Sales intelligence:how to sell more with less product return.

Recently I was at one of the outlets of Future shop to buy a laptop. While I was there, i went through the products on display. There was a product expert called Nicole Dewar . She was an exceptional salesperson in that she was not concerned about just selling a product “anyhow” rather she was much more concerned about selling products and value. The value is the intangible aspect of a transaction process. A customer may buy or not based on that alone. And selling a product in today’s market require sales intelligence that can carefully combine both together during the course of a transaction. Nicole listened attentively to what customer had to say. She focused 100 percent on a customer per time. She gives a sense of respect and utmost importance to what the customer has got to say? She try to understand why s/he wants to buy and why s/he want want to buy? By giving utmost attention to customers, she was charming them, bonding them and giving them more reason to consider buying right away . That was the way  i felt. I felt like buying all the product she was having in her section in that mall.

What most salespersons don’t learn to figure out fast, while mastering their product knowledge is people’s skill. Ability to bond with people first before scheming to get money out of them. What they fail to master as well was their concern for what will make the customer come back again and again to buy from their company. This is actually beyond cramming the vision and mission statement. It is the ability to enter into customers world, to peek through their mind, to understand the psychology surounding the customers intention of buying. This require spending qualitative time with the customer/clients to see what exactly the customers’ needs are? Converse to these, most of the sales people we see around daily are more concerned about getting rid of their products, dumping it on you. They are “pushy” and more eager to sell you “stuffs”. Little wonder that many products are later returned days after their purchase. To minimize such occurence the sales process must not be shortcircuited. Every transaction should be executed  with value.once these are no longer missing in the course of a transaction, sales will rise greatly.

THE GREAT GAMEPLAN OF GREATNESS

In asking who is the next icon of change? The answer can be found in the words of a great woman: “One can never consent to creep, when one feels an impulse to soar!” - Helen Keller

Everyone must aspire to be the next icon of change. Live beyond the trend. Maximize change. Amidst pressure of various kinds of daily lives; it could become challenging. Amidst numerous challenges, we want the edge…topping the career ladder, getting mortgage, changing homes as we change diapers, settling down, raising kids among several. Generally, our priorities differ. Considering what we face daily, amidst normalcy of daily routines, in the race for survival, there is that dilemma to be successful achievers. We want to be better, to be more. With every desire comes the will to win, to get financial secure, to become richer. And lurking secretly is the ambition to be known and famous. We want to matter in our generation. Beyond the routine of feeding our hungry stomachs; and more; becoming significant and getting better is another goal for so many. Therefore when faced with the daily decadence that looms at us; we ask how we will be able to reconcile them all. Nevertheless, we choose our path in it all. Our life moves in the direction of our heart. We chose to die or thrive in it all.

It’s a new move in the New Year and the slogan says: The change we want. If you are asking how far can you go in life? You are asking for a change. It is no longer how far you can go. It is why not go there? If you have been thinking of becoming significant; what will you allow to stop you from reaching those places this year? Haul all the fight against mediocrity! Aspire and desire the peak! Be the best you can! And if you are ready for the top; then the top is calling for you. Self-ask: how can I get there? Yes! The top is good but what is my strategy? What is my plan? How much can I give for it? What will it cost or take me? What am I giving up? Where do I love to be? And when will I like to be there? What am I giving up for it? What new move am I making daily? That is pushing me upwards? What deliberate steps? What drastic measures are my making? Somehow you must understand that you need people to get there. And that means not just ordinary people. You need to meet or make extraordinary people to reach the height you see. How do I mean? Read on.

There is a strategy to bonding with greatness. You deliberately meet people of timber and caliber, you are loved, and you are invited into their fraternity. Oh! It’s not that simple. I know. On the other hand, you can make ordinary everyday people into the ladder you climb through your influence. You can make something out of them if you are ready to give them all the resources for development, confidence they need. There is a law called the law of influence. It is an art of winning. This taught how to persuade people. There is a place for staying in, staying put and staying there throughout the process of their learning. Involvement cannot be separated from requirement for part of what qualifies you to lead. There must be a role play, a contribution, a support or more; for you to be respected and permitted to lead. There must be some inputs, some values, something you’ve given or you are giving, or you have given in time past for us to believe you are qualified to really lead. And we believe that you have to give such support, concern; tangible or intangible things all the way through leadership era and beyond. Sacrifice and leadership goes and in hand. Authority actually means responsibility according to God’s word.

Somehow, there are people who know how to relate well with other people in such a way that, through their relational skills, leadership skills; some people just like them, opportunities arise for them and through that they are able to leverage to the actual top. We must learn from such people. When you intentionally cultivate a habit of networking with people; following up with newly met guests, you are becoming a “human octopus”…someone who is able to strategically draw a team, a following, an association or a community of people. You are like a positive and healthy ganglion, spreading your self upwards. You have wings to fly to the top. Your influence is extending and it can get you somewhere. It is by being able to influence people, businesses and more. By being able to develop community of people that can surround a noble cause. That is when a society is said to have been taken. It is the responsibilities of leaders to take over communities, societies and nations for a positive reason and motive. It is not for mere men. Today, as policies, laws are changing and bills are being passed daily at each nation’s senates. We are either losing territories or gaining them.

