can be to think on the fly. With mine I knew the direction that I wanted to go which helped, but I couldn’t plan what Lindy was going to say. I tried asking open ended questions that might get me the answers that I wanted and lead me in the direction of asking for an appointment. Luckily, that worked, but I think thinking on the fly is going to be one of the hardest things to do in sales. Here’s just a few tips I found on how to improve.
1. Have knowledge on the subject
For this I think it was pretty easy since we had to come up with the idea. However, as a new sales trainee fresh out of graduation this may be a little more difficult. I know once we graduate, we never want to hear the world homework again, but to be a great salesperson you’re going to need to study up on your product or service. From the customers point of view, it will be easy to tell whether you know your product or not, so don’t let that be the reason you don’t make the sale.
2. Actually care and let it show
You can tell when a person could care less about their products and have that “here it is, take it or leave it approach”. If you want to be a successful salesperson show the customer that you are enthusiastic about determining if your product will meet their needs. Even if you really don’t at least try, I mean you’re getting paid to.
3. Find ways to pause
If you’re have trouble thinking quick, implement ways to slow down the conversation. Professor Sweet said one way to do this is to ask for clarification and restate what was said. This will give you time to process the conversation and think about what direction you’d like to move towards. Garrett gave us another example and that was taking notes. This eliminates the awkward pause while you think of the next question and it also shows the customer that you care.
Thinking on the fly is one of those things where practice is going to be the most help. The more opportunities that you put yourself in the better the outcomes will be as time goes on. The past situations will help future ones.
BoweryJE22
After this final presentation I also realized how important the little things are in a sales conversation. It was interesting to see how each person looked at a sales conversation and used their own abilities to benefit them. It was very interesting to see how important it is keep the ball in your court by asking questions.
Being able to think on the fly is an extremely important skill in any aspect of life, especially sales. I really liked your point about knowing your subject. In most cases, prospects know what they are talking about and have probably done their research. If you do not know what you are talking about, they will be able to tell and then their trust in your capabilities begins to come into question.