Sales is a Process Worth Understanding

Maximize Your Sales Efforts With This Five Step Process

Over the course of the past 15 years - I have held multiple sales roles both as an individual contributor as well as a Senior Leader. I have been massively fortunate to have had fantastic mentorship along the way. Kevin Dey, Kevin Leonard, Michael Kearney, Ivory Robinson, I am talking about you. As a leader, I always try to ensure I am NOT the smartest person in the room. This methodology has helped me tremendously throughout my career. I would like to think one thing that has always helped me separate from my peers has been my ability to take coaching and not only apply it - but circle back to the person who gave it to me and ask for additional coaching on the implementation. It is no secret that I love sales. I love the chase, the challenge, and the mental conditioning it provides me on a daily basis. In my personal life my two favorite hobbies include Golf and Guitar. Both can be improved upon but never mastered. This is why I love sales so much. The following process is something that can never be mastered - but understanding it at a high level will be the vehicle to get you whatever you need in life.

The 5 Step Sales Process

To first understand the methodology - you must first understand what a process is. A process is "a prescribed set of actions that is executed in sequence". The word sequence is massively important here. The Sales Process is ineffective if it is not done in the correct order. When contractors are hired to build a new home - imagine what would happen if they started with the 2nd floor. The entire home would crumble - rendering all of the effort irrelevant. Keep that simple thought process in mind as we move forward.

"Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist."

- Pablo Picasso

Step One: Rapport

The Purpose: To break down the walls.

How we do it: Find a common ground.

Put yourself in the following scenario. You are driving along the highway with a loved one who is located in the passenger seat. You are both having a great time - listening to some music and enjoying the conversation. Suddenly the car in front of you breaks aggressively which causes you as the driver to lock the breaks. What is the first thing you do as instinct? For me it is to reach my arm across the car to shield the passenger from any potential danger. This is human instinct. Human beings are naturally conditioned to protect themselves and the ones that they love. But the important thing to remember in relation to rapport is as follows: You are selling something - and they do not want to buy it. Very rarely do you hear about someone walking into a convienance store and telling themselves "I cant wait to spend as much money as I possibly can today". Again, human instinct. Your job here is simple in description - but difficult in nature; Break down the walls.

There are two types of Rapport. One is massively effective - the other is incredibly useless. 95% of the sales people I have trained or observed fail at this step and inadvertently make the rest of the game impossible to play.

1.) Fluff Rapport: I am only speaking from my own personal belief here - but small talk is like nails on a chalkboard to me. Perhaps it is because I am conditioned to have genuine discussions with people on a daily basis, but I can read right through small talk. Individuals who have their walls up can do so too. Examples of fluff rapport: "How is the weather?" , "Any plans this weekend?", "I can't wait for lunch break!", etc.

2.) Genuine Rapport: To find a common ground - one must be genuine in nature. There is no magic pill I can give out here in this stage. I wish there was, because I would take it. As the Vice President of Sales at HarpData, I tell my team of Relationship Development Managers to spend as much time here as they need. Afterall, our company mantra is "Relationships over Everything". Understanding the difference between a real conversation and a fluff conversation can be difficult. That said - you should never LIE in an effort to find a common ground!

Early in my career - I managed a team of sixteen call center representatives whose job was to sell wireless service to the inbound customers. I had this one employee who was notorious for claiming to have traveled to whatever city the customer was from. He did this daily - without fail, until he got caught. "Hey, I see you are in Atlanta. I was just there last week. It is a beautiful city!" The customer, who either smelled through this small talk - or was genuinely interested responded with "Oh? Where did you go to eat?". The conversation was stalled. My employee got red in the face and nervous...and the call was over shortly thereafter. I still laugh about this today. The truth is, you can find a common ground with almost anything in life. You simply need to look past the surface and be calculated.

There are two types of Rapport.  One is massively effective - the other is incredibly useless.  95% of the sales people I have trained or observed fail at this step and inadvertently make the rest of the game impossible to play.

Lets take two sports as an example: Fishing and Golf. I have been fishing once in my life - and this JUST happened two months ago. I hate to fish. It simply isn't for me. I am not the best swimmer, I hate to touch slimmey things, and I get a bit seasick from time to time. Add those three things up and you get the most anti fishing individual you could possible meet. But here is what I do enjoy - Golf. Although I am not the best golfer, there is nothing I would rather do on a Saturday or Sunday then spend four hours on the golf course. I love being outside in the nice weather, I love to hang out with some buddies while I play, It is good to have a drink or two while on the course, and it is a sentimental game to me - as my Stepfather taught me the game.

