What a successful salesperson should be. Sales assistant: job responsibilities and personal qualities of the employee. Adjusting to the stereotypes of buyers' thinking

What does an effective salesperson mean? How to become one?

Good day, friends!

We often come across the expression: "the seller is an unworthy job" or "I'm tired of selling, I want my business." These two simple questions made me think about the role of the seller in the business, how the income of the whole company depends on its effectiveness. This will be a series of articles and in this series I will try to sort this question down the shelves and get the most accurate answer. In the first article, we will consider who the seller is and what role he plays.

Sales profession

Let's start our study from the beginning. One of the oldest human occupations is trade. It arose even before the first money appeared. People in the marketplace exchanged goods or products of equal value. However, the term "seller" itself came only at the end of the 19th century. Then they began to build large department stores and shops in Russia. Before that, they were called merchants, traders, buyers and other historical names. All these archaisms grew into one word - the seller, and, accordingly, the term buyer appeared. Historically, shopping arcades, or as we call markets, have come down to us. At that time, the shopping arcade was especially crowded during the famous fairs, and today it has been replaced by the favorite word of women - sale. Few have not heard of the famous fairs in Kharkov, Nizhny Novgorod or Sorochinskaya. From history, it becomes clear that the profession of a seller knows no boundaries in the study, modernization, optimization and restructuring. So, you won't go far in history, let's figure out who this person is who knows how to sell “ideally” in modern conditions.

Seller qualities

In order to successfully develop a business, it is necessary to grow within the organization, to become an effective model that:

• clearly understands his standard per day;
• is fluent in speech modules of sales;
• has its own method of approaching the client;
• knows how to properly respond to an objection or conflict situation;

You only need to make yourself an ideal salesperson in order to successfully synthesize your skills into business in the future. I have often come across the fact that when you enter the sales department and you can face dullness and despondency, but you can get into an atmosphere in which you want to buy literally everything. So, this is the main task of a sales manager to make the client in his department smile and be inspired. Today, a huge number of different trainings are offered for successful salespeople to improve the qualities of the salesperson, his professional skills and sales methods.

Customer and seller

So, let's take a deeper look at how the seller needs to communicate with the client correctly. For a successful sale, a sales consultant needs to properly build a conversation and voila, the client is already getting the money. The conversation should be approximately in the following proportions:

• 65% - open-ended questions to understand what the client wants;
• 20% - alternative questions to offer related products;
• 15% - clarifying questions to complete the transaction.

Well, the main tool in communication is the active listening method, which is based on:

• Tracking echo - plays the last phrase of the client. Thus, we indicate that we are ready to help them and are ready to continue communication.
• Semantic echo - reproduction of key phrases of the client in order to focus his attention;
• Paraphrasing - to achieve mutual understanding, it is recommended to repeat the client's thought with additional introductory words.

In this case, the client and the seller need to communicate in the same language.... It is the seller's job to find an individual approach to each person in his sales department. The position of the seller plays an important role. For effective work, there must be an open posture: straightened shoulders, legs and arms are not crossed, the body is directed towards the interlocutor. This encourages your client to continue the conversation.

Sales psychology

The sales process is a closed triangle, the edges of which are: product, buyer, seller. From the position of a manager, the top 3 should be distributed as follows: the first place is the seller and all employees, the honorable second place is taken by the buyer, and the third is the product. Yes, it should be that way. Remember how nice it is to return to a place where there was quality and pleasant service. And who serves? That's right, people communicate with people, but not with the product. Yes, friends, this is the one psychology of sales.

How Sales Failure Affects Business Development

A typical problem is when a future businessman avoids work, refuses to learn the profession of a seller from the inside. He begins to be afraid of sales as such, i.e. at the very center of the company there is a problematic core that slows down all work. At the center of any enterprise is money. What defines a business owner? A business owner is a person who is interested in ultimately receiving money. You need three or five hundred thousand at the end of the period, and if your actions do not lead to this, then why do they. There are those who think how much has been done in a given period. Based on the above, a salesperson is the best start to your career! An ideal sales organization is a wide range of goods that are always available, at an adequate price and are in demand among consumers and there are no equal competitors on the market. But all these qualities are IMPOSSIBLE to meet in one company. That is why, if the cost exceeds the market average, sales are falling, and to yield in quality is to lose a client, then a friendly seller with good psychological preparation should enter the arena.

