Today I am half a century old, and after a quarter of a century in sales, what have I learned?

Today is my 50th birthday.??If EVER there was a time to reflect on 25 year years in sales ?…..?This is it!? So for what it is worth, here are the reflections of an aul fella.??Having read and listened to 100’s books, ?attended 10’s of Sales Training Courses and yes … made many ...?many mistakes. Here are, what are in my humble opinion, the most impactful sales learnings based on a quarter of a century (and counting) career in sales…

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EARLY STAGE LEARNING – THE FOUNDATION

My first formal sales training was received 25 years ago, with a sales training company that is still going strong today, Aslan.? Aslan provided me with the foundation for a sales approach that is is relevant then, as it is now. By introducing me to the concept of becoming a "Trusted Advisor", ?Aslan thought me that to achieve this status, that you should focus on creating Trust, Credibility and Rapport which, at a high level, means applying the following:

• You create TRUST by focusing on the customer through asking questions and listening with an intent to understand customers problems BEFORE articulating your solution.
• You build CREDIBILITY by knowing not just your solution, but also your customers industry and what your competition offers.
• You establish RAPPORT and create an emotional connection by ?leveraging the first two elements of Trust and Credibility but also mirroring your customers preffered communication style (Relational or Task).

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MID STAGE – MANAGING BIGGER MORE COMPLEX DEALS

A lot of my early wins I attribute to the Aslan approach.??And even though the Aslan foundation remains with me to this day, as I moved into more complex enterprise software sales it became apparent that I needed to further develop and enhance my questioning skills. ?And for this, 15 years ago, there was no better approach than SPIN.?

SPIN is based on the excellent book SPIN SELLING, by Neil Rackham.?SPIN at the time was unique in that it was backed by thorough research that concluded that the most successful sales people had a certain logical questioning flow built into their sales approach. ?This flow started with understanding your customers current Situation, then moved on to the Problems and Business Implications of the current situation and then eventually focusing on the Need-Payoff that would result in addressing the situation and creating a new “Current state”.??

LATE STAGE – THE MODERN APPROACH

SPIN served me and my fellow sales warriors for many years.??But as deals and opportunity management become more complex I knew I was missing something and needed to further develop my skills.??I believed I had been introduced to the ultimate framework when I came across the next Game Changing approach, MEDDIC.?

I was introduced to MEDDIC framework by a young lady (I am 50 now so anyone younger than 50 will be referred to as either “young lady” or “young man”) .?This young lady, ??despite being short of her 30th birthday, was consistently exceeding her target?and just as impressively was always on the money with her sales forecast. It was … very impressive.? When I approached her, she kindly shared how to use MEDDIC.??I was blown away at how much better this, pretty much immediately, made me at managing larger more complex deals.?And After mastering MEDDIC, I remember thinking. “Sure that is it, I don’t think there is much else for me to learn ”.?And for a while this proved true as although I continued reading (and listening) I found that I was mostly just going over different versions of the same content.

And this remained the case until I came across the content from Force Management and received training on how to use a Framework known as the “The Value Framework”.??The helicopter explanation is that you leverage the Value Framework to understand how your solution can offer value in the context of your customers biggest business problems.??The Framework guides you through how to apply this at multiple levels within a targeted customer account.?Your goal for every opportunity becomes to understand their current situation, appreciate where they want/need to go, and to address?the capabilities needed to achieve this as well as offer meaningful differentiation?to achieve the Value associated with getting your customer to where they want to go.

?So that was it, the highlights of a 25 year learning journey in sales.?It has been and continues to be a bumpy but fantastic rollercoaster ride.??I certainly consider myself extremely lucky and grateful to have worked for some of the best companies and leaders in the corporate world and am now exactly where I want to be.??Working in Sales Enablement for a great company. It was fun to reflect and also to make make me wonder; ?What is the next Aslan, SPIN, MEDDIC or Force Management content out there? Love to hear your thoughts on this!