For any people reading that enjoy fishing - take a second and ask yourself if any of the reasons I enjoy the game of Golf is why you enjoy to fish. I would wager they are almost identical. Two different sports - one common ground. I can build on that discussion now. I can engage in deeper conversation about his/her family, what they like to drink, who they play the sport with, what that dynamic is like, etc....now and only now - are we going somewhere.

My former boss, Kevin Leonard used to tell me all the time that "You have to earn the right to sell." The thing about Kevin - was he always left you to figure out what he meant on your own. That was always his style. I am 99% sure the above is what he meant. If it wasn't, I am sure I will get a phone call shortly.

Step Two: Qualify

The Purpose: To identify the need

How we do it: Find out where they are now - and where they want to be

Although you can't arrive at this step without successfully completing step one (Think of the house analogy), in my opinion this is the most important step. There are countless books and webinars on the internet focused on "Probing Questions", or "Discovery Questions". They are all useful and serve a purpose. Most of these videos focus on the basics - spending most of their time on what questions to ask. I have always had one fundamental issue with that. When you overprepare your questions it is human nature to focus solely on the next question to ask. This sets yourself up for a huge missed opportunity. The sole reason one should ask a question is to LISTEN TO THE ANSWER. Anything else you read, watch, or emulate in my opinion is incorrect and not setting you up to win. With Ivory's blessing, I have instructed my team to not overprepare for any meeting. Instead, I instruct them to really understand one simple fact about human nature. Every single person in this world (without fail) makes decisions based on one of two emotions; Avoid a pain or gain a pleasure.

This is not a theory. This is fact. We can break it down to its most simple form. If you are hungry, you eat. If you are tired, you sleep. I beleive in this so much that when delivering training on the sales process I actually go around the room and solicit feedback on everyones last big purchase. I typically hear normal answers like a car, house, college for kids, TV, etc. All of them are derived from a Pain or a Pleasure. That said - if we understand that every single person makes a decision based on Pain or Pleasure...then every single question you ask should be focused on drawing that out.

Knowing this information puts you in a position to win. Not understanding this information will put you in a position to lose. I will provide a real life example of both.

Years ago, I had a vehical that - how should I put this - wasn't exactly the safest choice for a child. It was a 2009 Mustang GT Convertible. Finding out that a child was on the way - I knew I had to act. I couldn't fit a carseat in the backseat, and it just wasn't practicle. The car was bought to have fun in, to drive fast, and take roadtrips in. Those days were over for me.

I went to the car dealership with a pretty clear cut and transparent need. I wanted to avoid pain. I wanted to have a safer vehicle for my newborn to be in. That was it - that was the golden nugget for this car salesman. Unfortunately, he saw me trade in the Mustang and without asking me any questions he made the assumption that I wanted a vehicle in the same family. He started showing me other sports cars. He started telling me about how fast this particular model could go from 0-60MPH. He even went as far to say at one point that "this model doesn't have a backseat, so it is a bit more sporty." Ultimately, I went to another dealer and bought a more practicle car (for more money) because he understood my driving factor. (Pun intended)

Every single person in this world (without fail) makes decisions based on one of two emotions;  Avoid a pain or gain a pleasure.

On the flipside, the most effective qualifying question anyone has ever asked me came from my Attorney. That same child I referenced above - I had to fight for. I did so through a long and drawn out custody battle. I was shopping attorneys and most gave me the same script. "Sir, you are a single dad in NYS. You will get every other weekend and one weekday per week. This is the precedent." I almost accepted that as a reality until the last lawyer I spoke to fired off the greatest Qualifying question ever.

"How often do you want to see your kid?"

Whoa. As I type that, I get chills. So much emotion. So much Pain and Pleasure. For the parents reading - is there any pleasure more dominant than seeing your child every day? Is there any pain like the thought of not? This attorney was double the price of all the others - and I gladly paid it. She understood the power of human nature, emotion, and why people make decisions. From that moment on, the sale was made. She just had to connect the dots.

Lets wrap it up ....for now.

I would love to hear from you. Please visit my Linkedin profile - as well as my Company profile or website for more information about myself, my team, and our company.

Next week: Steps 3 - 5