When it comes to sales techniques, a cult scene immediately springs to mind: Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort. The Wolf of Wall Street - asking its employees to "sell this pen". Recently, Alfa Romeo took up this idea in its latest advertising campaign featuring Pedro Alonso - alias Berlin de La Casa de Papel - who challenges salespeople to sell him a car by evoking the very essence of persuasion and the importance of emotional connection. This exercise, as simple in appearance as it is complex in reality, takes us to the heart of the art of selling.
Understanding sales mechanisms: from need to desire
Identifying real and latent needs
To sell a pen, or any other product, it's crucial to understand what the customer is really looking for. As a salesperson, our job is not just to offer an object, but to respond to an expectation - whether expressed or not. The SONCASE method (Security, Pride, Novelty, Comfort, Money, Sympathy, Environment) is a tried-and-tested compass for identifying the deep-seated motivations of potential customers. Not all customers are looking for the same things, and their motivations can be very different. An experienced salesperson knows how to observe, ask the right questions and listen for implicit answers. This may be a need for credibility in the case of a top-of-the-range pen, or a desire for simplicity in the case of an everyday office tool. This active listening enables you to personalise your sales pitch and gear your arguments towards what will resonate with the potential buyer's expectations.
Even with a perfect presentation, objections often arise during a sale: "I don't need it", "It's too expensive...". These common objections should not be seen as obstacles. On the contrary, they represent an opportunity to dig deeper and identify what's really important to the customer.
By listening carefully, you can tailor your sales pitch to the customer's real and latent needs. This helps to transform an objection into a constructive exchange, where each response brings the customer closer to the ideal solution.
Playing on psychological mechanisms
The act of buying is not based solely on product characteristics, but also on complex psychological mechanisms. Emotions, perceptions of value and psychological triggers play a decisive role in the buying decision. A good salesperson knows how to handle these emotional triggers: transforming a simple pen into a symbol of success or an instrument that facilitates creativity, for example, can help to arouse interest.
Persuasion techniques such as storytelling, sales argumentation and cognitive biases (particularly the anchoring effect) are all tools that help to capture the potential customer's attention and positively influence their perception of the product. If the customer feels emotionally connected to the product, they will be more inclined to buy. The salesperson therefore needs to know how to create this connection by telling a story or highlighting values that resonate with the customer.
From features to benefits: getting the product or service to speak for itself
Selling is all about adding value. To make a pen "desirable", it's not enough to list its features, however interesting they may be. You have to translate them into tangible benefits for the customer.
Personalising your pitch is one of the most powerful sales techniques. Salespeople need to be able to tailor their sales pitch to the customer in front of them, because not all customers are looking for the same things.
A student, for example, will be sensitive to practical and financial arguments. They will probably want a pen that is affordable, durable and functional. The salesperson will therefore be able to insist on value for money, the lifespan of the pen and its usefulness in school contexts. Conversely, a senior manager or company director will be more attracted by the prestige and image that the product conveys. For these customers, the sales assistant will emphasise the design, the brand and the quality of the materials. They will present the pen as the symbol of a milestone in a career.
Adapting your pitch to the customer's profile means showing that you understand their needs and expectations, and that you know how to respond to them in a personalised way. This establishes a relationship of trust and increases the chances of closing the sale.
The pen, finally a universal sales model
Optimising the experience on every channel
Each distribution network has its own particularities. Selling a pen in a luxury boutique, in a supermarket, in a specialist shop or on an online site requires different approaches. At the physical point of sale, the emphasis is on customer relations: capturing attention and creating an immersive experience that engages shoppers. For online sales, on the other hand, effectiveness is based more on the visual presentation of the product, detailed descriptions and customer reviews. Thanks to our expertise, we can adapt the sales pitch and media to suit the distribution channel, maximising the impact of campaigns and directly influencing shoppers' behaviour for optimised sales results.
Personalise the shopping experience
A pen may look ordinary, but if it's personalised, it becomes a unique product. This approach is not reserved for luxury products. On the contrary, personalisation meets a universal emotional need: to feel valued. Our agency advises on personalisation strategies and adapting sales techniques to suit different customer profiles. For example, an online shopper will appreciate an intuitive buying process, while an in-store customer will be looking for personalised advice, with recommendations based on their specific expectations.
Continuous analysis, adjustment and optimisation
The sale of a simple pen can become a real case study for evaluating the effectiveness of a sales strategy. Which sales arguments generated the most positive responses? Which sales channel - physical shop, supermarket or e-commerce - proved the most effective for this type of product? Analysing shopper behaviour, gathering customer feedback and adjusting sales techniques on an ongoing basis are all essential practices.
At Service Innovation Group France, our support goes far beyond a final sale. We iteratively review and optimise sales strategies to boost our customers' market share and brand awareness. Our specialist teams collect and analyse field data in real time, enabling rapid and effective adjustments. Continuous performance analysis is one of the keys to ensuring sales growth by optimising results in every distribution channel.
So can you really sell a pen to just anyone?
The answer is more nuanced than it seems.
Knowing how to sell a product or service is based on an equation in which knowledge of the customer, mastery of sales techniques and adaptation to the distribution channel play an essential role. But selling is not about convincing someone to buy something they don't need. Above all, it's about understanding the needs of the person you're selling to so that you can offer them the best solution. Sales techniques evolve, but the fundamental principles remain the same. And knowing how to sell a pen means knowing how to sell much more: it means mastering the art of selling, whatever the product or the context.
So why has the pen become a textbook case? Because it is the symbol of controlled sales, where every interaction is designed to maximise customer satisfaction.
Selling is not a simple exchange of goods. It is a complex human interaction in which listening, empathy, understanding and authenticity play a key role.
And this is precisely what the sales force SIG offers you!
So, are you ready to entrust your sales to our experts? co*****@*******pe.com
