4 Sales Superpowers

I’m going to make a bold claim: If you can master and combine 4 specific sales skill sets, they will give you a competitive edge.

In fact, these skill sets will give you a 100m head-start, putting you in the Premiership whilst your competitors languish in the Conference League.

You probably think that that’s a bit of a stretch, I did when I started looking into it, but not anymore. Because I’ve seen how mastering these skills really can produce a big upswing in someone’s sales success.

In this post I’m going to explain what they are, demonstrate how they work and suggest ways you can develop them yourself.

1. Buying Styles

When I first started selling, my style was to be knowledgeable, enthusiastic, persistent and have a clear vision how we could help people. The problem was that this approach worked really well on some buyers but failed spectacularly with others.

Why was this?

Years later I discovered the answer, when I read the Five Paths to Persuasion. It revealed that there are 5 buying styles, ways we like to make purchases, and so how we like to be sold to.

All of us have a primary and secondary buying style. A salesperson approaching us in the ways we prefer are more likely to be successful. Clash with the buying style and opportunities will be lost.

In other words, I realised I was successful when my selling style accidentally coincided with the buyers buying style and failing when it clashed. Boom!

So, if you want to improve your success rates you need to figure out the buying style of the person you’re pitching to, then match your selling style to it.

What are the Buying Styles?

Let me explain those buying styles now.

Charismatic – they see it, they want it and they need it. It’s all about possibilities with them. Focus on what your offering would make possible for them in the future.

Thinkers: they need to gather the data and take time to think it through before they buy. Make sure you deliver all the data they need, they love facts and figures, but then leave them alone to make their decision. Under no circumstances apply any deadlines or pressure.

Sceptics: they tend to doubt anything you tell them and you counter by admitting they have a right to be sceptical. Then provide as much proof as you can and offer them a chance to speak with your existing clients.

Followers: they need to see others like them have trodden the same path before them. Give them that comfort through case studies, testimonials, performance statistics and site visits. All of these will help persuade Followers.

Controllers: like to be in control of the buying process. You can offer to do things for them, to make their lifer easier, but never tell them what will or should happen next. In fact never challenge their authority or try to wrestle control of the buying process from them.

You can probably recognise your own buying style in there. I’m a Thinker/Charismatic, which is an unusual combination. I like all the facts and figures and then to take my own time to reach a decision, but I also like to get excited about the possibilities a new product or service can give me.

The easiest way to develop this skill is to buy the book and then practice on people you know first to hone your persuasion skills.

Buying Styles are like dialects of the same language. Sure, even if you don’t speak that dialect you can still be understood but if you can speak the same dialect it creates a deeper affinity with the buyer.

2. Active Listening

Its known by many names; active listening, deep listening, actual listening or, as many experts call it, Elite Level Listening.

It’s probably the most consistently used of the Sales Superpowers because it’s the most ubiquitous. It pops up everywhere:

• in relationship building;
• taking down requirements;
• problem resolution;
• sales pitches;
• data gathering
• people management.

Because is so pervasive, mastering it will dramatically increase your success.

What is Active Listening?

In his seminal book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Dr Stephen Covey reveals that there are 5 levels of listening: -

1. Ignoring: not really listening at all
2. Pretending: not listening but pretending we are whilst our brain is somewhere else.
3. Selective: only hear parts of the conversation, usually what matches our viewpoint.
4. Attentive: paying attention and being focused on what’s said
5. Empathetic: listening to what’s being said and using it to see somebody else's viewpoint.

Level five is where the magic happens and where Elite Level Listening takes place.

The whole point is to focus all your attention on what the other person is saying and what it means to them. You can then play it back in their frame of reference to

1. make sure you have fully understood what they have said and
2. show the other party you know what it means to them.

Not only do you get a deeper understanding of the person you’re listening to, meaning you learn more information for future use. You also create a stronger empathy and rapport because the other person recognises that you “really get them”.

Let me give you a very simple tip to illustrate what I mean.

When deep listening avoid taking notes whilst the other person is speaking.

This may seem strange but when taking notes only half your attention is focused on listening to them, the rest is dedicated to processing what you’ve heard and then writing it down.

Now, there’s no need to deep listen in every conversation. In fact, it’s way too hard to do that but on important occasions you will. During these conversations you need to give the other party your complete attention.

Plenty of eye contact, after each key point replay what you’ve heard and interpret the consequences and then make your notes. Then press onto the next point.

