What buttons will you need to press? Once you start to explore and understand your personality and your that of your buyers, you can learn to adapt to each sales situation and enhance your sales success.
For some, the art side will naturally be easier, for others the science or process. For each of us, it’s about finding the right combination of both which gets you the results you want in the way that best fits your style and personality. Nothing false, nothing uncomfortable, it’s about finding a winning sales formula that works for you over and over again.
2. Sales output is related to input. You get out of it what you put in.
Selling is a measurable, quantifiable activity – if you do x consistently, you should get y, assuming a, b and c. If you don’t, you won’t! Selling is to a certain extent still a numbers game, though a focus on quality and not just quantity is highly recommended for maximum return on time invested. The basic laws of averages and probability apply, i.e. the more frequently you connect with quality prospects, the greater the chance of a positive outcome. Sitting, waiting and hoping that the world will beat a path to your door is naive and costly. If you put the input in and take action, you will get the output you deserve – otherwise, zero!
3. Selling is not marketing, marketing is not selling.
No big lectures or fancy definitions in relation to sales and marketing. Simply recognise that effective marketing will help identify and attract a customer’s interest but on its own may not result in a sale (in internet selling where there is no seller involvement, different rules may apply). Selling is the transactional side of marketing – it’s what brings the money in. Investing in marketing activity without considering the sales or conversion side is money flushed down the pan! Real return on your marketing investment requires a robust sales process and positive proactive sales people (or person) focused on conversion. Marketing can be vanity [1] , sales are sanity, and repeat business is king!
4. Telling is not selling
Finding potential customers and telling them what you do is not selling – that’s dumping information, which is a real turn-off. The good news is you don’t have to have the gift of the gab to sell successfully, in fact this can be a real barrier. You need to learn to zip your lips and listen. Some of the key skills you need to develop to be an effective seller are:
Questioning skills or exploring your customer’s needs,
Listening skills or understanding what your buyer is saying (and not saying), and
Matching skills or mapping your particular product or service to each particular and unique sales situation and buyer.
5. You cannot close what’s not closable. If the shoe fits… sold!
When we talk about naturally gifted sales people, we often say things like “he could sell ice to the Eskimos” or “oil to the Arabs”. Behind this lies the mistaken belief that great selling means you could sell something to someone even if they didn’t want or need it. True, there are some people who could do this but is this the kind of business you are trying to build? This is short-term gain and long-term pain – annoyed customer, no repeat business and negative word of mouth.
The real skill you are after is the ability to get the right shoe to fit the right foot. You are out there as a matchmaker; identifying customers who have needs that you can match perfectly or at least better than the alternatives. Your job is to make sure the shoe fits and then close the deal! If it doesn’t fit or if the customer believes it doesn’t fit, then no amount of cajoling or sales banter will result in a happy customer. Just someone wearing badly fitted and uncomfortable shoes.
6. No is ok. Every no brings you closer to yes.
Start embracing no and think “Great, another no out of the way, yes must be around the corner!” Once you decide to get proactive and not sit back and wait for business to come to you, an inevitable outcome will be people saying no. The honest truth is not everyone out there needs you, just some people, some of the time and that’s ok. Your challenge is to manage your no’s and focus on getting to yes. Every single no is taking you one step closer to that vital yes. Rejection isn’t personal, even the best sales people get no, so embrace it, learn from it and move on…quickly! The alternative is to sit and wait…and wait…and wait.
7. Likeability is important but not everything
You’ll no doubt have heard a million times “we buy from people we like” and I would generally agree. Being likeable certainly helps during the sales process, being unlikeable or an ass doesn’t. We most definitely refuse to buy from people we do not like unless there is no other option and even then as soon as a better option presents itself, we’re off.
So getting back to likeability, it helps but it’s not everything. Many sales people and non-sales people make the mistake of relying purely on personality to win business. This works sometimes but not always and certainly less frequently in challenging market conditions. People buy with their hearts and heads (emotional and logical purchase) and the truly good sales person understands both. Back to point 1, selling has to lead to a logical outcome in order for the buyer to take action. Your job is to help get him there and not just rely on him liking you and therefore buying. Indeed, I would say that one of the most common sales mistakes is to interpret getting on well with someone during a sales meeting as a buying signal and to go away expecting the phone to ring. It won’t. You need process and closure.
8. In sales we are all equal – buyer and seller
You are you – fabulous, wonderful you – inventor, engineer, entrepreneur, techno-guru, life coach. Whatever it is you do, you have something great and of value – your product, your service, you. Your buyer is equally special, not better, not greater, not more important. They may drive a faster car, have a bigger house, make more money, but you are still both equal.
This mindset is important in sales. You are not less than, inferior, the underdog, the sales rep – you are equals. To succeed in sales you will need to remind yourself of this and never feel that you are not worthy. If you believe you have something of value to offer a potential buyer with a need (this need might not yet be obvious to the buyer), then brilliant, bring it on! Let’s connect – as equals! Also beware of falling into the opposite trap, being arrogant or cocky and believing you know what’s best for your customer. This will not win you any favours and will only serve to alienate.
9. It’s not about perfection, it’s about doing it
To sell effectively, you don’t have to get it perfect at first – just do it. Doing it reasonably well is better than not doing it at all. What’s the worst thing that can happen? You face rejection. Or a cold shoulder. You will only get better through practice. In my experience, buyers often prefer less than perfect sales people. Too slick and confident and the buyer can feel threatened, intimidated or put off. People often like to help the rookie, the more natural (less salesy) person, someone who doesn’t appear to know it all. Do learn the basics though before you get started so you don’t waste your time and energy, but then get going – review, fine-tune and improve as you go along. Too much theory and not enough practice is not a good thing. Read this book, do it, read it again and then do it better, until it becomes second nature.
10. Sales Success = mindset + sales process + action!
To achieve sales success you will require a mixture of the right mindset, a simple but successful sales process (structure) and the commitment to do it (take action). Also, sometimes but not always, an unknown but not extraordinary quantity of luck. Neither mindset nor process in isolation will be enough. Once you get this formula right, the skill is applying and adapting it over and over again. Steady business growth requires