SALES: PROSPECTING, QUALIFYING, AND COMPLETING pdf

Sales:
Prospecting, Qualifying, and
Completing
Instructor’s Edition
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Sales: Prospecting, Qualifying, and Completing

Series Product Managers: Charles G. Blum and Adam A. Wilcox
Curriculum Developers: Russ D. Peterson, Jr. and Kevin J. Karschnik
Developmental Editor: Laurie Perry
Copyeditor: Catherine Oliver
Series Designer: Adam A. Wilcox


COPYRIGHT © 2009 Axzo Press
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work may be reproduced, transcribed, or used in any form or by any
meansgraphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, Web distribution, or
information storage and retrieval systemswithout the prior written permission of the publisher.
For more information, go to www.axzopress.com.
Trademarks
ILT Series is a trademark of Axzo Press
Some of the product names and company names used in this book have been used for identification purposes only and
may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective manufacturers and sellers.
Disclaimer
We reserve the right to revise this publication and make changes from time to time in its content
without notice.

ISBN 10: 1-4239-5159-X
ISBN 13: 978-1-4239-5159-9
Printed in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 GL 06 05 04 03
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Contents

Introduction iii
Topic A: About the manual iv
Topic B: Setting student expectations ix
Topic C: Classroom setup xi
Topic D: Support xiii
Introduction to selling 1-1
Topic A: Introduction to buying and selling 1-2
Topic B: The sales model 1-8
Unit summary: Introduction to selling 1-10
Sales skills 2-1
Topic A: Organization 2-2
Topic B: Communication 2-11
Topic C: Personal motivation 2-17
Unit summary: Sales skills 2-24
The sales process 3-1
Topic A: The selling process 3-2
Topic B: The buying process 3-8
Unit summary: The sales process 3-12
Prospecting 4-1
Topic A: Introduction to prospecting 4-2

Topic B: Prospecting methods 4-8
Topic C: Phone prospecting 4-14
Unit summary: Prospecting 4-16
Qualifying 5-1
Topic A: The qualifying process 5-2
Topic B: The questioning process 5-8
Unit summary: Qualifying 5-19
Presenting 6-1
Topic A: Selling process and strategy 6-2
Topic B: Buyer types 6-7
Topic C: Presenting to buyers 6-12
Unit summary: Presenting 6-18
Completing 7-1
Topic A: Negotiating 7-2
Topic B: Closing the sale 7-5
Unit summary: Completing 7-8
Servicing 8-1
Topic A: Customer service 8-2
Topic B: Service as a process 8-4
Unit summary: Servicing 8-7
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ii Sales: Prospecting, Qualifying, and Completing

Using what you’ve learned 9-1
Topic A: The implementation phase 9-2
Topic B: Resources and tools 9-7
Unit summary: Using what you’ve learned 9-9
Course summary S-1
Topic A: Course summary S-2

Topic B: Continued learning after class S-4
Glossary G-1
Index I-1


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iii

Introduction
After reading this introduction, you will know
how to:
A Use ILT Series training manuals in
general.
B Use prerequisites, a target student
description, course objectives, and a skills
inventory to properly set students’
expectations for the course.
C Set up a classroom to teach this course.
D Get support for setting up and teaching this
course.
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iv Sales: Prospecting, Qualifying, and Completing

Topic A: About the manual
ILT Series philosophy
Our goal is to make you, the instructor, as successful as possible. To that end, our
training manuals facilitate students’ learning by providing structured interaction
with the software itself. While we provide text to help you explain difficult concepts,