Yes, it takes time and yes, it takes practice but it’s a Superpower so it’s going to isn’t it.

Still not convinced? Check this out. It’s from a study by Sales Hacker where they discovered that the highest performing closers spoke 43% of the time and listened 57%. Coincidence? I think not.

If you’d like to learn more about Elite Level Listening, we have managed to secure an expert to appear on our next webinar. His name is Richard Cullender and he was a trained police hostage negotiator.

It’s FREE, it’s LIVE and it’s going to be AMAZING. Click here to learn more and secure your place

If all you do is speak less and listen more, you’ll be more successful but if you can deep listen then expect that success to be even greater.

3. Communication

The superpower we all need, especially if we want to be successful at winning new clients, is to communicate our messages successfully.

That’s rarer than you may think, so let me explain what I mean.

In the modern age we are bombarded by messages over a range of platforms. Back in the 70s it was estimated that the average person would be subjected to between 500 and 1500 advertising and direct marketing messages a day.

These messages would be delivered by TV and radio ads, billboards, newspaper and magazine ads and tangible messaging such as having your logo and strapline on the side of your work van.

In 2020 its estimated that these numbers have increased over 10-fold to between 6000 and 10,000 per day but why is this? The answer is the rise in the internet and especially social media.

Theses graphs show the rise in advertising revenues for Google and Facebook. Whether we notice it or not we are literally being bombarded with advertising messages.

Add to this deluge the fact that we now have more emails, text messages, voicemails than ever. In fact, it’s estimated that the average office worker receives 88 emails a day.

But the surprising part is that following research by Media Dynamics Inc they found that of all that noise only about 12 messages a day made an impression on us. But we may not have acted on any of them.

So, the bottom line is we’re bombarded with messages each day. To cope with that noise, we create defence mechanisms for ourselves; spam-checkers, clutter and junk email folders, Outlook rules, PAs, ad blockers and the most powerful of all – we turn a blind eye.

That’s why communication is a modern sales super-power: if you can get your messages through you stand a chance of getting what you want. If you can’t you’ll find making sales a good deal harder.

What does good communication look like?

You use a simple technique called AIDA. It was first developed by E. St. Elmo Lewis over 100 years ago. I’ve used it to great effect ever since. AIDA stands for: -

1. Attention: you need to cut through the noise and get the attention of the intended recipient.
2. Interest: once you have their attention you have a very short window of time to gain their interest.
3. Desire: you then have a platform to build desire for whatever it is you have.
4. Action: a relatively passive call to action that they’re more like to follow if you got the other parts right.

You can use AIDA in sales pitches, emails, presentations, blog/vlog posts, meetings and phone calls, especially cold calls.

Let me give you an example of an AIDA email to a lukewarm contact. You would A/B test longer and shorter versions of this and play around with the words to see which got the best replies, but you get the idea.

Subject line (Attention): my ￡40m secret

First paragraph (Interest): My first recruitment company was one of hundreds growing at a steady year-on-year rate then I discovered this one thing that made it grow exponentially reaching a turnover of ￡40m within 10 years. Let me tell you what it was.

Main body (Desire): I hired a consultant who taught me the four basic principles of scalable growth and how to apply them. Within one year of using these simple principles we’d increased our turnover by 50% and our profits had increased even more.

I’d like to share these principles with you so here they are: -

1.      Division of labour: allow people to focus on less activities that are very well defined so they can become experts at what they do. This is especially true for winning new clients and client care.

2.      Tool up to skill down: use a set number of Super Sales Tools so people with less skill and less experience can still deliver outstanding results. This was a gamechanger for us!

3.      Arms-length Management: by installing a few simple dashboards and using the Outcome Delegation technique you can significantly increase the number of people you can manage. You’ll be in control of your business but not ingrained in it!

4.      Continual Improvement: an obsession with quality (as your clients see it) and innovation will make you more likely to be first choice for many of your clients. Less than 1% or agencies do this properly but it’s where the BIG MONEY is.

Closing paragraphs (Action): If you’d like to dig much deeper into these principles and understand how to implement them in your business, I have something for you. I’ve written an eBook which contains everything you need to tweak your business, so it becomes highly scalable.

There are no strings attached to this – all you need to do is reply to this email and I’ll send you a copy free of charge. I’ve included some use-out-of-the-box templates, examples, easy to follow instructions and several case studies of agency owners just like you who’ve used these principles and seen their profits soar.

