Word of Mouth the #1 Influence on Business Buying Decisions

Acoording to the Keller Fay group Word of mouth is the "#1 influence on business purchase decisions and is best leveraged through face-to-face marketing efforts". Still according to the survey "word of mouth has more than twice the influence of advertising, direct mail or press coverage on purchase decisions". Other favourable environments for word of mouth are seminars, conferences, events,...and the Internet. The main requirement is the degree of interactivity which occurs.

SPIN Selling

The SPIN Selling Strategy has been developed by Neil Rackham to address issues with conventional sales training programs for large, complex sales in major accounts. SPIN focuses on 4 basic factors:

1. Situation
2. Problem
3. Implication
4. Need-payoff

At the center of the SPIN methodology is the ability to systematically ask the right questions, starting with general questions about the Situation of the customer.
In a second phase questions are asked to identify existing Problems the potential customer is facing and which might be solved by the products or services the sales person can offer.
This is further elaborated upon in the third phase where Implication questions increase the awareness of the customer about the potential consequences of the problems. Preferably, it is the customer himself who discovers these consequences!
Finally, in phase 4, the customer is stimulated to formulate the need-payoff relationship between his problems and the solution offered by the sales person.
In summary, by asking the right questions in the right sequence, the sales person helps the customer to discover and accept the solution offered as the way forward for his company.

Jeffrey Gitomer's Sales Bible

The "Sales Bible" from Jeffrey Gitomer is refered to all over the world as one of the reference works on the sales profession. The book reads very easily and stands out from many other books thanks to its format : it is basically a collection of instructions organised in lists complemented with lots of anecdotes and examples.The main messages (slogans) are repeated in big print. If anything it makes the book the perfect document for future reference, using it on a regular basis as an aid during the daily sales activities.

The sales profession is presented as the new new sales compared to the old hard-selling practices of the eighties. It is about consultative sales where listening to the customer in order to understand his problems and propose solutions is the key skill. A number of basic skills is repeated throughout the book:

- positive attitude
- use of humour
- listening and asking questions
- importance of follow-up and persistence
- need to ask for the sale (closing)
- role of developing friendships, networking and long term relationships

The Sales Bible is filled to the rim with practical advice and is interesting reading material for a wide audience far beyond the sales profession.

First published in 2003, the book is in need for an update (scheduled for this year) as becomes apparent in the chapters on sales tools where focus is on letters and the use of fax, email not being talked about. Though the importance of use of the internet is definitely mentioned, the subject is not elaborated upon in detail.

Indeed, the sales profession may well be on its way to the next revolution, where the traditional face to face sales situation is increasingly complemented - if not replaced - by the use of digital information and communication. The wealth of information available on the Web is becoming an alternative for the consultative sales skills of the salesman. Testimonials, product and price comparisons, detailed information on companies and the service they offer,... is available at your fingertip. Smart internet agents go a long way to help the customer decide which product best suits his or her needs. To some extent one could state that the buying process has become more rational and predictable.There is much less room for the sales person to influence the buyer or at the very least everthing he says can be easily verified. This does not mean that all traditional sales aspects are becoming obsolete, but at the very least they need to be repositioned in the context of the new digital world. It will be interesting to see how the next version of the Sales Bible will deal with this.

Jeffrey Gitomer's website has a lot of usefull information (weekly column, weekly ezine Sales Caffeine,...).