Sales As A Profession

The assumption that sales aptitude is born instead of learned coupled with the unrelenting stereotype of a mythological and unscrupulous used car salesman has built a culture of shame amongst sales professionals who should be holding their heads high amongst the more traditionally lauded members of the highly paid white collar caste.  It doesn’t either that the intricacies of your product knowledge and industry expertise in casual conversation do little to captivate anyone other than potential buyers themselves.  Still, it is time that the Salesman claims his due regard as the universal driving force of business development.  Bankers, lawyers, and accountants beware!

 

Listen in during introductions in any upwardly mobile social gathering, and you will surely see that there is a direct relationship between the number of certificates on an office wall and eagerness to share auto-biographical professional details.  The Salesman is a charming and equally proficient provider for his family, but he’d rather not get into the details of his profession for fear of drawing the conversation into an inevitable dead end.  Members of the legal, medical, financial services and myriad other immediately recognizable professions get conciliatory nods of approval just for identifying their industry.  The Salesman waits for his turn to come and says “I’m in sales” or possibly “I’m in insert product category sales” while praying internally for a lack of follow up questions.  Then, it comes, “Oh, what do you sell?”, and the Salesman searches for the right words to gain understanding quickly without seeming standoffish or spurring further questions.  All because he makes his money by persuading people to purchase a product that he strongly believes will be to their benefit.  This trend of self-suppression can only be reversed by a concerted effort to declare our collective profession with pride.  “I’m in sales, so I help people find the insert product type that best suits their needs!”

 

Perhaps I’m being over idealistic and self-righteous, but I’m not slinking away anymore.  Who’s coming with me?

Rules 28 - 30 From The List


28. Constantly seek referrals. Every prospect is an opportunity for additional prospects.

Opportunity is everywhere if you just bother to seek it out.  Your network truly is your net worth, and who you know is still more important than what you know.  Both clichés for sure, but whether speaking with your oldest customer or newest prospect, there is an appropriate circumstance in which to solicit their endorsement for a valuable trip through their rolodex.

Start with the lowest hanging fruit of loyal established customers.  If they’ve volunteered to serve as a reference or stuck with you through adversity when they could have easily saved some pain by jumping ship to the competition, they surely think highly enough of you and your product to help you build a bridge to their contacts when simply asked nicely.  Reach out and let them know that you value their business and would appreciate an introduction to anyone they know who shares their purchasing influence and professional standards. 

New customers and prospects take a more proactive approach to seeking referrals, but their inherently closer proximity to the decision making process tends to reap more immediate rewards.  They don’t have a track record of satisfaction to draw upon, so make them more likely to open doors by incentivizing them to do so.  Come up with a kickback program that rewards referring customers for their endorsements.  Very few business decisions are made without counsel, so a prospect may be compelled to move first and bring on board the rest of the crowd if made comfortable that they won’t regret the putting their stamp on your name.

Even lost deals can be a source of referrals. “Hey, I know this didn’t work out, but can you point me towards anyone you are familiar with who might be a better fit?”  The worst case is they turn you down, but you had nothing to lose anyway.

Constantly seek referrals.  Then seek referrals from referrals.  Repeat.


29. Honor the process and review your checklist constantly.

Every sales program needs to have a logical and repeatable process if there is to be any chance of sustainable success.  Presumably, this was handed down by your manager during training or laid out on your own before any attempt to bring a product to market.  If you can’t define your process, stop everything and map out the steps from initial contact to closed sale immediately.

Now, assuming this process is at least theoretically in place, it should be the first place you look when sales fall off pace.  Either the process needs revamping or you’ve let yourself get out of the habit of following it adequately.  Most likely, if the process worked in recent history, you’ve gotten away from executing on the plan that has made you successful in the past. 

Review your recent behavior to be sure you’re following the process from start to finish.  If you’re not, the fix to your sales troubles could be as simple as going back to the basics.  If you are, the market may have changed, and it’s time to revise the plan.

Ensuring that you are honoring the process is step one in troubleshooting recent failure.  Revisiting the process when it’s failing over a long period is step two.  Remembing Rule 24 is step 3.


30. Proactively contact customers to maintain the relationship.

Disasters happen and tastes change.  You want to know about both before they occur, or at least be in the loop when they do.  It’s called loyalty, and you can’t build it retroactively.

The nature of your relationship building efforts depends largely on the industry.  In high ticket low volume sales, schedule monthly ‘status update’ meetings.  It could be as simple as lunch or a conference call.  In low ticket high volume sales, you may need to work hand-in-hand with Marketing to develop a feedback loop through newsletters, gifts or personalized emails/letters. 

