On the first visit, how can a salesperson make the client interested in the business? The salesperson can rely on brand influence, company strength, marketing models, excellent sales teams, and successful cases in the surrounding area. They can also use their own business acumen, high-level market operation skills, and personal charisma to spark interest. It is very difficult for a salesperson to meet the store owner because the staff won't reveal the owner's phone number or schedule. If the salesperson happens to run into the owner, the owner may deny being the owner. Meeting the owner is hard, and closing the deal is even harder.
Methods to meet the owner: get an introduction from the client's friends, ask peers for the phone number, wait at the store around 8 a.m. because the owner opens the door, or visit on weekends when the owner supervises promotional activities.
Meeting the owner is not easy, and making the owner interested in you in the shortest time is even harder. Capturing the owner's attention and psychology is even more challenging. This tests the salesperson's ability and wisdom.
When visiting a store, be meticulous, attentive, and observant to discover problems. After meeting the owner, based on the conversation, casually mention the store's problems to attract attention, then explain how the company's advantages can solve them. Talk business according to the client's needs to capture the owner's attention. Discussing business based on the client's problems will make the owner highly interested.
Nowadays, it takes ten or eight contacts to close a deal. Some major clients require tracking for over a year. Each time the salesperson meets the owner, they should pave the way for the next visit, bring new concepts and knowledge, and deepen the client's understanding. In between, maintain the relationship via phone and messages so the client doesn't forget you.
When rejected, the salesperson should master the art of turning around. If business is not discussed, treat it as a private visit to make friends, and the client cannot refuse.
Experience the store's service: When arriving, don't rush to find the owner. Observe the staff's service to discover management issues.
There are three levels of customer service: The basic level is asking "What do you want?" which indicates low management level and low staff professionalism, needing improvement. The intermediate level is "Welcome," showing attention to reception but only medium management, requiring team building. The advanced level is "How can I help you?" where staff are customer-centric. From service management, identify problems and raise them to the owner, naturally leading to the next topic.
Observe sales techniques: The low level is asking "What do you need?" which pressures customers. The medium level asks "What do you need?" and then asks if they want good or average, following the customer's thinking but still pushing products. The advanced level is consultative selling: reading the customer's expression, helping them find solutions, standing in their shoes, providing what they need rather than pushing products, solving problems rather than just making money. Most stores are at the low or medium level.
After experiencing the service, tell the person in charge you want to visit the owner. Collect more store information to have topics for discussion. The more detailed your understanding, the greater the chance of success.
When visiting a store, look at the brand planning. Based on location and area, see if it's scientific. Stores near supermarkets should have well-known brands as main, world-famous as auxiliary, and circulation brands as supplement. Street image stores should focus on terminal brands, with circulation brands as auxiliary and world-famous as supplement. Community stores should follow quality brands as main and circulation brands as auxiliary.
According to area, brand planning follows the one-one-two-two-three-three principle: For 40 sqm stores, keep one brand per level and price; for 80 sqm, two brands; for 100 sqm and above, three brands. If there are functional or specialty brands, there can be some flexibility.
Store area is limited, customers are limited, and performance is limited. If there are too many brands, each brand can't generate sales, and without sales, manufacturers won't support them.
Currently, brands overlap repeatedly. Many owners accept any advertised brand, making the store crowded. Some operate over 20 terminal brands, but performance and profits don't increase, and they face pressure from manufacturers. Choosing and planning brands scientifically to maximize benefits from limited space is wise. Finding topics that interest the owner is a good way to start and continue negotiations smoothly.
A salesperson should talk according to the owner's level. Some complain the owner is arrogant and rejects after three sentences. If you have nothing substantive, the client won't be interested. To interest the client, you must grasp the store's weaknesses, find the client's interest points and common ground, lock onto the client's problems, and discuss them flexibly. Hitting the client's key points will surely interest them.
For top regional stores, talk about future development, marketing ideas, and talent reserves. After reaching a certain scale, they need ideas to go further. Many stores want to expand but lack development strategies.
