Successful selling is the essence of marketing. It revolves around the needs and interest of the seller. Infact, selling starts with the seller. Selling as an occupation is something that leaves most people terror-stricken. Yet selling is such an integral part of running any business that good sales people are in great demand. Believe me, there’s no end to learning in the sales game. Everyday offers an opportunity to learn something new and every sales person has a new story to add to the repertoire of techniques that we use to make a sale. With self- confidence, cheerfulness, a positive attitude and a desire to succeed, the sales agent goes out and helps people while making a good living for him. Successful selling stats, if you start your sales call with a positive belief that you are going to succeed, the chances are that you will. This kind of self-confidence comes from the belief that your product will help your client that he needs it and therefore, you are going to sell it to him. The fact is, the ability to sell a hairbrush to a bald man is the secret of successful selling. It is actually possible to do this by creative selling.
Creative selling is basically awakening clients to their own need of, or desire for something. The fact is selling is not mystical process. It’s a predictable logical, step- by- step process like a production line. When we put in the right component parts. We get the correct end- product. When we put in fewer component parts than necessary, we get an inferior end product. There is no mystery about salesmanship. Our results come from our action, not from our understanding. It’s said that knowledge without action serves no one This is never truer than in sales. Pick up your pen and start now to create your targets and your self-management system charts. Success is in your hands.
Today selling has become a challenging profession. There has been a significant change in its role from being a simple order taker to tat of a maker or consultant to the buyers. Modern sales person understands that they are the major link in the total marketing strategy for the company. If a company wants to maximize the effectiveness of its marketing programme, the personal selling efforts must be effectively integrated with the other elements of the marketing mix.
Why Selling Financial Services is Different
Financial Services are different from other products because of their special characteristics:
■ Abstract – Banking and financial products cannot be touched
■ Complex – Products like derivatives, documentary credits, or loan facilities require detailed explanation to corporate or institutional clients
■ Lengthy decision-process – Banking and financial products are not bought lightly, or on impulse, and so they need to be sold in a special way.
The seven steps to successful selling financial products are:
- Plan your success
- Product and service knowledge
- Discover the buying motives
- Overcome objections and turn them to your advantage
- Presentations and closings
- Action – provoking systems
- Self- motivation
Plan Your Success: Insurance selling success has to be planned methodically and executed prudently. If you are new to the profession of selling, you need time to grow into the new shoes. However psychologist say that we can do a lot for ourselves to speed up the acclimatization process. If we visualize ourselves working in the new role, feeling comfortable in the new role and succeeding in the new role, we will acclimatize faster, whether we are new to sales or want to improve our returns, we will be adopting new methods of operation, We will be forcing ourselves in new- directions, putting ourselves setting new goals- all of these require that we see ourselves differently. The sooner we do this, the sooner we will succeed. The specific areas in which you will want to see yourself operating successfully as preparation for selling:
Success Preparation
- Set overall goal
- Break the goal into daily work segments
- Carryout these daily segments
- Gain prospective customer
- Spend time on critical activities
- Create self management system charts
- Organize work systems
Set Overall Goal: Setting over-all goal is important. What do you want to achieve? Calculate it in specific terms. Will it be a monetary figure, a percentage or multiple of a target set by your company. Now think about how to convert that goal to the actual number of sales you need in order to achieve your target. Now the next step is critical and this is the step most unsuccessful sales people avoid. Divide your total sales into weekly and daily sales and then calculate the work necessary to achieve that
Calculate Workload
- How many prospects will I need to see in order to make one sales?
- How many sales do I want?
- How many prospects do I need in order to reach my total sales target?
- How many activities do I need to do to generate one prospect?
