A Note From The Author

 “Closing more deals is not about you, it’s all about the customer.

When you put the customer first, everybody wins”

- Jeff Smith

 "What causes someone to buy something?” This is the question that’s provided the driving force which has governed my thoughts and the direction of this book. I’ve come to the conclusion that before we develop our skills in learning how to sell, we must first understand how people make decisions to buy. When we truly understand how people buy, the act of selling is having the ability to merge with our customers to facilitate their buying process. Knowing and understanding the customer’s reasons to buy our products provides us with the rules of engagement for everything else that follows in the sales process, without this information, we’re simply running blind and relying upon luck.

The second governing question that gave me guidance is therefore understandable, “What causes someone to buy my products?” This is a great question to align yourself and your beliefs with your products. If you’re not passionate about what you sell and you don’t believe in them, how can you expect your customers to be passionate and believe in them? Your passion (or lack of it) oozes out of your every pore and washes all over your customers and they become infused with your feelings, regardless of how they felt when they first met with you. To close more deals, you need to be passionate about your products, you need to love what you sell and furthermore, you need to understand the reasons why your customer wants to buy your products. When your passion for your products meets harmoniously with your customer’s reasons to buy your products you create an environment of pleasure and increase the customer’s desires to buy.

 The third governing question that guided me is soul searching and perhaps more importantly career defining. “What causes someone to buy my products from me?” As you can now see, this question is made up of three separate parts and the final part is what will cause you to dig deep, examine yourself and align yourself with your customers. This is the very essence of what this book is all about.

 Everyone is a customer, we all buy things. Customers buy our products, but the really deep, most important, career-defining question of all is surely, “What causes someone to buy something from me?” Think about this question for a moment, take a look at yourself from the outside and understand how this question makes you feel. What answers do you hear coming into your mind?

* * * * *

The primary focus of this book is to recognise the art of selling as being your ability to facilitate your customer’s buying process with the outcome on customer satisfaction and not your own sales targets and commission. It is only when you put the customer first that you truly close more deals, increase sales and make more profit.

At the time of writing this book, I’ve been working in the sales arena for 39 years and I began my journey selling musical instruments. I’ve sold pianos and keyboards with price tags higher than the cost of the average home; I’ve also sold penny whistles. I’ve sold both new and used vehicles with price tags higher than the cost of a king’s banquet; I’ve also sold vehicles for less than the price of a good meal. The differences between musical instruments, cars, bikes, vans, trucks, boats and aircraft is immense, but there’s no difference in the buying motives of the people who buy them.

This book is filled with tried, tested and proven strategies to attract more customers, sell more vehicles and make more profit. That’s a very bold statement, but it’s absolutely 100% true. I know this because over the last 3 decades I’ve studied the top salespeople in the world and this book is a compilation of their activities and their results. What you are about to read are real life actions that are already in place and are tried and tested to be successful. It’s simply about facts and what works, there’s no room for anyone’s opinion here, except for your own. The book contains the activities of those who continue to dominate in selling both new and used cars, vans, trucks, bikes, boats and aircraft. But in truth, this book is not about selling these big-ticket items, it’s about the people who buy them and how they make their decisions to buy.  

However, it’s not only about sales process and the top salespeople, it’s also about how things are measured. I couldn’t simply conjure up measurements and KPI out of nowhere because they’d be subject to opinion and the problem is that opinions are like belly buttons… everybody has one. It was apparent to me that working only with opinion would render everything useless; I had to use evidence and facts.

To be useful, measurements must first be calibrated with science together with an understanding of what is achievable in the real world. To this end, I created a questionnaire about sales process measurements, KPI, baselines and surveyed many new vehicle manufacturers and sales training organisations around the world and the results I received were truly staggering. I was disturbed to find there was no degree of consistency whatsoever, in as much as not even two of the questionnaires provided the same answers; every single one had differences to all the others. This could only mean that everyone was working with their own opinion and there is no central point of reference for measuring sales process. After collating these alarming results, I concluded that I, nor anyone else could write a book about sales process without first establishing measurements based on facts because they can’t be based solely upon opinion.

I was told by people all over the world that it’s a brave man who writes a book on sales process because the subject is so emotive and is subject to opinion. Faced with the constant ridicule of naysayers and the enormous challenges that lay ahead, I decided to be that brave man and write the book.

In the years that followed, I’ve formally presented the science behind my findings to 20 groups of people, each containing 25 or more delegates in different parts of the world including the USA, Middle East, Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin America to name but a few. In each case, I asked the people to provide the measurements and KPI based upon the evidence provided. What is totally fascinating is that every single person within every group came up with the same answers, the same measurements, the same KPI and the same baselines. The key to this world-wide consistency was not to ask about sales process, but rather to ask the right questions about customer buying behaviour.

