Sales managers are always under pressure to hit their goals. As they hire new sellers, they train them on the customer relationship management system (CRM), go through operations and push them to start making calls. In this flurry of activity, they often rush the product and service training. If you ever wonder why your salespeople give steep discounts or have a low close ration, consider testing their product knowledge? We are not just talking specs (unless you sell to engineers). The product knowledge is more than specs; it is understanding how the product performs and impacts the buyer’s life, as well as where your product resides in the competitive ecosystem and how to tell a compelling story to the buyers. For most buyers, they need to visualize the product and grow an emotional attachment before they go into specifications.
Organizations should have a process to ensure all employees possess a deep understanding of the product, and everyone can accurately represent your offering.
Alas, most organizations do not have this in place. In return, most sales people cannot answer fundamental questions like:
What is the outcome of using the product?
Exactly how does the product function?
Why does the buyer care?
Why does the buyer need it?
What does your pricing include versus the market?
Occasionally, you will have sellers take it upon themselves to learn about the product, but most people need to be told in fact, some are afraid to ask. A proven method of increasing sellers’ confidence in negotiating pricing and improving their close ratio is building product knowledge. No one is above going back to the product basics and reviewing.
My suggestions:
1. List all the products and services you offer. (Widgets)
2. Define each widget. Exactly what it does, and the specifications of each one. Including timeline, and teams involved. (including billing.)
3. Do a feature benefit session with each widget. Have each seller list all the features and the benefits the customers receive from them.
4. Ask the most successful seller for an individual product to deliver a short case study of who buys it, how its sold and the value the buyer gets from the widget.
The best learning experience for me was with a former employer who organized client interviews. This company would fly in the best clients and interview them in front of the organization. The customer spotlight provided insights from the buyers’ point of view, along with information on competitors. The buyer articulates what value he or she derives from the product and the top selling points of the product versus the competitor. This exercise increased everyone’s understanding of where the product played in the ecosystem, while educating the whole organization on the value of the product. The insights fostered a better partnership with all of the clients and made the sales team more competitive. These types of sessions help re-establish your value to internal employees and raise everyone’s game.
