Starting a new sales job - Comment
by Ashah
(India - Mumbai)
When you start a new sales job or are given a new product line to sell, product knowledge is the key to learning how to sell it. Without good product knowledge your sales skills will not work effectively. You will not be in a position to communicate the important information about your product.
How to learn product knowledge
You cannot just pick up a brochure and learn small pieces of product knowledge and then expect to competently sell it.
You need to use it as your customers will. Right from step one when you take it out of the box after purchase. Find its sales benefits and its pitfalls. That way you can talk honestly with your customers.
You must become the expert on your product and be able to answer all the customer's questions on the product you are selling. This is more important than any sales training.
Next learn the technical information
Once you are familiar with the sales product as a user, become a technical expert on it.
Be able to answer your sales prospect's technical questions but in a non-technical way. For some products that means you become a translator. Turning the technical speak into everyday words and phrases.
Don't forget the connections
Many sales products have connections and links to the world. This can be legislation covering its use. Other products that are used with your item eg Fuel that goes into the cars you sell.
Look for all these connections because they can be very profitable add on sales or good ways to consolidate and help close the sale.
How does the item you sell interact with the world?
Does it have a power supply, connect to other things, or is it part of a larger group such as an item of clothing sold seperately that will form part of an entire outfit.
You must be able to relate and talk about the connections your product has. Show this level of expertise and you will be seen as a competant sales person that instills confidence in your sales prospects.
Now put your sales pitch together
Once you have all the product knowledge you can use it to build a productive sales pitch. With this super knowledge you can create great sales presentations, even the short ones for simple products that do not take long to sell.
If you do not already have a way to use sales product information to build an effective sales pitch, I can recommend you look at the sales training workbook course available on this website. It is not your usual way of sales training, much more practical.
I have bought it some time ago and find it a good way to start building a sales pitch for my new products. You can see the details and how it works at Sales Training Workbook Course.