types-of-selling

Types of Selling Method and How You Can Approach Customers in Different Ways

When you think of selling, the first factor that pops into your mind might be chasing profits. This is perfectly ordinary, however, the reality is that selling is more than just tactics Before we go through the exceptional forms of selling, let’s give you a description of what “selling” really means.

At the simple level, “selling” means the activity of making products and services available so that people buy them. Specifically, it describes a process of convincing a customer to make a buy and to steer and influence a customer’s purchasing decisions.

If carried out right, it enables customers to determine what they need and creates a sense of desire for products/services. In this piece, we’re going back to fundamentals by reviewing important sorts of selling.

1. Transactional Selling:

Transactional selling is simply focused on recent times transactions and no longer on future sales income. This technique is traditionally used for one-time purchases with quick earnings, like real estate, automobile, or retail. Transactional sellers follow closely on discounts and unique giveaways to close the deal most likely in 24 hours. The Black Friday sale that lasts only 24 hours is an example of a transactional selling method. It’s a specific constrained-time sale that encourages customers to buy a product when the prices are low. The company might send out a deal to the public with a limited-time discount such as “buy one get one free”.

As mentioned, transactional selling focuses on one-time deals, offering the maximum number of deals to a wide range of customers. In transactional selling, the relationship between the customer and the salesperson is short-term rather than long-term. Putting it simply, transactional deals are the ones with price being the most important factor.

2. Solution Selling:

This version of selling makes a specialty of constructing clear expertise and understanding of purchaser\client needs and developing an answer to their questions and solving their issues. Solution sellers are also inclined to negotiate, however, don’t rely so closely on discounts to get the deal done.

Solution sellers recognize the possibilities first. They work to resolve issues, discover the root of those troubles, and develop a clear-cut solution. They may attempt to adjust pricing plans or limits on their product to match the customer’s needs. Solution sellers spend most of their time devising the maximum amount of possibilities. This extra time spent on the know-how of their prospects permits them to display their product appropriately. Solution sellers adapt their pitch accordingly to what they’ve discovered about the purchaser\client needs. They display how their product is a strategy and a solution to the issues they are facing, highlighting key advantages with specific examples of how this could be useful for them in the future.

3. Consultative Selling:

Consultative selling primarily focuses on the long run, unlike transactional selling. Consultative selling is a sales process that has a wide-range of deals and puts the main focus on perfecting the lives of the clients by solving their problems. This type of selling is very similar to solution selling, but it’s even more focused on building and developing relationships with the customer. The sales representative takes the time to get to know the customer and understand their needs. They then work with the customer to find a solution that meets and suits those needs.

Consultative selling addresses long-term objectives, rather than looking for a quick fix. Sales professionals who do consultative selling develop trust and long-lasting relationships over time with their clients. This results in selling more products\goods and services in the future.

4. Product-Oriented Selling:

In this type of selling, the salesperson’s focus is mainly on promoting and selling their product or service. They might have plenty of information and knowledge about the product, but they don’t always have an answer or a solution to the customer’s questions and needs. They’re more interested in making a sale than in building and developing a relationship with the client. This is where the salesperson mostly tells the customer about the product and explains it. It all comes around the functions, uses, and advantages of the product and trying to engage the customer by displaying the product and its packaging. Demonstrating and giving examples of the product are the ways of this particular type of selling.

5. Social Selling:

In this sort of selling, a sales representative makes use of social media and different online tools to find leads and construct relationships with customers. They frequently use modern technology in their business. Many people are shifting their business to online platforms.

Social selling is specifically focused on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook depending on what social media platform is right for your business.

With this method, it is mostly about profile constructing, social media networking, virtual relationships, and creating unique content. It requires a one-of-a-kind sales attitude than traditional sales of prospecting.

6. High-Pressure Selling:

This kind of selling includes the use of excessive-stress procedures for you to get the customer to buy from you right away. The sales representatives mostly ignore the client’s wishes and attempt to force them into a sale. This type of selling is often visible as unethical and can have a very negative impact on the client’s relationship with the organization.

The sales representatives don’t take no for an answer and instead of cooperating with the customer, they try to force you into making a decision. It makes you as a customer uncomfortable and uneasy. Sales representative appears to insist and put pressure on the customer because their commission and, sometimes, their entire salary depends upon them making that buy or sale with you.

7. Challenger Selling:

This type of selling is all about taking a different approach. The salesperson doesn’t just try to “sell”, they also try to educate and give information to customers so they’re able to make the right decisions. Its main goal is that it should be the sales representative that should take control of the customer conversation by being positive and not forcing, or putting pressure on the customer to buy something. The sales representative of the challenger selling type doesn’t cater to the customer’s every need. Rather, they have confidence in what they are selling, and they transfer this information by explaining to the customers why their products and services are the best and the only solution that they should give thought to and the purpose behind it.

This kind of selling is all about taking control. It’s about taking control of the sales process by educating, recommending, catering, and advising. As the name depicts, it’s about challenging the prospect rather than just agreeing or nodding your head to everything they say.

8. Insight Selling:

As the name gives away by telling what kind of selling is being proposed here. This type of selling is all about providing and giving value to the customer. The salesperson is aware of the knowledge of the industry to provide insights that will help the customer do their work better. It is explained through a simple model that brings and displays successful results for the future:

The first stage is to connect and understand, where the sales representative connects and understands the customer’s needs and the company resolves the problems that the customer is having. The second stage is the convincing stage, where sales representative convinces their customers that they are the most effective and suitable to deal with. The last stage of insight selling is known as the collaborating stage, where sales representative gives new and unique ideas and have insights about the company’s future and what they will be working on.

If you understand the type of sale that’s right for each customer type, then you will be in a strong position to bring the right results for both you and your customer.