Training program: Customer Centric Selling

Introduction

• The Customer Centric Selling Model

1. Preparing the call.
2. Discovery.
3. Pitch.
4. Overcoming objections.
5. Handling difficult customer interactions.
6. Closing.
7. Assessing and following-up.

• Transactional selling vs. customer centric selling.
• How can customer centric selling create a trusted advisor perception of the seller.

Preparing the call – 5 step preparation process

• Reviewing the history of cooperation with the client (crm and own notes).
• Defining your objectives for the call.
• Determining what you want to discover and crafting your questions.
• Preparing your proposal and your pitch.
• Preparing all the support material you may need.
• Exercises.

Discovery phase

• 3 layers of needs: company needs, personal rational needs and personal emotional needs.
• Role of questions in the discovery phase.
• Questioning skills exercise: uncovering a customer’s pain points.
• 5Ws and H open-ended questions.
• Advantages of open-ended questions.
• Types of open-ended questions and how to use them.
• High-impact questions.
• Closed questions and when to use them.
• Barriers to effective questioning.
• Variations of open and closed questions: Funnel, TED and Leading Technique.
• Using questions to cross-sell.
• Exercise: Crafting powerful questions for a customer interaction.
• Exercise: Replying with a question.

Active listening

• What is active listening and why it’s important.
• 4 levels of listening.
• Active listening pitfalls.
• Key active listening techniques.
• Exercise: Demonstrating active listening skills.

The pitch

• Exercise: sell this to me!
• Selling through the eyes of a sales representative vs. the customer’s perspective.
• How to create the value of a solution in the eyes of the customer.
• Exercise: turning features into benefits and showing how they meet customer needs.
• 6 principles of persuasion by R. Cialdini.
• Exercise: using 6 principles of persuasion in a sales conversation.

Overcoming objections

• Exercise: typical customer objections.
• Prompting customers to voice their concerns.
• Key facts about objections.
• Dealing with different types of objections.
• The AIR Model (Absorb – Investigate – Respond) for handling objections.
• Exercise: using the AIR Model to deal with customer objections.

Handling difficult customer interactions

• Self-assessment questionnaire.
• 4 behavioral styles.
• Traits of an assertive sales person.
• How and when to be assertive in customer interactions: verbal and non-verbal communication.
• Self-assessment questionnaire scoresheet and results.
• How do you show empathy to customers?
• Exercise: empathy statements in customer interactions.
• How to control your emotions in a heated exchange: taking a balcony perspective.
• Feel-Felt-Found Technique to defuse customer emotions.
• Exercise: Applying the Feel-Felt-Found Technique.
• Dealing with abusive customers.

Closing the sale

• The ABC rule.
• Selected closing techniques.

Assessing and following up

• Impact of the call.
• Personal performance.
• Administration.
• Commitment.

Bringing it all together: role-playing a customer centric meeting

Training program: Customer Centric Selling

Introduction

• The Customer Centric Selling Model

1. Preparing the call.
2. Discovery.
3. Pitch.
4. Overcoming objections.
5. Handling difficult customer interactions.
6. Closing.
7. Assessing and following-up.

• Transactional selling vs. customer centric selling.
• How can customer centric selling create a trusted advisor perception of the seller.

Preparing the call – 5 step preparation process

• Reviewing the history of cooperation with the client (crm and own notes).
• Defining your objectives for the call.
• Determining what you want to discover and crafting your questions.
• Preparing your proposal and your pitch.
• Preparing all the support material you may need.
• Exercises.

Discovery phase

• 3 layers of needs: company needs, personal rational needs and personal emotional needs.
• Role of questions in the discovery phase.
• Questioning skills exercise: uncovering a customer’s pain points.
• 5Ws and H open-ended questions.
• Advantages of open-ended questions.
• Types of open-ended questions and how to use them.
• High-impact questions.
• Closed questions and when to use them.
• Barriers to effective questioning.
• Variations of open and closed questions: Funnel, TED and Leading Technique.
• Using questions to cross-sell.
• Exercise: Crafting powerful questions for a customer interaction.
• Exercise: Replying with a question.

Active listening

• What is active listening and why it’s important.
• 4 levels of listening.
• Active listening pitfalls.
• Key active listening techniques.
• Exercise: Demonstrating active listening skills.

The pitch

• Exercise: sell this to me!
• Selling through the eyes of a sales representative vs. the customer’s perspective.
• How to create the value of a solution in the eyes of the customer.
• Exercise: turning features into benefits and showing how they meet customer needs.
• 6 principles of persuasion by R. Cialdini.
• Exercise: using 6 principles of persuasion in a sales conversation.

Overcoming objections

• Exercise: typical customer objections.
• Prompting customers to voice their concerns.
• Key facts about objections.
• Dealing with different types of objections.
• The AIR Model (Absorb – Investigate – Respond) for handling objections.
• Exercise: using the AIR Model to deal with customer objections.

Handling difficult customer interactions

• Self-assessment questionnaire.
• 4 behavioral styles.
• Traits of an assertive sales person.
• How and when to be assertive in customer interactions: verbal and non-verbal communication.
• Self-assessment questionnaire scoresheet and results.
• How do you show empathy to customers?
• Exercise: empathy statements in customer interactions.
• How to control your emotions in a heated exchange: taking a balcony perspective.
• Feel-Felt-Found Technique to defuse customer emotions.
• Exercise: Applying the Feel-Felt-Found Technique.
• Dealing with abusive customers.

Closing the sale

• The ABC rule.
• Selected closing techniques.

Assessing and following up

• Impact of the call.
• Personal performance.
• Administration.
• Commitment.

Bringing it all together: role-playing a customer centric meeting