Due to the fact that it is costly to raise a people through influence route and the processes described above; the tendency to cling to power is more rampant in today’s leaders who want authority without responsibility. In capturing a society, you cannot use force, brute methods. You will become an oppressor, a tyrant and that way, you are not really fulfilling purpose. You can never change a society by showing that society the dysfunctional it possesses. You can only change the society through models. Showing the model of what the society ought to be. The principle is still the same. In order to conquer a people; you must capture the commerce, reshape the people’s philosophies, affect their education , change their orientation, change their laws, their way of thinking, indoctrinate them in a new paradigm, lead them out into a desired culture and do everything to change their lifestyle. That is why there is a measure of assertiveness to this thing. For a people to change, it will require influence. And if the change agent is not celebrated and accepted, it will be oppressive. Sometimes, tactical compulsions or imposition may be required in the process of changing leadership. That was the way changing of kings and governors of old was done. It might be barbarous but it was result oriented. Since, it seems to me that there is no point where there will be no more war in the world. As in those days, so it is in our days. How do we then capture societies in our day without learning from history? In taking over a society; we need right strategies. Model Leaders must be detailed, thorough and result oriented. To achieve that, they need to be tutored in decision making, policy implementation and plan evaluation. They must master the art and science of team management and more. We need to measure our progress per time, per value added to the system. We must measure civilization by what we have been able to add to people’s lives beyond the city terrains. We must adopt policies that will advance our nations at grass root level upwards. The essence of our leaders’ attempting second term in office must be to benefit the society. Their coalition into new political parties must never be for recycling dysfunctional leaders. True leaders will respond more to issues in a timely manner so that things will change.

Descent culture, right values don’t just jump on people. These things don’t start overnight. It evolves in process. It takes a period of time for culture to be. It takes a true leadership and a willing followership. Our traditional clothes, music, and dressings are not all what it means to appreciate our culture. Neither is clinging to heritage and freedom which some people fought for, and for which they even laid down their lives. There must be a kind of spirit. A kind of attitude; and it has to spring from a core, not just a superficial “thing”. When people see that, they know it, they can identify who we are by mere seeing these things. In the way we live, in how we view issues and respond. And it says a whole lot about us.

Innovative marketing

Shopping could be time consuming, I was at the mall once, where an attendant at a fabric store, smiled at me as I entered. I frowned in return. She sobered out of disappointment. She had expected me to smile back. She was being “herself”, a sales person. I was being myself, a typical cranky customer. May be she has invited some customers and retained them by smiling. It was good enough charm that won some; but not enough on me.  Stressed, angry due to the fact that I didn’t want to be at the mall, save for necessity. I was frustrated about the long search through various shelves, corner, color, and departments of the mall. Some items could come with specificities that demand walking stores, checking shelves, asking attendants. When I glanced back to steal a look on that sales lady who I frowned at, her glow was gone! It may be terrible of me. But the fact that she lost her glow was actually a proof of her hollowness and insufficiency. To force employees to smile by the reason of job description is not an innovative marketing. It only creates more gaps for them to overcome in marketing process. If it was not in her personality to smile, what happened unveiled it. It proved customer service skills as something that may be almost impossible to feign. Whether or not, she was appreciated, the smile was expected to be on. If it was not in core value, any charm put on to win people over will fail.  Some customers know this that it can work if it is genuine. It will only last if it is intrinsic. As leopards never changes skin as in chameleon. Appearing in environmental color is untrue which reveal instability, falsity and self doubts in actual sense.

Therefore, it’s not that some of us don’t know what it entails to market or sell. What frustrate us mostly is paying that very price for innovative marketing- the expensive price of authenticity. The challenge may not be in our weak networks or failure of multilevel marketing; rather it may be in the futuristic advantages of our product or call it our product edge and our being genuine. Once we can figure that out; we already have what it entails to sell successfully. We can hang on; hang in there till we meet customers who prefer seeing the future value of product, value for money and quality in whatever they purchase. For most of us, innovative marketing is like innovation hunt. It’s a feat, some fight we don’t understand, unable to identify. It’s like a marketer aiming at target. He searches for the elusive. He chases the unstable and invisible customers. But they are just hard to pin down. It seems they don’t really need what the marketer has to offer or they don’t want to have any encounter with him. If he must market successfully, then he must be able to visualize the resourcefulness, of both now and the future of his product. That product worth may persuade customers successfully. Many times, it is uncertain that the customer will be willing to buy. Knowing ahead may bring some anxiety but it also brings the chance for rehearsing some persuading techniques. Consequently there may be a convincing result.

In order to hit on trade target at any point; whoever salespeople are selling to; they should made to see the relationship as something that transcend sales process. oftentimes these customers want to be seen as humans, as brother and a sister who should not be defrauded. So to sell to a blood tie people, is to be considerate. Since, they have fears, reservations; there are specific requirements, impending wants, and relevant needs on the line in different categories that must customer must address in their individual lives; which does not give room for time wastage or trial and error in their transactions. They don’t want to part with their money and later regret. They wanted good advice on the state of products. That is why sales must be done intelligently out of thorough preparation. From an understanding of customers’ model and profiles. In order to beat through fogs of resistance then, a marketer must bond with customers firstly by understanding, them and explaining the features of the product how they have future value and could meet relevant needs. Understanding customers, product’s outstanding qualities, marketer’s persuasive strength, authenticity and negotiation skills are quality factors required for innovative marketing.

It’s not a case of showing product price tags; flashing those discounts as “on sales”. It’s not about flexibility in how customers are allowed to pay for product through several credit cards, debit cards, or cash. The problem is, with what to pay as the medium of transaction? The exchange is unaffordable? Most customers want more than rebates; they want some extra value from every business transactions. Inadequate money restricts customers’ purchasing power. And a mere smile is not the answer. A sales person’s pleasant attitude may count but there is more to business transactions than all that. Little wonder most people give up on marketing; because they found out early that the stake is not just too high to attain innovative marketing and achieve marketing edge but it tends to soar higher.