the hands-on activities are the focus of our courses. Leading the students through these
activities will teach the skills and concepts effectively.
We believe strongly in the instructor-led class. For many students, having a thinking,
feeling instructor in front of them will always be the most comfortable way to learn.
Because the students’ focus should be on you, our manuals are designed and written to
facilitate your interaction with the students, and not to call attention to manuals
themselves.
We believe in the basic approach of setting expectations, then teaching, and providing
summary and review afterwards. For this reason, lessons begin with objectives and end
with summaries. We also provide overall course objectives and a course summary to
provide both an introduction to and closure on the entire course.
Our goal is your success. We encourage your feedback in helping us to continually
improve our manuals to meet your needs.
Manual components
The manuals contain these major components:
• Table of contents
• Introduction
• Units
• Course summary
• Glossary
• Index
Each element is described below.
Table of contents
The table of contents acts as a learning roadmap for you and the students.
Introduction
The introduction contains information about our training philosophy and our manual
components, features, and conventions. It contains target student, prerequisite,
objective, and setup information for the specific course. Finally, the introduction
contains support information.
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Introduction v

Units
Units are the largest structural component of the actual course content. A unit begins
with a title page that lists objectives for each major subdivision, or topic, within the unit.
Within each topic, conceptual and explanatory information alternates with hands-on
activities. Units conclude with a summary comprising one paragraph for each topic, and
an independent practice activity that gives students an opportunity to practice the skills
they’ve learned.
The conceptual information takes the form of text paragraphs, exhibits, lists, and tables.
The activities contain various types of questions, answers, activities, and other
information. Throughout a unit, instructor notes are found in the left margin.
Each unit title page lists an estimated time for completion, but you have a great deal of
control over how long it will actually take to get through the material. Many of the
activities have questions or scenarios designed to stimulate discussion. You can adjust
the amount of time a unit takes by deciding how many students you ask to respond and
how long you allow a discussion to continue.
Course summary
This section provides a text summary of the entire course. It is useful for providing
closure at the end of the course. The course summary also indicates the next course in
this series, if there is one, and lists additional resources students might find useful as
they continue to learn about the software.
Glossary
The glossary provides definitions for all of the key terms used in this course.
Index
The index at the end of this manual makes it easy for you and your students to find
information about a particular software component, feature, or concept.
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vi Sales: Prospecting, Qualifying, and Completing

Manual conventions
We’ve tried to keep the number of elements and the types of formatting to a minimum
in the manuals. We think this aids in clarity and makes the manuals more classically
elegant looking. But there are some conventions and icons you should know about.

Item Description
Instructor note/icon
Italic text
In conceptual text, indicates a new term or feature.

Bold text
In unit summaries, indicates a key term or concept. In
an independent practice activity, indicates an explicit
item that you select, choose, or type.
Instructor notes.

In the left margin, provide tips, hints, and warnings for
the instructor.
Warning icon.
Warnings prepare instructors for potential classroom
management problems.
Tip icon.
Tips give extra information the instructor can share
with students.
Setup icon.
Setup notes provide a realistic business context for
instructors to share with students, or indicate additional
setup steps required for the current activity.

Projector icon.
Projector notes indicate that there is a PowerPoint slide
for the adjacent content.

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Introduction vii

Activities
The activities are the most important parts of our manuals. They are usually divided into
two columns, with questions or concepts on the left and answers and explanations on
the right. To the far left, instructor notes provide tips, warnings, setups, and other
information for the instructor only. Here’s a sample:
Do it!
A-1: Identifying the brainstorming process

Question and answer
1 Sequence the steps for brainstorming.
Have students arrange the
brainstorming steps in the
correct order.
Begin generating ideas.
Select the purpose.

Select the purpose.
Organize the session.

Organize the session.
Review the rules.

Ask questions and clarity ideas.
Begin generating ideas.

Review the rules.
Ask questions and clarity ideas.

