How can a company improve its sales? One of the keys to more effective selling is for a company to first decide on its 'sales strategy.' In other words, what is the role of the sales person? Is the salesperson's job narrative, suggestive, or consultative? The 'narrative' sales strategy depends on the salesperson moving quickly into a standard sales presentation. His or her pitch highlights the benefits for the customer of a particular product or service. This approach is most effective for customers whose buying motives are basically the same and is also well suited to companies who have a large number of prospects (可能的主顾) on which to call. The 'suggestive' approach is tailored more for the individual customer. The salesperson must be in a position to offer alternative recommendations that meet a particular customer's needs. One key aspect of the suggestive approach is the need for the salesperson to engage the buyer in some sort of discussion. The salesperson can then use the information gleaned from the customer to suggest an appropriate product or service. 'We tell our salespeople to be like wine stewards,' says Mindy Sahlawannee, a corporate sales trainer, 'the wine steward first checks to see what food the customer has ordered and then opens by suggesting the wine that best complements the dish. Most companies who use a narrative strategy should be using a suggestive strategy. Just like you can't drink red wine with every dish, you can't have one sales recommendation to suit all customers.' The final strategy demands that a company's sales staff act as 'consultants' for the buyer. In this role, the salesperson must acquire a great deal of information about the customer. They do this through market research, surveys, and face-to-face discussions. Using this information, the salesperson makes a detailed presentation tailored specifically to a customer's needs. 'Good sales 'consultants',' says Alan Goldfarb, president of Ad Pro, Inc., 'are the people who use a wide range of skills including probing, listening, analysis, and persuasiveness. The best sales 'consultants', however, are the ones who can 'think outside the box' and use their creativity to present a product and close the sale. The other skills you can teach. Creativity is innate. It's something we look for in every employee we hire.' More and more sales teams are switching from a narrative or suggestive approach to a more consultative strategy. As a result, corporations are looking more at intangibles such as creativity and analytical skills and less at educational background and technical skills. 'The next century will be about meeting individual customer needs,' says Goldfarb, 'the days of one size fits all are over.' The major difference between narrative sales and suggestive sales is that