Creation of a company. Sales. Part 1
What is the most important when creating (your) company? Create an innovative product that can change the world? Find funds? Gather people in a team? Create a prototype? .. Of course, all these points are very important, especially for a new company. At the same time, the selling point is the point on the list of important things. Surely, you often met with a dispute, more importantly, production or sales. You will not find the answer to this question in my articles - you must decide on the importance yourself. However, finding a customer, that is, selling something that is not there, is much nicer than creating the perfect finished product, but not knowing who will buy it and when, and wait for the first sales.
Important note. We are not talking about state and other tenders, in which production is paid on a mandatory basis. We are talking about a classic commercial non-governmental organization that spends money on its development through the sale of its own products.
In the first part of a series of articles about sales, I would like to reveal one trend that has smoothly moved from offline sales to online. So, the problem of modern sellers is that they do not see their customers, or pretend that they see. What does this mean?
A couple of months ago I saw one video in which the speaker turned to the listener with the question: what kind of thought does a person have when they see that the seller is suitable for him? Try to answer this question yourself. If you decided that the correct answer would be “Oh no, now they will again offer and sell something to me, as everyone is tired of it,” then you will be right. Imagine yourself in the place of any customer visiting any retail outlet. Why imagine, you probably yourself recently went to a store (it doesn’t matter if it is a fruit pavilion or a salon-shop of household appliances). And what do you hear first?
“Can you tell me something?”
The most familiar question that we hear all the time. Now, by the way, he also appeared on the Internet - constantly pop-up windows from all sides “Hello. Ask your questions and we will answer you. ” Perhaps so that in the future I don’t have much to clog the article with “offline versus online” comparisons, all further text will be considered in the context of a regular offline store, but you should remember that the problems described are fully projected onto online projects.
- Ask what interests you?
Why is this question bad? So that from the first seconds of your appearance in the store (read: on the site), the seller has shown that he does not see what kind of customer you are. Because such a question is suitable only for one type of buyers (visitors) - hot. What other types of clients are there and how to “see” them? And in general, is there a need for this?
Let's imagine how you can make this or that purchase (make this or that order)? There are three options:
1. You know exactly what you need.Brand, model, cost - all the data is in your head, you constantly voice it for yourself and understand what you need. Iphone 32 gb white, no more than 45,000 rubles. Or an ordinary bathtub, for a new apartment. Or a British fold cat. The key parameter is that you know for sure that you need it. In this case, the seller’s question “What interests you” will be on the one hand, just in case. But at the same time, the seller turns into a regular cashier, who passes the barcode through the scanner of the cash register, takes money from you and gives you the right thing.
2. You just thoughtabout buying a new phone. Or just moved to a new apartment. Or your friend hinted that she wants some animals to go home. Then, when you visit specialized stores, the constantly asked question is “Do you have something to suggest?” or the requirement “Ask” the seller will only interfere with you and cause a clear negative to the store and to the seller in particular.
3. You generally do not think about buying a phone, new plumbing or a furry friend. In this case, such questions of the seller that I wrote above, he will not even have time to ask, because in your eyes there is not a drop of interest in the seller’s products.
The above cases of purchase (or non-purchase) relate to three types of customers: respectively, hot, warm and cold. The first, by the way, is the smallest number of all buyers (I think it’s not worth explaining the reason for this phenomenon). Most often, we either roughly know what we need, or (even more often), we don’t even think of making any transactions.
In the second and third cases, the seller must enter the scene, who sees his customers and can distinguish between them. When the seller recognizes the type of buyer in a person, the sale process becomes beneficial for both parties, which entails additional advantages for the seller (I will talk about the importance of repeat customers separately).
How to get to the "warm" client? First of all, it is worth saying that it is much easier to do this than to the cold. For a warm client, the question of who to give their money to is in second place - first of all, he needs to choose a product. This is where sales technology will help, which I will also discuss in the next article, but you yourself can familiarize yourself with the basic principles of sales technology.
With cold clients, everything is much more interesting. Their distinctive feature is that they do not think about the purchase in principle, and they will immediately embrace any offer with hostility. But for them, too, there is their own sales technology, which I will write about later.