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viii Sales: Prospecting, Qualifying, and Completing

PowerPoint presentations
Each unit in this course has an accompanying PowerPoint presentation. These slide
shows are designed to support your classroom instruction while providing students with
a visual focus. Each presentation begins with a list of unit objectives and ends with a
unit summary slide. We strongly recommend that you run these presentations from the
instructor’s station as you teach this course. A copy of PowerPoint Viewer is included,
so it is not necessary to have PowerPoint installed on your computer.
The ILT Series PowerPoint add-in
The CD also contains a PowerPoint add-in that enables you to do two things:
• Create slide notes for the class
• Display a control panel for the Flash movies embedded in the presentations
To load the PowerPoint add-in:
1 Copy the Course_ILT.ppa file to a convenient location on your hard drive.
2 Start PowerPoint.
3 Choose Tools, Macro, Security to open the Security dialog box. On the Security
Level tab, select Medium (if necessary), and then click OK.
4 Choose Tools, Add-Ins to open the Add-Ins dialog box. Then, click Add New.
5 Browse to and select the Course_ILT.ppa file, and then click OK. A message
box will appear, warning you that macros can contain viruses.
6 Click Enable Macros. The

ILT Series add-in should now appear in the
Available Add-Ins list (in the Add-Ins dialog box). The “x” in front of
Course_ILT indicates that the add-in is loaded.
7 Click Close to close the Add-Ins dialog box.
After you complete this procedure, a new toolbar will be available at the top of the
PowerPoint window. This toolbar contains a single button labeled “Create SlideNotes.”
Click this button to generate slide-notes files in both text (.txt) and Excel (.xls) format.
By default, these files will be saved to the folder that contains the presentation. If the
PowerPoint file is on a CD-ROM or in some other location to which the slide-notes files
cannot be saved, you will be prompted to save the presentation to your hard drive and
try again.
When you run a presentation and come to a slide that contains a Flash movie, you will
see a small control panel in the lower-left corner of the screen. You can use this panel to
start, stop, and rewind the movie, or to play it again.
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Introduction ix

Topic B: Setting student expectations
Properly setting students’ expectations is essential to your success. This topic will help
you do that by providing:
• A description of the target student
• A list of the objectives for the course
• A skills assessment for the course
Course prerequisites
There are no specific prerequisites for this course.
Target student
The target student for this course is someone who currently works in the sales field and
wants to become a better sales representative. This course introduces students to a sales
model that has a five-step process of prospecting, qualifying, presenting, completing,

and servicing. Students do not need to have sales experience to succeed in this class;
however, students will get the most out of it if their jobs relate to the sales field.
Course objectives
You should share these overall course objectives with your students at the beginning of
the course. This will give the students an idea about what to expect, and it will help you
identify students who might be misplaced. Students are considered misplaced when they
lack the prerequisite knowledge or when they already know most of the subject matter
to be covered.
After completing this course, students will know how to:
• Discuss the history of selling, the barriers to making a sale, and various selling
methods.
• Identify the core sales skills of organization, communication, and motivation.
• Define the sales model and understand the details of the buying and selling
processes.
• Discuss prospecting methods, define their target markets and customers, and
develop a cold-calling script.
• Qualify prospects by using effective listening and questioning techniques.
• Discuss positioning, identify buyer types, write an elevator pitch to prepare for
presenting a sales pitch, and handle objections.
• Negotiate to work toward an agreement and close the sale.
• Identify the customer service process and techniques, such as Responsive
CARE, that can be used to build customer loyalty.
• Work toward improving sales skills by using the 21-day habit, writing down
satori moments, and committing to being a better sales representative.
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x Sales: Prospecting, Qualifying, and Completing

Skills inventory
Use the following form to gauge students’ skill levels entering the class (students have

copies in the introductions of their student manuals). For each skill listed, have students
rate their familiarity from 1 to 5, with five being the most familiar. Emphasize that this
is not a test. Rather, it is intended to provide students with an idea of where they’re
starting from at the beginning of class. If a student is wholly unfamiliar with all the
skills, he or she might not be ready for the class. A student who seems to understand all
of the skills, on the other hand, might need to move on to the next course in the series.

