The Effective Salesperson-Tastmaster Advanced Manual

The Effective Salesperson

Objectives: Learn a technique for selling an inexpensive product in a retail store.; Recognize a buyer’s thought processes in making a purchase; Elicit information from a prospective buyer through questions; Match the buyer’s situation with the most appropriate product . (Time: 8-12 mins)

5 parts:

1.     3-5 minutes role play with your partner choosing a scenario

2.     Present a 3-4 minute speech about the persuasive process used in sales. To help your audience better understand the objectives and to evaluate the presentation

3.     Briefly introduce the scenario you have chosen to role play and your partner

4.     Enact the 3-5 mins scene with your partner

5.     2-3 mins informal discussion with your partner and your audience about the persuasive process . You may want to ask what you could say or do differently.

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My friends, winter is around us now, what feeling do you have besides the cold? Do you have central heating at home? I am sure lots of people does. Otherwise, it would be too cold. What is the temperature you set for your heating usually? Does your throat feel uncomfortable and your skin becomes dry at this time?

Dear Chairman, dear toastmasters and my distinguished guests, my name is Tabitha. I have been noticing my skin getting drier and my throat gets dry since I turned on the heating system this month.  Once the heating system is on, the heat takes away moisture from the air so our body feels it. So we feel thirsty we drink a lot of water. But what might happen to our skin if it is thirsty? Today I am going to show you a device that everybody needs in the long winter.

This is the new humidifier for this winter. It is different from the humidifier you have seen in Wal-Mart or other superstore What is the difference?

First, the new model is small. You can bring it with you anywhere you want. Sometimes I need to travel to other places, and this humidifier is very handy. I put it in my luggage and I take it with me.

Second, this humidifier is capable of using scented oil. It can be used as a diffuser for your own choice.  Any oil you like to make you feel relaxed and happy. You can create a SPA feeling in your home in 1 minute. I usually add rose extract or sometimes lily extract in it…and it makes me feel so soothed…

What oil do you like most? Yes, just add three drops into the water and you will have the light fragrance in the air. Isn’t it nice?

Third, the design is so nice. Don’t you think so? It is a streamlined design It looks like a piece of art .we enjoy looking at. It is like a drop of water or a delicate flower vase made by a skilled craftsperson. When looking at it, the mist evaporates from the delicate vase, it makes me feel peaceful, sweat and dreamy. Isn’t life beautiful with this little device?

Last but not least, this humidifier is very simple to use. You just take off this top ,and then this little cap, add tap water in, add in several drops of your favorite essential oil. Plug it in and it starts working in 30 seconds.

This humidifier is not just a humidifier. It is my handy cutie partner in the long winter. It is your carry-on SPA device. It is also a display which pleases you and it complements your décor.

Finally the price is only 30 dollars plus tax. If you purchase it now, we will pay tax for you since we are now having a tax- free event for today only. No hesitating, we only have 10 left and we already sold 40 pieces last week. Christmas is approaching; it can also be a great gift for your family or your friends. Since we are having a promotional event, if you purchase two or more, we are going to give you an essential oil for free of your choice, which is a value of 15 dollars.

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Now in order to illustrate the selling process, I will invite my partner xxx to come up and have a role-play on this. In this play, I am the sales person and xxx is the customer. Every role is just a mock role and not real. In this mock play, she just sent her kid to an afterschool drawing class in Richmond center. The class is only 45 minutes long and she is randomly shopping in the center. I am going to demonstrate the selling skills from the toastmaster manual in the mock play, such as build rapport, engage with the customer, find out about the buyer’s needs and goals, create value for the buyer, maintain a good attitude, ask questions)

Hi, madam, how are you?

Are you shopping by yourself today?

Are you looking for something in particular?

The weather is so cold, isn’t it? What temperature do you set your heat at?

When I brush my hair, is the electricity amazing? I feel like I have to use more moisture and conditioner after I turned the heat on. But I still do not feel enough…

Let me show you something might interest you. This is one of the solutions that work well for me.

This is our latest humidifier. Isn’t it nice? Do you use a humidifier at home? How many do you have? I have 2 of these at home. One is in my bedroom, one in my kids’ bedroom.

I just bought this as the 3^rd one for my home and I am going to put it in my study. Why I need 3? Because the air becomes really dry after turning on the heat. A humidifier helps put back some moisture in the air, which is good for everybody’s health in all winter.

Do you or your family have allergies ,nosebleed or feel uncomfortable because of the cold? A humidifier really keeps your nasal passages lubricated, which helps speed up the healing process when you're under the weather. For people with allergies , humidifiers can purify the air and makes you feel better.

