Electric Heating Co., Inc

Solution Selling

An article was sent to me from BusinessBrief.com that was too good not to pass along ... so here is the heavily plagerized article with a few points of my own ...

One costly mistake too many salespeople make today: Telling prospects about the benefits of a product or service before taking the time to learn what they really want and need. The remedy that Dalton Electric lives by: Solution selling, investing time before making sales calls, to understand every prospect’s situation, perceptions and problems.

If you can't get an effective read on the prospect prior to the call, be prepared to question every aspect of the application and uncover every need of the potential customer. When used effectively, solution selling will pique prospects’ interest sooner and increase the chances of closing.

But before preparing sales calls, or during the opening minutes of the call, salespeople must first determine their prospects’ level of interest. Chances are prospects will fall into one of these categories:

Latent. These buyers are not consciously aware they need your product or service. There are many possible reasons their need may be latent. Maybe they tried to solve the problem before, failed, and became convinced it wasn’t worth solving. Maybe the prospect just doesn’t understand what your product can do, or even that he has a need at all. But whatever the reason, it will be difficult to make a sale if the pain remains latent. It’s important to point out that the problem is worth solving and can be done in a way that yields a high return on investment.

Visually impaired. These prospects are consciously aware there’s a problem but don’t see a solution or don’t feel an urgent need to find one. In this instance, it’s a good idea to work to get the prospect to agree that he or she does have a serious problem before mentioning your products or services.

Looking for help. These prospects know they have a problem that needs to be solved but just don’t know who or what to turn to for help. That’s where you come in. Start by acknowledging their problem and explaining what you can do to help.

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873.

By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war). It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971).

In 1915, inspired by the poem "In Flanders Fields" Moina Michael replied with her own poem:

We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.

She then conceived of an idea to wear red poppies on Memorial day in honor of those who died serving the nation during war. Shortly before Memorial Day in 1922 the VFW became the first veterans' organization to nationally sell poppies. Two years later their "Buddy" Poppy program was selling artificial poppies made by disabled veterans and is continued to this day.

Dalton Electric Heating Co., Inc (978)356-9844
28 Hayward Street Ipswich, MA 01938 USA

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