For me, these experiences were enlightening and extraordinary because the measurements for sales process are no longer based upon opinion, but rather applied science and the total agreement of more than 500 very experienced people in many different parts of the world; every meeting provided eureka moments and eradicated the wildly varying opinions. At last, we now have a central point of reference and these measurements are provided for you in the Sales Funnel later in the book together with their KPI, baselines and of course a full explanation of how they came to be.

In moving from the wild and varied inconsistency of sales process to a unanimous international agreement of measurements, I can conclude that the reason for the inconsistency was because most people have been focussing on controlling the salesperson rather than going into depth about how customers buy. It became very clear that Sales Control is about the salesperson and that control is plagued with opinion, as would be expected. On the other hand, Sales Process is about the customer and is based on science not on opinion and that’s how international agreement has been achieved. What you have in your hands is the science behind how and why customers buy and how to guide customers through your own sales process; it’s all about the customer, it’s not about controlling the salesperson. 

* * * * *

After gaining agreement on the measures within sales process, it was time to go back and revisit best practice for the steps and activities within sales process and for this to be valid and correct I needed to see the top achievers in action.

After travelling the world and witnessing some pure magic in the sales arena, I’ve concluded that the top achieving salespeople are not born as top achievers, they develop and add new skills as they grow, they question themselves and their abilities and they all have one thing in common: they all have a “customer first” mindset; that above all is the most evident.

In my quest to find the top achievers, I’ve also encountered and learned a lot from the poor performers. These are people who are technically brilliant, they’re passionate about their products but they put themselves first instead of putting the customer first. They don’t truly understand why people buy their products, they simply forge ahead trying to sell things without any modicum of success and they blame others, and even customers for their failure. Inside my mind, I bestow upon these people the unenviable title of “The Sales Prevention Officer”; maybe you know a few you these people too? Of course, learning what not to do and how things go wrong is just as valuable as learning what to do and how to get things right. The question is, are you constantly aware of what is happening from a customer’s point of view? The winners are always the ones with the customer first strategies.

* * * * *

You’re not going to read this book and suddenly become the best salesperson overnight because being the best at what you do in any field of endeavour is a marathon, not a sprint. Accept the fact that you’re on a life-long journey in sales and your mission is to get better as time goes by.

During this journey you’ll develop, grow and perhaps become a different person than you were at the beginning of your journey. Interestingly, we only see this change when we look backwards over our shoulder to earlier times in our life; we tend not to see it when we look forward because we do not yet know the person who we will become.

I’ve witnessed it myself… this lack of forward vision is one of the biggest obstacles and barriers for some people in their personal and professional development because they only see who they are right now and not the person who they could become in the future.

It’s important to manage your expectations; will you read this book and adopt everything immediately? No, of course not. In my experience, people need time to grow, time to see their efforts come to fruition and time to change their beliefs about how things work. Changing beliefs and adopting new ideas happens gradually, although some people do change faster than others.

You might try one idea to see what happens and when it works, it opens your mind to a flood of other opportunities and possibilities, then you try another idea and so it goes.

The real killer to self-development is inertia; the total resistance to change direction. If you hear your own self-talk saying, “That won’t work in my town”, then you’re probably suffering from inertia too because everything in this book has been tried and tested in the real world, all over the world; the one common fact is that people are people, no matter where you live on the planet.

After fighting my own demons with inertia over the years, all I can say is that inertia didn’t help me at all. In the past, I judged things and ruled them out before I tried them out for myself and it only served to slow me down and halt my progress. Therefore, the best advice I can pass on to you is that whilst reading, try not to judge what is right or wrong, but merely try to be objective and decide what might be useful. Put things into practice and give them a try before you ridicule them and rule them out as useless; what have you got to lose by trying things that are already known to be successful elsewhere?

Over the last 30 years I’ve visited countless sales organisations and I’ve attended and operated, many training courses myself and during these times it’s been possible to witness those who wish to change and those who do not. Some people will see a new method, make changes themselves and they’re constantly looking for tweaks to make things better.

Some people will see how the world is changing, but only when they’re shown what’s happening. They need to be provided with the evidence, but then they will embrace change and try new things.

There are also those who do not see, or to be more specific, there are those who do not want to see. They live in a world of denial, they work very hard and believe what they’ve been doing for the last 20 years continues to be best practice for today and the next 20 years; they’re happy with the status quo.

In truth, the world is a very different place now to what it was 20 years ago and when we consider the next 20 years I’m pretty sure that the only constant we’ll see is change. To be successful in sales, we must all evolve and raise our game to meet the new and ever-changing demands of our customers, or like the dinosaurs, we’ll die.