Skill 1 2 3 4 5
Identifying barriers to making a sale
Defining FABs
Prioritizing sales activities
Planning quotas
Communicating through body language
Understanding personal motivation
Identifying the stages of the sales process
Identifying the stages of the buying process
Defining your target market and customer
Developing a cold-calling script
Identifying the buyer’s decision-making criteria
Improving your listening skills
Developing probing questions
Writing qualifying questions
Identifying buyer types
Writing and delivering an elevator pitch
Handling objections from buyers
Negotiating a sale
Closing the sale
Defining customer service levels
Providing customer service with Responsive CARE
Using the 21-day technique to improve your skills

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Introduction xi

Topic C: Classroom setup
In addition to a manual, each student should be provided with a pad and pens or pencils
for jotting down notes and questions. Students should have a comfortable place to sit
and ample table space to spread out their materials.
Computer requirements
If you wish to use the PowerPoint presentations, you’ll need the following:
• A keyboard and a mouse
• A Pentium-class or better computer
• Windows NT, 2000, or XP operating system
• A minimum of 32 MB of RAM, depending on your operating system
• A CD-ROM drive
• A Super VGA monitor
• An overhead monitor projector
• PowerPoint 2000 or later, or PowerPoint viewer
First-time setup instructions
The first time you teach this course, you will need to perform the following steps:
1 Download the PowerPoint presentations for the course to your computer.
a Connect to www.axzopress.com.
b Under Downloads, click Instructor-Led Training.
c Browse the subject categories to locate your course.
2 Download the data for the course to your computer.
a Connect to www.axzopress.com.
b Under Downloads, click Instructor-Led Training.
c Browse the subject categories to locate your course.
3 Print data files to give to students as handouts.

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xii Sales: Prospecting, Qualifying, and Completing

CertBlaster pre- and post-assessment software
CertBlaster pre- and post-assessment software is available for this course. To download
and install this free software, complete the following steps:
1
Connect to www.axzopress.com.
2 Click the link for Sales.
3 Save the .EXE file to a folder on your hard drive. (Note: If you skip this step, the
CertBlaster software will not install correctly.)
4 Click Start and choose Run.
5 Click Browse and then navigate to the folder that contains the .EXE file.
6 Select the .EXE file and click Open.
7 Click OK and follow the on-screen instructions. When prompted for the
password, enter c_sales.
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Introduction xiii
Topic D: Support
Your success is our primary concern. If you need help setting up this class or teaching a
particular unit, topic, or activity, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.
Contacting us
Please contact us through our Web site, www.axzopress.com. You will need to provide
the name of the course, and be as specific as possible about the kind of help you need.
Instructor’s tools
Our Web site provides several instructor’s tools for each course, including course
outlines and answers to frequently asked questions. To download these files, go to
www.axzopress.com. Then, under Downloads, click Instructor-Led Training and

browse our subject categories.

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xiv Sales: Prospecting, Qualifying, and Completing

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1–1

Unit 1
Introduction to selling
Unit time: 60 minutes
Complete this unit, and you’ll know how to:
A Identify the barriers to selling, discuss the
history of selling, and identify the different
types of selling.
B Describe the sales process.
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1–2 Sales: Prospecting, Qualifying, and Completing

Topic A: Introduction to buying and selling
“The outstanding leaders of every age are those who set up their
own quotas and constantly exceed them.”
—Thomas J. Watson (1874-1956), Chairman of IBM
Explanation Successful sales professionals understand that the definition of selling is uncovering a
prospect’s needs and then positioning the product or service as the best selection to
fulfill that need. Why do people buy? People buy to fill a need. Think about the last car
you bought. Why did you buy that particular car? You wanted something specific—

perhaps great mileage, good visibility, comfortable seats, or space for your spouse, four
kids, a dog, luggage, and skis.
Barriers

The road to sales success is not an easy one, but it can be navigated if you’re armed with
the proper sales tools. Along this bumpy path, what types of obstacles can you expect to
run into?
• Resource constraints
• Gatekeepers
• Competitors
• Purchasing agents
• Tough questions
• Presentations to executives
• Pricing issues
• Objections
• Internal management issues
• Timing issues
With all these factors working against you, it’s difficult to imagine how anyone can
consistently succeed in sales. But with the right tools and the right process, the path to
success becomes much clearer. (Later units will address such issues as getting past
gatekeepers, giving presentations, and handling objections.)
Internal barriers
Besides the external factors working against you, there will be internal barriers as well.
Salespeople who take the word “no” too personally will have a difficult time making
that next sales call. You have to remember that when prospects tell you “no,” they are
not saying “no” to you; they are saying “no” to your company’s product or service.
To keep yourself on an even keel and break through your internal barriers, you might
want to learn how to recognize and correct various kinds of cognitive distortions (faulty
ways of thinking). Popularized by cognitive psychologists such as Albert Ellis and
Aaron T. Beck, these distortions include all-or-nothing thinking, overgeneralizing,

