Part II
SALES FORCE ACTIVITIES
Chapter 5:
Customer Interaction
Management
Improving Your
Chances of Success
1. Build awareness
2. Get on the short list
3. Demonstrate how your proposal meets
company needs
4. Directly address decision maker’s
personal needs
5. Be prepared for “buyer remorse”
Phases of The Selling
Process
Customer interaction process divided in
to three phases :
 PRE- INTERACTION :actions that are initiated prior to
interaction with key decision makers , requiring skills in precall
planning .
 INTERACTION : actions initiated while interacting with
decision makers ,calling on skills in relating ,discovery ,
advocating ,handling objectives, and closing
 POST-INTERACTION : activities following a
transaction involving supporting skills .
Personal Selling
Phases of The Selling Process
PREINTERACTION
Skills:




Setting Objectives
Knowledge
Management
Information
Gathering
Rehearsal
INTERACTION
Skills:




Relating
Need discovery
Advocating
Closing
POSTINTERACTION
Skills:




Supporting
Implementing
Dealing with
dissatisfaction
Enhancing the
relationship
Basic Types Of Selling
Models :
 Standardized model :
 Referred to as benefitizing an offering .
 benefitizing means translating features of a product into
benefits believed to be of value to the customer.
 benefitizing means how to transfer the specification of
product into benefits, so focus on the benefits because
customer wants benefits , not the specifications , the product
is standardized when it is going to be sold and used by
majority of the customers , and there are no specific
characteristics needed .
 If the buyer decision making is complex so standardized
model is at a disadvantage .
 The Standardized model is most appropriate when a
product is standardized or when the benefits are the
same for all customers.
Basic Types Of Selling
Models :
 Need satisfaction model :
 This model is oriented to discovering and meeting customers’
needs .
 Needs discovery is achieved by skillfully asking questions
that will elicit customer buying needs .
 Needs discovery takes place early in the selling cycle , often
during the first call, and replaces the presentation as the
most important step in the selling process .
 (you are buy the benefits of the engine of the cars like high
speed )
 According to customer needs we produce products , and
these product are appropriate for specific people like CIA ,
Laptop .
 Its appropriate for consultative types of customer
relationship.
Basic Types Of Selling
Models :
 Problem solution model :
 It is similar to needs satisfaction model in that both involve an
analysis of each customer’s circumstances , the primary
difference is that a problem solution is based on more formal
studies of the customer’s operations , and this needs to gets
customer permission to conduct such formal studies .
 This selling model usually involves significant dollar
expenditures ,and the selling cycle may be quite long (
products like computers system , advertising campaigns ,
information systems ).
 The problem is to identify customer with a sufficient value to
cover the high investment involved in this model , and the
other issue is the development of the capabilities of the
company’s sales effort to effectively solve problems better
than competition.
PRE- INTERACTION Phase:
Planning skills
As the term planning skills implies, this
stage occurs when you collect your
thoughts and organize your interaction
strategy prior to meeting a customer
face to face .
Customer Interaction
Pre-Call Planning

What do I want to accomplish?

What do I know about the prospect?

Where can I find the information?

What am I going to say?
PRE- INTERACTION Phase:
Planning skills
 Setting objectives :What do I want to accomplish?
 Salespeople should not make a call unless they can specify
an action that they want the prospect to take .
 The objective should be clear , specific , not “ to collect
information “ or “ build a good relationship “
 Objectives like these are good objectives :
 The client agrees to supply information on historical inventory
levels .
 The client tells you who will be involved in the purchase
decision .
 These objectives calls for the customer to take a specific
actions .
PRE- INTERACTION Phase:
Planning skills
 Knowledge management :What do I know about the
prospect?
 Basic information that may be useful to know about an
individual includes exact spelling and pronunciation of her
name ,title , age ,residence, education, buying authority ,
clubs and membership ,hobbies , etc….
 Not only is personal information important , but you should
also review what you know or do not know about the client’s
organization.
 Next are some of the question that a salesperson should be
able to answer about a customer .
Customer Interaction
What is the size of the business?
What product lines do they sell and what markets do they serve?
Where, how, when, why, and by whom will the products be used?
Who are the prominent executives and other key personnel?
Who are their competitors and on what basis do they compete?
Do they have any previous experience with our company?
What are the prospects for future sales volume and what is the
upside potential?
Figure 5-2: Some Important Pre-transactional Information
PRE- INTERACTION Phase:
Planning skills
 Information Gathering :Where can I find the information?
 When you know what information you need to make
successful sale call , you can usually identify a number of
sources for obtaining the data .
 Some of these resources are : company records ,
salespeople , customer employees , published information ,
observation of prospect’s business operations , ask
competitor ,the internet and the company websites .
 Next are comparison of customer interaction techniques of
very successful with less successful salespeople .
Customer Interaction
Successful Salespeople
Less Successful Salespeople

