Step 1, Research prior to the sale

Before visiting your customer you need to know where you stand:

• What are the key strengths and benefits of the competitors product?
• How do our competitors sell and how we can take advantage of that?
• When people buy from competitors; why? And how often are they disappointed?
• When we lose sales to competitors; why and how do we loose these deals?
• How can we mitigate against those ways where we loose sales? What is our strategy?

From The path to purchase we know that by the time a customer reaches a sales person he/she already:

• Has an inkling that it may be time to make a purchase
• Probably gathered some information on the potential product offerings in the market place and
• Gone to the effort to come to your place of business

The chapter continues to define Hot buttons, the features that the customer gets exited about. Every product has multiple hot buttons. Sales people need to be very aware of the hot button of their own product.

In contrast Flagging landmines are defined as a hidden piece of information that, when you stray across it, it carries the danger that it might blow your sale completely away.

Key points of the chapter:

• The sales process begins long before the salesperson and they prospective customer shake hands for the first time
• When you are doing research prior to a sale, nothing you learn is wasted
• It ain't the customers job to do your research for you!
• Be clear about what you can deliver and ask the buyer about his expectations
• Hot buttons create excitement for the product
• Flagging landmines is a hidden piece of information that may blow up your sale
• An Objection is not a land mine. Landmines are more oblique and harder to surface. Which is why they are so dangerous.