The Art, no, Science of Sales

"I have always said that everyone is in Sales.?Maybe you don't hold the title of a salesperson, but if the business you are in requires you to deal with people, you, my friend, are in Sales." Zig Ziglar

I've spent most of my career supporting clients in post-sales roles, having had Development, Support, and Services as part of my job titles. ?Although I didn’t hold a formal sales title until January of 2022, as a practice I've always been selling.?My brand is one of Coach, People (first and client-obsessed), and Technology.?I’m continually earning and growing in all three - but it's the people part - the client obsession part - the solving problems part - that I gravitate to and enjoy most. ?Fortunately, my brand lends itself well to the science of sales.

Sales involves a lot of negotiation.?Everyone negotiates - where to go to dinner, what movie to see, or where to invest your time.?Everyone sells. ?But there are no short-cuts to success in business selling.?Sales is about:

1. Client obsession
2. Listening with authenticity and transparency
3. Meaning what you say, saying what you mean, doing what you say
4. Being the most informed, supported by relentless research and preparation
5. Recognizing that your (technical) knowledge is your currency
6. Showing not telling
7. Not establishing price until you’ve clearly established value
8. Finding the biggest problem and rallying behind it
9. …Yet making certain you're solving the problem you think you're solving
10. AND, focusing on clear business outcomes to value creation

In the end, clients seek one or more of the three forms of value creation: (1) cost savings, (2) revenue generation / market expansion, and (3) risk mitigation.?If you’re not driving to one of these outcomes, the value of your solution has a short shelf-life: no longer than the immediate budget cycle.

Furthermore, if you cannot answer these three questions below, then everyone is just kicking tires:

(1) Why does the client need this solution now?

(2) Why do they need to do it with us? and

(3) What could go wrong?

Why do I title this post “The Art, no, Science of Sales”? I find if you don’t understand the science of sales, art doesn’t matter.?To me, Sales is a “Practice”, with clear expectations and teachable/learnable skills.?With that concept in mind, I took the opportunity to leverage my Making Data Simple Podcast (Apple here but also available on Google and Spotify) as a medium to gain insight to the principles from IBM leaders that breathe sales.?Like most things, I steal leverage the best ideas from others…?

1.????? Matt Kosinski , VP Americas, and Frank Attaie , GM Canada, IBM. ?July 6th, 2022 : Sales secrets, philosophy, preparation and Part 2.

2.????? Ayal Steinberg , VP Global Sales for Data, AI and Automation, IBM.?July 29 2020 : Value-based Selling and two follow-ups (1) January 26, 2022 : Data and AI, Market Growth, & "Switzerland", (2) February 2nd, 2022 : Sales, Executing Influence, Motivating a Core Sales Team

And, strategy bonus.?Strategy helps articulate the tactical problems and associated value, so without understanding strategy you can’t agree on problems or value:?

3. Roger Premo , GM Strategy and Corporate Development, IBM.?September 7, 2022 :??The state of the industry, hybrid cloud, containers, competition

What is your Sales practice????

"Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked." Warren Buffett

Happy Selling.?- Al