Selling - change in the trends!

    'Hey, good morning, how are you doing?' asked the fifth avenue guy on my way to office in the lift.

    'Hi there, doing great, the coffee is still in my head and keeping me awake' came the reply from my dear friend who had slogged the whole night before to finish up the presentation he had to give to the client. It was a make or break deal for him today.

     'Awesome, hope you have a good day ahead' was the reply as his floor came and was about to leave us.

     'Thank you, you too, have a good one' my friend replied again.

     I was keenly observing the conversation and wondering what next. I knew my friend was a great conversation starter and a finisher but the 3 hour sleep he had, I wish he was fine to give the demo today.

    Back to office, I saw him heading to the marketing head's cabin to finalize the deck. With the kind of pressure these sales team have with respect to the targets and closing the deals, I felt am better off with the IT operations team that I work for.

      The above made me think further on what makes a sales deal close and what skills are needed to succeed!

a) Building the trust with the customer

b) Create a value in the mind of the buyer

c) Make it a win-win situation for buyer and the seller

d) Relationship maintenance is a no brainer

e) Listening skills and actively making the buyer think about the product 

       At the end of the day, ethics make a lot of difference in sales. Its easy to sell unethically, but on a long run it pays to be ethical.  I believe you already know these above....but here are some I was thinking beyond what is common

- art of storytelling

- honesty and adaptability 

- resilience (speed of recovery during the down phase)

- confidence

- art of persuasion

- intent to succeed

         If you think about it practically, am sure many agree that 'sex sells'. As per the New York post  "Who said sex sells? ", the age old sex appeal marketing is no more of interest to the younger generation who have grown up accessing sexual content on the web. You might argue that it might be the case in USA or a developed nation, but what about those nations which are developing - doesn't sex based marketing work there? It might for sometime and for some segment of society. But believe me its outdated today.

    Okay, so that's one idea less for you to sell. Then what drives the young generation today to buy?

a) Safe products which are environment friendly matters to this sect of consumers ass they value societal causes more.

b) Price fairly - honesty in dealing with the value of the product will make more sales.

c) Communicate truthfully - Don't beat around the bush...it doesn't work, not at least to the young generation folks.

d) Companies which concentrate on sustainability and are environment friendly would be preferred any day. CSR is not a tax rebate scheme anymore. You need to put the heart into it. 

e) Environment matters, so does treating your employees. If you still fail to treat fairly, or have a bad rapport on the social media, then don't expect your products would sell.

With that note you can see the trends have changed and we need too.

            Be honest with your sales pitch!  Happy selling!