- Telephone calls ________________________________
- Direct mail letters ______________________________
- Exhibitions or Seminars__________________________
- Advertisements________________________________
- Cold Calling __________________________________
- Other _______________________________________
Self deception
One sales man with a worldwide reputation for success is Ove Sjogren from Electrolux in Sweden. He has calculated his yearly target and broken it down into a daily figure. He knows exactly hoe many sales he must take per day. He knows how many prospects he must see each day. He stresses that staying at the top is easy if you know-how much you must do every day and you do it. Many people are scared of daily targets. This is the first mental change we must all make if we are to succeed in selling. Sales comes about from methodically carrying out the right practices, day in and day out, whether we sell large systems to governments which require three years to close, or retail products to customers which take three minutes to close, we still have to calculate which daily component parts will lead us to success. Even if we only want three-customer per- year, we will have to be negotiating with six, nine or twoSelf-deception by sales people is risky. Bob Broadly, one of the world’s top insurance salesmen pts it in strong terms . He says that the single biggest failure sales people make is self- deception. He said he wasn’t born with success. He had to study the most successful sales people he could find. His advice? Don’t fool yourself into thinking you’re selling when you’re not in front of the right number of people every day. Working eight hours per- day is not the point. It’s what you do in that eight hours that counts. If you’re not in front of enough prospects, you won’t sell enough to make your target. And hoe do you get in front of enough prospects? By making enough appointments. It’s that straight forward. Yet many people fool themselves thinking they are selling when in face they are doing busy work, Say Bob.
All top sales performers know their daily sales target and daily activity schedule. They have calculated it themselves. It is exactly what we all must do if we wont true and lasting success. You must know your daily targets for findings prospects and do that first. This means making appointments and seeing prospects. All else is secondary.
Create daily segments: Creating daily segment is very important aspect of selling. None can deny the fact and its importance. It’s because we have seen so many failures by talented, hardworking, well- meaning people who deserved to succeed. No one ever sat them down and said, “ Look success comes by doing the right number of activities day in and day out’. We know that you are reading this book in order to succeed. You want to use a strategic approach. You want to avoid the pitfalls of others. Therefore, take today to plan your targets. Plan your systems for reaching your targets. Draw up wall charts, pocket memos- anything and everything you need to remind yourself that hard work alone will not bring you success. It is a matter of scheduling and seeing the right number of people today as well as carrying out specific activities, which will allow you to see the right number of people tomorrow.
Calculate: We need time for making appointments, and following up on promise we make during the appointments. Therefore, the need for planning our targets and breaking them into daily workloads is essential. What is the right number? If we need one sale per day and we have to see three prospects in order to convert one to a sale, then we need three sales visits per day. That is if we can do one-call closings: in other words, we only need to see each prospect once. But what if we need to see each prospect twice on average and we need to make one sale per day? How many sales visits will we need to do every day? Six, We will be needing time for making appointment and follow up on promise.
What if you do not calculate? What if you just worked as hard as you could? What do you think the result would be? Look at it this way, “ If you were training to be an Olympic champion runner? Would you go out every day practice running any distance at any speed, just doing your best? Or would you know exactly how far you had to run and at what speed you had to run in order to meet your defined goal? The fact is it is painful for people to work hard and do their best, to have high expectations and then be let down. However, with daily targets set, you are able to work sharp and with purpose. You won’t fail by thinking sales will come to you magically, suddenly or later.
Are “ good products” enough?
People think that having a good product is enough, and they can do their best for success. Yet experience says that having good product is not enough, the seller has to exactly know his sales targets every week and every day. At the same time they had to focus all their energy on making sure those targets were met, to ensure that they didn’t go out of business. There are tremendous opportunities in sales: opportunities for self- development, opportunities for promotion, opportunities for helping people, job satisfaction, financial wealth. Few people today in the corporate world progress without being able to sell their ideas.
Millions of people are involved in the production of products services. All of their jobs rely on people being able to sell those products or services the economics of the world rely on continued sales. Your skills and your success are more important than you realize.
