Selling technique

Selling technique is the body of methods used in the profession of sales, also often called personal selling.

Techniques in use in selling interviews vary from the highly customer centric consultative selling to the heavily pressured "hard close".

All techniques borrow a bit from experience and mix in a bit of guesswork on the psychology of what motivates others to buy something offered to them. Mastery in the techniques of selling can offer very high incomes, while failure in it is nearly proverbial. Coverage of the latter is popularized in the Arthur Miller play Death of a Salesman.

Because selling faces a high level of rejection, it is often difficult for the practitioner to handle emotionally, and is usually cited as the most common reason for leaving the profession. Because of this many selling and sales training techniques involve a lot of motivational material.

The various steps :

A selling interview based on counseling needs to be done in several steps, in a consistent order, from the identification of the needs to a close in which the prospect accepts the seller's proposal. It is better not to omit or change the order of any of those steps.

** Prospecting
* Referrals
* Qualifying
** Presentation
* Questions
* Selling the sizzle
** Closing
* Pre-closing questions
* Tie downs
** Handling objections
** Handling prospect attitudes
** Confidence
** Empathy
* Reading people