Know Your Product

One of the oldest axiom for sales is the "perception of reality". What your customer perceives to be true is what will drive their behaviour. And to demonstrate this, expert hands on the product knowledge is the key mantra for selling. Branding is a side effect of it, if I could call it so. How else would Star Bucks  make people stand in queue for hours when your wife can make better coffee at home!

I was not surprised upon learning yesterday about Chandni Chowk the Delhi's shining oldest busiest market square, a big crowd puller, went online!  Paralleling this growth of technology and access to information, marketing tactics, as any company's primary philosophy remains its concentration on it's "Product Knowledge".

Corporate world triggers the increased importance of "Product Knowledge". Increasing competition, consumer choice and consumer power leads an organisation to cut ways through a media space  crowded with competing offers. Be it finished products or services, the elements that make up the product and the product life cycle are main frame works to be cracked down. They precisely form foundation of best marketing management approach. 

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Ankush Sharma is not new guest on Sushma's Page and this time this is his 2nd presentation. Well pounced on this topic, read him here: http://salesgayan.wordpress.com/

How
important is Product Knowledge for Sales People?

Have you ever thought why did you loose a particular customer,
when your product had almost everything he/she was looking for?

Did you ever think how competitor with the same product is able
to make more sales than you? 

Is competitor's product really superior than your's?

Do you really know your product inside out?

The answer to all the above questions is "Product
Knowledge". In all my posts I always stress on the importance of product
knowledge. It is always necessary to have a proper knowledge about your
product. This will not only help you win more sales but will also help you have
an edge over the competitors. 

Having an elaborated product knowledge will help you handle the
objections from customers in a better way.You will be able to explain in a
better way and will also be able to present those features which customer is
looking for, making your presentation more customer centric. On the contrary if
you do not have proper product knowledge, even if your product has a particular
feature which customer is looking for, you might not be able to explain or
present that feature resulting in the loss of sale.

Product knowledge to a large extent helps in boosting your
confidence when you present your product/services. You clearly have an idea
what you have to present in front of your customer and how best you can
position the product/service to meet all the requirements of the customer.

The best way to have the product knowledge is by using it. It is
always recommended to use your product and understand its features before you
start selling it. It will give you the fair idea about the product's benefits
and its short comings. Moreover if you are able to experience the products and
services of the competitor, you will be able to explain how your product is
different and hopefully better.

Just presenting the brochure to the customer does not help,
you need to have the proper understanding of the product because written words
and spoken words are very different. You can also have a better product
knowledge and understanding by meeting existing customers and asking for their
feedback. Try to make it clear that you want brutal honesty, since there
will almost always be ways in which your products are both good and bad and the
more you know about both aspects, the better. 

More importantly your sales pitch should not only cover the
benefits and advantages of your product/service. Honestly customer is
not interested in that, the way your product/service meet customer's
requirement is of more importance. And you can communicate the same and
position your product accordingly only if you have proper knowledge of your
product. Being too technical in explaining your product is also
not advisable. The product should be presented in a way that is
self ex-planetary.

The sales people should not only depend on company's training
for product knowledge instead they should always keep themselves updated with
the new and added features in their product/service. This would help in gaining
a competitive edge and at the same time making more sales.

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.

Benjamin Franklin -

That M Factor

"Without a motive we were unborn, yet for the sperms or eggs" - Self Quote.

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People do things for their own different reasons, and not yours. We could understand this with a story illustrated by a farmer, when he and his son had tough time getting their calf back into the barn. As they were scared about giving up, a little girl passed by. All she did was put her little finger in its mouth for it to suck and the calf promptly followed her to the barn. 

There is ONLY "Self Motivation".  One can not Motivate another. If I could throw my 2 cents of experience I would dare to bet there is only something called "Inspiration" that we could do and the motivation for action then rests on the shoulders of the sole person who would perhaps act in the course.

Shiv Khera appropriately explains above theory in this book "You Can Win".

All I point from this is to do a small daily chore we need to have that tinge of burning from within and we can call it "motivation".

In fact, another story of a mule floated quite a lot on the www's and had reached my inbox too. One of those morals tales for Motivation with example of a donkey in the example. This one did pull my attention and here is a link to my old post.

http://www.sushmaharish.com/2011/04/forwarded-e-mail.html

A American Native Proverb says: One who narrates stories rules the world".

Bet on a bunch of tales or some reminiscent pasts, I would still say Motivation is one such feeling that when applied to corporate sector has its own baselines and limitations.

A blooming flower, to dark night might motivate one. But remaining hooked onto it lies in the discipline and attitude. 



He who does not see need not have no eyes yet is blind;  He who can not see need not have no eyes too but need not be blind - Self Quote.



Taking the example of Pratish Dutta the recent IIT Topper who is blind only by sight- says concept of darkness is in the mind.

http://tkbsen.com/2012/09/blind-student-is-iit-topper/

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Blind-student-is-IIT-topper/articleshow/16417542.cms

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Today's Guest on Sushma's Page, Ankush Sharma who writes on Sales Gayan presents below a note on Motivation for Sales Professional. Himself being one, writes his experiences too. Read him here.

Motivation

Motivation does not come to us by reading motivational books,
listening to motivational speeches and watching motivational stuff. Yes these
things would help us for a shorter period of time and then we again get back to the
square one. Most of us would listen to some motivational stuff that too when
someone recommends us, at that point of time we would feel as if we are going
to achieve our sales target just in a month, just because the person whom we
listened to or the book that we read made us feel like that through
his convincing skills. This would keep you motivated may be for a week or
at the max for a month. But what after that!!! 

Motivation is all in the mind. To be a motivated Sales
Professional you should:

1) Love your profession. 

2) Love your product/service you selling.

3) You Should have go-get attitude. (in an ethical way)

4) You should be able to balance your professional and personal
life. This would help you in getting that mental peace which would help you
focus on your targets.

5) You should reward yourself whenever you achieve something. Go
for a couple of Beers with friend/family.

6) Have that hunger to achieve success.

No one can motivate you the way you can motivate yourself. Trust
me NO ONE!!! Sales is all about your motivational level and I agree you cannot
have that motivation of equal strength on each and every day. But that does not
mean if on a particular day you do not feel motivated, everything is gone down
the drain. May be you can spend that day not doing the hard core sales
activities but can engage yourself in the activities that will help you once
you in the field. You can:

1) Read more about your product and have a better hand over it.

2) Try reading about your competitors. Do the SWOT analysis. See
where you stand among your competitor.

3) Work on your sales pitch.

4) Interact with your sales team, you might learn few things
from their experiences.

This would help you to get ready for coming days and will keep
your motivational level up.

Learn from your mistakes. and do not go demotivated if you are not
able to crack a particular problem. At the end of the every sales call,
try analyzing it, where you went wrong, what were your strong points,
which particular query you were not able to handle. All this would help you get
ready for your next Sales Call and will help you improve in a better way.

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                                   “The only
thing standing between you and your goal is the bullshit story you keep telling
yourself as to why you can't achieve it.” ― Jordan Belfort

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