About sales

As a fresh graduate, the most important thing is to be down-to-earth, find a sales job first, practice it, and then see the situation!

I remember a MC Honglei said this sentence: You were a grandson when others called you Ye, which means that anyone who wants to succeed must start from a rookie. Maybe you will be inspired by practicing the following article:

What stupid things do salespeople usually do in the eyes of purchasing?

A few years ago, I met my friend Niu Zong, who I hadn't seen for years, at an exhibition. He works as a purchasing director in a project company, doing all the big orders. With a stroke of a pen, it is millions, which is definitely a fat job.

After some sighs, Mr. Niu suddenly said, "You salespeople are really not sure." Call you stupid, you think you are the most smooth group of people in society; Say you are smart, you are really a group of hopeless fools. "

I quickly asked, "Why do you say that? This is a big sweep. "

"You study how to' sell' all day, but never study how to' buy'." The friend shook his head and said.

"Nonsense, we are out to sell, and don't study' selling'. What do we study? " I quickly explained modestly.

"Don't you understand? Selling is not selling, but buying with customers! You sell it all day, but you want us to buy it clearly. Its drowsiness is really obvious! You always think you can manipulate customers. Don't you know that we are in the dark and you are in the light, and we can see how stupid your every move is. " The cow always said angrily.

I was a little sweaty, so I was not convinced by his scolding, and then I asked, "Where do you think we are stupid?"

"There are a lot of stupid places. You shout high quality and low price every day, but you don't know what we want; You shout customer-centric every day, but you never know how we buy things; You shout for sex every day, but you never know how to help your customers. To put it simply, you never care why our demand department buys this thing, nor what process our purchasing department follows to buy things, nor do you care about the pressure of our purchasing staff and the pressure of the demand department. As for the impact of a major purchase on people at all levels, it is even more neglected. Do you think you are stupid? "

I'm sweating like a pig, but I still have the cheek to ask, "Dude, as our sales god, can you talk to our sales staff in detail from the perspective of purchasing?" Where are we wrong? "

"You see, this is wrong at some point. Our customers are not gods. God only helps people, and no one needs help. On the contrary, we are a group of people who need your help. If we don't need your help, what are we doing shopping? " Manager Niu gripped my braid again. "But I will give you lessons for free, because your boy is sincere and can be cured."

Stupid 1: I believe that procurement is shirked and I can't get in touch with real power.

Almost every salesperson has encountered this problem, but he has not seen the leader for a long time. There are various reasons: the leader is busy, so I (middle and grass-roots staff) take the lead, and the leader is often away from home.

Therefore, many salespeople either believe the customer's lies or pretend that leadership has no influence on the purchase and can be ignored. What's more, I broke into the boss's office, and my head was broken.

However, have you ever thought: Why don't leaders see you?

Manager Niu's analysis: the leader doesn't see you because someone doesn't want you to see him! In most cases, it's not that the leaders don't have time, but that the purchasing staff at the grass-roots level don't intend to show it to you at all. The main reasons are as follows:

1. He doesn't think your product can help him solve the problem he wants to solve. Attention is a problem that "he" must solve, not a problem that "you" can solve. Why should I help you do something that has nothing to do with me?

He didn't intend to choose you at all. I'm not going to choose you, but I have to take you to the leader. Isn't that looking for a cigarette? And a leader.

He doesn't feel your value. Even if I take you to see the leader, you will be whispering, and he won't know what you can do for yourself there (for example, help him coordinate resources, help him establish an image, praise his work and so on). If you think you can't get the benefits, why should I help you?

4. Your level is too poor. In the process of contact with you, he thinks you are really bad. If I take you to the leader, I will probably lose my own people, and the leader will scold him for incompetence.

In fact, in the final analysis, just one sentence: this guy has no intention of buying your things at all. Of course, he brought you, and he may not buy it, but he almost certainly doesn't want to buy it without you. So, wake up and don't believe those strange reasons of the purchasing staff.