I have provided some basic tips to help budding sellers get promoted successfully. This is just an introductory article in which I wanted to reveal what a salesperson should be like and disprove the myth “salesperson is a terrible profession”. Next time, I'll tell you even more about useful sales tools. If interested, then wait and comment on this article. Write what you would like to know in more detail!

That's all for today. See you soon articles and discussions.

Best regards, Denis Bublovsky!

Levitas Alexander

When it comes to sales in my seminars, I usually ask the group to answer what affects sales. Usually they name the price, the assortment, the service, the layout, the navigation, the POS materials, the competence of the consultant, and ... But when I ask you to answer what is most important, the audience usually unanimously answers: "The work of the seller!"

And indeed it is. Many businessmen step on the same rake: they invest millions of rubles (or even millions of dollars) in premises, renovations, furniture, shop equipment, inventory ... And then one person comes and flushes all the money invested down the toilet. Who is this man? Bad seller.

Therefore, making the salespeople perform well is critical for any business, unless it is a self-service store or vending machines.

Four Keys to Salesperson Success

When I ask the audience to name the main factors affecting the performance of the seller, all the answers can usually be collected in 4 categories:

1. Knowledge
2. Motivation
3. Personal qualities
4. Appearance

Knowledge is the competence of the seller. This includes knowledge of the assortment and specific products, and knowledge of sales technology, and in some cases knowledge of the market, and knowledge of customers, and knowledge of the history of your own company and its products.

Motivation is a salesperson's desire to sell well and a lot. Desire to be effective.

Personal qualities are all character traits, all psychological characteristics. Here we include openness, and sociability, and resistance to rejection, and the willingness to play in a team, and learnability, and ... The list goes on for a long time.

Finally, appearance is height, weight, facial features, body structure, posture, condition of hair and teeth, presence of tattoos and scars, and so on. This also includes the manner of dressing, and hairstyle, and piercings - but this is no longer so critical.

When we talk about these four factors, it is important to understand: two of them are amenable to correction, two are not.

Two factors that can be changed

As you might guess, as an employer (or as a sales manager) you can and should influence the seller's knowledge and motivation.

The company should have a training program for newcomers, there should be a program for continuous professional development of all salespeople, there should be a sales book or some kind of analogue, it is highly desirable to have a “salesperson's bookshelf”.

At the same time, it is very important that the seller has not only knowledge, but also skills. What is the difference? A person who has read a textbook on boxing has knowledge - and a person who has gone to the boxing section for at least several months has the skills. Which one would you bet on in a street fight? It's the same with sellers. Therefore, the training system should be aimed not at passing exams, but at developing the skills of successful sales.

Several things help create motivation. This is also a material motivation - a salary scheme that allows good sellers to earn a lot, and forcing bad sellers to live from hand to mouth. This is also career motivation, which allows good employees to receive more and more bonuses, benefits and respect, and the best (if they want) - to become team leaders, department heads, and so on. This is motivation by the attention of the head (Brian Tracy at our joint seminar advised the sales director to spend 70% of the time with 30% of the best sellers), and reputational motivation, and competitive motivation, and ...

Moreover, it is critically important that several motivation schemes are involved at the same time, material motivation alone is not enough to keep the best. We will also talk about these tools at the seminar on business processes.

But with two other factors, the situation is different.

Two factors that cannot be changed

The personal qualities of the seller, whether it is his openness or closeness, responsibility or irresponsibility, efficiency or low tone, active or passive life position, etc. - these are things that you cannot change. I will not argue that they cannot be changed at all, but the changes will definitely not be quick, and you are unlikely to want to pay an employee for five years of intensive psychotherapy.

The appearance lends itself to correction, but to a very insignificant extent. A person can be forced to wash, take out the earring from the nose, comb his hair and change his clothes. But you cannot do anything with his complexion, with his timbre of voice, with the condition of his teeth, with his posture, etc.