Do whatever you can to stay informed and in front of customers without being intrusive.  Ongoing relationships become friendships beyond that of ‘my sales guy’, and nobody want to turn their back on a friend.  Build the relationship.  Build loyalty.  Built revenue.  Churn and burn won’t get it done, especially with competitors more than willing to court your beau. 

 

Rules 25 - 27 From The List

25. If it’s not documented, then you didn’t do it.

Your memory can’t be trusted. Maintaining the habit of keeping detailed notes on every exchange will prevent you from falling back on the crutch of using a generic pitch when you should be focusing on the specific details that you previously felt were essential to making that deal a reality.  Especially in high volume sales, it’s hard to follow up effectively when you fail to provide yourself with mental clues on what to ask and where to shine the spotlight. 

Timeframe.  Budget. Purchasing motivation. Key selling points.  Tone of the conversation.  Next steps in the sales process.  Competing products they may be investigating.  These are the types of details that need to be inputted into your CRM tool or another place where you store notes for future reference.  Come up with a personal system to codify these details so that you ensure all of the information you need is captured to be referenced in the same order every time.  Make it a template that can be relied upon as a refresher for every opportunity in your pipeline. 

Keeping your calendar constantly updated and adhered to is equally important.  Otherwise all those notes may go to waste.  As I said in rule 21, scheduling an event is how you make it real.  Plus, your boss is at some point or another going to ask for insight on your progress and procedures, and you want to provide yourself the opportunity to show that you are logically and effectively moving along every opportunity towards a sale. 

Documenting everything keeps you on track for success with the evidence to prove it.

26. Eye contact and a handshake will get you in the door. Empathy will keep you there.

Sales professionals are generally skilled enough socially to make a first impression that gains their agenda at least the appearance of some attention.  A trustworthy or attractive exterior may in itself be enough to get you the sitdown, but charm alone is rarely enough to sail you through the deal.  Once you’re across the table, displaying an understanding of and solution for their needs is what will keep you looking glossy.

It comes down to the same sage advice that’s been working since the beginning of time: ‘Put yourself in the customer’s shoes.’  It’s not sexy or original, but you have to get out of your own head and into theirs to be effective in sales. 

If you don’t already understand their perspective, ask for help.  Try phrases like “Help me understand how…” or “Can you tell me about why…”  Prospects will appreciate your willingness to explore their processes and concerns while revealing the key selling points you should stress when it’s time to go for the close.  And once you feel comfortable with their situation, tell them about that too with phrases like “I understand that…” and “I appreciate how…” 

Just because they like you initially doesn’t mean they’ll buy.  Look at the problem from the customer’s angle to maintain the momentum of a positive first impression. 

27. If you can’t make a physical connection, make up for it with sincerity over the phone.

Just about any non-retail sale involves some level of communication over the phone where dreamy eyes and a nice smile can’t be relied upon.   This is why many successful outside sales professionals struggle when they come into a strictly inside sales role.  Sincerity of tone and content are your best weapons to compensate for the lack of physical interaction.

One of the advantages afforded by the phone is that enthusiasm can be easily faked.   Sounding like you care is easier than looking the part, especially when you’re not having your best day.  Simply standing up and painting a smile on your face while on the phone is enough to manufacture an enthusiastic tone under just about any circumstance.  Inside sales is no place to get self-conscious about the cheese factor….

The same phrases that worked in rule 26 work to convey sincerity over the phone.  Ask for help understanding their predicament, and constantly affirm your concern for exceeding their goals.

Keep your phone voice enthusiastically discussing solutions to real needs. You won’t miss the travel and dress up required for face-to-face prospecting and appointments.

Rules 22 - 24 From The List

22. Leave your full name and contact information twice on all voicemails.

The logic of this rule should be fairly self-evident.  Give the prospect two shots at deciding whether or not your information is worth recording, and two shots at getting the details right amongst background noise, poor pronunciation and other audio distortions.  There’s no sense making it easy to blow you off by providing just a single, possibly inaudible, version of how to reach you.

Do yourself a favor by spacing out the information too.  The easiest way to do this is to state your name and number once before your purpose for calling and once after.  As for the reason for calling, let’s move on to rule 23.


23. Follow up with a purpose. Never just ‘touch base’ or ‘check in’.

There is a pervasive tendency, especially among B2B sales professionals, to chicken out from asking what you really want to know by instead ‘touching base’ or ‘checking in’.  A small minority of sales professionals are in the baseball or hotel business, so I don’t know why we say these things.  State your purpose directly instead of dancing around the point in hopes of stumbling into the information you desire.