Measure your results
Measuring result is important part and parcel of selling process. What ever your goal, start now by measuring your targets and breaking them into daily targets and tasks. Remember that today is your day of preparation and your success later will mainly depend on your plan and your dedication t your plan. Two aspects on this, which are most critical measure, are: *Number of sales visits (target and actual),
*Number of sales (target and actual). If you are really determined to succeed, you can also use the following:
Self-management system
- The number of telephone calls you make for appointments (target and actual)
- The number of direct mail letter you send (target and actual)
- The number of referral leads you get from customers before and after the sales (target and actual)
- Any other methods you use for finding prospective customers
Gaining product and service expertise
Gaining product and service expertise is indispensable for selling success. Learn 40 times as much as you will use’. Why 40 times? Its because our store of information is like a fully charged battery. It shows in our enthusiasm, our self- confidence and most of all in our competence. Certainly that is true of selling too. Let’s stop for a moment and think of our customers. How do they view us? Aren’t we the only link between the manufactured product or service and themselves? They have to rely on us to tell them each and every thing that they might need to know. It makes sense, then, to have a 40 – fold store of knowledge in reserve for every eventuality, over and above what we might use in a single sales discussion with a single customer. Therefore, we need to focus on getting as much knowledge as we can as, quickly as possible. The customer doesn’t want to know that the fax machine has “group, high speed, digital transmission technology. They only want to know that their document can reach their colleague in Australia in seconds because of this group 3, high-speed technology.
Interviewing current customers is one of the most valuable yet exploiting options for sales people. Customers give us the information from the user’s point of view, which is invaluable. Why else are we so bullish on visiting or talking to current customers? Because they are a bottomless pit of testimonials, references, new business, add- on business, referrals, inspiration, enthusiasm, and information and about competitors. Thus one can see that the benefits of interviews with current customers are endless. Through interviews we gain confidence in our product and company. We learn the benefits to the user. We build a rapport, which can later lead to further business. We acquire testimonial stories about how the service is used. We acquire testimonial stories how the service is used. We gain confidence and inspiration
Buying Motives: Financial Product
Hit and miss does not work in selling because we don’t have the time we have in social relationships. We have to ask precise questions that lead us in the direction of the answer we need in order to identify our clients need and then stress the corresponding benefits. We are supposed to know the buying motives for planning our selling activities.
Such question could be:
- What would you be expecting from a supplier
- What benefit would you be hoping for?
- What one thing could we offer to convince you to change suppliers?
Those are three precise and very directive questions. They lead you in the direction of finding out the needs and motives of your client. Now think of more questions. Create your own list. Think of yourself as a yachtsman with the rudder of your sailboat in the grip of your hand. As your boat goes slightly off- course, your motive the rudder to bring it back on – course. To become a powerful and directive questioner we need only think of ourselves as yachtsmen. When the conversation starts to go off – course, when it starts to wander aimlessly in this direction or that, we need to bring it back on course. Practice, practice, practice bringing the conversation back to ascertaining the customer’s need and motives. The person who asks the questions sets the direction. We must make sure we k now what direction we want to go in. Another aspect of importance is the checking the assumptions. Sales are lost because people assume they know what the customer wants. The best method of checking our assumptions is to call our customers and ask if our assumptions are right. Then we must listen to their answers and reshape our presentation or proposals accordingly. If it’s a team- sell, we need to convince our colleagues to avoid these costly assumptions also. Thus we realize how much time and effort we have lost barking up the wrong tree, and change our approach to selling. If you really want to excel in avoiding assumptions, track the reasons for every sale you lose or have lost. The best companies do just that. Lets look at the vital rules:
- Never assume you know the customers need and motives
- Identify all individuals who influence the purchase decision
- Interview to uncover needs and motives
- Get their logical and psychological motives
- Go away and think
- Express the product or service benefits that match the customers needs and motives
Overcome Objections while selling financial products
In selling, if we don’t clear the objection, it lingers like smoke in the mind of our customers. We must clear it just as we clear smoke from a room. Think of a large fan blowing the smoke out through an open window. That’s what you have doing with the objection clearing process. When we are handling objections, whether in selling or in everyday life, we are dealing with very human factors. We are dealing with peoples need to be heard- peoples need to be recognized for their opinions, fears, doubts and misunderstandings. Listening by melting down their defences is important. Most people put the spotlight on to the explanation. They forget that the explanation falls on deaf ears if we don’t break down the defence if the customer says no, then we have to start again with the prelude segment. But the chances are that he won’t because our words have made feel that we understand his concerns. We didn’t ride roughshod over his objections. We took time to sympathize, to line up on his side, to see his point of view first, before we brought out our logical explanation.
