Friends have you come across a situation when you presented a very good product to your prospect, which was meeting his requirements perfectly, but he did not value the specific features which you wanted to communicate, and instead he started negotiating on price?
In such a situation you feel frustrated because the prospect is not appreciating the unique features of your product, on the other hand treating it similar to any other random product. And he basis his buying decision completely on price only.
In the marketing world, every customer has his unique requirement, and he wants to buy a unique solution to fulfill his needs. There are a lot of suppliers at the marketplace and the prospect finds it difficult to decide which one to buy. More so, if you as a salesperson are unable to make him value the distinct features of you product in particular. This situation compels him to decide only based on price.
This is unfortunately a loss situation for both the prospect and more importantly for the seller. The cheapest product might not be the best product for the customer as well.
Therefore, sellers pay attention! For making a successful sale that too at a good price, having a clear USP and communicating that USP is important! But, what are the most important USPs of your product. How to find these USPs is a question which troubles most of the companies and salespeople.
Your product might have some strong differentiating features. But the most important USP in for a sale is the salesperson himself or herself. Even when the product does not have any special features the salesperson makes all the difference by the way he/she deals with the prospect. Most of the time when an order does not come, the responsibility is with the salesperson. It is most commonly the salesperson’s credibility and competence which did not meet the prospects expectation.
I am Rakesh Sharma, and I am your sales and business coach for more than a decade now! I talk form my thirty years of experience in the industry and help you apply success principles in taking the most practical approach. Thus empowering SMES to grow multifold at an exponential rate!
Now, let’s discuss more in detail about the salesperson as the USP.
More than 80{2facf265810d5c64deca339a00197305ceb917dadef902f2426694cb75f36e2b} of qualified prospects don’t buy because they are afraid of committing a mistake. They are not sure whether they are buying the Right product from the Right company and from the Right salesperson.
Did you experience a situation where you are trying to sell a particularly product, but you could not impress upon the buyer? Despite the fact that you know that it is great product!
This generally happens because the prospect does not having enough confidence in THE SALESPERSON. Mostly buyers have previous experiences where they got cheated by some salesperson. Past negative experiences and negative memory always prevents them from easily doing a realistic evaluation of the product and the salesperson’s credibility.
The credibility issue arises because you as a salesperson lack in positioning yourself as an important USP. He gets skeptical about your offer. There are various credibility factors which are disturbing him. But primarily they fall into three categories. The Product, The Company, and The Salesperson.
If the customer likes the product and he knows that you come from a good company still he may not give you order. And this will be due to lack of personal credibility as a salesperson. You will definitely lose the sale if the prospect has any trust issues with you personally. There can be many trust issues with you as salesperson. All these issues are important but amazingly simple to address.
The following are some important tips which play an important role in positioning yourself as an important USP in any sales situation. These ideas also tackle any trust issues becoming a roadblock in building credibility of a salesperson. So read through and understand carefully.
1. Behave with High Integrity: There is a general impression about salespeople that they are not disciplined, they are dishonest, and they lack integrity. Integrity is not just about honesty but it is rather defined as doing what you commit to your prospect. It starts with the reaching his office on appointed time infallibly. Integrity is in keeping your smallest of commitments. This helps you gain the prospect’s trust. But every small and big commitment matters like sending the quotation on time, sending the sample on time, delivery on time and satisfying after sales service etc. All of these reflect your integrity. You must be highly disciplined, honest and fulfill all your commitment before and a well as after the sales.
2. Dress for success: Most of the buyers are visual. They take clues from the way you look. On the basis of your outer appearance and personality they decide whether you are trustworthy or not. They judge your capabilities by your dress and by your looks. 95{2facf265810d5c64deca339a00197305ceb917dadef902f2426694cb75f36e2b} off your first impression comes only from your clothes. Therefore, champion salespeople always dress for success. They do not leave it for chance. It is recommended that you must buy an expensive dress so that you can represent your value better. You should feel confident inside while presenting your product to the prospect. Your impeccable personality and presentation are the immediate measure of your product’s quality and reliability. Avoid dressing casual dress as far as possible. Dress appropriate to the occasion. For example, you will be dressed differently if you are selling inside the coal mine, selling earth moving equipment’s to builders and farmers, or selling books at a bookstore. Apart from the dress your grooming is also an important expression of your personality and your trustworthiness. If you have not shaved properly, your nails are not properly groomed and your hair is all unkempt then you leave a poor impression on the prospect. Ensure that you have groomed yourself properly to the extent that the prospect is not getting distracted from your shoddy appearance during the sales conversation.
3. Carry right Accessories: Every salesperson carries certain important accessories with him. Some of these accessories are personal and others are professional. The personal category of accessories can be a ring, chain, pendant, hair pin etc. Whereas the professional accessories are the sales kit, writing pad, pen, calculator etc. All these accessories need to be clean, good looking, well organized and must be well utilized during the sales conversation. If you are not well organized and you are searching for a writing pad in your sales kit in between the sales presentation, it is bound to leave a lasting bad impression, which will have poor impact on closing the deal. Remember in selling everything matters – small or big.
4. Behave like an Expert: Every customer wants to buy from an expert. Therefore, your competence as a salesperson is extremely important. Competence includes your knowledge skills and your attitude. Your knowledge about the product, about the competition, about the customer’s requirements and your products features that cater to the customer’s requirements are very important. You must be able to communicate effectively with your prospect. You should demonstrate very good presentation skills which set you apart from the crowd of average salespeople. Simultaneously, the attitude is also particularly important for a salesperson. The attitude is one of the most important USP of any salesperson. Everyone likes to deal with pleasant, easy going, positive, friendly and optimistic people. Salesperson you must behave with high enthusiasm and professionalism with your prospect. You must be able to demonstrate to him that his problems will surely be resolved after using your product/services.
Carry and use Testimonials: The prospect by nature is suspicious about what the salesperson tells them. They assume that the sales person will for sure over-exaggerate or even lie about their products and services. But in case your product is recommended by a third person then the credibility goes up significantly. The champion salespeople are aware of this psychological fact and they always carry the relevant testimonials from their satisfied customers and users. They even know that the video testimonials are far more impactful than the written ones. A Picture is worth a Thousand Words. So effective salespeople always carry videos or letters from their satisfied customers. Testimonials always help greatly in building the prospects confidence. You can, rather you must carry the testimonials from your satisfied customers in your binder.
These are some important tips and ideas which will position you as an important USP. If you follow the above tips your trustworthiness with the client shall go up. If you use the most important USP- “YOU” in every sales situation then you will be able to win most of the sales. YOU with your competent behavior of high integrity will be able to create trust in prospect’s mind and you will definitely bag that coveted business.
My mission is to support more than one lakh salespeople and business owners during coming three years by empowering them with effective tools and ideas for growth of their business. You can also become part of this campaign by circulating this article to all your friends, colleagues or business partners.
So until next time…Happy Selling friends!
