Selling can be defined as 'persuasive communication against resistance'.The persuasion element of the role could involve; changing the buyers perception about our company,our offer,our competition or even his perception of us as his supplier's sales person.

Recently, I came across an interesting study "How do buyers view sales people".
Here are some of its interesting findings;

-Today sales people have lesser time for face-to-face meeting with the buyer.
As less time is available, sales people need to have good 'homework' about the customers needs & how does the offered product/solution meets buyers expectations.

-Importance of price.
Majority of buyers still base the decision on basis of price.However, if dig deeper the decision was coupled with the following reasons,
* Track record,
* Service quality,
* Meeting Specs,
* Delivery & support,
* Product quality.
Buyers who came across sales people claiming "we can do it cheaper" were given lowest preference. Generally it was also observed "sales people were very poor at attempting to ever find out what the customer's really needs are!".

-Power of persuasion.
Top reasons why certain sales people were preferred over others are;
1. Questioning & listening skills.
2. Knowledge of customers' business.
3. Knowledge of customers' markets.
4. Product knowledge.
5. Salespersons manner.
6. Time awareness.
7. Presenation skills.
8. Professionalism & approach.
9.Efficiency.

The findings were clear about what buyers are looking from their suppliers & what are the areas organizations need to address;
-Concentrating on sales person's market & product knowledge.
-Better design of 'sales story'
-Effective communication skills.

With most products/solutions becoming more & more similar, the sales people have become the only difference to the buyers.