Small sales
Despite the diminuitive, “small sales” are in fact a strategic field of enormous importance.
These are those sales for which assumptions opposite to those of the major sales hold true, to which were dedicated a couple of features in the previous issues. Summing things up:
- the customer knows the product and has no doubts as to its functions and mode of use;
- he or she has a precise idea of the value/price ratio and often knows about the competitive offers;
- the economic investment per purchasing unit is modest and, consequently, the risk of a wrong decision are reduced;
- the purchasing decisions are taken by a single person and are normally rapid;
- the number of potential customers is always extremely high compared to those that the sales force can actually contact. There is never a risk of saturation of the customer base.
Here, as on can easily intuit, one is dealing with most of the sales that are carried out millions and millions of times every day in the western world.
If we also remove the small routine purchases made via a sales assistant in the local shop, for example of a book, a shirt or a beater, we see that the “small sales” category covers an imposing mass of sales actions: the sales reps that, with their vans full of products, see to it that the customers are always supplied with goods, the sellers that contact small craftspeople, door-to-door sales…
Success factors
The model of effectiveness in the field of small sales is no less complex that that of major sales. It is based on different factors, two of which essential: the efficiency in the planning of visits to a given area and the ability of the sales reps to enable a successful outcome of the same.
In relation to the given area, for small sales, the iron principle holds that the more visits are made the more one sells. The sales force management should hence see to the distribution of the sales force over the given area and the efficient use of their time.
The control of the sales force should be by activity, that is quantitatively measuring the work carried out in the field (how many visits a day, the average transfer time between one visit and another, etc).
As far as the “skills” of the salespeople in carrying out the visits, the single sales visit lasts a short time and should include the entire cycle of interaction between the salesperson-customer: the social phase, the quest for attention, illustration of the benefits, clinching techniques and dealing with the objections. In the case of “small sales” it is essential and vital that the salesperson is trained. As well as the number of visits carried out per day, everything in fact depends on the percentage of visits that conclude with a sale.
One should not omit the supporting action of the top management that, through the communication of market research, concerns itself with supplying the salespeople with an adequate collection of points to be used in the few vital minutes of the “face to face” with the customer.
But take note: a successful sales force that operates in “small sales” will be subject to a high rate of stress and renewal. This is inevitable and should be one of the first concerns of the company.
Roberto Furlanetto,
Consulente di Direzione
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