Stimulus-Response Approach for Chemical Dependency Program

Question :

You have been asked to create a sales presentation about a chemical dependency program to the employee assistance professional of a large company.

What might the presentation look like if you use the stimulus-response approach?

Answer :

Stimulus-response approach for chemical dependency program

The sales presentation based on stimulus response will have contents that gets continued affirmation from the listeners. The presentation will have questions and statements that directs the listeners towards answering yes successively. The successive affirmation will further help to get affirmative response to the whole sales proposition. This method will require that the presenter has completely memorized the presentation and can deliver each sentence or question form memory. Canned sales presentations are used most often as effective tools when implementing stimulus response strategy (Avila & Inks, 2017). 

The messages in the presentation have to be logically structured in a predefined order to elicit intended response. However, if the dealing is with professional buyers who are well versed with tools of trade, then it can get somewhat challenging to crack the deal. Another reason for the ineffectiveness of this method is the situation where the buyer is trying to play an active role in sales pitch. The to and fro exchange of questions and answers breaks the flow and the method fails to become effective. This method lacks flexibility and this is its disadvantage. Therefore, until and unless the sales person is not dominantly delivering the presentation, it can be ineffective due to interruptions. 

This approach is best suited for low stake decisions where the decision maker can make instant decisions (Wardaya, 2016). Chemical dependency program is a high stake decision making aspect, and, therefore, it is likely that the interruptions may arise during the presentation. However, the presenter can make an effort to delay the presentation interruptions by clarifying initially that all the questions will be taken in the end. 

References

Avila, R. A., & Inks, S. A. (2017). The evolution of the sales process: Relationship selling versus the challenger sales.

Wardaya, M. (2016). Marketing communication strategy through social media to increase children book sales.