Research prospect
background

Do little background
research

Use referrals for prospecting


Open by asking questions
Use company generated
prospect lists

Open with a product
statement

Use standard presentations

Focus on product benefits

Close by focusing on the
most important customer
objection



Use needs-satisfaction type
presentation
Focus on customer needs
Let prospect make purchase
decision
Figure 5-3: Successful Versus Less Successful Salespeople
PRE- INTERACTION Phase:
Planning skills
 Rehearsal :What am I going to say?
 All salespeople should have at least some idea of how they
will initially tat an interaction, what questions they will ask ,
and what benefits they plan to present .
 When preparing to call on clients , it is helpful to put yourself
in their position , what would you want to know about your
company and its products if you were the customer ? If you
are ready for these questions , you are ready for the
interaction with the customer and may have a better chance
of success .
 Next are questions that may help to expect or anticipate the
buyer or customer questions .
Customer Interaction
Anticipate Buyer Questions
1. What are you selling?
2. Why do I need it?
3. Who is your company?
4. How much will it cost?
5. Who else is using it? Are they satisfied?
6. What kind of person are you?
7. How does your solution compare to alternatives?
8. Is price competitive?
9. Why do I need it now?
10. Your record for support & service?
INTERACTION Phase:
 Refers to what takes place during a face to face meeting with a
customer .
 We will focus on this phase on 3 skills that are important in all
business and social interactions:
 Relating
 Discovering
 Advocating
 In addition there are two skills critical ro successful selling which
is :
 Gaining access
 Closing
 Gaining access to key personnel is very important when calling
on prospects .
 Closing is a necessary step in all selling situations but is most
problematic during transactional type customer relationship .
INTERACTION Phase:
 Gaining access to decision makers is not easy ,
following are 4 ways fir gaining access .
 1--Direct personal contact (face to face ): the most
difficult approach , without a prior attempt to communicate
with the prospect , this approach is likely to create
problems ,for example the person may be busy , so the
salespeople must wait.
 The key is not to waste time , so you should use this time
to learn more about prospect from others in the
organizations , prepare for other scheduled calls , or
complete necessary reports . The most difficult problem is
that when the prospect has a negative reaction to being
called on without an appointment .
INTERACTION Phase:
 Gaining access to decision makers is not easy ,
following are 4 ways fir gaining access .
 2–-Phoning Ahead : using the telephone to approach
prospects has a number of advantages , like make better
use of the salesperson time and reduce the hours spent in
waiting rooms , prospects who busy usually answer the
phone and provide salespeople opportunity to introduce
himself and set up a future meeting .
 The main problem is that it easy to turn some one down
over the telephone .
 You can left a voice messages , start by state your name
in the beginning and at the end of the message , keep the
message as short as possible , state your phone number
slowly , slower indeed than you think is necessary .
INTERACTION Phase:
 Gaining access to decision makers is not easy , following are 4
ways fir gaining access .
 3-- Personal letters : the first approach used to contact with
customers in the past , letters are difficult more than the phone
calls for the secretary to screen.
 They also enable to attach brochures which help prospect to
know more about the product than they can over the phone , the
letter ended by suggesting dates for a meeting so focus the
prospect attention on when to meet not whether to meet .
 4– E-mail messages : they have 2 advantages over the voice
messages :
 It is possible to send the message at very little cost in time and
money to a large number of people
 Graphics and detailed promotional material may be included
with the message as an attachment to the main message .
INTERACTION Phase:
 Relating skills :
 Both of the people meeting for the first time experience a degree of
tension .
 Salespeople have long recognized call reluctance or the fear of making
contact with a customer as a problem .
 Customers are also feel a form of anxiety referred to as relationship
anxiety when meeting a salesperson , this anxiety arise because
people don’t like to be sold , they like to buy .
 The role of salesperson is to help customers buy wisely , through
relating skills , which mean the ability of salespeople to put the other
person at ease in a potentially tense situation .
 The first few moments of the selling meeting are important , because
people formulate initial impressions at this time , so salespeople should
be credible , competence , honest ,likeable .
 Don’t ask “ how are you “ but say “ thank for your time “ and to hand
next the business card to the prospect , and introduce your self …
 “” hello Mr. smith I am ragheb bseiso of xyz company , thank you for
seeing me , I am here today to see if we can help you save money …”
Customer Interaction
Means of Reducing Relationship Anxiety
PROPRIETY
Show buyer respect; dress appropriately
COMPETENCE
Know your product/service;
third-party references
COMMONALITY Common interests, views, acquaintances
INTENT
