Before the introduction of telesales, direct mail, and the Internet, many sales were carried out face-to-face sales (field sales). The traditional salesman, however, has now disappeared from many walks of business life, being replaced by a newer, cheaper method.

Despite these changes, ‘face-to-face’ sales still have a critical role to play in many of the world’s highest-value businesses. So could face-to-face sales be appropriate for your business, and, if so, how can you best use them?

Also read: 8 Negotiation Hacks to Maximize Business Profits

What kinds of businesses use face-to-face sales?

With all the modern technology in the world, most of us still prefer purchasing items we can look at and touch; in most instances, on expensive purchases, we like to have a personal interaction with a sales assistant who can outline the benefits of purchasing that particular item.

Keeping a sales team of one or more people on the road is expensive, but the cost can be worthwhile for many types of businesses. Because salespeople are relatively expensive, the sales they make must cover their costs. This means they are only really practical if you are selling high-value goods or services.

If your products are complex, with extensive explanation required, then the physical presence of a salesperson becomes even more important. So if you are selling machinery, technical equipment, medical hardware, IT hardware, or any other expensive items or services, then a direct sales force may be cost-effective for you.

Experts Make the Best Salespeople

All salespeople have different techniques when selling. However, there are two techniques that all salespeople must have to make them successful.

• They must know as much as possible about the products.
• They must be fully aware of their customers’ requirements.

The secret of successful face-to-face sales is not to push products onto people who don’t really want them but to show them clearly how your product will enhance their current productivity.

Also read: 10 Marketing Strategies Rooted in Human Psychology 

Arranging Sales Calls

It is often worth arranging appointments for your salespeople in advance. This gives them more time to concentrate on the appointments themselves rather than getting tied up with trying to make the appointments themselves.

Appointments can be arranged by telesales staff or by direct mail. Cold calling to sell expensive items is rarely productive; people will very rarely purchase an expensive item they have not seen.

It is important to make sure that the salesperson making the appointments and the salesperson are well prepared for each call and have a good working relationship with each other with daily communication.

• If the meeting is with an existing client, the salesperson should study a record of their past purchases in order to be able to anticipate current and future demand.
• If the meeting is with a new prospect, the salesperson should always find out as much as possible about the company they are calling on.

Who is the decision maker? How big is the company (the size will often reflect the budgets)? What does the company do? What could the products do for them? Have they dealt with your competitors in the past? If possible, find out who they are currently using.

How to Make the Right Connections: Ten Points to Consider

There are ten points to bear in mind when it comes to successful sales staff interaction with clients:

1. Always try to see things from the client’s point of view. What are their needs? How can your product or service best meet those needs? Do they need your product now or in the future?
2. What do you hope to gain from this meeting or sales call? Every meeting with a client should be for one of three reasons:
   
   a. To show gratitude for the previous business
   b. To solicit future business
   c. To provide the client with useful information or other business help they may require.
   
   
3. Never knock the competition; it will make you look very unprofessional. You are in the same business, after all. Knocking their products or services is to rubbish the whole industry and nobody likes a critic.
4. Use the prospect’s name regularly. Everyone enjoys recognition and using a name appropriately engenders a feeling of personal interest and warmth.
5. Don’t talk about yourself and your products, talk about them and their business. It’s a subject they are sure to be interested in.
6. Always describe client encounters as business meetings, rather than sales calls. A business meeting implies an agenda (which you can prepare), a discussion of topics of mutual interest and a range of agreed outcomes, which all sound much more attractive than one person trying to sell to another.
7. Always make it clear how hard you are working on the client’s behalf. If they can see you’ve put a lot of effort into preparing the details of a deal, they’re a lot more likely to appreciate it.
8. Make clients feel good about themselves. There’s no better way to get clients feeling receptive to you and your propositions than a little sincere flattery.
9. Be seen to be proactive on behalf of your clients. If you’re always coming up with solutions to their problems, they are likely to start seeing you as a useful resource rather than an irritating salesperson.
10. Follow-up promptly. Anything you say you are going to do, do it promptly and let the client know it has been done. Never give the client a deadline that you know you can’t fulfill.

Your Sales Message

As silly as it sounds, it is important that you are clear about what your sales message is and what add-on products you can sell. Find out what the client really needs and be sure to sell the benefits of the products you are selling rather than just a list of features.

For example, if you are selling computers, you could just say that you were selling computers, as your sales pitch, but that would be misleading. That’s just a description of your product.

You should say that you were selling computers that are easy to use and that will cover all your business needs. Better, but still wrong—that’s a description of your product and its features.

Customers don’t buy products or features; they buy benefits. What you are really selling is a computer that will keep your customers’ businesses in great shape for many years to come with a minimum of effort.