How many people in sales still practice the dark arts?
Will Offen
Sales and Business Strategies to Build Powerful & Consistent Growth. Sales Success is measured by the Value of Customers Engaged.
I recently answered a question on Quora about 'closing techniques' and was amazed at some of the emotions I stirred up!
I was quite surprised when reading the other answers, indeed, some of them were positively dinosauric! I mean, seriously, are people still using such outmoded and ineffective tactics?
Is it any wonder that the sales industry continues to have such a mistrusted reputation?
I understand that challenging a status quo makes people uncomfortable, but I still wonder why our industry generally fails to understand how far even 'unprofessional' prospects have developed their buying requirements? Incredibly, much sales training and management still works from the premise that 'getting a sale', any sale, is the main target outcome - rather than satisfying needs and achieving customer satisfaction?
Customer service begins in the sales processes!
Look, the only way to sell is to HELP prospects make the right decision, which means you have to find out everything about them, their needs and wants, educate them on the best way to satisfy those needs and wants and honestly compare YOUR solutions, like for like, to others available. Oh, and by the way, if your solutions don't compare favourably, then its time for a rethink!
There is absolutely no excuse for over promising and under supplying!
Many industries practice a 'KYC' philosophy, although I haven't seen one, in all my 50 years in business, teach the most crucial need and want - how to understand how the prospect likes to COMMUNICATE. No matter how good your solution is, unless the prospect is comfortable with the information, and its source, he will not buy, simply because he will not understand or accept the information. (Bearing in mind that most of our communication idiosyncrasies are subconscious and therefore, what and how we say something can also be rejected subconsciously!)
At its most effective, selling has five main aims:
- To put the prospects needs for a perfect solution before ours of making a sale.
- To create customers that create customers.
- To align our products and services with the prospects absolute needs.
- Putting the prospect at the very centre of the process and outcome, i.e. client centricity.
- To motivate and encourage the prospect to want your product or service before helping them to buy!
Using so-called closing techniques to force the prospect to buy has only two results; a subsequent cancellation or an unsatisfied customer! Very often, the sales you get are more damaging than those you don't.
Remember, a client is for life, not just for one sale!
One last note; sales training comes secondary to communication expertise. If you become a highly effective communicator, you will never need the uncomfortable, ‘final close’ techniques of yesteryear, your closing will be a constant process that happens all the time and is better described as reaching mutual agreement.
And, do you know the most amazing thing about all this? There is no 'tactic', 'process' or 'strategy' that is more powerful and naturally easier for creating quality sales, than highly effective communication!
Will Offen is a leadership and sales consultant. He helps companies worldwide expand, improve and repair their sales businesses.
He is available for short to medium term projects worldwide, for sales development training, opening new sales departments/offices and trouble-shooting to fix underperformance.
He is the creator and principle of the on-line Academy, 'Be Highly Effective', featuring his signature courses; “Highly Effective Leadership" and Highly Effective Selling", also available as in-house workshops. His group, ‘Masters of Communication’, designed to help everyone Harness the Powers of Communication, is open by application and can be found on Face Book.
www.behighlyeffective.com