Sales... It Ain't What It Used to Be - Apr 14, 2010

Posted by: Stu Lipkin in Articles

As a business owner, executive, entrepreneur, salesperson, Girl Scout or just someone looking for a job or a mate, everyone has sold something at some point in their life.  Therefore, this article is focused on all of us that have been in a sales situation at one time or another. 

Most of us (including this author) believed that the proper way to sell your products, services or yourself, was to inundate the buyer with the benefits of your product or service until he/she was able to cost justify the purchase in their head.  Obviously, if you believed in the product/service you were selling, it would be easy to communicate these benefits so everyone will come to the same conclusion that you have.  If you had worked for IBM or Xerox back in the 60’s and 70’s and owned 90% of the market, it was a viable approach to the sales process.  Today, there are very few companies that can boast such an extreme market presence and even those that do will be the first to tell you the way they’ve developed it was to cultivate a trusted business relationship and “really listened to their customers.”

So what does this mean?  Everyone boasts that they listen to their customers and are customer service oriented.  There are thousands of surveys generated to help companies understand the needs of the customer and yet, in many instances, this information is wasted during the sales process.  Let’s start by defining the “traditional sales process.”

1. Prospect invites the salesperson to present the product/service and requests a quote.
2. Prospect seems enthusiastic but says either they need to think about it or will forward it to the boss for review and approval.
3. Continually chasing the prospect to determine the status and hopefully close the sale.

For those who have are still trying to sell under this method, you probably spend much of your day in step # 3 trying to close the deal.  How many phone messages and emails have you left with a prospect with no replies and yet you’re still optimistic that “today will be your day.” 

The lack of a relationship and trust leads to fear and negative assumptions concerning the salesperson and the product or service being offered.  The reality is that salespeople, in general , are viewed by the prospect  as non-trustworthy and only out to close the sale.  So the obvious answer to this approach is STOP SELLING AND START BY GAINING TRUST!  The first step in gaining trust is to stop selling and LISTEN to the needs of the prospect.  Reverse your role as a salesperson and become a consultant who is clearly interested in helping the prospect define the opportunity and find the best solution.  Continuously ask open ended questions that require the prospect to describe the scope of their needs and allow for both parties to understand the depth of the pain involved.  It’s important that you actively listen, acknowledge, take notes and routinely repeat and summarize key points. 

Although most of us like to think we make purchasing decisions based upon logic, it’s been proven time and again by the marketing industry that most decisions are based upon emotions at some level (i.e. color preference, social status, fear of not succeeding, relationship with salesperson, etc).  This being said, why do so many salespeople still resort to the feature/benefit sales process?  If you want to improve the results of your sales process, you must first change your behavior.

There are five basic steps for a sound sales process.

1. CHECK YOUR EGO AT THE DOOR.  This is not a process of who’s right and wrong.  This process may require you to “take the bullet” in order for the prospect to discover the “right solutions” for them.  Of course, there’s nothing wrong with assisting them to find those answers.
2. GET THE PROSPECT INVOLVED IMMEDIATELY.  Many salespeople say they want to partner with the prospect and then turn around and give the solutions.  The better approach is to explain to them that the best solution for their needs requires their direct input.  In that way, they are truly a partner in not only the solution, but in developing a solution that meets their budget.
3. NO GUESSING.  How can anyone help develop a solution without all the pertinent information (including budget).  A key component to partnering with the prospect is to be sure to gain their trust and then explain that in order to provide them with the best solution(s); you will need to understand all of their needs and how much money they’re willing to spend.  Everyone can build a Taj Mahal with unlimited budgets.  Unfortunately, most solutions don’t allow that.
4. LET’S GET REAL.  Stop telling yourself that every prospect is willing to buy just because they’ve asked you to present or requested a proposal/bid.  A good salesperson should be able to identify early on in the process what opportunities are real and which ones are being used to negotiate with the competition.  The faster you learn the intentions of the prospect, the quicker you can focus your time on real opportunities.
5. GET A DECISION.  Ultimately, the sales process ends with a decision.  Not all decisions will be in your favor.  However, a “NO” is still a decision and allows you again to focus on other opportunities. 

In summary, salespersons will be more effective when they stop selling the features/benefits and change their role to that of a consultant.   Earning the trust of the prospect and becoming an active listener will dramatically increase your closing sales ratio.  The sales cycle begins and ends with YOU!

I would like to thank Bill Hogan (mailto:wdhogan@comcast.net) of the Hogan Leadership Group for his coaching and guidance and his book Stop Selling soon available as an eBook.  Both have been instrumental to me.

(877) 4-B2BCFO

info@b2bcfo.com

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