In the topic we discuss in general how to plan a trading, giving an overview of what a commercial presentation involves.
Now, we’ve entered the practical part of trading planning so that you can organize your trading process step by step.
Check out the four phases of the trading that you can follow:
- Identify the customer’s problem
Preparation is the watchword for efficient trading planning.
The more information you have about customer needs, the better and easier it will be to identify how your company can address them.
For example, you work for a company that sells inventory control software and is going to make the presentation to a potential customer.
To present an attractive proposal, you need to research to identify the prospect’s current problems.
So, when creating a trading plan, you can address the main points of your research. For example:
- You can show the customer at what points the current inventory control system fails, according to the steps of your software;
- Show how the manual process can interfere with the monitoring of the ideal stock level and generate failures due to human error;
- Another important detail when no inventory control works are having less or more stored products – two scenarios that generate losses.
These ideas do not come at the time of the presentation, so it is important prior work. To reinforce your arguments about the advantages, add an example of a customer who managed to solve these problems with the implementation of their software.
When presenting these points, create a dialogue for the customer to talk about these points. It can provide important information that you can use to show the effectiveness of your solution.
Making this panorama about the current scenario and how it can be improved with the service you are offering leaves the customer more alert than he is missing out.
This introduction serves as a preparation for a trading. So far, you have sold without making a direct offer. The prospect is attentive and aware of the potential for improvement that he can have.
Be consistent in your notes, presenting real points that can be corrected. However, stick to your field of knowledge.
Addressing other problems such as failure in other aspects of customer management can seem invasive. If he needs it, he can complete it himself with the information shown.
- Create and present solutions
The second phase of trading planning is to formulate proposals for solutions and present them in an organized manner.
Let’s continue with our example of the inventory control software vendor. It’s time to directly show a plan with solutions to the problems that have just been shown:
Is the current inventory system over? Propose to dry the steps, using your monitoring and control software as a base;
Create an image of the step by step to add visual information of the steps – this feature also helps to explain it;
Another option is to make an image by comparing the current method with the shortened model to facilitate understanding.
At this stage of the trading, including an example of results obtained by other clients also enriches your argument.
This type of reference is highly valued by someone who is in the position to purchase something. Think about yourself when you are going to buy a product. You are likely to seek third-party opinions about the service to make your decision.
In our example, the software is an automation service that is very simple to implement and it is important to make this clear to the customer.
So always keep in mind that you must convince the customer of the efficiency of the solution, but also that it will be easy to apply.
- Suggest an implementation schedule
To tie the trading planning argument even better, the third step is to include a schedule with the implementation steps:
Training for employees on the main features of the software – 1 day;
Installation on all computers and mobile devices – 1 day;
Test period with doubts – 1 week;
Monitoring the first phase of using the software – 1 month.
Images and information organized in topics help the client to visualize his proposal, the advantages offered, and also to direct the conversation towards what is important.
These are simple trading and selling techniques that, based on our software example, make it clear how the service will act and be put into practice efficiently.
Another important point that can be valued in this example is that the product, besides being technically efficient, helps to improve the productivity of the team.
If there is data from other clients to reinforce this argument, the trading gets even more information-rich with real information.
The main benefits that the service offers cannot be left out of the trading planning, as they will be important support points to convince the client.
- Propose the sale proposal
You know the customer, his needs, put together suggestions for solutions based on these points, drew up a schedule and now we just need to close with the sales proposal.
This is a moment of trading planning that you should think about beforehand so that at the time of the meeting it sounds as natural as possible.
The tip for making the closing proposal presentation a “yes” is to ask questions that lead to that answer. For example:
So when we start: do you prefer to wait for the turn of the month or start immediately? We managed to serve you in both .;
What do you think of installing the software on all devices and then start training with those responsible?
Creating conclusive speeches helps to direct the customer to affirmative responses that will take the business forward as you wish.
A good negotiator has to be shrewd at this stage of the trading, as it is time to talk about money. But if you made a consistent argument in the previous steps, your focus is to reinforce that it’s worth hiring what you’re offering.
