THE ART OF SELLING
Format DVD and supporting materials
Price £1,299 (excl. VAT)
From Video Arts
Contact www.videoarts.com
Tel: 0845 601 2531
The past year has seen Video Arts release a lot of inventive, but collaborative, material drawing on established TV shows, such as The Apprentice.
This new release sees Video Arts back on the territory it made its own: a warm and humorous film starring well-known, but not stellar, character actors. These include the ubiquitous grand Dane Sandi Toksvig, who does the voiceover.
Her comforting tones lead us through The Art of Selling, which uses right and wrong scenarios to teach the four key stages of selling in both retail and financial situations. These are: winning the customer’s confidence; discovering their need; the importance of product knowledge; and closing the sale. The package repeats the mantra of how to create opportunities to increase sales and why it is important to listen to the customer.
This has something for everyone, as it looks at many different scenes, which all sales staff can relate to. We visit a department store, a DIY store, financial services and a shoe shop. With an eye on major markets, however, Video Arts has included specific DVD extras for both the retail and financial sales – these cover areas such as handling complaints and dealing with obnoxious customers.
The film’s aims are transparent throughout: once we view the wrong way to approach the sale, it is easy to anticipate what the right way will be. But I don’t see this transparency as a bad thing. A training department could use it with confidence for any staff member who deals with customers. It easily achieves its aim of ensuring that staff who deal with customers learn the key skills, techniques and behaviours of selling.
I also felt that the demographics were handled well – the range of actors ticked all the diversity boxes. The support materials are comprehensive and make the package viable as either a self-taught or course option.
This is a solid product, and because of its general and accessible nature, which make it equally suitable for induction courses as well as refresher material, it offers plenty of mileage.
Relevance? five out of five
Interactivity? three out of five
Value for money? five out of five
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