mental filtering, and catastrophizing, among others.
All-or-nothing thinking is viewing situations or people as all good or all bad—black or
white, with no gray areas. Overgeneralizing is assuming that because something
happened once, it will always happen; or if it hasn’t happened yet, it will never happen.
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Introduction to selling 1–3

(For example, “I always mess up my presentations” or “I never get past the
gatekeeper.”) Mental filtering is focusing on one negative detail and dwelling on it so
much that you view the entire situation as negative; you’ve filtered out any positive
information. (You stumble a little when responding to one objection, so you decide that
your presentation “bombed”—even though the rest of it went smoothly.)
Catastrophizing is imagining the worst possible outcome of a situation and then having
an emotional reaction to that dire outcome.
Let’s look at how a salesperson might “catastrophize” a situation—anticipating all the
things that are going to go wrong and then behaving as if those imaginings are real
1
. For
example:
• “She will never buy my service when she is already buying from my
competitor.”
• “He is an executive and will probably make me look inferior in the
presentation.”
• “She will never let me set an appointment with the VP because I have not met
her in person.”
Don’t let yourself fall into these traps. For example, if you hear yourself saying
“always” or “never” (overgeneralizing), you can correct yourself: “My presentation
didn’t go well today, but I usually do give effective presentations.” If you find yourself
assuming the worst and imagining disastrous results (catastrophizing), you can review

the facts and remind yourself that you don’t really know how things will turn out.
“She’s buying from my competitor now, but she might decide that my service offers a
better value and start buying from me.” Being a salesperson is challenging enough;
don’t let your own faulty thinking make your job more difficult.
Why do people buy?
To understand the psychology of selling, you need to understand the situation from the
customer’s point of view. In other words, you need to understand the psychology of
buying. Once you understand how a person makes a purchasing decision, you can better
understand how to position and sell your product or service.
At a primitive level, people buy for only two reasons: to avoid pain or to increase
happiness. However, having reasons for making a purchase does not necessarily make
the decision process any easier.
Buying is much more than agreeing to make a payment in exchange for a product or
service. Reaching that agreement might involve a lengthy decision-making process.
How does a buyer make a decision to buy? What options does the buyer weigh? What
criteria will the buyer use to make the decision?
Think about all the options you weigh when you’re making a purchasing decision. What
types of data do you consider before making a selection?
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1–4 Sales: Prospecting, Qualifying, and Completing

If you were going to purchase a new DVD player, you might investigate the following
kinds of data before considering a purchase.

Buying factors Description

Quality Is the DVD player well built, and will it work reliably? You might consider brand
names and their reputations, perceived quality based on higher prices, and the
place of purchase.

Price Is it within your budget? Is the price fair?

Support Does it have a warranty? Is support service local?

Features Does it have the features you require? (Surround sound, resolution requirements,
TV or sound system compatibility, etc.)

Delivery Does it have to be ordered and shipped? Can you take it home today?

A salesperson must consider the buyer’s thought processes and emotions. It has been
said that all purchases, at some level, are made with emotion. If buyers can envision the
future with your product or service eliminating the need they have today, they will feel a
sense of happiness, accomplishment, relief, pride, and even joy. It’s up to the
salesperson to help create that vision.
Perceptions
Successful sales professionals empathize with their customers and focus on their
perceptions. It can be said that in sales, perception is reality. If your company has the
highest quality rating from J.D. Power and Associates, but your customer does not know
that, the customer might have a negative perception of your organization—especially if
that person just heard about one bad experience that a friend or colleague had with your
company.
Perceptions must be uncovered and then corrected, if necessary. Customer perceptions
can be managed through a non-confrontational presentation of the facts. Perceptions are
often weak because customers are left alone to develop their own opinions with no
assistance from you. Communicating your message on a regular basis can help to align
customers’ perceptions with your company’s.
Just as information available to your customers can change on a daily basis, so can their
perceptions. Make certain that you check in with your customers periodically:
• Request their feedback on a regular basis.

