Product Knowledge Essentials

Second-nature salespeople practice a number of elements that make selling intuitive, fun and natural, without resorting to manipulative sales tactics. For today’s Feature Friday, PCT shares this excerpt from the April cover story of its sister publication, Promotional Consultant digital magazine.

Product knowledge, in our profession, requires a lot more than just knowing where to find a given product and understanding the price codes. It is a lot more than knowing which supplier has mugs on special this week and which one is offering free set-up charges.

If you are new to the promotional products industry, the amount of knowledge necessary may seem overwhelming at first. Remember that each time you sell an item you become an expert about that particular item. Let’s assume that your customer asks you about award plaques, but you have never sold one before. Your first question, as we discussed in a previous article, should be: “Why are you interested in this item?” This should lead you to determine the quality and the budget range for the item. You also need to find out when the products are needed and the quantity. Prepared with this vital information, you can begin your research. Now is when you educate yourself on plaques to learn about various styles, materials, imprint methods, personalization options, packaging, turn-around time and more. By the time you are ready to present options to your client, you will have become an expert on plaques–just 300,000-odd more products to go!

There is nothing more important for successful promotional products sales than thorough and accurate product knowledge. In our industry, this means knowing about the types of products available and what is new in the industry. It requires knowledge about the vendors you can trust to deliver a quality product on time (and those you can’t). It requires a thorough understanding of the imprint process and the type of art necessary for the imprint.

If you can develop a working knowledge of the manufacturing and decorating process for a variety of products, you can save yourself hours of aggravation. For more insights on product knowledge, read the entire article in the April issue of Promotional Consultant digital magazine.

Source: Dennis Gorman, MAS, founder and former owner of a multi-million-dollar promotions business, is now a full-time speaker, trainer and presenter. His first book, Second-Nature Selling, was published in 2011.