Don’t come up with safe substitutes either.  The most common example of this would be calling to confirm the receipt of a proposal when you really want to know how seriously it is being considered.  Or asking to know if they have any questions when you really want to be the one doing the asking. 

If you want to know how far along the prospect is in making their decision, just ask casually and directly.  The answer will tell you where you stand and how best to position yourself for future success. 


24. There is no substitute for persistence.

There just isn’t. Each attempt at gaining the attention of someone whose good graces you covet will incrementally increase the likelihood that you will be given the chance to prove yourself of value. Working people appreciate hard work, and everyone enjoys the process of being wooed.

It is better to be noticed and shooed away than to never be acknowledged at all.  Now quit messing around online and get back out there!

Rules 19 - 21 From The List


19. Dismiss the competition as inferior or jealous. Never take the bait to bash.

When the conversation steers towards the competition, taking the high road by focusing on your product’s comparative strengths rather than the competition’s alleged weaknesses makes you seem honest and knowledgeable - good. Taking the low road by trashing their product and reputation makes you seem desperate and bitter - bad.

Good: "Our product uses less energy that theirs, which saves you money."

Bad: "Their product uses way too much energy, which is a clear indicator of poor design."

Good: "A big difference between the two products is that ours is made here in the United States, so you know it has been held to the most rigid standards of quality and regulatory compliance."

Bad: "Those guys have their product built in some other country, so it’s obviously a cheap piece of crap."

If the competition is bashing you, that’s great. Now you can ask, “Why do you think they’re bashing us? Because their product is better, or because badmouthing is the only way they can compete?” You come out looking like the hero.

Stay out of the gutter by speaking about comparative advantages. Slinging mud just makes you dirty.


20. Close on every contact by asking for the decision.

The old adage holds true, “If you don’t ask, you don’t get.” And the competition is busily doing their job keeping both eyes on the prize, so you have a responsibility as sales professionals to actively pursue the deal on every opportunity. Failure to do so would be negligent and costly.

Please note that this rule does not implicate that you should necessarily ask for the deal on every contact. It says ‘decision’ for a reason. The decision you seek on this particular interaction may be a far lesser consideration than a financial commitment. In fact, in the early stages of relationship building, you probably shouldn’t be asking for the money. For example, you might be asking for the next appointment, permission to access information that leads to a proposal or a firm timeline for making the final purchasing decision.

A more formal foray into closing techniques will have its day in subsequent posts. Developing a style and pattern of success is crucial over time, but first you must be dedicated to asking for the incremental decisions that ultimately lead to a close.


21. Always give a specific time to reconnect instead of a vague timeframe. Set an appointment.

I came to a turning point in my while life listening to a Tony Robbins CD on a road trip in college when Tony said, “If you schedule it, you make it real.” Every goal I have accomplished (starting a sales blog, for example) has happened because I set a timeline and stuck to it. Saying ‘you’ll get to it when you get it’ does not get the job done, and this applies to sales as well as any other part of life.

If you tell the prospect that you will call them “sometime next week”, you are leaving the next step in the sales process up to chance. If you tell the prospect that you will call them Tuesday at 4 and send a calendar or email reminder, it is far more likely that they will prepare for and answer your call. After all, they have made a commitment to this time as much as you have by agreeing to the appointment. And if you have to leave a message, you have the heavy hand of guilt on your side because “I thought we had an appointment, and now I can’t find you” is better than “I was hoping to catch you” when you are trying to elicit a return call.

The same holds true for making physical meeting appointments. Do not leave your last meeting without nailing down the next. Even if the prospect is secretly trying to blow you off, they probably will not do it to your face. So ask for the appointment, and let them cancel if they must. At least you can clear the opportunity out of your pipeline instead of wasting time trying to schedule an appointment that will never get made.

Vague timeframes leave deals lingering or lost. Appointments keep the opportunity progressing until it is real. Closed and real.

Rules 16 - 18 From The List


16. Solution ≠ Product. Speak to their pain by presenting solutions to problems.

Lazy sales people let themselves fall into the habit of presenting their product with the same generic pitch every time.  This inevitably leads to rattling off a list of features and capabilities that could have easily been read from a brochure the prospect lifted off your website.  Instead of focusing on a specific issue, this is a shotgun strategy: Throw everything out there at once and you’ll probably hit something. 

Diligent sales people realize that generic pitches get generic results.  They listen to the prospect’s (rule 14) answers to open ended questions (rule 15) to determine the core set of problems/needs, and they direct sniper-like focus on how their product can be a viable solution to these specific issues.  Note: Snipers don’t use shotguns.

