Compiled by Patrick Avenell
Retailers and floor staff having trouble selling big-ticket, complex appliances should consider the Partial Selling technique, according to expert Bob Johnson, proprietor of Applied Retail Training.
Also known as ‘Benefit Selling’, Partial Selling works by taking a customer step-by-step through a product, methodically educating them on why it is the best solution to their needs. Johnson said this system avoids the feature overload that sometimes comes from a salesperson trying do too much too quickly.
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“Rather than the salesperson explaining several features and benefits one after the other, as most salespeople do when they ‘present’ to customers, they should describe only one feature — starting with the buyer’s main one — and then how this feature relates to the customer’s stated needs and the benefits the customer will derive from this first feature,” he said.
An important prologue before employing this system is to find out what the customer needs and wants from their new product, Johnson said, so staff should always be asking questions to qualify customers.
“Then, and this is the key,” he said, “the salesperson must ask the customer a question that gets agreement or acceptance of that feature only.
“If the customer accepts then the salesperson now moves to the second feature as it relates to the customer and explains the benefits to the customer of that feature only.”
As the salesperson receives acceptance of each feature individually, they can move on to the next one, hence the name of this system.
“The idea is that this way, the customer is involved in the sale all the way through and each time they say “yes” to the salesperson’s question about each feature, closing the sale is made easier.
“Instead of the customer being asked at the end of a presentation to make one big decision, the customer has been asked to make several smaller decisions along the way. Any objections or negative responses can be dealt with during the conversation.”
Bob Johnson writes a monthly column packed with sales tips for Appliance Retailer magazine.