Timing and Importance of Suggestion Selling

1. Introduction to Suggestion Selling

Suggestion selling is a sales technique where the employee asks the customer if they would like to include an additional purchase or recommends a product which might suit the client. Suggestive selling is used to increase the purchase amount of the client and revenues of the business. Often times the additional sale is much smaller than the original purchase and is a complimentary product. If suggestive selling was to be defined in its literal sense, it can be defined as a sales technique implemented by the sales staff in order to add some more revenue to a sale that has already taken place, by suggesting some better and useful products or services to the customer in his order of purchase. But here you have to be careful that you are not being over-aggressive and pushing yourself onto the customer. Whatever you do should in fact be of more help to the customer, and space should be given to let him or her make the final decision.        

B. Timing and Importance of Suggestion Selling

The idea behind the technique is that it takes marginal effort compared the potential additional revenue. This is because getting the buyer to purchase (often seen as the most difficult part) has already been done. After the buyer is committed, an additional sale which is a fraction of the original purchase is much more likely.  It is also known as add on selling or upselling. Suggestive selling has become common practice in today’s restaurants.  Fast Food restaurants have brought suggestive selling into the mainstream.  They have pioneered the technique of adding on a food item.  If you were to order a hamburger, the next question would almost always be “Would you like fries with that?”  Suggestive selling in an upscale restaurant would include the presentation of the desert tray at the end of your meal. Some staff members, and indeed businesses, believe that suggestive selling can create a negative mood and is bad for the customer experience. However, when used as part of an overall positive customer experience, it can not only increase sales, but it can also increase customer satisfaction. Through suggestive selling, the customer may make a purchase they wouldn’t have made otherwise - say you offer a banana bread at $2 extra with each coffee. If you had 450 transactions in a day with an upsell success rate of 25%, you would take an extra $225 per day, $1,575 per week, roughly $6,750 for the month and $81,000 for the year. All this from existing customers with less effort and expense on your part.

C. Related Merchandise dealing with Suggestive Selling

Some merchandise that could be used with our SG and VC ovens include 20 piece barbecue ool set, oven lid lifters, oven ignitors, oven thermostats, baking pan sets, grilling gloves, and oven lamps.  

D. What would you do and say to suggest one of our items.  

While selling the grills I would mention other items that are related to our ovens so that the customer would have a clear view of them.  I would also discuss what makes these add on items so valuable to the addition of the ovens.  One item that I would consider selling to the customer is the is our 20-piece barbecue tool set.  I would say “Would you like to buy our 20-piece barbecue set to add along with your oven? If you buy the tool set then you would not have to buy the tools within the box individually as you would then be paying more money when you can get them all at one time.”  Another accessory that I would suggest to the customer is the grilling gloves.  I would say to the customer “Along with the grill how about some complimentary grilling gloves?  These gloves will make sure that every time you handle your oven you will not have to worry about getting burned.”  This would give the customer something to think about as he/she is getting value with a variety of tools that will most definitely come in handy when cooking and trying to clean the ovens.

The Importance of Determining the needs of the Consumer:

In this step of the sale, the job is to uncover the customer’s problems or reasons for wanting to buy. In some instance, their motives or needs may be quite obvious, but that is not always the case. It is the sales representative’s job to determine those needs so you can offer one or more solutions. Discovering your customer’s motivation for buying will help you in the next step of the sale when you are helping the customer select the right product. It is also our job to determine the needs of the consumer so that we can offer alternative solutions.  Effective selling is all about solving problems. If you size up your customer properly, and properly sell the product and its benefits to them, (i.e., solve their problem), then you've won half the battle already. You have to get organized, approach your potential customers and ask them questions that will help both you as the sales person and the customer. The questions that you need to ask the customer have to be the right questions and give you answers - and after asking the questions you have to listen carefully. If you listen to your customers, they will give you the information you need to help them solve their problem and give them what they are looking for in a product or service. But remember - most of the time, customers don't know what they want and do not know what their problems are. This means they don't really know what they are looking for, or that they even need a particular product. This is where you as a salesperson come in, armed with problem defining questions that will let the customer know that they do indeed need a particular product or service and that yours is the right one to purchase.

How to determine needs of the customer:

1. Observing – By using nonverbal communications and just observing you can gather clues about a customer’s mood and interest towards a product.  Search for facial expressions, hand movements, eye movements, etc.
2. Listening – by listening it helps you pick up clues to the customer’s needs.  This information can then be used in the product presentation.  
3. Question and Engage the Customer – Ask who, what, when, where, and how.  Ask open-ended questions so that you can get a yes or no answer from the customer to determine if you need to sale them on your product.
4.  Don’ts – Do not ask too many questions in a row.  Do not ask questions that might embarrass customers or put them on the defensive.  

Essential Questions used to Determine Customer Needs

Functional Needs:   Does your grills have features customers want?

                        Are both versions of your grills well constructed?

                         Does your grills offer point-of-sale display?

                       Are your grills individualized for different performance needs?

Situational Needs:  Can it supply to stores across North America?

                       Does it have the ability to ship to individual stores on a just-in-time basis?