Sales Lecture Notes

 

1.  The field of professional selling including the history; contributions made by salespeople to

society, employers, and customers; professional selling approaches, and an overview of the

sales process.

           

2.  The concept of trust, distinguishing characteristics of trust-based selling, trust-builders

including an important discussion of sales ethics in this time of ethical dilemma in business.

 

3.  The activities of buyers (individual and teams) common to each phase of the buying decision

process and the corresponding roles and activities practiced by successful sales people in

identifying the needs gap.

 

4.  Building upon an understanding and mastery of collaborative, two-way relational sales

communication through verbal (questioning, listening, responding), nonverbal application and

meaningful interpretation, and written dimensions with emphasis on developing quality sales

 proposals.

 

5.      Understanding the sales process of prospecting, gathering pre-call information.

 

6.  Planning the presentation and approaching the customer including review of different sales

presentation formats. Pre-call information and planning the initial sales call.

 

7.  Establishing a productive buyer-seller dialogue through understanding how to communicate

benefits including the use of sales aids. Emphasis is placed on the importance of questioning

skills and discovering buyer needs.

 

8.  Handling objections and earning commitment in a professional, ethical manner continuing to

develop a trust-based relationship.

 

9.  Building the relationship after the sale while maintaining open, two-way communication

adding value through mutually rewarding opportunities.

 

10.  Understanding the concepts and processes of leadership in sales.