Therefore, personality and appearance should be the selection criteria when hiring salespeople. And if a person does not meet the requirements of your business, you simply do not hire him.

In general, there are seven types of hiring tests - in addition to personality tests and physical assessments, there are five other types of tests. If you neglect at least one of them - and now you have already hired the wrong person. The format of the article does not allow me to tell about them in detail, but I will do it at the seminar "Business under the Palm".

Secret factor 90% of sales directors forget about

In addition to knowledge, motivation, personality and appearance, there is another secret factor that 90% of sales directors forget about. Although this factor is no less important than any of the previous four.

The fifth factor is seller compliance. Compliance with the product, compliance with the price category, compliance with office design, compliance with stereotypes ... Or, more simply, compliance with customer expectations.

Think, lady - would you buy a night moisturizer for sensitive skin with peach seed extract (uv, got it) if there is a bearded man in a tracksuit behind the cosmetics counter?

Think, gentlemen - will you buy a diesel generator or a sight for the Saiga-12 carbine if there is a 19-year-old "solar" girl behind the counter with silicone sponges, long nails and long eyelashes?

If the seller does not meet the customer's expectations, there is no trust in that seller. And then the client either simply does not come to the counter, or the seller has to break through the wall with his head, proving his competence. Both, as you know, do not affect your sales in the best way.

For example, in one of the tanning salons in St. Petersburg, sales were sluggish, because a natural blonde with transparent white-pink skin worked as the administrator - people wondered what was wrong with this tanning bed if the employee did not sunbathe in it.

What to do with the fifth factor?

In order to make sales more cheerful, try to either recruit such employees whose gender, age, appearance, biography and manner of speech correspond to the expectations of customers - or at least try to "finalize" existing salespeople in order to bring them closer to customer expectations.

In the same solarium, when the blonde was replaced by a girl who was almost tanned to the color of chocolate, sales went up sharply.

In another business - a women's clothing store “for those over 30” - athletic girls of 18-20 years old in short tops that reveal a flat tummy worked as saleswomen. And somehow the customers did not find a common language with them, even crying. But when the owner replaced these girls with mature women aged 35+, the sale just skyrocketed.

And my student Kirill from Israel, owner of Baraq Computers, changed his staff in the manner of workers of large IT corporations - black shoes, black trousers, a blue shirt ... Sales grew by 17% due to the fact that there was confidence in the seller ... I used similar moves for other computer stores - my clients, and this always gave a significant increase in sales.

There are many more examples, but the meaning is the same. The salesperson's compliance with the customer's expectations simplifies and raises sales, the non-compliance complicates and reduces.

Where did you ladies and gentlemen run into "inappropriate" salespeople?

And are your salespeople “meeting” customer expectations?

Personal qualities of the seller, in relation to himself:

• Purposefulness
• Positive thinking
• · Self confidence
• Adequate self-esteem
• · Stress tolerance
• · Self-motivation
• Striving for self-development

A seller with such qualities is interested in working and developing, growing for the future. Some people think that such qualities depend on age, but there is no unequivocal evidence of this, because sometimes young people come for an interview without having even half of these qualities, and it happens that a person of age changes the field of activity and, coming to sales from another area, already possesses all these qualities, despite the fact that his life has pretty much battered him.

The qualities of the seller when interacting with colleagues:

• Initiative
• Vigor
• Mutual assistance
• Hard work
• Collaboration orientation
• · Team spirit
• Diplomacy

Working in a store requires effective interaction with colleagues, teamwork, a quick reaction to changing situations, the ability to both serve an influx of customers and consult one for a long time, who will eventually make a purchase for a large amount. That is why a good salesperson must have the qualities of a team player, and even if the salesperson is a talented individual, he still needs the support of his colleagues.

The qualities of the seller when interacting with buyers:

• Goodwill
• Sociability
• Desire to help
• · Politeness
• Ability to look good
• · Patience
• · Gratitude
• Empathy and the ability to share emotions with the buyer

Customers buy not only a product or service, but also attention and care for them during the sale process. If the seller has no desire to help other people, then the buyers immediately feel it. They will sometimes buy from such a seller to save time, or because they urgently need something, but they will buy from him much less. To sellers who have all of the above qualities, buyers return again and again.

