Know Everything You Can About The Company And Product You Sell

When competing products or services are just about equal, it's usually the salespeople with the extra touch who win the sale.  Effective salespeople realize they can never know too much about their company, it's products, or services it offers.  They're aware that having this extra knowledge and using it is as important to making the sale as having an excellent product or service.  Being more knowledgeable about their company's background, how their product was developed, the special terms and services their company offers and using these things effectively in their presentations makes these salespeople winners more often than not.  The salespeople with this extra touch are aware of their company's shipping and delivery procedures.  If a question comes up on a special packaging or drop shipments, they can tell the prospect what options are available.  If there's money to be saved by using a particular shipper, they know about it.  If the prospect is short on cash, these salespeople can explain exactly what financial services their company will provide.  They know what steps must be taken to establish an open account.  They don't have to guess when asked about their company's credit policy.  If they're wholesalers, these salespeople emphasize the marketing assistance their company offers.  They're  aware of advertising and sales promotion programs, cooperative advertising, point of purchase displays, sales literature, and catalogs.  If they sell machinery, they are thoroughly familiar with installation procedures.  They can tell the prospect exactly what preparation will be required, and how long the installation will take.  They can talk about the technical services their company has available for setup, inspection, and employee training.  If they're selling a service, they know what's involved in the background of their company's service people - the quality of their training, expertise about materials and equipment used to provide the service.  It's true that all this background information won't be used on every sales call.  A prospect may never ask about you company's history, for example.  But if a question does come up,  you'll make a much better impression if you can answer it authoritatively.