The Sales Cycle

Hillary Jenkins, Otago Polytechnic

The Sales Cycle

Welcoming

• Greeting

– Opening or starting the sale

– Approaching the customer

– Building/ establishing rapport

Welcome

1. Make quick, friendly eye contact

2. Stand up (if sitting)

3. Shake hands

4. Use a natural greeting phrase

5. Smile

6. Think of the buyer as a friend

7. If necessary tell them you will be right with them

Welcome

8. Invite them to sit down

9. Use the client’s name

10. Use the most powerful word

11. Echo their words, mirror their mood

12. Professional Appearance and Environment

Determining Needs

Questioning

– Probing

– Assessing the situation

– Gathering information

– Obtaining information

– Uncovering needs

Determining Needs

You meet someone from out of town and they ask

“Where should I have dinner?”

What would you recommend?

Determining Needs

• Did you provide a recommendation?

• If you did how did you know what this person would like?

• What questions should you have asked?

Determining Needs

• There are four distinct types of buyers

– Each possesses a different depth of knowledge

Buyers

• Don’t take it for granted that a client with a good or deep knowledge knows everything

• Take this test and see how much you know

Assumptions a well-informed client might have

Answer the following questions:

1. A direct flight and a non-stop flight are the same thing – True or

False

2. Adjoining rooms in a hotel have a door between them – True or

False

3. If you’re on a “hosted tour”, a tour manager will take care of your

needs – True or False

4. An intermediate care is usually the same as a mid-size car – True or

False

Assumptions

5. Hawaii is rainiest in summer – True or False

6. A cruise ship’s inside staterooms don’t have windows – True or False

7. Airplanes take people faster from city to city than trains do – True or False

8. Car rentals always cost more if you pick up in one city and drop off in another – True or False

Determining Needs

• Regardless of how good their knowledge is

• You should spend a little time exploring what and where the

client’s knowledge has come from eg. friends, internet,

personal experience

• In tourism you should try to apply a consultative technique of

selling (needs and desires)

• As probing questions – form a relationship

Determining Needs

Now you have ascertained their knowledge

base – just what kind of clients are they:

– A shopper

– A browser

– Or a buyer

Determining Needs

• Shopper

– Usually know what they want and are looking for a good deal

• Strategies for dealing with them

– Fear based closing tactic – “these reservations may not last”

– Muddy the waters – offer alternatives the client may not have

considered

– Match the best price they have received

– Ask qualifying questions – shows you care makes you stand

out from the other salespeople

– Offer to make a reservation without immediate financial

commitment

Determining Needs

• Browser

– Don’t really know what they want

– Require a lot of personal attention

– Divulge lots of personal information to you

– May not be too serious about their trip or tour – now or ever

– Use careful but limited questioning to see if they can become a buyer

Determining Needs

Buyer

They definitely want to make a booking

– May have once been browsers or shoppers but now

want to close the deal with you

– You must have impressed that client with your skills

and careful question enough to make them come

back to you

Recommending Solutions

• Presenting recommendations

– Delivering your ideas

– Linking solutions to needs

– Sharing knowledge

– Making a sales presentation

– Matching needs with products

Addressing Concerns

• Countering Objections

– Overcoming obstacles

– Handling objections

– Reducing resistance

– Providing reassurance

– Responding to concerns

Enhancing the Sale

• Upselling

• Cross selling

• Adding Value

– Making additional recommendations

Achieving an Agreement

• Closing

– Getting the business

– Earning a commitment

– Making the sale

Follow up

Ensuring satisfaction

Obtaining feedback

Creating loyalty

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