The qualities of the seller when interacting with the management:

• · Listening skills
• · A responsibility
• Obligation
• Independence
• Ambitiousness
• · Analytic skills
• Proactivity
• Desire to improve store performance

By interacting with management, a good salesperson tries to make life easier for the leader, to be responsible and proactive. After all, it is the seller who, communicating with the buyer, receives first-hand information. With successful interaction with the manager, the salesperson always wins, because his ideas are welcomed, opinion is taken into account, and the work in the store improves. As a result, the salesperson earns more and gets more pleasure from the work. Of course this is the ideal situation. And it happens that the seller and the manager do not agree in character, but they are in the same boat, and either they will sail to success together, or both will experience dissatisfaction and do not fulfill the store's sales plan. This situation is resolved more quickly with the participation of a third party, for example, through communication training and conflict resolution, when people learn to understand each other better.

Someone might say that for a good salesperson, the most important qualities are when interacting with customers. But according to the experience of leading retail chains and successful stores, such sellers can only bring good results for a short time. It is much more effective to either initially select harmoniously developed salespeople, or to develop in them the qualities that they lack, eliminating the need to constantly fire ineffective people.

By the way, they have been created long ago special techniques how to assess the qualities of a seller in a particular area, how to determine how much this seller will be able to bring results, and what sellers need to be trained in order to get the most profit from their work in the store.

In the sales area, sellers must wear uniform uniforms appropriate to the work environment and meeting sanitary and hygienic requirements. Information indicating the surname, name, patronymic of the employees of the sales area must be presented at their workplaces or badges.

The seller is obliged to monitor the availability of goods on sale in accordance with the assortment list, to replenish stocks of goods in a timely manner, and to prevent the formation of queues. When serving buyers, inspecting and choosing a purchase, the seller must be patient, attentive, helpful, polite and correct towards the buyers.

The weighing and measuring of the goods behind the counter must be carried out in such a way that the buyer can see the correctness of these operations.

The seller can leave the workplace only if it is replaced by another seller. Store employees are prohibited from eating, smoking, drinking alcoholic beverages at their workplaces.

A seller who trades in food products must know the operating procedure of a trading enterprise: rules for trading in goods of this group, rules for preparing goods for sale; techniques for displaying, packaging goods; principles of placement, display of goods; rules for storing goods and terms of their sale; rules for weighing goods, installing, adjusting, checking scales and caring for them; terms of branding measures, weights, weights; cash register operating rules; types of commercial equipment, inventory, tools and rules for their use; signs of the solvency of state banknotes; the established procedure for receiving and returning money; safety regulations and fire prevention measures.

The seller of perishable goods must also know the rules for the use of refrigeration equipment.

The seller of non-food products is obliged to display goods, help in choosing goods and advise buyers about the purpose, properties, quality of goods, rules for caring for them, price; offering of interchangeable products, new and related products; fitting, measuring, cutting, weighing, demonstration of goods in action, etc.; registration of a technical passport for goods with a warranty period of use; packing of goods, exchange of goods.

The seller is obliged to carry out a full pre-sale preparation of the goods (checking the name, quantity, completeness, grade, price and conformity of marking, factory labels and seals; unpacking, inspection of the appearance of the product, bulkhead, inspection, cleaning, assembly, assembly, testing of operational properties, ironing and etc.); sell goods only if there are correctly issued price tags for goods; to place and lay out goods by groups, types and grades, taking into account the commodity neighborhood, frequency of demand and convenience of work; inform the administration about cases of detection of goods that do not correspond to the labeling.

The seller is obliged to know the assortment, classification, characteristics, purpose of goods of this group, methods of using and caring for them; rules for decoding the article and labeling, retail prices; methods of selection, fitting, measuring, cutting, assembling goods; product size scales and rules for their determination; the main types of raw materials and materials used for the manufacture of goods and methods of their recognition; basic requirements for the quality of goods; types of marriage; warranty periods.

