Selling Could be Fun When You Use the Right Tools

“Don’t find customers for your products, find products for your customers.”

Seth Godin

My elder daughter is already 7 years young. A year ago she learned to write and read. Until then my wife and I were reading stories every evening at bedtime. Since then, most of the times she is reading stories to her sister and us. A few evenings ago she read us the following story. It is called:

The Wood-Cutter

Once upon a time there was a very strong wood-cutter. He asked for a job from a timber merchant and he got it. The pay was very good and so were the work conditions and for that reason the wood-cutter was determined to do his very best. His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area in the forest where he was to work.

The first day the wood-cutter cut down 18 trees. His boss was extremely impressed and said, “Well done. Keep it up. You are our best wood-cutter yet.” Motivated by his boss’s words, the wood-cutter tried even harder the next day, but he only cut down 15 trees. The third day he tried even harder but only cut down 10 trees.

Day after day the woodcutter cut down fewer and fewer trees. His boss came to him and told him that if he did not chop down more trees each day he would lose his job. The wood-cutter needed the job, so he tried harder and harder. He worked during his lunch breaks and tea breaks, but still he could not cut down enough trees. “I must be losing my strength” the wood-cutter thought to himself. He worked over-time, but still it was not enough.

Eventually his boss came to him and told him he was fired. The wood-cutter was really upset, but he knew that he had worked as hard as he could and just did not have enough time to chop more trees. He sadly handed his axe back. The boss took one look at the axe and asked, “When was the last time you sharpened your axe?” “Sharpen my axe?” the wood-cutter replied. “I have never sharpened my axe. I have been too busy trying to cut down enough trees.”

 …

It always amazes me that even in simple things you have to pay attention to the details to be successful.

Today, like always, the correct choice of all the necessary tools is crucial.

Let us take a closer look at the sales field as an example.

If you want to have a career in sales and you start your training today you have, in my opinion, two strategies to choose from:

1. To sell with no strategy whatsoever and no sales process in hand.
2. To sell with strategy following the exact steps of the sales process you are using.

With 15+ years of experience in sales and in sales training, my advice to you will be to stay away as much as possible from the first option. If you have any success using this strategy, I can guarantee you, it will be for a very short period of time. And that is because when you use different approach every single time, you have no instruments for self-analysis.

If you choose the second strategy, you have also two options:

1. To focus exclusively on the products you are selling, respectively on your sales targets and goals.
2. To focus on your client alone and accepting that you are going to meet your targets and goals as a by-products of your strategy.

Both options have similar processes and both as well have their weaknesses and strengths.

Large amount of the salesforce around the globe is using similar strategy as the first option here to succeed. And rightly so. Sellers have high professional competence, they are very well prepared, know every small detail about the product or service they are selling and usually they are highly motivated to have success and meet their targets and goals. The main risk here is to make your sale short-term in some cases because not necessarily meeting client's needs in every single sale you make.

The sales process here has 7 stages/steps:

1. Prospecting.
2. Preparation.
3. Approach.
4. Presentation.
5. Handling objections.
6. Closing.
7. Follow-up.

Only some of the sellers are using the second option, where you put your entire focus on your client. This approach is much more difficult because it requires well developed set of additional communication skills:

• Asking different types of questions in different situations or stages of the sales process (close-ended, alternative, but mainly open-ended questions);
• Active listening and active observing;
• Patience to wait for the right moment.

Here again we have almost exact same steps of the process, with additional two between "approach" and "presentation":

• Gaining trust;
• Detailed needs analysis.

When your clients trust you, they can be with you for many years ahead. If you always put them and their needs and wishes in the focus, the sale itself becomes a consequence of your actions of paying full attention to the client, instead of being as an end in itself.

When you ask predominantly open-ended questions you automatically put your clients in the centre of the process. You ask and listen carefully, they speak. If you are 100% interested in what your clients are saying, it's very difficult not to gain their trust.

And then all those "tools" and "sharpening of your axe" are beginning to repay as you gain more and more success ratio with the time.

This is the moment when selling becomes fun and the moment you start to enjoy the whole process - from Prospecting and Preparation to Follow-up, and from apprentice you become a master.

There is an old story about it that comes from the insurance business and it's called:

The "beginner" approach

A young salesperson peeped into the office of someone who looked like a sales manager, muttered something, then started walking away. After retreating a little he seemed to change his mind and headed back to the door -- where after some hesitation, he started to back away again. The sales manager, feeling sorry for the young man, and surprised that he was so badly trained, called him in.

"You're a salesperson aren't you? What are you selling?"

"Sir ... uh ... yes ... I'm a salesman. I'm sorry to bother you. I was selling insurance, but I'm sure you don't want any. Sorry to have wasted your time."

Feeling sorry for the young bungler, the sales manager bought two policies to give the young salesman some confidence and then started teaching him about selling. He said: "You should have different pre-planned approaches for different kinds of clients".

"But I do, sir,” the young salesman interrupted, “the one I just used is my planned approach for sales managers. It always works. Thank you!"

...

There is no "right" or "wrong" strategy. There are strategies that work less, and there are strategies that work more. The choice is yours.

So, whatever your approach and strategy is, have fun and enjoy!

But don't forget to always sharpen your axe!

-Stoyan