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| Sales Management in Thailand October 2000
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Managing a sales force in Thailand is similar to that in other countries. However, there are some differences due to Thai culture, especially relating to our naturally harmonious people and our KRENG-JAI attitude. We are sometimes not assertive enough particularly in face-to-face selling situations. Typical Thai salespersons do not want to make a prospect feel uncomfortable by being direct in trying to close a sale. In comparison, the Western sales training process emphasises directness and assertiveness in closing a sale. When I conduct sales training, I tone down the sales approach. The following concepts and ideas work well for me. 3-I Concept In my early days in sales management, I aped what I learned from western sales training by pushing sales staff too hard in closing sales. It worked OK, but many sales staff were not comfortable with such a direct and assertive approach. They perceived it as being too aggressive. I then took a step back and observed the sales approach by some of my more successful sales staff. I found that most of them succeeded by using a more soft-sell approach. After I had learned from those successful sales people, I tried it myself and developed what I call the 3-I concept. Whenever we visited a prospect, we would make sure by the end of meeting that we had achieved the 3-I's - that is - Introduction, Information and Image. By focusing on these 3-I's, our main objective was not to push the prospects and close a sale but to provide positive information about the product or service in a less threatening way. At the end of the day, our success rate was higher compared to the hard sales approach. In addition, it also made our prospects feel more at ease as well as the sales persons. Let's take a close look at each of the I's: Introduction Ensure that you start the sales meeting with proper introductions of the sales people, the organization, and the organization's capability to help the prospect. For example in selling a housing loan, I may start the conversation like this - "My name is Kriengsak from DBS Thai Danu. DBS Thai Danu is the part of DBS BANK which is the leading and largest bank in the region. It's asset size is S$103,000 million. DBS BANK is the largest bank offering housing loans in Singapore." I would then follow by outlining the objective of the call. Information During this stage we try to get more information about our customer, their needs, and also the competitor's offer. By being well prepared in advance with the kind of questions to ask during the sales meeting, we are able to gather well focused information from the prospect. Performed in a non-threatening manner, the Information gathering becomes more like a conversation, and at the end of the meeting we would have collected much useful information about the customer's needs, difficulties and concerns. Based on that we are then able to tailor our product features to best suit the customer needs. Image Image refers to the professionalism in which we approach the customer. For the Thai sales person, assertiveness has to be tempered with politeness. Generally, Thai sales people tend towards politeness rather than assertiveness, especially if the customer offers negative opinions about a product or service. Sales training in Thailand must ensure that our sales persons understand that if we are not assertive enough to give advice to customers, the customer will lose the opportunity to help customers's solve their problem. We must train salespeople in the concept of "product as a solution". Customers buy products in order to solve their problem or satisfy their needs. We have to "Help" the customers. When a sales person approaches a customer from the perspective of "helping" them, they become more confident in making the connection between the product and the customer's needs, and become more assertive. After achieving these 3-I's, we have achieved our call objectives. Our sales people are more comfortable since they do not feel as if they are pushing the prospects too hard. The result (hopefully!) is a sales order....
Kriengsak Niratpattanasai
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| ...from Kriengsak Niratappanasai's Thailand Tales |
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| Kriengsak Niratpattanasai Thai Danu Bank Bangkok Thailand |
| Kriengsak was one of the Asian Business Strategy & Street Intelligence Ezine's earliest columnists and continues to provide some of the most savvy advice on the Net on working in Thailand. His down to earth advice from years of working with falang and locals mixed with local folkstories continues to delight and inform. Click on Kriengsak's picture to learn more about our great friend and colleague. |
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