Long in the past are those "charms" of the socialist system, when in the era of total scarcity people "with their hands tore off" any product, and saleswomen and store managers were kind of kings, distributing worldly goods. It was then that in the store you could be rude, deceived, insulted - and there was nowhere to complain.

Yes, of course, there were books of "comments and suggestions", but it was almost impossible to use them. Now the face of Russian trade is changing for the better, joining the Western civilized standards of customer service. Let's figure out what the responsibilities of a sales assistant are and what qualities a professional should have.

Education

In our time, trade provides perhaps the most jobs. That is why people often work in shops and salons with higher humanitarian or technical education. The duties of a sales assistant include, first of all, a thorough knowledge of the product that he deals with. This means that he must be able to answer any questions from a potential buyer. After all, consumers today

literate, often very well versed not only in the principles of operation of a particular device, but also in complex production technologies. Therefore, it is advisable to hire people in trade not so much with a secondary vocational education, but with a higher education. Those who can advise competently and competently. For example, in a bookstore, it is often not just advice that is needed, but knowledge of literature. Therefore, the duties of a sales assistant in such a place may include the selection of bibliography on the topic, recommendations regarding the range of reading or novelties of the publishing market.

Personal qualities

Perhaps this is one of the most difficult questions. On the one hand, it is desirable that the duties of a sales assistant be performed by a sociable, extrovert person who sincerely loves people and his business. Indeed, in trade, personal contact, impression means a lot. Competent specialists know how to prepare a client for purchasing a product, how to convince him that he is right, how to make sure that the buyer leaves happy and comes back again and again. For example, the duties of a clothing sales assistant are not only taking care of the assortment, cleanliness and order in the hall or boutique. First of all, this is the ability to help the visitor find the thing that will delight and decorate him. Consequently, knowledge of psychology, and the basics of creating an image, and good taste are necessary. On the other hand, no one

of us does not like the imposition of someone else's opinion, persistent persuasion. Therefore, often a big mistake is made by those shopkeepers who impute the duties of a sales assistant to "spy" and accompany the buyer. The question "what are you looking for?" and "how to help?" should be asked when the client shows by his appearance that he needs advice. The seller must give the buyer the opportunity to look around, ask the price, get acquainted with the range. If we are greeted with such questions at the door, it can scare off indecisive customers.

Etiquette and culture

If such qualities as sociability, openness, benevolence, tact help to fulfill the functions of a sales assistant at the highest level, then nowadays it becomes more and more important to know a foreign language at least at an elementary level and to have an impeccable knowledge of etiquette. Tidiness, well-groomed and neat appearance, casual politeness and courtesy make the visitors feel welcome. In fact, personality and the atmosphere in which a purchase is made are critical to a successful purchase. The ability to correctly draw up an invoice or knowledge of the cash register is a profitable business, you can quickly learn it. But knowledge of the basics of sales techniques and talent in communication is the key to success in this profession.

What do you think: What should be on the resume or be attached to it?

Poll Options are limited because JavaScript is disabled in your browser.

Expert opinion

Natalia Molchanova

HR manager

A seller consultant is, first of all, a seller, only his duties include, in addition to selling products from shop windows and shops, advice to the buyer.

The essence of the consultant's work: communicate with the client, helping him decide on the purchase, answer his questions, then the seller carefully packs and sells the goods, issuing a guarantee coupon.

It is important in such a profession to have the necessary communication skills, to choose the right words, not forgetting that first of all it is necessary to sell a service or product, and not just free advice.

The position is in demand in a wide variety of stores, companies and even on the Internet! A profession related to sales, namely the sale of a certain product, in which you need to be well versed - to be an expert in your field, maybe it’s clothes, household or computer equipment, furniture or mobile phones, it doesn’t matter!

Consultant - to get it you need, and take it responsibly! Each company rewards the top sellers with bonuses, vacations, and perks. But all this must be earned and shown what you are capable of.

If you have no work experience - don't worry! Everybody once started from scratch, but soon gained invaluable and gradually became the best experts.

