Knowledge Is Power | Advanced Sales Techniques Part 1.

This article begins the development of something so transcendental in the Business World, such as Advanced Sales Techniques.

Throughout my professional life as a Consultant and Trainer, developing Sales Forces and Management, working with all Types of Multinational Companies and in all Economic Sectors in the Business World, which could be summarized in more than 40 Years and nearly 3,000 days of Training, Courses, Seminars and Coaching Actions; on occasions, when starting a Sales Training Program, I have found that if we establish a scale from 1 to 10 points to Evaluate the Effectiveness of a Salesperson, being 1 a very bad Salesman and 10 the Man/Woman 10 Points "the Perfect Salesperson"; then someone in the group says, "Yes I am, I am that 10 points person".

As the Situation is Training, the Participants are supposed to be "developed people", and now comes out the Perfect Man/Woman, the 10 Points.

What to do?; At that moment I usually ask them...

"Could you explain to us why do you think you're a 10 points Sales Professional? we are truly interested in hearing your answer".

He or She then gets up and talks. 

"Well, dear colleagues says. In sales, numbers count, and my result which I have obtained in this last period has been so excellent that it has been in line or above the maximums demanded by my director, by the person in charge in my company to which I report. And this has not only happened to me in the last period. But if I look back, this has been happening to me for a long time now, so if Sales Results counts and my results have always been in line or above the maximum they were demanded of me, I consider that I am already a 10 points professional. And something more to add, this brilliant result that I have achieved has not been given to me by anyone. But has been my own performance so professional that has generated that magnificent result that allows me to consider myself a 10 points".

Now I say... "Ok, your result is excellent and no one takes away your merits, because the result you have obtained does not fall from the sky, but as you say your own professional performance has been the cause of that effect, you have obtained and that is your result because our sales result is a consequence of our own action, but ... I'm going to give you 3 reasons why although now you consider yourself 10 points professional, you must stay with us and continue training and developing yourself because you will see how things can change".

The 1st REASON. 

"?Is it True? … that would not be strange than tomorrow, that we all have ahead, someone from above, and there is always someone above, will come and tell you that: "your results, my dear salesman”, are magnificent, but the competition as you know, does not sleep, does not rest, does not eat, looking for the way to scratch the part of the market portion, so good that you have? Therefore, let's see what comes to mind to improve your results even more because if we do not grow, the Competition can grow at our expenses and that does not interest us".

At that moment our 10 points professional is presented with a serious problem because as his performance has been so good and has generated those good results, it has motivated him to "rest on his laurels”. 

Now his boss asks him to increase his Results. As his performance continues at the same level as always, then we find that in the relationship ACTION equals RESULTS, the result now ask him, is superior but with the same performance.

In other words, we would be in the situation of asking "Pears to an Elm", and as we all know Elms do not produce Pears.

The 2nd REASON:

In addition, today your worth is 10 points, but if you do nothing for your development it could be that tomorrow you will not worth 10 Points, but 9, and then 8, and then 7..., and finally, with time and the arrival of new generations of professionals it could be that they park you. Also, it turns out, that next to you there is someone of lower professional size and therefore with lower Results. I’m speaking of the Competitor, which as we all know, the competition does not eat, does not sleep, does not rest, always trying to take part in the market portion that we already have. And the competitor looks at our magnificent results and when they see theirs, so small they make a decision, that of putting themselves on a launch ramp and by means of continuous training, it could be that the dwarf of today, becomes a giant tomorrow, who will take the better part of our market Results.

And you 10 points professional today, being "sleeping on the laurels" if you survive, which is doubtful, you will have to settle for the “smallest market portion”. And all of this, because the competition knows something, that is: “KNOWLEDGE IS POWER”. 

— And a well-developed Training, produces miracles.

THE 3er REASON: 

Is that now that little Size Professional that is next to us, is not the Competitor, but the Client. Yes, THE CLIENT, the reason to be of every Business in this World. Because THE CUSTOMER in the Business World is the KING.

And the client also develops himself and attends courses and training. And it could happen that the salesman all Proud, maintains his professional stature because it is considered that already it is a 10 points, and for what to develop more? 

While the Client who also knows that "Knowledge is power", and that training produces miracles, grows and develops and with time surpasses widely in professional stature to the figure of the salesman.

And here we have a problem for the salesperson because he is going to visit his client without realizing that the client is now a giant who also mimics himself to pass unnoticed in front of the salesman, and the salesman trusts himself thinking that he has a easy operation, but at the end, the fact of the “seller sold” occurs.

Well, if the size of the salesman, professionally speaking, is smaller than that of the customer, the picture we are represented may have that interesting name of "the seller sold". Something that we never want to happen to us, as sales professionals.

