The global construction industry is a lucrative market, with customer needs ranging from measuring products to sophisticated construction solutions. Hilti, the company featured in the vignette at the start of this chapter, provides its customers around the world with leading-edge construction products and services with outstanding added value. Hilti prides itself on its direct sales model, which allows its salespeople and service teams to work directly with and for the customer.
Alim Hirani, an account manager for Hilti, adopts the relationship marketing approach in his selling strategy.
He often starts his sales calls, which have been carefully planned, with ice breakers such as asking about the customer’s family rather than making the sale immediately.
His sales presentations may take place in clients’ offices or even at construction sites. Consequently, he must always plan well in advance the best way to make his sales presentations for specific sales calls. At all times, he must attempt to establish his own and his company’s credibility by demonstrating the premium value that Hilti’s products and services can offer his clients. Whenever possible, Alim tries to get the customer involved in product demonstration “because, after all, ‘seeing is believing.’” Once the customers see for themselves the benefits of Hilti’s product features, moving the customers from the investigation and evaluation stages to the action stage is just a formality.
Alim sells not only individually but also as part of a team. For major clients who require a complete package of building/construction, mechanical/electrical, telecom, and interior finishing products and services, Alim works closely with his team members to make sure the information he acquires from the customer during initial contacts is made available to other salespeople and technical personnel on the team. In the construction industry, closing the sale is—most of the time—just the beginning.
Well-trained product application specialists join Alim to offer customers after-sale services, technical support, and training.
Questions
1. Why should Alim Hirani adopt the three prescriptions for the presentation strategy?
2. Salespeople are encouraged to establish multipleobjective sales presentations. What are some objectives Alim Hirani should consider when he calls on construction managers at the construction site?
3. What are some special challenges Alim Hirani faces when he makes his sales presentations in a non-office setting?
4. Put yourself in the position of a construction salesperson.
Can you envision a situation in which you might combine different ways to convert the prospect’s attention and interests into action? Explain.