Don’t waste time losing the prospects interest blabbing on about issues that they don’t find important.  Maximize your window of opportunity by committing to a laser focus on the problems the person is trying to solve and the needs they need to fulfill. 


17. Note and constantly reference the core selling points.

Executing on rule 16 entails constantly reminding the prospect why you are having a conversation in the first place.  Keep banging away at how you can solve their problems until they feel obligated to make the purchase in order to satisfy their own stated demands.

If the prospect told you they want to save money, forget the bells and whistles and focus on saving them money.  If they complain about their last vendor’s poor customer service, stress your organization’s commitment to customer satisfaction.  If they tell you they want more bang for their buck with latest technology, now it’s time to focus on the innovative functionality of what you have to offer. 

Listen to the clues on what this person wants to buy and how.  Make note of these clues for future reference.  And remind them of how you solve their problems.  It’s not complicated.  It just takes discipline.


18. Use examples to explain benefits.

Turn the hypothetical and boring into the relevant and exciting by driving a point home with real-life examples.  This means using the names, figures and circumstances previously mentioned in your dialog to illustrate the benefit of what you have to offer.  Nothing helps build the ‘ah-ha’ moment of understanding like hearing their story played the way they’d like to hear it.

Instead of ‘saving companies an average of 50% compared with other providers’, ‘save (insert company name) 48% compared with what they are currently paying (insert name of current vendor)’.  Instead of making the warehouse manager’s job easier through automation, help Cliff better control inventory by tracking crates of widgets instantly.  Every detail helps bring your solution to life.

This person needs to understand that your offering adds value to their unique situation. So don’t be vague.  Tell them directly through examples. 

Rules 13 - 15 From The List


13. Admit when you don’t know. Find the answer. Close with it.

As discussed in rule #1, “I don’t know” can be a sales disaster turned opportunity given proper execution. The goal as an educated sales professional is to have all the answers on hand (again rule #1), but, inevitably, situations arise where you just don’t have all the info. Amateurs will submit to their initial temptation to concoct a plausible answer hoping to get away with the ruse. Professionals will acknowledge their shortcoming while keeping in mind that the situation is setting itself up for an opportunity to go above and beyond the call of duty and follow up with a purpose.

If you don’t know, (a) admit it, (b) assure the prospect that you will find out, and (c) follow up with the answer. The prospect will appreciate your honesty and willingness to work for the privilege of their business. It’s a natural opportunity to build trust as an asset who’s helping them make the most well informed decision possible. Plus, it elongates the dialog for more mindshare during the purchasing process.

Don’t ruin your trust by chancing a made up answer. Build trust by admitting you don’t know.


14. Keep the conversation 65% buyer / 35% seller.

Probably the most insipid assumption about proper sales technique is that the sales person should do all the talking. You can’t tell a person what they need to hear without learning about them first, which is why great sales people are better listeners than talkers.

While gurus will debate the proper ratio of talking to listening, all will agree that the buyer should do the majority of the talking. It helps them feel in control while actually revealing how to steer them towards a deal. My opinion is that speaking for under 30% of the conversation is getting dominated and more than 40% is a clue that you’re being too domineering. Regardless of measurement, getting the prospect to express their needs and motivations at the outset of the relationship is crucial to formulating your pitch. Keeping their communication flowing clues you in on their thought process as you come closer to a purchasing decision. And maintaining this trend through the close helps the buyer feel good about making a controlled decision.

So, it’s clear that you should do more listening than talking. See rule 15 for how to make it happen.


15. Ask open-ended questions to keep building a database of buying wants/needs.

People hear the term ‘open ended questions’ and it seems to go largely misunderstood. The very basic goal is to ask the buyer questions that don’t let them get away with uninformative answers. Questions that start with ‘what’ ‘how’ and ‘why’ are better at eliciting responses that reveal motivations and needs than the more limited ‘who’ ‘where’ and ‘when’. If you can’t think of a question, simply instruct them to ‘tell you about’ whatever you want to know. Then, once you’ve gotten the easy surface level information out of the way, ask ‘what else’. Constantly ask questions and seek information about what this person needs in order to feel comfortable moving ahead with a deal.

‘What would you like to see in..?“ “How do you plan to..?” “Why are you looking for a…” These are questions that can’t be answered with a simple yes or no. They are questions that cut down to the buying motivations and pain points of a prospect suddenly eager to share.

Keep digging too. After a long explanation of buying needs, have the wherewithal to ask “and then what?”. Don’t stop asking questions until you feel confident that every drop of useful information has been extracted.

Document each answer in your notes or CRM as soon as possible for future reference. They are all clues in putting together the puzzle of how this person will buy. More on this in rule 16.