A knee-jerk reaction to this challenge could be to drop prices which is a temporary solution and could see the retailer engaged in a race to the bottom with competitors.
A longer-term and more sustainable solution is to increase top-line sales. At Turnkey Solutions Ltd, we believe the way to achieve this is through a team-based FMCG and retail sales course, teaching how to sell consultatively.
The retail arena has changed dramatically over the last decade, with online retailers now taking an ever-increasing share of the market. It is not all doom and gloom for face-to-face salespeople, though, as the number of people with disposable income is also set to increase massively in the next five to ten years.
For FMCG and retail sales companies to take full advantage of the increased numbers, they must first accept that the game has changed and that they need to change with it or risk falling behind or, at worst, the complete failure of their businesses.
The increasing use of technology to source products by buyers still leaves a place in the marketplace for smart sellers, such as those who undergo Turnkey Solutions Ltd´s FMCG and retail sales training to improve skills and engage the customer more fully in your brand while at the same time using dialogue to draw out the details of their underlying needs.
In a busy, pressurised workplace, the all-important answers to the question of what buyers' underlying needs are can be easily ignored or overlooked. Fewer and fewer purchasers are also inclined to meet face-to-face with a salesperson.
Retailers can overcome this challenge with the use of sensible preparation before the first contact. This extra effort allows the seller to demonstrate their added value to the buyer at an early stage of the negotiation and establishes the seller as a valuable resource as well as enhancing credibility, and credibility is the currency of sales.
Additionally, credibility helps create a more dynamic rapport between the buyer and seller and facilitates a better exchange of ideas and information, which in turn helps close the sale.
A consultative style leads to a more collaborative engagement, during which the purchaser will often offer up valuable information rather than relying on a question-and-answer situation.
Setting this collaborative engagement in motion necessitates the seller asking smarter, more penetrating questions sooner. The seller must also make sure that only the most pertinent insights are discussed during the dialogue.
Proper preparation takes time and effort, and many people have the impulse to highlight just how much they have prepared. However, it´s imperative to combat this urge and gather only the findings to the ideas that resound with the particulars of the buyer’s needs, also not overlooking the need to check along the way that your insights remain in line with the buyer’s needs.
The transformation of the business environment has increased the difficulty in selling, yet the returns for those who are successful are massive. The difference lies in distinction, separating yourself from the crowd, communicating convincing analytics and developing a mutually beneficial relationship with purchasers. Salespeople who have had proper FMCG and retail sales training are set up to achieve enormous gains as the middle class and those with disposable income increase by tens of millions in the next few years.
