What You Must Know to Excel As a Sales Professional

 We are all conversant with the popular maxim, "knowledge is power". Without any doubt, knowledge is indeed influence, control and power for the sales professional. In today's competitive business environment, anyone desirous of success must first seek, pursue and acquire knowledge. This can be referred to as know-how, the capacity of information that is generated through study and interactions, as well as experience.

So, what must you know as a sales person to prospect, sell, win customers, keep customers, meet and exceed sales targets, and excel? There are basically six areas you should acquire knowledge to excel as a salesperson. They are: knowledge of your company, knowledge of your target market or customers, knowledge of the competition, knowledge of your industry, knowledge of regulations and government policies and knowledge of the global economy. Let's examine these in further details.

1. Internal Knowledge (Knowledge of your Company)

As sales person, you should have a deep knowledge of your company. This is called internal knowledge. Essentially, there are five important things you should know about your company to excel.

A. Products and service offerings

We have identified six important things you should know about your offerings.

• The first thing you should know about your product or service is the target market. Who is the product or service targeted at? What demography? What psychography? What geography and what behavioural group?

• The next thing you should know about your product or service is the value that the product will add to the target market. Remember that what you sell is value. People buy perceived value not the product or service per se.

• You should know the claim associated with the product. A claim is an assertion with which you introduce a product to a prospect or customer. Claim words include: fastest, newest, cheapest, best, oldest, biggest, most convenient, unique, bespoke, most cost effective, most recognized, fastest growing, highest, etc. Knowing the claim word associated with your product or service will help you attract the attention of the prospect or customer; especially if you use the claim word that speaks to the emotional or logical need of the prospect or customer. For instance, if you meet a prospect whose buying decision is greatly influenced by the uniqueness of a product or service, you can introduce your product as the one with features that no other competitor have. The claim will also help in position bargaining when you start negotiating price and terms

• But beyond the claim word, you should also know the facts with which to substantiate your claim. A fact in selling is a credible proof that your claim is true. It is the evidence that the claim you made is not false. So, if your claim was that your product is the most unique in the industry, what would you highlight or show in your product that would make the prospect believe you? If you say you are the largest for instance, you must know the size of your competitors and tell or show me that indeed you are the largest. If your claim is that your product is the most cost effective, you must show proof and convince me that you claim is indeed true.

• Then, you should know the features of your product. Product features are characteristics of your product that describe its functionality, appearance, components, and capabilities. A product feature is a slice of business functionality that has a corresponding benefit or set of benefits for that product's end user. In simple terms, you should know what your product does and how it does it. In a broader sense and for some industries features also include the processes, terms and conditions for acquisition of the product or service.

• Finally, you should know the benefits of the product or service. Remember that we are talking about benefits to end users, not benefits to you or your company. You should be able to answer the prospect's question, "what is in it for me?"

B. Strategy, Policies and Objectives