Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on understanding your customer’s needs in thesales process.
As a salesperson, you can’t just walk up to a customer and start pitching your products. How do you know the customer actually needs your products? And why would the customer buy from you without knowing anything about you? 没有, the sales process doesn’t start with a pitch. It starts with making your initial approach and getting to know your customers, which is what we looked at in our last lesson.
So what come’s next? 出色地, once you’ve made your initial approach, you can move on to understanding the customer’s needs. And that’s what we’ll focus on in this lesson, because if you understand what the customer needs, then you can offer them the right solutions.
What are the techniques we can use to learn about a customer’s needs? 出色地, today we’ll cover several, including how to ask direct questions, present alternatives, and ask about priorities. We’ll also look at proposing the next step and asking about buying authority. 一旦你完成了这些事情, you can move on confidently to matching your solutions to their needs.
在今天的对话中, we’ll rejoin Aaron, a salesperson with a commercial refrigeration company. He’s talking to a couple of potential customers at a new hotel: 伊娃, the hotel manager, and Robin, the head chef. Eva and Robin have just given Aaron a tour of the hotel’s restaurant, 酒吧, and café. Aaron has learned a bit about their plans and now he wants to know more about their specific needs.
听力问题
1. Which area of the hotel does Aaron present an alternative option for? 2. What are Eva and Robin’s two major priorities? 3. What does Aaron say he is going to do next?
欢迎回到今天的商务英语播客 商务英语课on making your initial sales approach.
Sales is right at the core of business. It’s how you connect people with products, and turn products into profits. But most sales aren’t made with a single conversation. There’s a process involved. This process involves many different steps, and at each step, a good salesperson has to use their skills to keep the process moving forward.
在本课中, we’ll focus on the initial step of thesales process: making the approach. This is when you talk to the potential customer for the first time. You want to establish a good rapport and ask some questions to start learning about their needs. We’ll learn how to compliment a prospect and ask open-ended questions. We’ll also cover how to show interest to get more information, show that you’ve done some background research, and reference other business connections. 具备这些技能, you can get off to a good start with your prospect.
在今天的对话中, we’ll hear a salesperson named Aaron, who works for a company that sells refrigeration and cooling equipment. Aaron is visiting a new hotel in Thailand and talking with Eva, the hotel’s manager and Robin, the head chef. He has arranged to visit the hotel and hopes to start building a relationship and finding out about their needs.
听力问题
1. How does Aaron compliment his prospective customers? 2. What does Aaron show interest in to get more information? 3. What business connection do Aaron, Robin, and Eva have in common?
欢迎回到 商务英语播客for today’s lesson on using diplomatic, 或间接, 语言.
What do I mean by外交辞令? 出色地, 想像您正在开会,但您不同意某人. Is it okay to say “I disagree with you?” 出色地, 也许在某些情况下. 但是通常我们需要减少直接性. 例如, you could say “I’m not so sure I agree with that.” Using “not so sure” makes it softer, 或更多外交.
当我们谈论问题时,这种语言真的很重要, 对? 我们可以用谨慎的语言淡化问题. What is “downplay?” That means to make a problem seem less serious. 例如, 也许您的同事担心计算机问题. You could downplay the problem by saying “there’s no reason to think it will happen again.” You didn’t say there isn’t a problem, 对? 你只是让它看起来不太严重.