For mid-level stores, talk about surpassing. They are stuck in the middle. Suggest choosing advertising brands to enhance influence, and do more promotions to achieve improvement.
If the owner needs marketing ideas, let them know we are strategic partners who can help them grow, now and in the future.
If the store needs promotional methods to boost performance, talk about our marketing planning advantages and provide successful cases to prove it. Let the owner feel that cooperating with us not only provides good brands but also solves the big problem of promotional activities.
If the staff needs improvement, highlight our training advantages to help build a first-class sales team. Currently, all stores need a strong sales team. If we can help improve staff levels and build a team, the owner will be very interested.
If the owner is eager to learn, talk about our cooperation with universities. After cooperation, they can attend advanced seminars at prestigious schools like Peking University, Tsinghua, or Shandong University. Tell them they can improve abilities and connect with successful owners, becoming friends with successful people.
For large stores, emphasize brand advantages: big name, strong influence, and strong terminal pull. For emerging brands, stress competitiveness, vitality, and growth speed.
If the brand lacks these advantages, create a marketing model to avoid weaknesses and attract the owner with a new model, such as helping develop new customers or using new models for rapid growth. Use the power of the model to balance the gap between brand and store.
If you can't create a model, emphasize differentiated features to compensate for shortcomings and establish a basis for cooperation. If the brand has no features, rely on people: an excellent promotional team with strong sales performance to balance brand weaknesses. Stores value sales most; if sales happen quickly, the owner will be interested.
If none of these advantages exist, rely on personal strength to balance brand power: the all-capable salesperson. Use business acumen and charisma to balance the brand and make the owner interested in cooperating.
When visiting owners, learn to leverage others. There are four levels of leveraging: The low level is direct visits, which have a high failure rate. The basic level is pretending to be a friend of the client for an introduction. The intermediate level is the client providing information. The advanced level is the client calling the owner to introduce you. The super level is the client visiting with you.
An introduction from a familiar friend makes it easier to be received. If you can't find one, it's okay; say a good friend of the owner referred you. This makes it easier to meet and be received because Chinese people care about face; even if unwilling, they must give face to a friend, otherwise future meetings are awkward.
After visiting, don't rush to business. First, praise the client's influence in the industry, their success in life, and how much you admire them. This makes the client willing to chat longer. If given the chance, business is easier.
The basic level of business talk is showing policies immediately: how much to order, what materials are given, and executing according to levels. This is not advisable when the client doesn't know the brand yet. It's only suitable for insignificant small stores.
The intermediate level: After exchanging pleasantries, tell the client who around is doing the brand, giving an impression. Use client cases to reflect the brand's power, making it easier to discuss further.
The advanced level: Based on the client's situation, let them speak first, listen to their ideas, discover problems from their topics, then guide appropriately to make them accept the brand.
The super level: Make the client interested in the business first. This is personal charisma and marketing strength. The client sees you as an expert and cannot underestimate you. If the client is interested in you, business is easy.
Top salespeople start from what interests the client, discover and solve problems, compensate for deficiencies, and provide marketing software to help the store improve overall, facilitating the deal.
Become close friends with the client so they can't do without you, making cooperation smoother. In short, salespeople must learn to talk business according to client needs, not push products and policies everywhere. It's that clients need us, and we help stores, not that clients take products to help us.
Smart salespeople always find topics that interest the client, find ways to cooperate, find ways to continue discussions, and find breakthroughs to close. First-class experts do business that creates super-large accounts; experts handle large accounts; mid-level salespeople rely on running to achieve business, making mid-level clients; basic salespeople use policies to bump into business, only making small clients.
In summary, finding the client's interest points is key to discussing business. If a salesperson can interest the client in various aspects, that business is definitely super-large, and they are an all-capable first-class expert. Such salespeople become operators for any brand, become high-end talents in the industry, and succeed in any business. The secret to making clients interested is to be client-centric, grasp weaknesses, lock onto problems, and aim to solve them to promote cooperation.
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