Make your Sales more competitive and result oriented by implementing the Advanced Sales Strategies. Especially designed for Large Account Sales to get new tickets, bigger revenues and prestigious closures. The presentation will provide insight on approach, how's with relevant case studies and examples.

1. Advanced Selling Strategies
Saurabh Leekha

2. Content
• The Psychology of Selling
• Customer needs in the Major Sale
• SPIN Strategy
• Preventing Objections
• Obtaining Commitment : Closing the Sale

3. The Psychology of Selling

4. Psychology of Selling
Some salespeople always do well, no matter
what is around them.
They have money in pockets and bank accounts.
They are happy, optimistic, positive, friendly and
In complete control.
They are the Top Sales people of the
organization. The 80/20 rule is applicable to
them.

5. The winning edge theory says :
The difference between the top performers and
average or mediocre performers is not a great one. It
is always just a small difference : Top performers just
do certain things a certain way a little better each day.
If you develop that winning edge, there’s no reason
why you cannot move rapidly into Top 5 percent.

6. Self Concept
The master program of performance
Your Self Concept is bundle of beliefs that you have about
yourself and your world.
E.g.. You have a mini self concept on how much money earn?
This concept is so deeply ingrained that if you earn much more or
less than your current level of income you will feel distinctly
uncomfortable.
By attempting to change, you move out of your comfort zone.

7. Your Mental Makeup
Self Ideal, Self Image, Self Esteem
• Self ideal : direction of your life.
Combination of all the qualities and attributes of people you admire.
Whatever anyone else has done and become, you can do or become as well.
• Self image : the way you see/think about yourself
The most rapid improvement in sales come from changing your self image.
• Self Esteem : determines attitude and personality
How much you like yourself.
Level of Self Esteem will determine how well you perform and feel. The better
you perform better you feel

8. How do Top Sales people
See Themselves,
Think about Themselves, Respond to Customers
• See yourself as Self Employed
• Consulting versus Selling
• Become a doctor of Selling
• Becoming Strategic Thinker in Sales
• Getting the Job Done
• Being the Best
• Practice Golden Rule Selling

9. Customer needs in a Major Sale

10. Framework
• A bad purchasing can cost job to the decision maker.
• Take longer time to develop
• Involve elements, influences, inputs from several people
Implied and Explicit Needs
• Implied : Statements by the customers of problems, difficulties
and dissatisfactions.
• Explicit : Specific customer statements of wants or desires.

11. The Value Equation

12. Buying Signals
• Just do not rely on problems to close a sale. Every
customer has problems
• The real skill is how you grow problems big enough to
get action. When customer starts talking about action
when I hear buying signals !!
( Probing is to uncover Implied Needs and to
develop them into Explicit Needs)

13. The SPIN Strategy

15. ( Probing is to uncover Implied Needs and to
develop them into Explicit Needs)
Lets look into 4 SPIN Questions
Situation
Problem
Implication
Need Payoff

16. Situation Questions
• Situation Questions are asked very early in Sales call.
What’s your position?
How long have you been here?
Do you make the purchasing decisions?
What is your business?
Annual Sales Volume?
How many people you employ?
What equipment are you using at present?
How long have you been using it?
How many people use it?

17. • Situation Questions are not related to success
• Inexperienced Salespeople ask more Situation
questions
• Situation Questions are v important but must be used
carefully
• Buyers become bored or impatient

18. Problem Questions
• Pain Areas for the customer
Generally seen : Sales people ask Situation questions and straight away move
to features of the product they are selling.
Problem Questions are much stronger than Situation Questions.
They provide raw material on which rest of the sale will be built.
Still Problem Questions donot predict success in larger Sales.
Word of caution : Sometimes customers feel offended on asking too much
problem questions.

19. Implication Questions
Most Experienced Salespeople, put in front of a major
account customer, stop probing at asking Situation /
Problem Questions in a large sale.
However, even though many people use this style but it
is not very effective.
Let’s discover ………..

20. Example 1
Seller (Situation) : Do you use Panasert machines in this division?
Buyer : Yes, we have 3 of them
Seller (Problem) : Are they difficult for operators to use?
Buyer (Implied Need) : They are rather hard, but we have learned how to get them working.
Seller (Offering Solution) : We can solve that problem using easy flow software.
Buyer : What does your system cost?
Seller : The basic system cost 15 Lacs Sir?
Buyer (Amazed) : 15 Lacs ? You must be joking, Just to make a machine easier to use !!

21. Seriousness of Problem Cost of Solution
DON’T BUYBUY
Situation 1

22. Example 2
Seller (Problem) : Are they difficult for operators to use?
Buyer (Implied Need) : They are rather hard, but we have learned how to get them working.
Seller (implication) : You say they’re hard to use. What effect does it have on your output.
Buyer (thinking issue is small) : Very little, as we have trained 3 people to use them.
Seller (Implication) : Sir, Only 3 people does it not create work bottlenecks?
Buyer (still thinking issue is small) : Issue only arises when 1 of above 3 people leaves and we need
to train a new person
Seller (Implication) : It looks like the people do not want to train on these tough machines and
leave?
Buyer (recognizing bigger problem) : Yes, operators do not want to stay with us for long

23. Seller (Implication) : What does this employee turnover (leaving) mean to you in terms of
training and recruitment?
Buyer (seeing more) : It takes 3 months for operator to be efficient. It means approx Rs.
25000 x 3 = 75000 for an operator to be trained. We also have to pay extra amount of Rs.
75000 to the company for arranging training.
Seller (Implication) : Sir, even if you arrange training for 2 times a year than it means approx 3 lacs in
training. Does it also lead to production loss?
Buyer : Not much, we ask other operators to put in overtime.
Seller (Implication) : Does overtime add even more to your costs ?
Buyer (Realizing problem is quite serious) : Yes, we have to pay double the wages in case of overtime. Still
operators do not want to work and we have high turnover.

