How To Implement Successful Suggestive Selling Online Training
Suggestive selling is often the icing on the profit margin cake. Customers are already ready to make a purchase. However, your skilled employees are able to recommend add-ons for the benefit of your bottom line. When done correctly, it even improves customer loyalty and satisfaction, since your team is taking the time to find the right complementary goods or services for their needs. The caveat is that it must be subtle, personalized, and genuine to have the desired impact. Here are 8 secrets to implement a winning suggestive selling online training course.
Insider Secrets To Boost Profits With Suggestive Selling Training
1. Make Product Knowledge A Focal Point
Employees need a firm grasp of which products you offer, how they benefit the consumer, and why they’re a wise investment. As such, product knowledge should be one of the pillars of your suggestive selling online training. Your staff cannot recommend the right add-ons or upgrades unless they know your product line inside-out. Provide them with online training tutorials, demos, spec sheets, and infographics that delve into every aspect of your product line. Including the real-world uses/benefits and which upselling items tie into each.
2. Use Online Training Simulations To Develop The Fine Art Of Negotiation
Negotiation can be difficult to master. It takes more than just persuasion skills. Practical experience allows employees to hone their technique and find out what works and what doesn’t. In online training, simulations are invaluable tools that give employees the chance to practice their approach and negotiate virtual sales. Without having to worry about losing loyal customers who are offended or off-put by inexperienced upsell pitches.
3. Introduce Customer Personas To Facilitate Targeted Recommendations
Employees encounter a broad range of personalities on the sales floor. Therefore, they must be prepared for customers with different backgrounds, buying habits, and needs. Customer personas enable them to interact with virtual characters who cover the entire sales spectrum. This helps them make more targeted recommendations based on specific consumer groups or demographics. You can use everything from infographics to personal anecdotes to impart experiential knowledge. For example, use branching scenarios to expose corporate learners to diverse customer personas so they can identify their needs and suggest the ideal add-ons.
4. Cover Selling Sticking Points With Real-World Examples
One of the most common challenges that sales employees face is customer reluctance. They aren’t sure if they really need the tie-in product or extended coverage plan. However, you can prepare employees for the most common selling sticking points by incorporating real-world examples into your suggestive selling online training course. Every example can cover a new ‘excuse’ or roadblock that employees may encounter during the sales process. As well as tips to overcome them and appease consumer concerns.
5. Develop Serious Games That Teach Timing And Interpersonal Skills
It’s not simply a matter of knowing which additional products or services to offer, but when. Along with how employees introduce the subject when they’re dealing with customers. Serious games can teach timing and impart crucial interpersonal skills. Such as looking out for non-verbal cues that translate into ‘I may be interested in an upgrade’ or ‘I don’t even think about trying to throw in extra services right now.’ These serious games also help employees build self-confidence and the ability to remain calm under pressure.
6. Foster Active Listening Skills Through Social Learning
Sometimes the best teacher is experience (and trial and error). Incorporate social learning activities into your suggestive selling online training strategy to foster active listening skills. For example, group collaboration projects or social media discussions that allow employees to interact with remote peers. Encourage them to provide insightful feedback when a co-worker posts a question or comment. This requires them to analyze the situation, determine what information their peer is looking for, and reflect on how they might handle the challenge. Thereby, building stronger active listening skills which they will use to identify customers’ needs and recommend the ideal add-ons.
7. Encourage Employees To Develop Their Own Sales Goals
Employees should have the ability to set their own sales targets and upselling goals. As well as identify personal areas for improvement and work autonomously to remedy them. Encourage your sales employees to evaluate their current numbers and sales technique. The former involves business metrics and sales reports. The latter can be addressed through online training simulations, branching scenarios, and other online training activities that measure their performance. Once they have all the data, they’re able to see where they must improve and how.
8. Make It A Requirement For Every Member Of The Team
Suggestive selling online training isn’t solely reserved for your sales team. In fact, every member of your organization who interacts with customers should participate in the course. For example, customer service employees aren’t normally required to negotiate a sale. Their role is typically to address customer issues after they’ve made their purchase. However, suggestive selling online training can help them reduce the rate of returns and improve customer satisfaction. They’ll have the in-depth product knowledge, negotiation skills, and perfect timing to guide consumers in the right direction. For example, they can offer them another product that may provide more benefit, even if it does cost a bit more. Or make them aware of undisclosed features of the current product they hadn’t even considered.
Conclusion
Suggestive selling often has a negative connotation. Some might perceive it as an underhanded or sly tactic to pry even more money out of a purchase. However, these 8 tips can help you develop online training resources that are above-board and authentic. When done correctly, suggestive selling helps to ensure that customers get the most use from their product with add-ons and upgrades. And your organization gets repeat business and higher point of purchase sales.
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