Selling services effectively
In many ways, sales of services are different from product sales. When buying a service, the client pays for something intangible, for something they can’t touch, smell, or taste. That’s what makes clients less trusting, what makes it harder to sell services. There’s also an advantage - compared to products, it’s easier to match services to client needs, which increases the chance of a sale.
Dostępny jest przetłumaczony materiał kliknij tutaj, aby przejść do materiału.
The recipe for excellent service sales is simple. You need an excellent client, excellent service, and an excellent sales representative. So, what can you do to turn average into excellent?
First: AN EXCELLENT CLIENT
Of course you’d like customers to come to you. When you’re in a situation where you have to look for clients, think about how to do that. To know where to look, first you need to determine who you’re looking for. I know salespeople who claim that anyone could be their client. So, they search everywhere and have poor results.
Imagine your ideal client. One with whom you’d like to collaborate every day. One who needs your services the most.
Now create for them an avatar, also known as buyer persona, using the following scheme:
- Do you sell to individual clients (B2C) or companies (B2B)?
- For a B2C client, specify: gender, age, financial status, family income, marital status, number of children, place of residence, education, position (industry), weight, etc.
- For a B2B client, specify: the industry, what they sell/offer, annual revenue, number of employees, where the company is located, and how many years it’s been on the market, brand recognition, etc.
- Identify your client’s three biggest problems.
- Imagine that you’re helping your client solve their problems. What does their ideal reality look like?
- Indicate the three most important reasons why your client is afraid to buy from you.
- Where is your client? Who do they spend time with? What do they do in their free time? What brands do they buy?
Now that you know who your ideal client is, think about where to find them. You have to take into account both where they are in the real world and what they do in the virtual space. Go where your avatar is.
Where to look for clients
- NETWORKING
Take part in networking events. These are places where people come for the same reason you do - to find new contacts. Remember this important principle: talk about yourself and what you can do for others, but also listen carefully to what others can do for you. And another important thing: don’t try to sell at networking meetings. They’re only for exchanging contacts.
- SOCIAL MEDIA
If you have a specific target client (avatar) then you certainly know what sites they like and which groups they belong to. These are the places where you can successfully search for potential clients.
- FACEBOOK ADS MANAGER
Find out which websites your target group likes. This will help you move on to the next point: Collaboration. How do you do that? You have to have a fan page. In the ‘Ad manager’ tab, you can view ‘Target group statistics.’ By choosing ‘Everyone on Facebook’ you can set the parameters of the target group based on which websites your ideal client likes.
- COLLABORATION
By using the Facebook Ads Manager or otherwise reflecting on what your client does, you can be present in the places they visit most often. If your target client often goes to the gym, make a deal with the gym, for example, to exchange client information.
- OPEN DAYS
By organizing open days, free events, meetings, webinars, you get leads - in exchange for participating in such an event, the client must leave you a phone number and an email address. This helps you build trust in the service you offer - if the client knows how it works, they’ll have fewer doubts about buying it, or at least having a look at it.
Example:
You sell cosmetic services. You want to reach potential clients using printed leaflets.
The Avatar
Woman, 35 years old, mother of a primary school-age child, works for a medium-sized company, somewhere in the city centre. She earns about 2000 euros net, shops at discount supermarkets, loves fashion, beauty, and food.
Where to look
In front of her child’s school, in discount supermarkets, at office buildings in the city centre, on online forums about raising children, on Facebook groups related to fashion, beauty, and cooking.
Second: EXCELLENT SERVICE
Nowadays, offering a good service won’t bring clients knocking on your door. You need to think about what your competitive advantage is. Find something that distinguishes your services on the market and makes you at least a bit different from everyone else. There are two ways to do this: discover the advantage you already have, or create one.
A competitive advantage is often built unconsciously. Many businesspeople may not even realize that they have one. That’s why you have to think about what’s so special about your service that it distinguishes you from your competitors.
Wykorzystałeś swój limit bezpłatnych treści
Pozostałe 61% artykułu dostępne jest dla zalogowanych użytkowników portalu. Zaloguj się, wybierz plan abonamentowy albo kup dostęp do artykułu/dokumentu.
Zaloguj się