Reveal purpose of call, process, and
payoff to the buyer
INTERACTION Phase:
 Needs discovery skills :is about understanding the other person’s
perceptions of his or her most important needs and help them to fully
understand these needs .its not easy to do so but when you really help
customers understand the total cost of their problem and the extent of
their opportunities , it makes it easier for them to choose the best
solution .
 In selling to organizations , the situation is complicated because both
task and personal motives influence the purchasing decision .
 Task motives can be defined as the logical ,practical , or functional
reasons for buying , they usually involve either money or productivity .
Typical financial motives include cost savings or profit increases ,
productivity motives may focus on increasing output ,increasing quality
, or reducing effort .
 Organizations tend to emphasize different task issues in their culture ,
so it is important fro salespeople to understand these.
 Personal motives :are the individual preferences that spur a person to
buy , they are psychological in nature , and involve relationship with
other people . Personal motives include the need for respect ,approval
,power , and recognition .
Customer Interaction
Task Motives
PRODUCTIVITY
MONEY
More Output
or Quality
Less Cost
Less Effort
More Profit
Customer Interaction
Personal Motives
Respect
Power
Approval
Recognition
INTERACTION Phase:
 Questioning :discovering a customer's perceived needs naturally
involves asking questions and actively listening to the customer’s
responses .
 Note in asking questions in away the does not irritate the customer and
helps them to better understand their own needs.
 Questions may be classified as closed –ended or open-ended .
 Closed-ended questions can be answered with a simple yes or no or by
selecting from a list of responses .
 open-ended questions can not be answered by yes or no , and are
used to identify a topic .
 In addition to these 2 types , there are other types like:
 Permission : (closed-ended ) may l ask you questions about ?
 Fact finding : focus on factual information about the business, who is
your current supplier of computers ?
 Feeling –finding : (open ended) how do you feel about your current
inventory levels of computers ?
 Checking : “ if I understand you correctly , you have said that you are
happy with the quality if your current supplier but feel that you may be
able to get the same quality at lower price from another supplier . Is
that accurate ?”
Customer Interaction
Needs Discovery: Types of Questions
1.
Permission
Close-ended
2.
Fact-finding
Factual information
3.
Feeling finding
Open-ended questions
4.
Checking questions
Confirm understanding
INTERACTION Phase:
 Advocating skills :
 After discovering the customer needs ,
advocating skills start to work , which refer to
the ability to clearly and fully present a
solution that customers can see helps to
address their needs .
 These skill involves 2 steps :
 Solution presentation
 Addressing customer concerns (questions)
regarding the solution being proposed .
INTERACTION Phase:
 Solution presentation: to convince customers that the goods and
services , which are offered match their requirements and satisfy
their needs , in more specific term , it should clear how your
product or service will satisfy their task and personal motives or
needs .
 It is a discussion of a series of a product or services feature
connected with benefits that the client has already indicated are
important ,and followed by evidence that the benefits will in fact
be delivered .
 Features : Are tangible and intangible characteristics of the
product or service .
 A benefit : is a statement about how a product or service can
help a customer satisfy an explicit or stated need .
 The most widely used means of providing evidence to prove
problem solving is the use of demonstration which encourage
participation and often allow the client to experience the product
benefits firsthand .
INTERACTION Phase:
 Types of customer relationship :
 Presentation skills like the other skills are related to success
regardless of the type of relationship being developed .
 The next figure lists some general differences between the
interaction practices in transactional compared to consultative
and enterprise relationships.
 written ales proposals : customers want to see what promised
on writing , proposal should convey the following 5 quality
dimensions :
 Reliability :identify solutions to achieve prospect’s needs .
 Assurance : builds trust and confidence in your ability to deliver
,implement , produce benefits .
 Tangibles : enhances and supports your message
 Empathy :confirms your understanding of the prospect’s
business and needs.
 Responsiveness :develops proposal in atimely manner .
Customer Interaction
TRANSACTIONAL
RELATIONSHIPS
CONSULTATIVE AND
ENTERPRISE RELATIONSHIPS
Practices:
Practices:

Focuses on closing sales

Focuses on customer’s bottom line

Limited call planning investment

Considers call planning a top priority

Spends most contact time telling
account about products

Spends most contact time attempting to
build a problem-solving environment

Conducts “product-specific” needs
assessment

Conducts discovery in the full scope of
the account’s operations

“Lone wolf” approach to the account

Team approach to the account

Proposals and presentations based on
pricing and product features

Proposals and presentations based on
profit-impact and on strategic benefits.