Closing despite objections
Closing despite objection is quite risky. We may never satisfy every concern a customer has. There will always be a competitor who offers something we don’t offer. There will always be requests we can’t fulfill. But when we can satisfy enough concerns to outweigh the doubts, we will succeed. Remember that objections linger like smoke. You won’t let your customers objections linger .You have to make them realize that you do sympathize, and understand them. Then you can give the explanation, and check to see if their concern is satisfied. The ineffective salespeople don’ts see this wagon as full of helpful jewels. They see it as full of serpents and demons. They want to keep it locked shut. They want to skirt around it, staying as far away from it as possible at all times. They want to sweep any hint of objection under the rug, hoping naively that it will never resurface. Little do they know that it smoulders there while the customers mind becomes locked into the idea that their objection is reality? The customer is mentally packing their briefcase to go home while the ineffective salesperson continues to talk- unheard.
Action provoking system
Action provoking system is required for selling success. Striking while the iron is hot is important. If we follow up a direct mail letter by telephone two weeks after it is sent, our call will be one- fifth as effective as it would be if we called after three days. Why? Because people forget 80% of what they hear and read after two days. If we call shortly after the letter is posted, it will be fresh in their minds. If we call after three weeks, it wonts. The same is true of following up your prospect for a decision. What is the point of following up too late after our competitor goes?
Self- motivation and support systems
Self-motivation and support system is indispensable for selling success. Everyone gets into the doldrums. We can’t wait for someone else to motivate us and set up our motivation systems for us. We have to do it ourselves. We have to carry our own football coach in our mind. Lets look at the kind of encouragement most sales people need and want. Think about your own situation carfully. What kind of support do you want when you have a down day? What kind of support do you want on normal days? Be specific and complete the list for your self.
- Goal setting
- Reaching a particular milestone
- Doing a mundane task consistently
- Cold calling
- Getting appointments
- Morale boost
- Confidence building
What motivation and support systems can you put into place which will allow you to reach the top? The success systems include:
- People
- Staying positive
- Eliminating doldrums
- Daring to be different
- Overcoming roadblocks
- Moving speedily towards your goal
People plays important role. What do you need from people? One top salesman talks to his wife from his car phone four times a day. He likes having someone to share his progress with, his ups and downs, his trial and tribulations. Decide what Support you want from people .All of us have people in our lives willing to support us, especially if we are willing to support them. Who do you have? Open your mind to an expanded group of potential supporters. Partners, friends, co-workers, sales manager, other managers, people from your social groups etc.
Staying positive: Without positive energy success in selling is very difficult. What are the chances that your customer will be positive if you are not? The answer is Zero. We all have negative thoughts, which pass through our minds, but it is our choice whether to hang on to them or not. The first step is to notice what our thoughts are. Notice your thoughts. If you were to count the number of thoughts, which flash through the mind in one minute, you would reach well over 60. We cannot hold onto every one, so why not pick the positive ones? So often in life we give in to the negative ones, forgetting that we are in charge of either holding on to or releasing those thoughts.
