Softer Side of Selling

Secrets of the Softer Side of Selling

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
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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
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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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The Customer Is Always Right!

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The customer is always right … except when they aren’t. Has this ever happened to you? You enter the customer’s office with a smile and a ready handshake only to be greeted with a scowl and gruff hello. Then the customer unloads his frustration on you. But you know what the customer is saying is wrong. Great salespeople know not to argue but to ask questions to understand the customer’s assertion.

Occam's Razor says the simplest solution is best. Apply this principle to the Customer Is Always Right

Use Occam’s Razor To Prove The Customer Is Always Right
Image from Pixabay

The Value Of A Good Relationship

A solid, mutually respectful relationship is vital for winning and keeping business. When the customer has a problem, the first person they want to call is you, the sales person. It’s your job to sort out the issue and manage the resolution. Great salespeople remember Occam’s Razor: “All else being equal, the simplest solution is usually the best one.” to resolve a customer’s problem….

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Listen Up!

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Ever gotten to the end of a sales call and don’t see the next step? Can’t seem to get the information you need to qualify a prospect? When was the last time you lost control of the sales call? Great salespeople know how to ask effective questions and are skilled in active listening. They are skilled at the art of qualifying hard and closing easy.

Great Salespeople ask questions and listen actively

Active Listening Closes Sales
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Asking and Listening Is An Art

All successful selling is asking good, insightful questions and listening to the response. Then asking more questions and more listening. And again asking and listening until the great salesperson has enough information to make a successful presentation. Crafting and asking good questions is art. But understanding the different types of questions is important to the art of asking:

      • Open-ended questions
      • Closed-ended questions
      • Reversing questions
      • Clarifying questions

Great salespeople have the skill to use each type of question effectively….

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Fundamental Communication Styles

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Have you ever found yourself trying to relate to a decision maker who is anxiously awaiting your direct answer? Or being regaled by tales of adventures when you needed to get qualifying information? Maybe you didn’t realize the prospects communication style was different from yours. All of us enjoy conversations matching our style of communicating. Great salespeople know how to recognize the different fundamental communication styles. And they match their sales presentation to the prospects preferred style.

There are four fundamental communication styles: Driver, Expressive, Supportive and Analytical

Great Salespeople Use The Communication Style Of The Prospect
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Four Fundamental Communication Styles

Think about a chart with a horizontal axis measuring how responsive a person is. The scale from left to right varies from being quiet, reserved and task oriented to those who are outgoing, gregarious and people oriented. The vertical axis measures from top to bottom how assertive one is. At the top of the scale are those who dominate a conversation while at the bottom of the scale are those who are more amiable. The two scales laid out form four quadrants:

Chart showing the four communication styles: Driver, Expressive, Analytical and Supportive

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Life Long Learning Makes Great Salespeople

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Summer is over. The kids are back in school. Big yellow school busses with flashing red lights slow your commute. But that’s OK. You as a great salesperson believe in life long learning and are listening to a CD or a podcast to improve your selling skills.

The Big Yellow School Bus reminds great salespeople to always be learning

Great Sales People Are Always Learning And Improving
Image by Deedster from Pixabay

Take A Selling Skills Inventory

All of us have strengths and weaknesses. What are yours? Ask your mentor for an evaluation. Check with your colleagues for their opinion. Discuss your performance with a trusted customer. Think back to recent successes and failures. What did you learn about your selling skills from the wins and losses?

Life Long Learning Plan

The first step in improving your sales performance is to have a life long learning plan. Once you have an idea of the skills you want to improve decide how you will measure the improvement. If you need to make more sales calls, record the number of sales calls and rate your performance at each one. Should you need to ask better questions, plan each sales call with a list of questions to ask. After the meeting evaluate how effective your sales call was. Get accountability by involving your mentor or sales manager in your plan.

Pay Attention To Your Markets

Great salespeople not only study to improve their skills but also to see how the world is changing. Life long learning includes reading and discussing with your customers and colleagues where the markets you sell in are headed. Do you sell to automobile manufacturers? How will the transition from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles affect your business? Are you a labor-intensive construction business? How does the booming economy affect your ability to hire good workers? Great salespeople are aware of the “big picture” of their changing markets.

New Products In Your Pipeline?

Life long learning includes becoming expert in the products and services your company sells. What problems do these products or services solve for your customers? Learn the stories of how they have helped customers so you can use them in your sales presentations. How will product or service improvements help your current customers? Are there aspects of the current offerings your customers would like improved? Great salespeople invest time in learning the benefits of new products to sell.

Pay Attention To Technology

We live in world where the tools available to great salespeople are changing rapidly. Life long learning about the newest gadget and how it improves your selling skills is important. Equally important is learning to ignore distractions to productivity caused by the abundance of devices and applications. Great salespeople quickly learn the value of new tools.

What You Can Do Right Now

  • Evaluate your selling skills. (See page 13 in Secrets of the Softer Side of Selling for a sales skills inventory quiz.)
  • Make a life long learning plan and check your progress regularly.
  • Pay attention to what’s happening in your company and the market place.

To learn more sales secrets see Chapter Three, Being A Great Salesperson, in Secrets of the Softer Side of Selling. For even more sales help, join our FREE Sales Club! “See” you next week.

Good selling!
Don Crawford & Lois Carter Crawford