• Use regular communications and presentations of factual data to maintain
alignment.
• Do not use negative comments to taint the customer’s perception of your
competition.
Unsuccessful salespeople will lose credibility when they use negative selling techniques
to try to win business. In other words, the salespeople might badmouth the competition
in the hope that negative information might sway the prospect. Although the prospect’s
perception of that competitor might be slightly changed or questioned, this can backfire
and just reflect badly on you. The salesperson who regularly speaks poorly of the
competition will lose credibility with prospects. Ultimately this strategy does not pay
off.
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Introduction to selling 1–5

History of selling
Over the past 200 years, selling as a profession has undeniably matured. From the days
of the Wild West snake-oil salesmen to the door-to-door salesmen of the 1940s and
’50s, and then to the consulting salesperson of the 21st century, the profession has
definitely changed. It’s important to be familiar with the origins and phases of selling so
that you can understand why techniques that worked in the past will not work now. In
true Darwinian fashion, as a professional salesperson, if you don’t adapt your selling
skills to your changing environment, you will be eliminated from the herd. The
following table describes the different types of selling used in recent American history.

Time
period
Type of
selling
Assets

required

Description

1920 to 1950 Door-to-door
distribution
Persistence
Friendliness
Reliability
Purchasing options were not plentiful, and
many manufacturers used door-to-door
salesmen as their primary distribution channel.
Without much competition, selling was more a
matter of establishing a territory for distributing
products.

1950 to 1965 Feature Product knowledge
Persistence
Ability to educate
Technology was beginning to introduce
products that were designed to simplify our
lives. One problem was that customers did not
know how to use the products. Salespeople had
to educate buyers about the products’
capabilities and proper use.

1960 to 1975 Benefit Product knowledge
Listening skills
Some empathy
After buyers became more educated about

products and services, and consumer choices
increased, salespeople found themselves
discussing the benefits of the features, as
opposed to showing the technology itself.

1970 to 1995 Relationship Listening skills
Empathy
Communication
skills
Organization skills
Amiability
Relationship selling became prominent when
competing products and services were
comparable. Companies differentiated
themselves in the marketplace by forming
stronger relationships between the buyers and
sellers. Relationship selling is a strategic
approach to the individuals that a salesperson
will interact with to complete a sale. It’s also
the first sales methodology that truly focused
on the customers’ needs and provided solutions
for them.
You can point out that
this is the most common
type of selling today.
1990 to
Present
Consultative Listening skills
Business acumen
Questioning skills

Negotiating skills
In today’s sales environment, customers often
have complex problems that require complex
solutions. A salesperson who is selling a single
device is expected to understand how the
customer plans to use that device to solve a
larger problem. In addition, customers expect
salespeople to understand how buying decisions
are made to support the business and ultimately
increase revenues, increase profits, or decrease
costs. Consultative selling is based entirely on
understanding the complex needs of a customer,
understanding how those needs affect the entire
business, and knowing what type of solution
can address those needs.

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1–6 Sales: Prospecting, Qualifying, and Completing

Features, Advantages, and Benefits (FABs)
Throughout the 1960s and most of the 1970s, successful salespeople realized that
selling products based on their features was no longer as effective as it once was. As a
result, salespeople began to focus more on how the customer would benefit from using
their products or services. With that, benefit selling was born.
Although benefit selling is no longer as prominent or effective in today’s marketplace, it
can still provide an effective means to guide a conversation. Conversations that move to
a technical discussion about the feature set might be educational, but they are not an
effective selling technique.