To do their job effectively, the salesperson needs certain ones that can be developed if you do not initially possess them. Quite a few qualities come to mind that can be indicated on a resume, but the most important of them are:

• Purposefulness- in some way, even obstinacy. After all, in order to achieve the set goal, you need to be stubborn, right?
• Learnability- in most cases, you will have to master new information in large quantities. You should prepare for work by learning about the products that the company sells and indicate your knowledge in your resume.
• Ability to work for the result- this will be required by most companies, because the result is a very important part of the work!
• Teamwork skills- it is implied that you need to help those who are lagging behind and equalize with those who win and learn from them, respectively!
• Diligence- before you can be trusted to make decisions, you will need to follow the instructions of your superiors with diligence!
• Presentability- you must maintain your reputation at a high level and have a pleasant appearance, this can be achieved in different ways.
• Punctuality- To be in good standing with your superiors, come on time, being late is a bad form that is not inherent in a successful person.
• Optimism- a positive attitude has a great impact on people, both in hiring and in sales.
• Resourcefulness- you must be able to determine what the client needs and give it to him! At least partially.
• A responsibility- to be responsible for your actions in front of the leadership, you need to have a strong character, and this skill is highly valued!
• Stress tolerance- take everything with ease, be cool and reasonable, draw conclusions from life situations
• Grammatically correct speech- communication is your business, and the money that you will earn largely depends on how you speak. The main thing is not to overdo it!
• Decency- behave modestly.

Responsibilities of the consultant

The seller's job is almost always the same:

1. counseling clients,
2. reception and display of goods,
3. sale of products.
4. maintaining regular reporting,
5. maintaining the cleanliness of the institution.

A related profession is a salesman-cashier, whose duties can sometimes be shifted to a consultant, so their knowledge is also necessary, and this is:

• work with a cash register,
• reporting of the cash desk and transfer of cash to the collector,
• taking part in the inventory.

A furniture sales consultant should be well versed in this topic, answering any questions from a potential buyer. These are just a few of the possible questions:

• manufacturer country,
• work material,
• used fabric,
• warranty period and beyond.

With technology, things are much more complicated. It is not at all necessary to be an expert and know all the components of ovens or refrigerators, but it is important to remember and inform the basic ones. important information for the buyer.

When applying for a job, the following requirements are put forward for the applicant:

• secondary education,
• work experience is encouraged, but not required,
• ability and understanding of the characteristics of the goods sold.

Rarely can the following conditions be presented: to have a driver's license of category "B", confirmed citizenship and basic knowledge of the English language.

Sample ready resume

For the position of a seller consultant

Full Name

• Date of Birth:
• Family status:
• Home address:
• Contact number:
• Email Mail:

• 10 years of experience in large shopping centers.
• Understanding the seller's mission (to facilitate the purchase of goods).
• Excellent stress tolerance and communication skills.
• Attractive appearance.

Achievements and skills

1. Knowledge of the rules of commodity neighborhood, merchandising (display of goods).
2. Ability to decorate shop windows and a trading floor.

Education

2001-2005 University of Nutrition and Trade. Trading business. Bachelor's degree with honors.

Completed an internship at the Olimp shopping center as a salesman in the sporting goods department.

Additional education

2011 r. Training course “Visual merchandising” of the Fashion Center. Kiev City

2013 g. Training “10 Steps to Successful Selling”. Training company "Unison", Moscow

work experience

2011-2015 Center for fashionable clothes and footwear "Svetlana". Sales consultant for the clothing department.

• Consulting buyers.
• Registration of ordered goods, shop windows.
• Research on consumer demand.
• Reception and display of goods.
• Accounting for balances.
• Sale of goods.

2006-2010 Sirius store. Salesman in the toy department.

• Layout of goods according to corporate and manufacturing standards.
• Reception and accounting of goods.
• Trade floor decoration.
• Sale of goods.

Personal qualities and character traits

• Resistance to stress (attending trainings, playing sports),
• Communication skills (teamwork),
• Sociability (work with clients),
• Purposefulness (work for the result),
• Desire to develop (I improve my qualifications every year).

Additional Information

• Confident PC user;
• I can work with a cash register;
• I know office equipment.

Knowledge of foreign languages: I am fluent in Russian, Ukrainian and English.

Resume examples