If you’re the type of person who wants to embrace new ideas, sell more vehicles and make more profit, then you’ll find valuable strategies here if you are willing to open new doors, walk in and explore what’s waiting for you inside. Once in these new places, believe that these sales initiatives are already working successfully for other salespeople, there’s nothing untested and there’s nothing theoretical or based upon opinion. Everything works in the real world and all you have to do is to find a way to adapt these strategies so they work for you; you hold your destiny in your own hands, but beware of the self-talk. 

Self-Talk

We all talk to ourselves, although we might not always like to admit it, especially in public. However, it’s a fact, we all talk to ourselves, but the words you use when you communicate with yourself have a great bearing on your behaviour and the beliefs you hold when you communicate with other people. For instance, if you believe someone is going to buy from you today, your behaviour towards them will be completely different to your behaviour if you believe they’re not serious, or they’re wasting your time.

 

Sadly, there are certain words we use to describe, stereotype or pigeonhole people that exacerbate these thoughts, the words influence our belief system and therefore our behaviour towards them, even though we know nothing at all about these people, we still make judgements about them.

Consider the following 3 questions, but only 1 question at a time. As you answer each question, listen to your self-talk and then consider the effect these words have on your thoughts towards people within the sale process. In other words, how likely are these people to buy from you?

What is a sales suspect?

What is a sales prospect?

What is a customer?

The words, suspect, prospect and customer label people and our behaviour towards people with these labels is automatically influenced. These words govern our behaviour and yet they’re only words with pre-conditioned connotations, they do not represent reality.

Your behaviour is influenced by your self-talk and your self-talk is governed by how serious you believe people are to buy from you. These beliefs will ultimately determine your success.

In my experience and observations, we tend to hold little value for anyone who is labelled as a suspect or a prospect, so to rid yourself of these unwanted behaviours and pre-conceived beliefs, this book refers to all human beings as customers.

Everyone is a customer; the only question is whose customer will they be? Will each person want to conclude business with you, or will you inadvertently push them away to buy elsewhere because of your limiting self-talk? Using the wrong words in your self-talk can destroy your progress because everyone is a customer, if they don’t buy from you, they’ll buy from someone else and that’s a fact.

* * * * *

Adding Value

I’m often asked, “What is the secret to selling?” My response doesn’t contain a single, concise answer, but rather an explanation of many things including the fact that we must add value wherever possible, but few people really understand what I mean when I say this, they merely accept it and move on to the next question. Fortunately for me, writing this book doesn’t restrict me to a single, concise answer and I have the ability to expand a little more, so here’s the beginning of the understanding of what adding value really means.

When you’re engaged with a customer, every word you speak and every action you take is either adding value, or subtracting value. There is no neutral position, everything you do has meaning and impact in the eyes of the customer. But in order to add value, you first have to know what value is and how it’s created before you can even think about attempting to change it in any form, so what is value and what does it mean?

The tricky part here is that value means different things to different people; we all place different values on different things. However, when we decide to purchase something, we have an inbuilt judgement process that compares the item we’re buying with the amount of money we’re asked to pay for that item.

If we consider something to be expensive, it means that the price we’re being asked to pay for the item is heavier, or greater than the perceived value that we place on the item. It means that the price outweighs the value of the item. Under these conditions the customer is less likely to buy and they try to readdress the balance of the scales by reducing the weight of the price so that it balances with their value; we know this strategy as discount. But be aware that price only becomes an issue when there is an absence of value in the customer proposition.

 Conversely, if we consider something to be cheap, or to be representing good value for money, it means that the price we’re being asked to pay for the item is lighter, or less than the perceived value that we place on the item. It means that the value outweighs the price of the item. Under these conditions the customer is much more likely to buy and they do not need to readdress the balance of the scales by reducing the weight of the price and focussing too much on discount because they have sufficient value. (This doesn’t mean people won’t ask for a discount of course, but there’s more about how to overcome this later) It is under these conditions that we’re able to win more customers, increase sales and make more profit.

 Value then, is an internal perception based upon the relationship between how much we desire an item and the price of that item, which means that we can change the balance of the scales by either reducing the price or by adding significant weight to the value. But the question still remains, “How do you add value?”

 To understand how to add value to a customer, you first need to know and understand the reasons why each individual customer wants to buy your product. Only when you are certain of this information for each customer can you then apply your skills and help each individual customer to buy.

 Now think of things differently. Imagine both price and value to be on the same side of the scales along with your customers and you are on the other side of the scales. As you increase the perception of value in the eyes of the customer, you are at the same time increasing the price the customer is prepared to pay for your product. Your product has a higher perceived value to your customer because it’s worth more and you’re less prone to discount. Therefore, it is your skills in identifying your customer’s reasons for buying your products and matching those reasons with the benefits of your products that achieves the balance between price and value and thereby a greater desire to buy. In other words, it’s your job to help the customer to achieve balance between price and value and that is the whole purpose of this book.