24. Seller (Implication) : This would be affecting your order commitments?
Buyer : Not much, as we get the work outsourced.
Seller (Implication) : Sir, sending work outside would be increasing your costs. Not only costs but would be affecting
quality also?
Buyer : That’s what I am most unhappy about. When you source from outside than you are at mercy of other
people.
Seller (Implication) : It must be putting your delivery commitments onto the edge.
Buyer : I just spent 3 hours on phone with the vendor on the same.
Seller (summarizing) : So from what you said. The machines are difficult to use and you have spent 3 lacs on
training. You are losing you operators, having bottlenecks in production, paying expensive overtime and
outsourcing is also not a good alternative.
Buyer : When you put it that way than our machines are creating a serious problem, indeed.

25. Seriousness of Problem Cost of Solution
DON’T BUY
BUY
Situation 2

26. Successful Sales people use two types of questions to
convert Implied needs into Explicit needs :
- Implication questions to build up problem so it is
perceived to be more serious
- Need Pay off questions to build up value or usefulness
of the solution
Need Payoff Questions

27. psychology
Ex.
Is it important to solve this problem?
Why would you find this solution so useful?
Is there any other way this could help you?
- They focus the customers attention on the solution rather than the problem. It
builds positive problem solving atmosphere.
- They get the customer telling you the benefits. For ex. How do you think a
faster machine would help you? Might get reply “ It would certainly take away
the production bottleneck and will better use operator time”

28. example
Seller (Need Payoff) : so would you be interested in controlling long distance calls?
Buyer : Well yes, …… but that’s not only the problems I have.
Seller (Need Payoff) : I would take other problems in a minute. But first, would you like to control long distance calls? Why are they so important?
Buyer : Well, there is lot of pressure from finance to control costs.
Seller (Need Payoff) : Would it help if you can restrict long distance calls to authorized persons?
Buyer : Well yes. Most of it comes from unauthorized usage.
Seller : Can we discuss other issues you have? (Need Payoff) May I assume you would like improvement there also.
Buyer : Yes, It would be big help.
Seller : What if you also come to know how much time does it take to answer a call?
Buyer : That’s great. It will help us to improve the customer service.
Goes on …………………………
Need Payoff is focusing on Solutions rather than problems. More important Customer himself starts Giving benefits himself.

29. Need Payoff Questions
• reduce Objections
• Rehearse the customer for Internal Selling
• Make customers tell the benefits
• Make your solution acceptable
Benefits of Need Payoff
Avoid Need Payoff questions early in the call
Avoid Need Payoff where you don’t have answers (your product does not support the
feature customer is asking for)

30. Preventing Objections
“Generally you have more objections in an unsuccessful sales call. As you grow the
hierarchy you start getting less objections.”
“Objections are generally created by the sales person rather than the buyer”.
“Skilled people receive fewer objections because they have learnt objection
prevention rather than objection handling”.
Mastering SPIN Model will help you to prevent the objections

31. Features and Price Concerns
Behavior Definition Impact
(small sale)
Impact (large
sale)
Features Describes facts, product
characteristics
Slightly
Positive
Neutral or
Slightly
Negative
Advantages Shows how products or their
features can be used or help
customer
Positive Slightly
Positive
Benefits Shows how products meet Explicit
Needs expressed by customer
Very
Positive
Very Positive

32. Features vs. Value

33. Handling objections
There could not be a sales call where there are no
objections. Lets learn “how to handle them?

34. Closing Sale
Seller : So Mr. Gupta, you see that our product is best for you – if you'll just sign here.
(Assumptive Close)
Buyer : just a moment – I don’t see. I have not decided yet.
Seller : Bur, Mr. Gupta, I have shown that you can improve efficiency and save lot of
money. When would you like to take delivery? (Assumptive Close)
Buyer : I have not decided. I will not decide this Week.
Seller : This model is in great demand. I can supply it now but if you wait till next week
than you may have to wait for months. (Standing room only Close)
Buyer : I have to take that risk.
Seller : Would you prefer a months trial installation or buy outright? (Alternative close)
Buyer : I am going to throw you out of my office. Shall you go on your own or would
you like me to call the security

35. Define Closing Sale in large sale
Obtain the Right Commitment : There is generally no
straightforward “No” in large sale.
There are four possible outcomes in large Sale
Order
Advance
Continuation
No Sale
Success
No Success

36. Question your objectives ruthlessly
In your call planning always include objectives that result
in specific action.
• Get the client for demo
• To get a meeting with seniors in the organization
• To meet the finance / purchase department looped in
the call
Look for advances not continuations ….

37. Things to avoid at time of closing
Anxious : Never be over confident or anxious for the order. It’s a process. You win some, you lose some.
Know when its going to close : Generally the sales cycle lengthen and you do not have anything to offer when you
reach the decision maker.
Win - Win Deal : Always press for a win - win deal. If customer wants to squeeze you out than better is to be firm on
your last offer.
Arguing : People hate to be told that they are wrong.
Knocking the competition : Never talk ill for your customers.
Overselling : when you say your product can do something which it cannot.
Assuming Authority : specially on price discounts, delivery commitments, modifications etc

38. But what generally counts is your attitude.
Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t –
you’re right. Henry Ford

39. Thanks