Benefit selling involves three components: features, advantages, and benefits. These are
commonly referred to as “FABs.”
• A feature is a physical characteristic of a product.
• An advantage is the performance characteristic that the feature provides.
• A benefit is the favorable result the buyer receives because of the advantage.
The following table provides three examples of benefit selling.

Feature Advantage Benefit

This golf ball has a new
titanium core.
It will provide an extra 10
yards on your drives.
You can lower your overall
score.

This computer server has a
new dual power unit.
It provides consistent
electricity even if the first
power unit dies.
Your Web site will not be
taken offline by a power
failure.

This home has a high-
efficiency roof and insulation
beyond building-code
requirements.

It will take less energy to
keep your house cool in the
summer.
Ultimately, you will save
money on your electric bills.

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Introduction to selling 1–7

Do it! A-1: Defining FABs

Exercise

1 In the table below, fill in the features, advantages, and benefits for each product or
service listed. In the bottom rows, create FABs for your products or services.

Product or
Service
Feature Advantage Benefit
Desktop
computers
Extended home
warranty
Provides for fixing all
components for the next
three years
Involves less stress for
you and saves you money
Have students fill in the

blanks. If time permits,
have students use their
own products or
services.
Home real-
estate agency
(selling houses)
Home assessment
and neighborhood
economic analysis
Helps you price your
home competitively for
the current market
__________________
__________________

Pharmaceutical
drugs
Extremely stable __________________
__________________
__________________
__________________

Home mortgage
services
________________
________________
__________________
__________________
__________________

__________________

____________
____________
________________
________________
__________________
__________________
__________________
__________________

____________
____________
________________
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PREVIEW
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1–8 Sales: Prospecting, Qualifying, and Completing

Topic B: The sales model
Explanation Sales success requires elements of professionalism that will include both skills and
tools. At the core of a salesperson’s skill set is the knowledge of their product or
service. The next layer of skills, as illustrated in Exhibit 1-1, can be divided into the
following areas: communication, organization, and motivation. Skills in these three
categories must be sharpened to the point that each becomes a core strength.

Exhibit 1-1: The sales model developed by iSpeak
Product and service knowledge
In today’s professional selling environment, where consultative selling is the norm,
customers will expect their sales representatives to be experts in their fields. Prospects
want to view a sales representative as someone who can answer their questions and
provide thoughtful solutions for their needs.
In this environment, it becomes critical that all sales professionals be well versed in
their own products or services. In technical sales, many individuals who begin their
careers as product engineers make successful transitions to sales careers, leveraging
their tremendous product and service knowledge. These individuals did not become
successful on product knowledge alone, but it was definitely an admired aspect of the
salesperson’s capabilities.
Make sure that you have a solid understanding of the products and services your
company has to offer. Although many technical sales departments partner a salesperson
with a technical engineer as they pursue business, it can only help if the salesperson has
a solid understanding of what can and cannot be delivered.
PREVIEW
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Introduction to selling 1–9

Do it! B-1: Identifying your products and services

Exercise

List the top four products or services your organization offers.

1 ____________________________________________________

2 ____________________________________________________

3 ____________________________________________________

4 ____________________________________________________

The sales process
Surrounding the product knowledge and three skill sets is the entire sales process. Your
understanding of this process can help you properly navigate an opportunity to close a
sale, regardless of the type of product or service you’re selling.
As shown in Exhibit 1-1, the sales process consists of the following phases:
1 Prospecting
2 Qualifying
3 Presenting
4 Completing
5 Servicing
Each of these phases is discussed in greater detail throughout the course.
Do it!
B-2: Discussing the sales model

Questions and answers

1 What is the core skill set that every salesperson needs to have?
Solid knowledge of the products and services they are selling.

2 What are the three categories that a salesperson’s primary skills can fall into?
Organization, communication, and motivation.

3 What are the five phases of the sales process?

1 Prospecting
2 Qualifying
3 Presenting
4 Completing
5 Servicing

PREVIEW
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