 It’s important to know that adding value is not always associated with money, or giving things away, you can tip the scales the other way to achieve balance. It’s only when you provide the customer with more than they expect that you truly add value. Simply doing what is expected adds nothing at all; it’s merely expected. In a market flooded with competitive products and a price war, the single most differentiating factor for adding value is you. Yes, it’s you. It’s who you are, what you do and how you make the customer feel that adds value because at the end of the day, people buy people and there are no clever closing techniques that bypass this fact. Here’s the harsh reality of selling that you must accept. If you lose a deal on price, it’s because the customer prefers to deal with another person and not you. It’s because you either haven’t added enough value, or they like the other person more than they like you; now that’s a very bitter pill to swallow, but it’s the truth of this game we’re in. When you accept this fact and refuse to blame circumstances, you will without doubt, achieve higher levels of success.  

 To close more deals, increase sales and make more profit, you have to do more than is expected and add more value than anyone else is currently doing. To achieve these things on a consistent basis, you must have a well-planned, customer-focussed sales process that keeps you in alignment with your customer’s buying process. Unstructured random acts of kindness here and there will not get the job done.

 In the highly competitive and challenging market you live in today, it’s not good enough to find the people who have the requirement for your products or services. To succeed, you must do an outstanding job at building your customer proposition, it must be packed with hard core value for the customer, you must be prepared to add more, you need to strive to find out new ways to add more, and above all, people buy people so it is you who is the differentiating factor and you must be part of the added value equation. The reality is that customers will either buy from you, or they’ll buy from someone else; you are the differentiating factor, not the product.

 Delivering low closing ratios and higher discounts means that you have to find more and more people to feed into the top of your sales funnel merely to stand still; the law of diminishing returns dictates that’s not going to happen. The salespeople who are able to justify that the value of their product or service exceeds the value of the customer’s money are the ones who succeed.

 The secret to selling is about adopting a customer first strategy and being responsive to change. Our environment is changing, our customer wants and needs are changing, the way we purchase is changing and we must constantly question what is required to add value. It’s never too late to change, it’s never too late to question new ideas and it’s never too late to become a top achiever. You can’t win them all, but you can reflect upon your own actions and be honest with yourself. Here’s a short poem you can revisit for a reminder.

 

The Guy In The Glass

Written by Dale Wimbrow, 1934

 When you get what you want in your struggle for pelf,

and the world makes you King for a day,

then go to the mirror and look at yourself,

and see what that guy has to say.

 

For it isn't your Father, or Mother, or Wife,

whose judgement upon you must pass.

the feller whose verdict counts most in your life

is the guy staring back from the glass.

 

He's the feller to please, never mind all the rest,

for he's with you clear up to the end,

and you've passed your most dangerous, difficult test

if the guy in the glass is your friend.

 

You may be like Jack Horner and “chisel” a plum

and think you’re a wonderful guy

but the guy in the glass says you’re only a bum

if you can’t look him straight in the eye.

 

You can fool the whole world down the pathway of years,

and get pats on the back as you pass,

but your final reward will be heartaches and tears

if you've cheated the guy in the glass.

 

I’ve written this author’s note before you get into the main content because I wanted to give you an insight into the ethics and guiding principles I’ve followed whilst writing this book. It would’ve been so easy to write about what I think, to give my opinion and to tell you what to do, but I didn’t want to do that. I wanted this book to be based on evidence, facts and real world applications so that you can make up your own mind about the evidence provided in the following chapters.

 It’s taken many years to gather and test the evidence you’re about to read and whilst conducting my research, changes have taken place, especially with the advancement of technology that have rendered older information outdated and mostly obsolete.

 The journey has been rewarding and also many other things including frustrating, enjoyable, challenging, exhilarating, disturbing and revealing all rolled into one, but it’s been a truly amazing journey and I hope you find the information to be useful and easily transferable for you to adapt and fit into your own workplace.

 What I’ve come to learn more than anything else is that when you focus upon yourself, you don’t get very far, the focus must be on the customer, what they want and finding out how you must change to meet the requirements of the customer. I know this sounds obvious and straightforward, but what I’ve discovered is that most people think they’re doing this, but in fact, they’re focussing upon themselves. I hope this book helps you to make a clear distinction between what the customer requires and what you have to do to manifest those changes in your sales process to enable you to close more deals.

 I wish you every success on your own journey in this wonderful world of sales. It’s hugely rewarding when we get it right, it hurts like hell and it’s devastating when we get it wrong, but it’s completely and totally addictive.

 Seek to serve, act with the highest of integrity and be true unto yourself. Let the guy in the glass be your guiding light because it is not you or I who will be your ultimate judge, that job is reserved for your customer.

 Jeff Smith

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