Sales Manual Preparation: Tips and Techniques

What actions/plans are necessary to service and maintain the account over the long term company.

What is the history of financial organization?

It has been said that successful selling is 90% preparation and 10% presentation. Planned presentations tailored to the needs of the client enjoy a much higher success rate than unprepared and/or canned presentations. As a salesperson, you are required to know detailed information about the company you work for, the product you are selling, the competition you face in the market and, of course, your customers. This information can come to you in part via a sales manual provided by your employer.The balance you acquire from training and on-the-job experience. Often though, nothing is available and the onus is on you, the salesperson,first to find the information and then to prepare your own manual. Even if a company-prepared manual is available to you, in order to be successful, you must add your own information about clients and techniques that work for you.

Part of this course is an exercise whereby you will prepare your own sales manual. Although not mandatory, it is preferable to have your sales manual written around a product or service that you feature in one of your classroom presentations. Regardless, the manual must be prepared for a professional sales situation. The process of collating all the information will be beneficial to you first as a means of re-enforcing the sales process and second as a review mechanism. You are required to notify your instructor in writing of your choice of product/service for the manual in the session after the sales manual workshop. The form your manual takes is somewhat flexible; however, it should include the following areas at a minimum:

1. Product: history, description, applications, features, benefits, price.

2.Target Market: brief profile of typical customers.

3. Competition: directly competitive companies and brand names, with their strengths and weaknesses, indirect alternatives to your product.

4. Prospecting: qualifying and pre-approach information.

5. Need Discovery Questions: questions that work for you dominant Buying Motives: typical buying motives.

6. Demonstration Details: what to demonstrate, what to say and do (FBR).

7. Objections: Major ones raised, and ways to handle them.

8. Closing: clues and successful closing techniques.

The manual should be professional in a format and of a size useful to you when making sales calls away from the office e.g. when you are travelling. The information in it should be succinct and pragmatic. It should be carefully edited and proofread and should be in a pleasing presentation format (i.e. an appropriate binder or portfolio with Table of Contents and tabs). The manual should be prepared on a computer.  If this is a problem, see your instructor early on in the course. You will be provided with some worksheets during the course - these will be helpful in preparing the manual, but the worksheets should not be considered sufficient – you will need to do more. Only going the accurate, relevant extra mile will lead to a top grade. The sales manual should also have a reference/source section at the end of the manual. This section will document all the sources you used to produce your manual including primary research like personal interviews with personnel with the company you were focusing on. Suggested Techniques For Gathering Information:

1. Personal interviews with salespeople and/or sales executives.

2. Researching trade journals and professional articles.

3. Reading catalogue references, etc., in the library (college and public).

4. Personal calls, letters, etc., to suppliers and distributors.

5. Personal observation of sales people at work, trade shows, exhibitions, etc.

6. Imagineering” – create what you do not know, but make it realistic.

Not every choice works out and you need to know early on if things have to be changed.