By the way, you also need to be able to work with “hot” customers, but more on that in the next article.
In the same article, I told what the seller should do first and foremost, in order to sell and not turn away buyers from himself. Stop demanding questions from customers. Ask them yourself.
Important note. We are not talking about state and other tenders, in which production is paid on a mandatory basis. We are talking about a classic commercial non-governmental organization that spends money on its development through the sale of its own products.
In the first part of a series of articles about sales, I would like to reveal one trend that has smoothly moved from offline sales to online. So, the problem of modern sellers is that they do not see their customers, or pretend that they see. What does this mean?
A couple of months ago I saw one video in which the speaker turned to the listener with the question: what kind of thought does a person have when they see that the seller is suitable for him? Try to answer this question yourself. If you decided that the correct answer would be “Oh no, now they will again offer and sell something to me, as everyone is tired of it,” then you will be right. Imagine yourself in the place of any customer visiting any retail outlet. Why imagine, you probably yourself recently went to a store (it doesn’t matter if it is a fruit pavilion or a salon-shop of household appliances). And what do you hear first?
“Can you tell me something?”
The most familiar question that we hear all the time. Now, by the way, he also appeared on the Internet - constantly pop-up windows from all sides “Hello. Ask your questions and we will answer you. ” Perhaps so that in the future I don’t have much to clog the article with “offline versus online” comparisons, all further text will be considered in the context of a regular offline store, but you should remember that the problems described are fully projected onto online projects.
- Ask what interests you?
Why is this question bad? So that from the first seconds of your appearance in the store (read: on the site), the seller has shown that he does not see what kind of customer you are. Because such a question is suitable only for one type of buyers (visitors) - hot. What other types of clients are there and how to “see” them? And in general, is there a need for this?
Let's imagine how you can make this or that purchase (make this or that order)? There are three options:
1. You know exactly what you need.Brand, model, cost - all the data is in your head, you constantly voice it for yourself and understand what you need. Iphone 32 gb white, no more than 45,000 rubles. Or an ordinary bathtub, for a new apartment. Or a British fold cat. The key parameter is that you know for sure that you need it. In this case, the seller’s question “What interests you” will be on the one hand, just in case. But at the same time, the seller turns into a regular cashier, who passes the barcode through the scanner of the cash register, takes money from you and gives you the right thing.
2. You just thoughtabout buying a new phone. Or just moved to a new apartment. Or your friend hinted that she wants some animals to go home. Then, when you visit specialized stores, the constantly asked question is “Do you have something to suggest?” or the requirement “Ask” the seller will only interfere with you and cause a clear negative to the store and to the seller in particular.
3. You generally do not think about buying a phone, new plumbing or a furry friend. In this case, such questions of the seller that I wrote above, he will not even have time to ask, because in your eyes there is not a drop of interest in the seller’s products.
The above cases of purchase (or non-purchase) relate to three types of customers: respectively, hot, warm and cold. The first, by the way, is the smallest number of all buyers (I think it’s not worth explaining the reason for this phenomenon). Most often, we either roughly know what we need, or (even more often), we don’t even think of making any transactions.
In the second and third cases, the seller must enter the scene, who sees his customers and can distinguish between them. When the seller recognizes the type of buyer in a person, the sale process becomes beneficial for both parties, which entails additional advantages for the seller (I will talk about the importance of repeat customers separately).
How to get to the "warm" client? First of all, it is worth saying that it is much easier to do this than to the cold. For a warm client, the question of who to give their money to is in second place - first of all, he needs to choose a product. This is where sales technology will help, which I will also discuss in the next article, but you yourself can familiarize yourself with the basic principles of sales technology.
With cold clients, everything is much more interesting. Their distinctive feature is that they do not think about the purchase in principle, and they will immediately embrace any offer with hostility. But for them, too, there is their own sales technology, which I will write about later.
By the way, you also need to be able to work with “hot” customers, but more on that in the next article.
In the same article, I told what the seller should do first and foremost, in order to sell and not turn away buyers from himself. Stop demanding questions from customers. Ask them yourself.