- Listen to your thoughts
- Concentrate on correcting your mistakes
- Hang on to the positive
- Release the negative
Eliminating doldrums: Acknowledging yourself is the best way to eliminate doldrums. Take time to acknowledge what you do right. Take time to acknowledge your persistence, your stamina, your determination, your progress in being organized, your sales skill building, and so on. Watch children as a clue to human development. A two year- old says, ‘ I can do it, I can do it, I can do it.’ A three year –old says,’ I did it, I did it, I did it. ‘ They go from conviction, determination and belief to success. That’s what we need to do too in creating success patterns. First, we have to have a positive attitude about the fact that we can do it, and then we have to reinforce the fact that we have done it. That’s the reason you have to stop to give yourself acknowledgement for your progress and success. Don’t wait until you reach the end result because you will get into the doldrums waiting, acknowledge yourself for the small steps along the way. For maximum success, write down your success steps and review them every evening or when you are most likely to get the doldrums. Most people find it easier to criticize them than to acknowledge them. It comes from years of practice. Now is the time to reverse the process. When you acknowledge yourself, your moral will go up. And high morale is essential to keep yourself going.
Daring to be different: Daring to be different is another hallmark of selling success. Perhaps you will be an inspiration, not only for yourself but also for others. There are plenty of mediocre salespeople doing things in their standard way. If you want to be successful you have to be determined, committed, positive, disciplined and different. A top sales executive hired a secretary after being in insurance only for six months. No one else was willing to be so daring. But he saw the potential of doing what he did best and delegating everything else. Now he has four members on his support staff and ten times the average income. Chances are that you are holding yourself back from something. It may be hiring a secretary or trying a new method no one else uses. It might be investing on equipment or support staff, or doing presentations or demos a different way. Whatever it is, look again. Think again. Don’t be afraid to be different.
Overcoming roadblocks: Keeping the goals in sight and focus determinedly on ways around the roadblocks helps a lot. Most people see a number of roadblocks between themselves and their goal. In reality, roadblocks are nothing more than challenges that help us grow. One person’s roadblock is nothing to another persons because they have already gained skills in that direction. So why not go in that direction to gain those skills as well?
Moving speedily towards your goal: It is very important. To move speedily towards your goal. Have you heard this important saying? Happiness is directly proportional to the speed you are moving toward your goal. What can we do every day to make sure we are creating an upward spiral, moving closer to our goal? The answer is to have our goal clearly defined, break it into action segments, and tackle the segments everyday without fail. When you develop that discipline, success will be in your hands. Without it you are giving your power away.
Follow the most challenging path lie before you. Perhaps you have not seen them in this light before. Perhaps they would also bring you rich, new and exciting opportunities. It is important not to turn our back on them. Having the courage to take the challenging path and overcome the roadblocks requires conviction that well, will succeed. The best way to do this is to harness strength from past successes. Think first of what roadblocks you perceive in front of you, which stand, in the way of your challenging path. Every individual has a great deal and more potential than they ever imagine. The goal or vision you have in your mind must be exactly right for you because no else has that same vision. Don’t let simple roadblock stop you.
DON’T’S IN SELLING
- Don’t Argue with a client
- Don’t Cut Your Client Short
- Don’t lecture while Making a Sales Pitch
- Don’t Put Yourself Down
- Don’t Put Your Competitors Down
- Don’t Allow Your Competitors to Put You Down
Secret of Success
- Decide where you want to go
- Keep your goal in view
- Look at carefully to see what you do not have but need to reach your cherish goal. Among the things that are considered for a successful insurance sales person are:
- Good grooming/Dressing sense
- Positive attitude
- Ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of people
- Persistence and perseverance
- Sound ethics
- Organizational ability
- Acclimatization ability
- Ability to adapt to situations
- No matter what your area of work, one of the most important things would be to collect as much information as you can on the subject, and continue to learn as you go along
- Self – development
- Better relationships
- Greater social skills
- Better physical health personality
- All-rounder personality
- Faith, in yourself, it is said faith can move mountain
About the Author
Dr.Ashish Barua
MA,MBA(Finance),PhD(Economics),DLitt(Economics)
Former Associate Professor,
Indian Institute of Rural Management
Assistant Professor & Member Insurance Research Board
National Law University,
Jodhpur, India