Sales follow-up is short-term, focused
on product delivery

Sales follow-up is long-term, focused
on long-term relationship enhancement
Figure 5-6: Key Differences in Practices Between Relationships
Customer Interaction
Sales Proposals – General Format

Problem Analysis

Solution

Product Specifications

Cost-benefit Analysis

Contract
Customer Interaction
Handling Concerns (LSCPA)
Listen
to the buyers feelings
Share
concerns without judgment
Clarify
real issue with questions
Problem-solve
present options and solutions
Ask for ACTION
to determine commitment
Customer Interaction
Pseudo-Concerns
“I’ll have to talk it over with Frank.”
“I’ll get back to you.”
“I’m too busy right now.”
“Our budget is tight this year.”
“We have no room to store it.”
Customer Interaction
Closing Techniques
IMPORTANCE BY PRODUCT
Selling
Technique
Industrial Consumer
Ask for the order in a straightforward manner
1
1
Summary
 Summarize the benefits already
covered in the presentation
2
2
Single
Objection
 Asks for the order if last
obstacle is overcome
3
4
Assumption
 Assume readiness to buy and
focus on the transaction details
4
2
Choice
 Focus on version to be ordered
5
5
Direct

INTERACTION Phase:
 Closing skills :occurs when salesperson asks for a
commitment from the customer. many salespeople
find this the most difficult step of the selling process
and are very reluctant to close ,primarily out of fear of
rejection.
 Closing is simply asking for a decision when you’re
fairly certain a person is going to say yes .
 When to close : client is likely to regard asking for the
order before he is ready to buy as pushy , so
successful salespeople tended to simply let the
customer make the decision often through the use of
silence .
 It is said that most acceptance are made on the fifth
closing attempt .
INTERACTION Phase:
 Closing techniques :
 Many different closing techniques may be used , and
salespeople have personal preferences ,depending on the
circumstances.
 Two popular closing techniques are the alternatives choice close
and the summary close .
 Alternative choice :when the prospect is faced with a variety of
colors and models ,this method may be effective , the
salesperson ask questions to narrow the choice and help the
prospects make a final selection.
 Summary close : one of the best closes provides a summary of
the benefits accepted during the call, combined with an action
plan requiring the customer’s commitment .
POST-INTERACTION Phase:
 Once a salesperson help the customer make
a purchase, attention shifts to the follow –up
activities , which refers to all the efforts
involved in servicing the sale and building a
lasting and growing relationship with the
customer .
 Ongoing activities : the selling process is
really a continuous one , after the immediate
post interaction activities are completed ,the
seller focus shifts from the attraction to the
retention and growth .
Customer Interaction
31%
Most Profitable Return
Top 3 Rankings for Growth
63%
87%
Rated Very Important to Growth
11%
32%
62%
Quality of
service to
customers
Product
improvements
or extensions
3%
8%
16%
22%
26%
34%
59%
58%
49%
Information
technology
Figure 5-7 : The Role of Customer Service
Advertising
and sales
promotion
Development
of entirely new
product lines
Customer Interaction
Sales Support
Support
the
Buying
Decision
Manage
the
implementation
Deal
with
dissatisfaction
Enhance
the
Relationship
Figure 5-8: Servicing the Sale: The Four Pillars of Sales Support
Customer Interaction
Pillars of Sales Support
Support Buying Decision
 Reduce buyer anxiety
 Make a follow-up call
 Ask for feedback
Manage the Implementation  Assist w/ approval process
 Introduce support resources
 Monitor & report progress
Customer Interaction
Pillars of Sales Support
Deal with Dissatisfaction
 Empathize with the buyer
 Respond to problems –
use objection handling
techniques
 Anticipate buyer concerns
and expectations
 Reinforce the Benefits
Customer Interaction
Pillars of Sales Support
Enhance the Relationship

Be available
 Arrange continued
personal
communications
 Maintain quality of
products/services
 Provide ongoing updates
and progress reports
 Be a resource for info,
help and ideas
 Grow the business internally
 Ask for referrals
Customer Interaction
Ways to Anger Customers
 Constant Selling
 Neglecting Customer Problems
 Talking Too Much
 Stretching the Truth
 No Thank-Yous