Jan 13 2008
Customers Are Persuaded When They Are Part Of The Process And Not Part Of The Audience
Sales success to-day demands a radical shift from the ‘peddler’ mentality of merely demonstrating products and expanding on their features. It requires treating the customer as a participant. More often than not, a ‘flashy’ sales presentation alone alienates rather than persuades.
The best salespeople regard the sales call as a two-way conversation - not a one sided pitch. They have developed active listening skills and although average salespeople score fairly well in their ability to provide customers with facts and figures, top performers dramatically outscore the rest when it comes to gathering information. In addition, how a salesperson collects information still distinguishes exceptional achievers from the rest of the pack. Top performers ask better questions and as a result gain much better information. Essentially, they aim to engage customers in the buying process with questions that require thoughtful answers, that stimulate curiosity and that reveal the customers underlying needs.
Businesses need to re-define selling and what constitutes basic selling skills:
In to-day’s world of selling, there is less and less room for apprenticeship. Selling has become an exclusive club of highly skilled professionals where product knowledge and time management skills, for instance, are the cost of membership not leadership.
Ongoing research demonstrates that to-day’s ‘average’ salesperson is just as effective as the high performer in explaining features and benefits effectively, relating a service or product to customer needs and closing a sale. But, above this Level 1 plateau of competence, the exceptional salesperson is busy defining the “basic skills of tomorrow”
Building an up-to-date foundation in sales competence does mean sacrificing some old notions of what it takes to succeed in a competitive marketplace. For example, a salesperson can no longer just “win by knowing”. Every company needs to test their assumptions about what skills really contribute to sales success. Too often operating on old sales theories means training and rewarding people to do the wrong things.
When The Buyer And Seller Act As Partners, They Are Building A Bridge To Profitability:
Successful selling is definitely not about the “hit and run” sale. Sales achievers regard their relationships with key customers as a partnership and cultivate it as such. When customers face tough business challenges and complex technological choice, they rely on sales people who can assist them in making the right decisions.
The primary objective of a sales partnership has to be, to create and sustain a mutually productive relationship, which serves the needs of both parties, now and in the future. The key word here is symbiotic. Partnership does not mean eliminating the tension between buyer and seller; it means that top-performing salespeople know how to strike a balance between achieving immediate results and developing the relationship fully.
In Summary: Why Do We Need A Fresh Approach To Selling?
Many organisations have developed without objective analysis of their purpose and structure. The buying power in many industries is no longer evenly distributed - in a large number of markets a few big firms control the majority of purchases.
The development of new marketing techniques has meant that some tasks traditionally performed by the sales team can be more effectively handled by other methods. The prime objective of all sales staff is to gain business. From an organisational point of view, however, how they all achieve their goals must be defined in order to identify what kind and the quality of skills that are required.
Today’s News: Free Online Sales Webinar!
Mark your calendars to join Razi Imam, CEO, Landslide Technologies Inc. and his guest Paul McCord of McCord and Associates at 1PM EST on January 16, 2008, as they discuss why mega-sales producers don’t spend a fortune on direct mail or advertising and countless hours cold calling or networking at the Chamber of Commerce. View the Full Webinar Description and Register Now!
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Tomorrow: On the JF Guest Author Spot - a welcome return for my good buddy, best-selling author and leadership guru, Kevin Eikenberry.
