Softer Side of Selling

Secrets of the Softer Side of Selling

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Will 2020 Be Better Than 2019?

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This year is almost over. Maybe you are completing a few year-end deals to help your valuable customers spend some budget balances. But mostly it’s done. Great salespeople are planning now to make 2020 even better than this year.

Woman jumping across a chasm to illustrate good planning

Never Plan To Leap A Gap In Two Bounds
Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay

Why Plan?

Yeah, I know no matter how well you plan it never works out that way. My favorite answer to why plan is from General Eisenhower. This is what he said about planning: “In planning for battle I have found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” Great salespeople know that the process of planning prepares them for the challenges of finding and creating customers for life….

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Sell With Integrity

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Lois and I recently spent a few lovely days with Shel Horowitz and his wife Dina Friedman at their home. Lois, my wife, had known Shel for many years but this was the first time we had the pleasure of spending time with them in person. While it was mostly a social visit we did talk about business. We all had the same philosophy to sell with integrity. Shel has written many marketing books. He gave me one co-authored with Jay Conrad Levinson: “Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green”. In chapter five they discuss “Sales the Right Way”.

Great salespeople sell with integrity

Great Salespeople Have High Ethical Standards and Sell with Integrity
Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay

What Is The Right Way To Sell?

Shel, Jay and I have similar views on the right way to sell. Focus on prospects with a high probability to win the work, pay attention to match your communication style to the prospect, ask good questions, practice active listening, and sell with integrity.

What Is Integrity?

My short answer is doing the right things the right way at the right time for the right reason. We have …

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Great Salespeople Are Thankful

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This blog was first posted at Thanksgiving 2019. Thanksgiving is a holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. Thanksgiving is also celebrated at different times in many other countries. The early Thanksgiving celebrations were to pause and show gratitude for the harvest of the previous year and the sacrifices making it possible. In our family we gather with friends and relatives to mark the day with pleasant conversation, sumptuous food and of course a glass (or two) of wine. As we enjoy the meal together we take turns saying what we are particularly grateful for.

Great Salespeople Celebrate Their Success

Great Salespeople Are Thankful
Image by GraphicMama-team from Pixabay

A Grateful Attitude

Great salespeople approach their work and their life with a grateful attitude. They don’t presume success as they begin each sales pursuit. But at each step along the path to winning the deal they are thankful. Even when success seems remote, great salespeople celebrate the lessons learned from the failure. Like those early Thanksgiving celebrations for a bountiful harvest, great salespeople appreciate the journey to sales victory. Although we celebrate each accomplishment along the way, great salespeople defer gratification until the deal is done….

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When The Buyer Is A I Want To Think It Over Type

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There I was in the final minutes of the presentation. Heads were nodding “yes”. The body language was positive. So I asked for the order and got: “That was a great presentation. You answered all our questions. Looks like it will solve our problem. Let us think it over and we will give you a call.” I was young and naïve. I waited for the call that never came. Over time I learned never to accept “I want to think it over.”

Great Salespeople Work Hard To Prevent A Buyer Being A "I Want To Think It Over" Type

Great Salespeople Work Hard To Prevent IWTTIO
Image from Pixabay

The Close Begins At The Beginning

Great salespeople know that the opening sales conversation begins the close. And when the sales process is followed the close naturally follows. So if we have identified a problem we can solve, understand what the problem is costing the prospect, proven competence in solving this type of problem and proposed a solution within budget when we ask the decision maker for the order they just say “yes”. Yep, that’s true most of the time. But when we miss a step or something changes during the sales cycle, that’s when we get stuck in limbo with “I want to think it over.”…

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Selling Against The Status Quo

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I was reading chapter Six in The Seller’s Challenge by Thomas Williams & Thomas Saine (Tom&Tom). This informative chapter about selling against the status quo reminded me that unless there is a compelling reason to change a prospect won’t. Great salespeople not only need to find or create pain in a prospect but be able to convince them to use your solution.