Stupid thing 2: wrongly picking fault with the demand.

The project is progressing normally, and you think everything is going well, but suddenly one day, the customer calls you and asks: How does your product solve the XX problem?

It is really difficult to solve when you are in a daze. What should we do? So I tried my best to find the product department or find a way to solve it. You think that as long as this problem is solved, the project can be smoothly promoted.

Don't be silly. After solving this problem, there are still piles of problems waiting for you.

Manager Niu's analysis: This is that the purchasing personnel are looking for faults, not problems. Purchasing has a habit: they will pay great attention to demand in the early stage, products and solutions in the middle stage, and risks in the later stage. At the end of the purchase, few people consider the demand. You can recall your own experience of buying a house and a car, and finally focus on maintenance and property.

In addition to risks, there is another thing to consider, that is, how to make suppliers accept the fate of being eliminated. Buyers don't want to offend suppliers, and they don't want to owe them favors. For this problem, customers usually ask the suppliers they want to choose, and ask them to help them come up with ideas and find a pigtail.

Are you clear? This problem is most likely a trap set by competitors and customers. The trap is not terrible, but someone helps your opponent. This person is naturally the one who affects purchasing. What's even more frightening is that the customer may have decided not to buy yours psychologically, just trying to prove how wise it is not to buy you in this way! Our sales are really pitiful! )

Stupidity 3: jump into the fire pit happily and don't ask who you are.

I once met such a salesman, nicknamed "the second child of the Millennium"-no matter how difficult the list is, no matter how many competitors there are, he can fight to the end. Of course, in the end, customers will basically not choose him. This guy is very proud of this and thinks it is a matter of luck, not ability, and the second child will eventually become the boss.

Niu zong analysis: you are the second child, and someone wants you to be the second child. The luckiest guy in your sales business is naturally the guy who won the bid, and the second lucky guy is the first one out, who died early and lived early, so don't waste the cost on our procurement. The worst thing is the second child in the Millennium. There is no shortage of things to do. The money that should be spent is not a little bit, and the things that should be obtained are not obtained. Being the second child is not a lack of ability in most cases, but far from enough.

There are several reasons why the purchasing staff know that you are hopeless and hope that you will actively participate:

1. Do your duty. Purchasing itself should choose many suppliers and constantly screen them. He is also afraid of being cheated, so what he says to you must leave room, even bureaucratic. This is human nature. As a salesperson, you should learn to discard the false and keep the true, and don't give a wooden stick a needle (truth).

2. Tools to lower prices. Under what circumstances is your sales most likely to decrease? Is it a particularly competitive time? Purchasing also knows this, so he wants to leave a bad guy to help him lower the price of the selected supplier.

3. You are an alternative. Buyers are not too worried about the object they choose, and they are afraid of making mistakes, so they keep you as a backup (this is kind). If anything happens, you will have a chance. However, since it is in case, you basically have no chance of winning. Sales are usually the first, not the second.

Purchasing needs others to see that they are diligent, and your sales are props to prove his diligence.

They need to prove that their decision is correct. How to prove it? Naturally, your mistakes and stupidity prove your wisdom, SHEN WOO. Therefore, they usually leave the dumbest one to accompany Queen Gong Zheng to the end.

6. It is not allowed to contact only one supplier in the system. This is a rigid rule of many companies, so I let you make up the number.

Stupidity 4: Everything is subject to the customer's arrangement.

Many salespeople have a habit of always taking the customer's request as the imperial edict, doing whatever the customer asks, and playing wherever the customer points: if the customer asks for research, just call the best technician and work for a week; Customers should plan and stay up for days and nights to write hard; If the customer wants to bid, please ask the most talkative brother to come out; If the customer wants to quote, immediately quote the lowest price that can be quoted.

They do this because they will like me if I listen to my customers; If you like me, you will choose me. But the fact is, when they asked the customer for a contract, the customer said that the boss had decided to sign another contract.

