How to win the RACE FOR CUSTOMERS when all products seem the same?

Can the fastest teenagers on the planet teach sales professionals how to win more customers when all their bikes are identical?

"Day by day I try to be a better rider but also a better person" - #80 David Alonso 2021 Champion

When 26 teenagers are selected each year to compete in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, and are given identical real racing bikes they have never seen before, same helmets and riding gear and race on the same circuits as the professionals, I get super excited.

The format is designed to find the best riders for selection into the professional MotoGP series. These rookies are already successful in their own racing series or have quality racing experience, train hard, have coaches and mentors before they arrive for selection. And it shows, because the selection committee is not looking for only the fastest lap times but also attitude, problem solving, collaboration and potential to improve.

Here are my 7 unforgettable rookie moves for sales professionals to win more ideal customers.

1) MAKE YOUR BIKE DIFFERENT

Each bike is set up by the same mechanic team identical for the race weekend. It is then up to the rider to collaborate with their helper, their mechanic team to make small setting changes during the practice sessions so that the rider is safe and confident to race at full speed according to their confidence and ability. Further small adjustments will constantly be made for weather, track layout and temperature and so communication, teamwork and PERSONALISATION are critical throughout the season.

Sales professionals must be rock solid confident in their product, themselves and their company and to gain this confidence their is nothing better than sales call after sales call after sales call and awesome preparation making changes to your sales techniques and developing humor as a sales tool.

What adjustments are you making to your selling style ability to connect better with customers when you first meet them. Do you spend time developing these skills? Because closing the sale is not only about questioning, listening, handling objections and always be closing, so much is dependent on your selling style and you opening engagement.

Many customers are not interested in your product , rather more interested in the way you build the relationship.

2) PATIENCE IN FINDING MORE OF YOUR IDEAL CUSTOMERS

pa·tience - the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.

Having the patience discipline to pursue only ideal customers with decision makers that will perceive meaningful value and be able to pay for it gladly, even invest more in developing solutions with you is my Rookie Move number 2. You may argue that this narrows the market and the number of suitable clients, but what it actually does is enable you to appeal to customers that truly value what you do.

Rookies learn to resist the low hanging fruit and rush to take the easy route to the front on any circuit at any cost. They learn which circuits, track layout and corner speeds they perform better at and laser focus on results at these circuits. These ideal very satisfied customers suddenly can be found more easily as your confidence grows.

This requires a patient approach and the measurement of true sales momentum is selling to more customers at the price we want and not absolute sales volume anywhere where dumping large volume to a powerful wholesaler can make us look like champions.

3) EARN MORE SALES BY SLIP STREAMING

To overtake in a race, you have to earn the place and to earn this, it is not just one thing you do that causes customers to consistently choose you.

"It is not the responsibility of the sales person to close the sale. It is the responsibility of the sales person to earn the sale" - Jeffrey Gitomer

Dropping your price to close the deal is like short cutting the corner (going outside the track limits or just diving in with lowest price or unethical tactics) they get you in front for a short time. And you are suddenly passed by another cheaper price.

Overtaking is not only done on corners, you can do it on the straight using slip streaming (let referrals sell for you and reduce your effort). Ideal customers will actively refer you more and more and they love to do it.

I received a call from an ideal customer very excited telling me that the president of the Yamaha Club loves the product so much he posted a photo on facebook telling all club members that if they want MOTOGP quality stop watching MOTOGP on TV and come down to the shop and put the technology in their own bike. He said "doing is better than watching on TV".

4) DISCIPLINE TO STAY WITHIN LIMITS

Riders will get a 3 second penalty or more if they consistently go outside the track limits (green area) especially on the difficult corners (like in Sales Tender or bidding situations) and many blame others forced them to ride outside the limit as they had no choice to avoid a crash.

For your ideal customers to trust you, you must do the right thing always and it must be in your blood and part of who you are, even if you have to lose the sale.

I can tell you the more I said no to under hand requests, the more I sold, not the other way around! The way to strengthen this skill is work on what you do when nobody is looking especially in your own team as much as it is when everyone is looking. Not tampering with the bike or with the fuel when nobody is looking is like the fair trading act and staying inside track limits is like the companies gifts and entertainment policy. If their is not a policy then you create one. Creating the rules and boundaries especially with your ideal clients builds TRUST with your team, the officials, fans and customers and builds your confidence and resolve and makes you faster and takes you to the front of the lead pack. Leaving intentional vacuums will bite you sooner or later.

5) FITNESS AND ENDURANCE

Sales success has everything to do with being fit because the true measure of success is not achieving a sales target your boss or company gives you , rather sales success is more to do with achieving sales momentum. Looking and feeling healthy, is a big part of achieving success. In motor racing your body and mind are both critical and need to work in unison to support your confidence in yourself and ability to think quickly and carefully.

In the preselection event the rookie riders are told that to be successful your height has to be less than 1m 72cm and your weight 62kg or less. This is not a fixed limit you can still participate however the selectors know what they are talking about. You will need to be very fit and have endurance if you want to get ahead in this sport. If we viewed sales as a professional occupation , physical and mental fitness would be tested regularly and trained.

It is with great pride that our company Vietsea has a fitness training program and testing program for all staff - no matter your weight, age or condition you will participate and it is your improvement that is celebrated not whether you pass. For this reason many staff can now swim 25 meters. A healthy mind that has a yes attitude and a growth mindset says that mistakes are opportunities and always improving is success.

To stay ahead of the lead pack you must be physically and mentally strong. The reason is it is far more demanding than the following pack, it is like premier league football very fast paced and your mental toughness is critical.

"I made a mistake in the first corner , the bike went whoop whoop whoop and I fell back to 9th, I kept pushing pushing and came back to second place. - Rookie #5 Tatchakorn Buasri (Thailand)

6) HUGGING AND THE SECRET SAUCE

Oxytocin is a "chemical messenger" hormone and one of the most important we produce because it plays a role in social bonding and building relationships, enhancing trust, empathy, positive relationship memories and many more. I just think of it as secret sauce.

Hugging produces the sauce and I have never seen so much hugging and celebrating small victories like the rookies do with their helpers, mechanics, technicians, family and even their bike.

Most of us don't go around hugging our customers however the sauce is also produced when we do new things or overcome new challenges with the people we care about. This is why we feel so good after team building challenges. A closer bond and trust is formed helping us reduce stress.

The buying activity for customers is also stressful and so activities you can do to build trust especially being genuine with transparent communication and making your customer feel special as if they are the only customer you have will produce the sauce.

7) MENTORS THAT INFLUENCE DECISION MAKING

"The true measure of your sales success is your ability to sell differently and create SALES MOMENTUM achieving your planned activities, and less about just achieving your sales target" - Paul Bardeleben

Paul is the Founder of PAUL IS SALES LTD , you can contact him for sales coaching one on one or sales team motivation and sales momentum acceleration programs. Paul is currently speaking on "Highway through the Dangerzone" Sales and Marketing Management in Covid Times. Invite him to speak at your next sales conference.

Paul is also the Director of Business Development at Vietsea Company Vietnam fast tracking automotive brands in S.E. Asia. He works with the Business Admin faculty at Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics and Finance on "Highway through the Dangerzone" Sales and Marketing Management in Covid Times.