Selling Against The Status Quo Means Helping The Prospect Make The Leap From Competition To You

Selling Against The Status Quo Means Making The Leap To You
Image by Igor Link from Pixabay

Finding The Pain

Create enough pain and the prospect will likely change. Or the prospect may already be in pain and recognizes the need to make a change. While pain is experienced emotionally as frustration, fear of failure or job insecurity, the source of pain is rational. Buyers are looking to solve problems of existing bad service, poorly functioning business processes, market changes, etc. Great salespeople ask good questions to find the source and severity of the pain….

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Understand The Competition

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Great salespeople take the time to understand the competition. Like winning sports teams look at films and data on their competition, you need to know all you can about the competition. By cataloging the strengths and weaknesses of the competition great salespeople know how to position themselves to win the deal.

Great salespeople understand the competition to position themselves to win the work

Great Salespeople Study The Competition ‘s Strengths And Weaknesses
Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay

Who Is A Competitor?

The simple answer is any other company who wants the same business with a customer as you do. They either are the incumbent supplier to a company you want to gain business with or a company looking to take business away from you. Sometimes the customer can be seen as type of competitor when they are reluctant to change from the status quo regardless of the current problems….

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Qualify Hard – Close Easy

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Most sales are made way before the great salesperson asks for the order. That’s what I mean by qualify hard – close easy. Think back over your most successful sales. When did you know the prospect was going to buy from you? What conversations did you have before you felt the commitment? Did you really have to ask for the order?

Great Salespeople Win When They Qualify Hard – Close Easy

Great Salespeople Win When They Qualify Hard – Close Easy
Image from Pixabay

The Journey To Close

My sales experience has been with products having long sales cycles. So I had to “qualify hard” over many sales meetings. When I asked good questions and listened well, I found the prospect usually convinced themselves my solution was a good deal. I understood their decision making process. I had a good relationship with the decision maker and his team. We had a common understanding of the problem they wanted to solve and the amount the prospect felt was a reasonable to invest. Great salespeople have a process to qualify hard – close easy….

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The Art Of Business-To-Business Networking

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Business-to-business networking is more than schmoozing. Ever been to one of those business gatherings and found cliques of people chatting among themselves? Did you ever wander into a room full of business people only to be overwhelmed by the large crowd? Or as a great salesperson have you mastered the art of business-to-business networking?

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What Is Business-To-Business Networking?

Great salespeople look for the opportunity to meet new prospects in a variety of places. They enjoy introducing themselves to potential customers. Sometimes they exchange ideas and take away new knowledge to make them better salespeople. Business-to-business networking is simply meeting with other like-minded people in a formal or casual setting for the purpose of finding new prospects or ideas. Some networking events are small and informal organized by an interested salesperson. Others are formal and require a group membership or registration fee. Trade groups have market focused networking events. Chambers of commerce networking events are more broadly attended….

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Do You Sell A Commodity Product?

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Buyers consider a product as a commodity when there is no differentiation between brands or sellers. So what do they base their buying decision on? Price! Buyers pit sellers against each other to get the lowest price on a commodity product. But there are great salespeople who are very successful selling commodity products.

Three components of each purchase are quality, service and price

Develop Your USP For Commodity Products On One Component Of The Buying Experience
Image from Pixabay

Break The Commodity Product Mentality

We say there are three components to each purchase: quality, service and price. Buyers can’t get all three but they can choose which two are most important. Commodity products vary by quality. Copy paper made from recycled material is different than that made from new pulp, for example. But the same branded item purchased from multiple distributors has the same quality. So to break the commodity mentality about a product great salespeople focus on service and price….

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Fixing A Broken Relationship

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It happens. Years of a mutually beneficial relationship come to an end because your company screwed up and caused irreparable harm to the customer. But great salespeople know “I’ll never buy from you again” never lasts forever. Like Yoda, the legendary Jedi Master from Star Wars, great salespeople are wise and patient. They watch for opportunities for fixing a broken relationship.

Like Yoda, the legendary Jedi Master from Star Wars great salespeople are wise and patient.

Great Salespeople are Wise And Patient.
Image from Pixabay

Watch For Opportunity

Time heals all wounds, it has been said. Rose Kennedy had a slightly different take. She said the wounds remain but the pain lessens. Same happens in broken business relationships. Remember, at some point the relationship was mutually beneficial. Great salespeople keep in touch with past customers. They look for opportunities to rebuild the relationship….

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