Manager Niu's analysis: The only problem is that you and your customers didn't plan these things. Of course, the result is definitely not what you want.

As a salesperson, you should firmly believe in a basic rule: without the driving force behind it, things will not move forward naturally. Either you are pushing, or your opponent is pushing, and the criteria of "pushing" and "not pushing" are beneficial. So, if your opponent is "pushing", it must be good for him, which means it is not good for you, so what are you doing with it?

Although there will be pies in the sky, the probability is very low. You can't feed yourself on that pie. When things are uncertain, the principle is: it is better to kill a thousand by mistake than to escape the net. It doesn't matter what you think, what matters is what the customer does.

You should learn to create an unfairness in sales. What do you want if you do what others tell you? The young lady at the front desk can take your place. Don't be silly!

Why can't we follow the customer's requirements step by step? From the purchasing point of view, the reasons are as follows:

1. For complicated purchases, we often buy them once in a lifetime, or only once in many years, just like buying a house. Therefore, the purchasing staff actually don't know how to buy it, and they are dizzy with money in their hands. If he knows how he bought it, who do you think taught him? This article does not apply to consumables purchased daily. If the customer knows everything, it often means that you are a substitute. You're still doing it step by step at this time. Where will you gain an advantage? No advantage. Why should I choose you?

Do you think your products fully meet the requirements of our bidding documents, even better than the bidding documents? However, have you ever thought about whether your sales staff are familiar with your products or our purchasing staff are familiar with your products? It must be you! How can I write such an excellent tender? Do you know who wrote it for us? This "who" will definitely push you into the fire pit.

What we do in purchasing is fairness. However, buying decisions are often very emotional, and you can't tell what is fair and what is unfair. What shall we do? Find someone to prove it. Do you think we have done everything step by step? Ask that unlucky salesman.

Stupidity 5: You can't trust people.

Our three favorite words in sales are: take people! But it also makes people feel distressed. Sometimes we feel that we have done things clearly, but we can't get up at the critical moment-either getting cold feet or being knocked down by people supported by our opponents-which makes us worried and can only lament the inhumanity we entrusted.

Why is this happening?

Manager Niu's analysis: This kind of thing is also commonplace. From my understanding, in most cases, it is not non-human, but it will not be entrusted at all!

The purpose of your entrustment is to have someone put in a good word for you. But have you ever thought that although the person you entrust wants to put in a good word for you, he often won't say it because he doesn't know you at all, or he doesn't know how to help you.

How can I put it? This is a university problem. Because he must speak forcefully and quietly, otherwise his reputation will be ruined. But you salespeople haven't taught such a difficult thing seriously in advance. How can you ask him to entrust you at a critical moment?

By the way, the best way for your ally to help you is to tell everyone how your things help his own business. Because he said that his business was well founded, he knew his business best, and others could not refute it. More importantly, it's easy to cover up my real intention, and it's useless to be seen through by others: I do everything for work!

Stupidity 6: hanging from a tree

I have seen and experienced many projects. In these projects, some of the roles of sales and customer procurement are very close, and they absolutely support us, but in the end they lost the order. For example, if we take care of the purchasing department, the demand department will come forward and kill us, and vice versa. But if we all do it, the cost and energy will be really unattainable.

What should we do?

General analysis of cattle: don't expect to hang from a tree, try more. This situation is very common, in the final analysis, it is caused by the internal game of our buyers. You must understand the following truth:

1. Don't trust us buyers to rationally decide whose products to buy. On the contrary, the bigger the project, the crazier we will use our emotions and impulses. You will know that you participated in our evaluation process, which is often full of subjective, uncertain and personal factors. This is actually inevitable, because the more people there are, the more decision-making will be a multi-party game. Many people are blind and careless, and many chickens don't lay eggs, and the later this phenomenon becomes more serious.