Just let me know and it will be in your inbox within the hour.

If you adhere to AIDA when interacting with people who are busy or don’t know you very well, you’ll find more of your messages will be noticed, absorbed and acted upon.

4. Persuasion

We all use persuasion, all the time. Convincing your boss to give you the high-kudos project you want to work on. Convincing your better half that going to see the latest Star Wars movie is perfectly acceptable at your age.

Sales is Persuasion as well, and the rules are the same: build a case, deliver it with conviction and then follow it up.

The trouble is many people don’t stick to the rules. They do little prep work, lack conviction then asking for what they want and fail to follow up. That’s why Persuasion is our third Sales Superpower; because done properly it will massively improve your win rate.

What are the Three stages of Persuasion?

Stage 1 - Build a case

The Cultivation stage is the period you spend building a relationship to the point you can ask for a pitch.

During this time, you have four objectives: -

1.      Build rapport and affinity with the decision maker because, as Dr Robert Cialdini pointed out in his excellent book Influence – The Psychology of Persuasion “we prefer to say yes to a request from somebody we like over those we don’t”.

2.      Create confidence and trust so the decision maker completely believes you can do what they need and are good at it.

3.      Show how you and your product are different from other suppliers. Without this there may not be the desire to engage you as a supplier – why bother if you’re the same as all the rest.

4.      Understand their needs and frustrations at a very deep level. This is the key to building a case for your product or service.

Stage 2 - Deliver your pitch with conviction

The first condition is that you must believe in your product and service, because if you don’t the buyer will detect it. Passion sells, so show some of it when you’re making your case.

The second condition is building a bespoke pitch. Too many people just turn up and do the same old pitch “this is what we’ve got, this is what it will do you for and this is what I’d like you to do”.

That sequence isn’t all wrong, it just needs a tweak “this is what we’ve got, this is how it will meet your specific needs, this is how it’s different and this is what I’d like you to do”.

It’s crucial to use the information you’ve learned to craft a bespoke pitch that completely dovetails into their needs and preferences. By doing this you’ll demonstrate that you have listened and that you have put a lot of effort into this pitch.

Stage 3 - Always follow up

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. During a study carried out by the sales performance company Implisit they discovered that in the B2B world we lose a lot less deals than we win.

In fact, as you can see from the following graph the average conversion rate is about 0.8%. Now, you may do a lot better that this, we certainly do, but the fact remains – we all lose deals.

We know what to do when we win a deal: hammer out the details, get the contract signed and have a feedback session to understand why they chose us.

This last step is often missed in the rush to get to the next deal, which is a shame because it’s packed with useful data that can make you even more effective.

In any event, when many people lose, they shrug their shoulders and press onto the next opportunity. Big mistake, BIG mistake right there.

Here are three things you should always consider doing when the answer is “no”.

1.      Is it really “no”? Very often it is but sometimes people can be turned. The trick is to understand why they didn’t say yes and see if you can fix it for them. If you don’t ask you won’t get!

2.      Feedback. Even if it's a firm “no” you really need to understand why so that you don’t make the same mistake again. Maybe the competition was just a better fit or maybe you did something wrong. As you can see from the graph below from a study conducted by the Griffin group. Few people bother to understand why they lost a deal – this is a massive opportunity for those who do.

3.      Second bite of the cherry. Not all suppliers deliver what they say they can. Especially if they’ve been appointed to a preferred supplier list. It’s estimated that the proving period of any supplier is between 6 and 9 months. So, after you lose out on a deal, approaching the decision maker again after around 6 months might get you a second chance.

Few people do this third one, but I’ve been successful on several occasions.

Even if your people adopted a watered-down version of this approach to conversion it would give them a real edge over the “here we go again” brigade who just go through the motions.

Since the whole point of any sales process is to reach the pitching stage my advice is to make sure that whoever does it is an expert in building and delivering bespoke cases to win.

Summary

In a world where people are on a Target Treadmill and all they can think about is hitting their numbers by the end of the month few, if any, will take time out to develop their Sales Superpowers.

But the evidence is overwhelming; master the four skill sets we’ve explored in this article and they can give you a significant advantage. Combine them effectively and you will become a money-making machine.

That means the field is wide open and yours for the taking. As always you must sow to reap and now’s the time to do it.

And for those of you looking for a first step to doing that, our next webinar on Elite Level Listening might be a good place to start. Click through to check it out