Therefore we have given THREE good Reasons, that if someone in a situation like the one we point out is considered a 10 Points, they should continue with their Development and Training, because today is worth 10 Points, tomorrow 09, then 08, and when you want to realize, new generations that are coming will take you out of the market.

In short, “no one's future is guaranteed”.

And if one thing is clear, it is that the future will be for the best.

Exercise:

Now I propose an Exercise for everyone in their own situation. 

Answer the following Question: 

What factors in the salesman Work (in our situation), influence your Results? And I add, Personal Factors, that is to say, that depends fundamentally on the Salesman. Take some time to think about the different answers. Then my own answer will come and you will be able to compare it...

The best answer is to explain the 10 SBO AREAS. The Selling by Objective Areas.

Now we are going to enter with this new concept that is called Analysis and Evaluation Of Sales Activity.

It is an analytical and objective system to contemplate Sales Professional performance.

And the question is ?what factors in the salesperson's work influence their results?

It gives us an answer that responds to the three dimensions and the 10 sales AREAS.

Let's start by saying that the sales result of a Salesman is the consequence of its own professional performance.

In the first analysis of his performance, we can decompose it in the three dimensions of the sale that is to say: QUANTITY, DIRECTION, and QUALITY.

Going even deeper into the analysis of the salesman performance, we can arrive at the conclusion that these three dimensions of the sale, in turn, can be broken down into specific areas of sales activity according to:

The First dimension is quantity, that gives rise to the first area of activity which is the quantity of work. And what is the quantity of work? It is the time that the salesperson works developing his professional activity, but as ours is Personal Selling, the way to measure it will be the number of sales interviews that the salesperson has at the end of the week, month, or year.

The second dimension is called Direction. And these dimension is broken down into 3 sales activities, the first of Direction and second of the 10 AREAS to called customer Direction.

And what is customer Direction? It is the distribution of efforts that makes the salesperson correlates the different segments of the market, the different types of clients that he has, dedicating more attention to some with relation to others, according to different criteria.

The second dimension area in Direction and third in the 10 AREAS is product Direction.

And what is product direction? It is the distribution of efforts that the salesman makes in relation to the different products and services that he has been devoting more attention to some than others on the basis of their different criteria.

And the third dimension of direction and the fourth dimension of the 10 AREAS is Direction in the work tasks. It is the distribution of efforts that the salesman makes in relation to the different tasks that he develops, logically dedicating more time to the most important task that is to visit his clients, without forgetting other tasks of lesser rank but that is also important.

And we go with the third dimension the quality. And quantity has six Areas to complete the 10 sales activity AREAS, to which the three dimensions we are quoting of quantity, direction and quality give rise.

Number five of the 10 areas and first of quality is product knowledge. It is the level of knowledge about our products and services in which logically we must be experts.

Area six is knowledge of customers and their environment. It is the knowledge we have as sales professionals about our clients and the client's environment, knowing that the greater the knowledge in this area, the easier it is for us, as salesperson to sell more and better.

Number seven and Many times abandoned. by Sellers is competitor's knowledge. And here, it must be said, that many times this area is the most abandoned by sales professionals because they think that nobody like them and their products and services equal in the market.

Now we enter the number eight of the 10 areas which is the short term contact ability of the salesperson. It is the social ability that the salesperson has, to be accepted as a person quickly by his clients based on a series of aspects that will be dealt with.

Number nine of the 10 AREAS is the long-term contact ability of the salesperson. If with the ability to contact we would have customer doors open, with this ability for the long term, we keep them open and get customer loyalty. And then the aspects that define this ability will also be dealt with conveniently.

And finally, we come to Area number 10, The Sales techniques, negotiation techniques as a step beyond sales, and communication techniques. This Area the last to be cited, is not of minor importance, quite the contrary this area number 10 could be the summary of the 10 AREAS of the sale because in a way includes them.

In short, what we mean is that with these three dimensions, quantity, direction and quality, we can form a figure that would be a cube with its three edges, as can be seen in the diagram below. (Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/dW0VfPRyU4A).

And those three dimensions, quantity, direction, and quality, are defining the results that the seller obtains. And here we have a challenge as sales professionals and myself also because I am also a salesman of my services, which is how to get a more dimensioned cube? because if it increases, and we increase quantity, direction and quality, even if it is just a little better, what would happen is that the cube will be dimensioned and therefore the results would increase greatly. And that is exactly what all sales professionals want to achieve, to increase the results of their activity.

I would like to ask you two questions now...

1st. Which of the Sales 10 Areas, in our Situation, do we think have NO Value at all? Take some time, to respond...

They are all of Value, they are the Sale.

2nd. Question, Which are the 3 most important Areas in our Situation? 

Let's think and choose...

Was the choice difficult?

Thanks, and remember... "Nothing In This World Replaces In-Depth Preparation".

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/dW0VfPRyU4A

José Manuel.