2. Not all votes are equally important. Many people often participate in the procurement of many projects, including a selection team and even a selection Committee. Not only that, there is often a set of scoring rules. Find a lot of so-called authoritative people, such as college teachers and external experts, and everyone has the right to evaluate. If you believe that everyone is equal, you are stupid. You should firmly believe that no matter how big the purchasing organization is, usually only one person makes the purchase decision. So you must understand who is the real decision maker and who is the radish chapter.

3. In a multi-person purchasing organization, there are usually many people who decide not to buy. In other words, as long as one person objects, you are likely to lose the order. It is often difficult to accomplish something, but it is easy to screw it up.

Stupidity 7: only meet the needs and don't shape the needs.

You are really at ease in purchasing: if you want to buy something, a group of suppliers will come to you as soon as the tender is issued; And all you have to do is watch us salespeople bite and reap profits.

But how hard is it for us to sell: only one family can rob bones, and the others are all bitten all over, and even the bones can't be robbed. Why is our life so bitter?

Niu Zong's analysis: You can't grab the bone dregs because you always rush the bones, and you don't eat meat if you have meat. Let me give you an example. If we build a new project, such as a new factory building, there will definitely be a lot of purchases. Do you know what is the most difficult thing in our purchasing department at this time? I tell you: it is an endless struggle with the project construction department.

You see, most of us who purchase new projects don't understand. If we don't understand, we can only listen to the opinions of the project construction department. In fact, this is tantamount to depriving us of the right to buy. Because if you buy things according to what they say, you will find that there is only one suitable supplier in the world, that is, the supplier who has a deep relationship with someone in this construction department; However, if you don't do what he says, he will say, "I'm not responsible for the problem, but your purchasing department is responsible." We can't afford the responsibility!

Are you clear? Don't wait for the tender to come down for sales, but participate in the customer design stage. In your words, learn to shape demand, not just satisfy it. It takes a long time to do this, but you can swallow the meat firmly. You always think that those who are good at biting are sales experts, but in our opinion, the real experts are those who take the meat away before others find out.

Stupidity 8: Take products as solutions.

We in sales sometimes think that we are stupid in purchasing. We clearly know that a product is very good, no matter its function or quality, it is absolutely top-notch and the price is not expensive, but you don't choose it anyway, and a group of people choose whatever they want. At first we thought that someone had settled the payment for you, but later we found that there was no payment at all, that is, your professional level was too poor. We really can't do anything about this easily fooled purchase. Why is this?

Total analysis of cattle: wrong! The reason for this kind of thing is not that we purchase, but that you sell. Don't forget that business is between people. We don't buy from proposals, tenders, brochures, advertisements or other similar things, we buy from a living person. What we hope is that the sales staff will really help me solve the problem, instead of selling products to me stiffly. Who cares about our needs, our problems and our interests, we think that whoever has human feelings will be willing to do business with him, even if his products do not completely solve our problems.

You can't expect products to speak for themselves and get to know us by themselves. In most cases, we don't know much about your and your competitors' products, but we know our own problems and needs. Whoever matches the function of your product with the problem we need to solve, we think whose product is good. Don't expect our buyers to do this kind of "corresponding" work, we won't do it and are too lazy to do it. This is what your salespeople need to do.

You are offering products, while your competitors are offering solutions to problems. We prefer people who provide results to people who provide tools, and are willing to pay higher prices for results.

Teacher Niu's words hit the nail on the head, which made people feel enlightened after listening. To sum up, the core content is actually only one sentence: not to sell, but to buy with customers! Namely:

Forget about products, truly take customers as the center, understand customers' ideas and solve their needs;

Understand the customer's buying logic and process, how to buy and how to sell;

Really care about the interests of customers and define the project structure.

When these things are done, things will naturally be sold, and so many stupid things will not be done. Unfortunately, we are all too eager to sell, so we can't sell! This seems to be the paradox of sales, but it is also the truth of sales.