Sales Techniques at Dixons. Within this task I am going to help the new recruits learn about sales techniques and customer service, and also explain the ways in which sales techniques and customer service have developed in the company.

The final step is the follow-up and service after the sale. This is where the customer and business will develop a relationship, from which the customer becomes loyal to be business. This can be done by offering deals to the customer if they commit to being a loyal customer, whereby they buy the products and services from this business as oppose to their competitors.

Selling Skills

Dixons can use a variety of different selling skills to try to increase the sales within their company. It is important that the sales staff learn to recognise the reasons a potential buyer may be considering a purchase. This can be described as the ‘buying motive’. Dixons try to identify and select the product information that they feel is most likely to appeal to the buying motive of the buyer. This is described in the table below.

Sales staff within Dixons needs to make it their priority that they pay full attention to potential customers, and listen to everything they have to say so they gain the necessary information from to make more effective decisions whilst trying to sell their products and services. This is also important for the sales staff to carry out so that they can concentrate on their customer’s interests and needs, whilst thinking about how these interests and needs can be met.

Customers can make signals that they are ready to make a purchase, and the sales staff need to be aware and be able to identify these signals so that they can make the sale when this is the case. These signals can be for example if a potential customer asks if they have their size in stock, or if they accept credit cards for payment.

Sales Technique

The sales technique that I am going to focus on is negotiation. This can be used by Dixons to minimize the price they have to pay for their stock, and ultimately retain as much money as possible. There are several aspects of this skill that staff within Dixons needs to consider which are shown below.

• Sales staff must be aware of the maximum price that they are able to negotiate to, which will often be set by managers in the company.

• The sales staff should then attempt to pin point the precise needs of the buyer, and then this information can be used to identify the crucial factors that the buyer is thinking so they can estimate the value of them of a concession.

• The sales staff must be aware of the many concessions that are in reserve as possible, and the fact that they can only be used when it will benefit the company.

Sales techniques will need to be developed within Dixon so that the company can adapt to the ever changing market to be able to compete effectively. If Dixons do not adapt to these changes by avoiding making alterations to their company such as their sales techniques, then I believe it would result in rival companies gaining a competitive edge over Dixons by them being able to offer their customers a better service and meet their needs more frequently.

• There has recently been an increase in the amount of consumer electronic retailers in the surrounding area to Dixons meaning that the competition to be market leaders has become fiercer. This consequently means that customers have more choice and therefore more power when purchasing from a consumer electronic retailer which often makes them more demanding. For example, if Curry is selling a play station console for £250 and Dixons are selling the exact same product for £285 then I believe that customers will have more power and be more demanding when enquiring at Dixons regarding this product. An instance where I feel this may occur is if a customers enquires to a sales assistant from Dixons in relation to the play station console but have researched their competitors prices, whereby this customer could easily purchase the product from Curry’s for a cheaper price but in order for Dixons to make a sale they would have to match or beat the price of Curry’s, or offer the customer an incentive in which Curry’s do not such as free insurance or games for the console. Dixons would therefore have to provide their customers with a distinct reason why they should purchase the product from them as oppose to their competitors, but could often involve Dixons lowering their original price or offering them additional products or services which therefore gives the customer more power in this case to Dixons.

• Products within consumer electronic retailers are ever changing due to improvements and upgrades in technology being made. These improvements are vital to a company such as Dixons because customers are always looking to purchase the latest and most effective product on the market which would inevitable increase company sales. However, in order to do so customer training will need to be carried out so that they have the relevant knowledge and understanding regarding the products that have been improved so that the sales assistant within Dixons are able to sell to customer effectively by have the necessary product knowledge to do so. For example, a games console such as the X-Box could be upgraded with further improvements such as the ability to connect to other users around the world and be able to verbally communicate with these users via a headset. This would mean that the sales assistants would need to be given the necessary training from Dixons to be able to have the relevant product knowledge to be able to explain to the customer the new additional benefits of the improved product in which they would gain if they purchased the product. If the training wasn’t given to these sales assistants then I believe they wouldn’t be able to explain fully to the customer the benefits they would have from purchasing the product through a lack of product knowledge and therefore I feel a lack of sales of the X-Box would be made in this case as a result, which I feel highlights the importance of training with Dixons in relations to improvements in technology of their products.

• Due to the fact that competition in the consumer electronics market has recently increased in means that the profit margins on products that Dixons sell are likely to be lower in order to have competitive prices whereby customers are more inclined to use their company over rival competitors due to the price of the product. For example, if a supplier is selling a 32 inch Panasonic plasma television for £200 and Curry’s are selling it at £350 then in order customers to use Dixons to purchase this product they would have to decrease their the profit margin from £150 to an amount such as £130 and therefore sell the product for £330. Even though Dixons would making less profit from selling this product than when Curry’s do, I believe that it would be beneficial for Dixons to lower their profit margin on the product in relation to Curry’s as they would get more customers and more profit overall from have more sales. For products that are exclusive to Dixons I feel that they can increase the price of these products and sell and advertise them as a higher quality product than similar products that are exclusive to Curry’s. For example, a refrigerator that is exclusive to Dixons and has the same features as a refrigerator that is exclusive to Curry’s may have a different price to attract their customers. For example, Curry’s may price the product low with the intention that they will have more sales relating to this product than Dixons because of the price. However, in this case rather than Dixons decreasing the profit margin and competing with Curry’s this way, the company could increase the price of the product and advertise the product has a higher quality product in comparison to the one in which Curry’s sell by highlighting the key areas in which the customer would benefit from. Customer may then feel more inclined to purchase the refrigerator from Dixons because even though it is higher in price, they feel they will be getting their value for money by having a product which is of a higher quality than the cheaper refrigerator in which Curry’s sell for a lower price.    

Conclusion

In summary, the new recruits can use the techniques that have been described to ensure that over the busy Christmas period, they are able to maximize company profits