The 3 Pillars of Sales

I have been responsible for developing sales process from the inside out for most of my professional career. Whether I was working with a Fortune 500 tech company like Gateway or working for Tony Robbins, the world’s leading life/business strategist, my role was always the same. To create, grow or develop sales. I have turned on sales machines from tech, to software to business development. I even worked in the therapy industry assisting an addiction treatment center with creating an on-boarding process that would keep the addict more engaged and working through their program. I have come to believe without a shadow of a doubt there are three pillars to effective sales in any business.

The Experience- Both the customer journey and the sales process itself. Both are vital. Having a system gives you something to train and fine tune. Unfortunately, most sales teams only have one side of the coin if any. They have a process that is tied to the sale and not the journey that the customer is on. Not matching your sales process up where the customer is on their journey equates to a massive loss in revenue and ultimately a negative impact on your brand. When you understand where the customer is and align your process to meet them where they are, you build resonance. This increases sales by creating a clear path that the customer can follow. It also gives your sales professional an understanding of how the brand should be represented and an experience most inline with your brand identity.

A good design shows respect for your customer and you’re either respectful of their time or respectful of what it is that they desire, and so it makes it a very fundamental element to everything that you do. – Penny Wilson, Hootsuite CMO

The People- It goes without saying that your most important assets are the people you bring in to support your mission. If you choose to hire someone just to fill a seat or because they have a certain skillset, you will find your decision will cost you down the road. Having the right person who is in line with your company mission creates a deeper resonance with your organization. Bruce Springsteen said it best, “If you are going to create something that has never been seen, you need to surround yourself with people who believe in what you are doing.” This goes in business as much as in life.

If you pick the right people and give them the opportunity to spread their wings and put compensation as a carrier behind it you almost don't have to manage them. Jack Welch

The Influence- This part of your sales team is usually the most overlooked. You can have the right process and even the right people, but they don’t have the ability to influence, you won’t see any traction. This is the fuel that drives sales. The ability for your team to influence a decision, action. Sales agents are agents of change. Their job is to help people make up their minds. One way, or the other. It has become my belief that if you are going to help someone make up their minds, the first thing you need to understand is how the mind is made up. I must have heard Tony say at least 20 times, “You can’t influence anyone until you first know what already influences them.”

There are two parts to influence: First, influence is powerful; and second, influence is subtle. You wouldn’t let someone push you off course, but you might let someone nudge you off course and not even realize it. Jim Rohn

Influence has been a word that has been incorrectly associated with persuasion. But the two are not the same. A therapist influences change and creating a more successful outcome for the client. Persuasion is about getting someone to do what you want or need. Two separate outcomes. The marketplace has become dominated by persuasion. Creating marketing material that is designed to persuade a customer to buy your product over another. Because of this inundation, we have become callous to these techniques. We refuse to engage with companies or processes that are built to persuade us to buy. For you to grow your sales in today's marketplace, you need influence. This comes from understanding where your customer is, where they are heading, how they are interpreting their world and offering up the most ideal path for them to get to their desired outcome.