Soft Selling is a balance between sales and good softskills. My department want to pass on some soft selling techniques to a new area which is not exactly selling but mostly getting the client to sign a document. I am structuring the training with a lot of rapport building mixed in with features and benefits etc.
Could anyone help in advicing some ways of finding good theory behind features and benefits / listening and questioning / rapport and relationship building / and closing and overcoming objections?
I am a bit stuck with differentiating a sales training and a soft sales training.
Many Thanks
Luis
Luis Gonzalez
2 Responses
There shouldnt really be a difference
Luis, As a sales trainer of over 10 years, I have come to the point where I believe good sales skills come from totally understanding your customers needs, if their needs are not established it doesn’t matter if you are ‘hard’ or ‘soft’ the sale won’t stick.
The last sales course I wrote, took some elements of the SPIN techniques from Huthwaite, I only used some as it was a customer service role where some sales would be expected and it worked a treat…they really understood what was needed….real needs analysis!!!
Hope this helps
Agreed
Sorry but I agree with the previous comments. Sales skills are all based around the understanding of a client’s need (gained by good questioning and listening skills), an understanding of whether you can match that need (based on knowledge of your product/service and place in the market etc.) and persuading the client that your solution is the one for them (negotiation skills and objection handling) and then asking them to pay for it (closing).
The SPIN model is a good example of this quantified.
I think a lot of people have a misunderstanding around the concept of hard sell – done well it can create immense customer confidence and satisfaction because it should mean professional competence. But being pushy, rude and agressive is not hard sales – it’s pushy, rude and agressive.