Selling and Bargaining Skills – SS3 Marketing Lesson Note (Second Term)

Selling skills are the techniques used to sell goods and provide services.

Behavioural objectives

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

1. define selling skills;
2. list and explain the six steps in selling;
3. define bargaining;
4. describe three basic bargaining skills used by buyers;
5. state the difference between selling and bargaining.

What are selling skills?

Selling skills are a set of techniques used in selling goods and providing services.

• Importance: knowing how to sell is a vital ingredient for marketing success.
• Talking to the right people: effective selling begins with reaching buyers who need and can afford the product.
• Listening carefully: a good seller listens to find out what the buyer wants to buy.
• Negotiation: selling often ends with buyer and seller agreeing on a price.

What are the steps in selling?

There are six steps in selling: prospecting and qualifying, pre-approach, requirement identification, opening approach, presentation or demonstration, and follow-up.

1. Prospecting and qualifying

• Meaning: identifying potential customers who need the product and can afford to buy it.
• Prospect: a person who may buy the product.
• Qualifying: checking that the prospect has both the need and the money to buy.

2. Pre-approach

• Meaning: the salesperson gathers information about the prospect before making a sales call.
• Information gathered: background, income, purchasing power, habits, likes and dislikes, and educational background.

3. Requirement identification

• Meaning: the salesperson tries to find out the prospect’s purchasing motives.
• Other name: this is known as “need analysis”.
• Key skill: listening skills are a big asset for the salesperson at this stage.

4. Opening approach

• Meaning: the salesperson meets the prospective buyer.
• Aim: to put the prospect in a receptive frame of mind.

5. Presentation or demonstration

• Meaning: the salesperson presents the products and tells their story to the prospect.
• Demonstration: showing the buyer how the product works or what it can do.

6. Follow-up

• Meaning: the last step, done after the sale.
• Aim: to build a close relationship with the buyer.

Summary table of the steps

What is bargaining?

Bargaining is a situation in which the buyer and the seller of goods or services negotiate the price to be paid, so as to reach a satisfactory agreement.

• Parties: a buyer and a seller.
• Subject: the price of goods or services.
• Aim: a price that both sides accept.
• Where it happens: commonly in open markets and roadside shops, where prices are not fixed.

What are the basic bargaining skills?

There are three basic bargaining skills used by buyers: cut-down asking price, pretend to walk away, and delay response to asking price.

1. Cut-down asking price

• Meaning: the buyer offers a lower price than the one the seller is asking.
• Next step: the buyer then spends some time on further negotiation.
• Example: a seller asks ₦5,000 and the buyer offers ₦3,000, then both move towards a middle price.

2. Pretend to walk away

• Meaning: the buyer pretends to leave when the seller’s price is still unacceptable and outside the buyer’s budget.
• Likely result: the seller usually calls the buyer back and may consider the price the buyer offered.

3. Delay response to asking price

• Meaning: the buyer takes some time to choose and compare the goods before proposing a price.
• Benefit: the buyer learns more about the goods and does not rush into a price.

What is the difference between selling skills and bargaining skills?

Selling skills are the techniques a seller uses to find buyers and complete a sale, while bargaining skills are the techniques used to agree on a price.

Evaluation

1. What are selling skills?
2. List the six steps in selling in their correct order.
3. What happens at the pre-approach step?
4. Define bargaining.
5. Explain the “pretend to walk away” bargaining skill.

Assignment

Explain “requirement identification”, say why listening skills matter at this step, and describe the three basic bargaining skills used by buyers.