The most important function to me is that a humidifier support beautiful skin: Soothe dry skin by sleeping with a humidifier on through the night. In the morning, you'll not only notice that your face looks more supple, but your hands and lips won't feel dry and dehydrated either.

Our humidifier is easy to use, easy to carry , also you can add essential oil into it and create a SPA feeling in your bedroom or wherever you put it. And isn’t the design nice? It compliments all the decorations in your home., it is pleasing the eyes.

Do you want to have one for yourself? We now have a promotion, the original price is 30 plus tax, if you get it now ,you do not need to pay the tax. And if you purchase 2 or more, you have a secented oil for free, which we sell at 15 dollars usually.

We have sold 40 sets last week, lots of people purchase it for home, and purchase it as gifts for Christmas.

John’s series 5 – afraid of darkness

John is a boy who is not as brave as the boys in movies and stories, such as Harry in Harry Potter or Hiccup in How to Train the Dragon. In reality, he is a boy who is always afraid of lots of things –the darkness, the public washroom in the shopping mall , spiders, raccoons or the change room in the aquatic center.

Although I have not talked with him about his behavior, I have been thinking : when can my boy be more courageous like a little man? I have been dreaming that one day that he can stand in front of me and say:  mom, let me get rid of this spider…I guess I still need to wait, he is now only 9.

At home, he likes to stay with me in the same room. When I am cooking in the kitchen, he likes to stay beside me and play with his toys, just like he did when he was a toddler. John used to be my little tail and followed me wherever I went to in the house at the age of 2. And now he is still doing that at age of 9; When he is in the bathroom, he asks me to be in the next door which is close to the bathroom; When he sleeps, he likes me to accompany him to sleep after the bedtime story. Sometimes I have to stay in the bathroom which is next to his bedroom and check emails at night when I cannot stay beside his bed until he sleeps; When he wants to go to the washroom in the midnight, he always asks: mom, can you come with me?

In addition to his behavior around fears of lots of things in life, he also has some imaginations which can make him freak out.

One night he went to the washroom by himself, he told me he saw a ghost in the mirror. I think hard and still cannot understand why he said he saw a ghost, we never watched any horror movies or TVs at home, and neither have we told him scary stories. I told him that the ghost is not real and it does not exist in the world. Soon I found that he was still afraid of it.

One night, I suddenly had an idea. The next day, I took him to the church service as usual. After the service, I told Pastor John about my little John’s concerns on ghosts and asked him if he would be willing to tell my little John of his views on ghost.s Then our nice pastor John walked to my little John with a smile on his face.

Pastor John said: “I heard from your mom that you are afraid of ghosts. Can you describe to us what a ghost looks like?”

My little John shook his head and said he saw it in the mirror but he could not remember.

Then Pastor John told John :”I used to be like that when I was a child, but later I found that ghosts were imaginations by people. Ghosts do not exist and they are not real at all. In addition to that, we are all children blessed by God. God is with us all the time. There is nothing to worry about since God has the power above anything.”

After the conversation with Pastor John, my little John feels much better .When he is scared, I remind him that God is with him. He becomes stronger after he thinks of pastor John’s talk.

One day, I finally discovered the reason why he has been afraid of ghosts. In the Minecraft games, which he has been enjoying playing with his friends recently, the hero Steve is the one who needs to fight against zombies. Zombie is the idea of a ghost in his mind.

The other night he cried in the midnight, he said he had a nightmare and dreamed of spiders on his bed. I tried to persuade him that the chance of a spider appearing on his bed is very slim. The chance of a cockroach flying onto us when we were in China is much higher than a spider climbing into our bed. In fact, the cockroach never flew on us before. The cockroach only likes to stay in kitchen. Yesterday, John screamed and hurled himself into my arms after he saw a spider on a sofa.

In order to make him feel better before sleep, he has lots of sleep comforter beside his bed: The little bear and bear’s mom – we read it from a story, little bear can help children get rid of nightmares and help them have a good sleep, since John believes that the little bear will fight against the bad dreams when a child is sleeping; a dream catcher – which is a handicraft, a coin-sized knitted net with 4-5 feathers under it. His friend said the dream catcher could filter all the bad dreams and take them away. The nice dreams will stay with us; and his little bible story book, every night, we will read a sentence and a small story from his bible story book before the bedtime stories.

So my little John has several conversations before he sleeps: firstly, he asks the little bear and bear’s mom that he will have a nice dream; then, he will kiss the dream catcher, who will also help him have a good sleep; lastly, I will pray to God that our family is blessed by him and we love him.

After those conversations, my little John will fall asleep soon.

This is a small story of a boy at age 9. I am very interested to know that after many years, what reflections he have when he is reading his mom’s blogs? I am anticipating that, his girlfriend and he will tease each other while reading it……and my husband and I will keep telling stories about John when he is little …