It's not what you sell it's how you sell it

Lessons Learnt from Selling Old School

I’ve just spent the best part of 3 hours perfecting a new business presentation, you know dotting the 'i's and crossing the 't's and making sure I build to my killer proposition, with more slides than I think I’ll be given time to present to the very busy CRO of new prospect who can give me only 30 minutes at lunchtime.

And just as I thought I could tweak no more, the team with whom I shall present, have come back with a few minor amends which they feel may result in an increased likelihood of a sale. Frankly, I could go on forever refining and adding more relevant images, videos, more engaging memes and fancy builds but I haven’t got forever, and at what point is enough, enough? Will the recipient be impressed by my creative endeavours, or will she simply want to know how much the service costs, the ROI, and that I’m capable of delivering it in such a way that gives her all the glory, which of course I am.

All this attention to detail, which per se I think is a good thing, got me thinking. Would I not be better off spending the time really researching the company’s product – they are a tech start-up at the beginning of their content journey. The product is quite complex and their digital profile a little disjointed and maybe, said CRO would be more impressed by some evidence of thorough research into her business proposition, the product, their pain points etc.

...armed with nothing but a badly photocopied rate card I went from agency to agency selling pages in titles that the average UK-buyer could neither read not comprehend... 

When I started out in sales which of course was pre-anything digital, I was selling a series of market-leading French computer titles –all as far as I know still being published ‘Le Monde Informatique,’ ‘l'Ordinateur Individuel’, and ‘01 Informatique’. Now I can’t remember the nuances of why each was different but let’s assume this formed part of my training. And once fully trained, I asked if there was any marketing collateral to aid my sales calls. The 'PDG' of the company told me I would find a rate card in the filing cabinet of which I swiftly availed myself. ‘No no no’, he boomed ‘that stays in the filing cabinet, you must make a copy for any calls’. So, armed with nothing but a badly photocopied rate card, I went from agency to agency selling pages in titles that the average UK-buyer could neither read nor comprehend - the content complex, dry and scientific and written in French. 

The lack of any kind of presentation or materials of any sort meant 2 things:

-      More time for listening to the prospect's challenges.

-      More time for researching and talking about the prospect’s problem

In his article, The Sounds of Silence Where is in the World is my Prospect? Bill MacDonald says to shut down the possibility of prospect silence, salespeople must bring worthwhile perspective and tangible value to the prospect.

As Steve Jobs said:

you have to start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology

Jobs understood that when you try to reverse-engineer the need statement from the product, it’s too easy to lose touch with reality.

I often listen to sales presentations from those wishing to sell me products and services and rarely do they understand my business - what I’m struggling with and how they might address some of my challenges. Production companies would show me a flashy showreel but would rarely articulate and value the sales conversation.

And perhaps you think any old school tips are irrelevant in an age where the internet and its constant flow of information, and social media means relationships don’t count for much. But you are unlikely to close a deal without first building trust, and you can’t build trust without first building a relationship.

In this insight-generating LinkedIn survey of 1,000 B2B decision makers and sales professionals, trust came out on top ranking higher in importance than economic considerations like price or return on investment.

So we’ve built our proposition around our customer’s challenges, we’ve built a relationship based on trust and it’s time to close. At this point, it’s good to know what this really looks like - a tangible point of commitment, a contact perhaps but more often a service agreement or agreement on payment terms. Afterall, if you don’t know where the finish line is, how do you know when you’ve won the race?

#Happyselling