In sales, as in medicine, the concept of diagnosis before prescription is important. The spotlight needs to shine on the problems and priorities of the buyer before it shines on the sales doctor.  There should be no argument that the initial sales interview should focus on the prospect’s situation and not on you, your company, or product features and benefits. (If you disagree, give Sales Evolution a call and let’s talk it through.)

That fact notwithstanding, salespeople often feel it is their job to create problems where none exist. So, in order to make a sale, traditional salespeople often employ an extraordinary barrage of manipulative and aggressive tactics. This inevitably makes prospects defensive or skeptical, destroys rapport and produces little or no results because of the missing diagnosis.
The more you act like a vendor, the more you’ll be treated like a vendor.
Let’s start out by agreeing we have rights, and that not everyone is a prospect. Second, let’s agree that most salespeople would be happy if they were simply able to get far enough in the investigation to ask the right qualifying questions. Presuming this is the case:

• Let’s start by creating a collaborative atmosphere where the prospect is comfortable discussing their problems and priorities.
• Develop an effective meeting agreement with permission to ask questions and for them to do the same … remember to use N-O-T to set up your points … Naturally…, Obviously… and Typically…
• Get comfortable with letting the prospect know that it is OK to say no if it doesn’t look like there is a fit and be sure to let them know you’ll tell them if you see it first.
• Make a conscious effort to listen to yourself to make sure that your tone and pace are nurturing and not overly aggressive or threatening.
• Create an atmosphere in which the lines of communication are more open and watch your results improve dramatically.

The first meeting sets the tone for the rest of the sales cycle. Setting expectations and investigation management are the engines for a smooth Guess Free Selling sales process. If the engines aren’t running, then the process is likely to stall. Do you have a doctor’s bedside manner that allows you to make a diagnosis before prescribing?

By Eric Slife

“So far, I like what I see. Let me look over your proposal in more detail, and then I’ll call you next week.”

In actuality your prospect is really thinking, “This looks the same as the other four proposals.”

One of the questions I like to ask is, “What makes you unique?” Or, phrased a different way, “Why should I buy from you?”

More often than not, I receive one of the following responses:

• We have a superior product.

• Our company offers more.

• No one can match our service.

• We have been around forever.

Although you may think these are reasons to choose you, they aren’t. First, your competition makes identical claims. Second, there is absolutely nothing specific or quantitative about any of the above statements. Finally, there is nothing that supports any these statements.

Prospects don’t care what salespeople or marketing departments think is important. When they see proposals or hear statements that contain these phrases, it has no positive impact on their decision because there is nothing unique about them. All things being equal, they will choose either the lowest priced competition, or the solution that they trust the most. This is why it’s so hard to oust a current vendor — better the devil you know, than the devil you don’t.

Before you can answer “Why should I buy from you?”, you need to know how you are uniquely different than your competition. In order to do this, create a side-by-side spreadsheet comparison. You should evaluate the following:

Company

Is your company big or small?

Are you safe or innovative?

What’s your niche?

Do you have an extensive product line?

How does your guarantee compare?

Product

Specific Features — Are there any particular features that are unique? Or, when you consider all the capabilities as a whole, does that make your product unique?

Durability — How long is its expected life span? What are the conditions where it will function?

Productivity — Is it faster or more efficient?

Operating Costs — Are the operating costs lower or higher?

Standard Options — What does your product include?

Price — Are you more or less expensive?

Ease of Use — How long does it take to learn how to use your product?

Size and Weight — Will it fit into the intended workspace?

Noisy vs. Quiet — What kind of environment is it going in?

What is the warranty?

Service

Is it included or additional?

Is it local?

What is the average response time?

Are they using OEM or remanufactured parts?

Do they specialize?

I’ve managed to come up with numerous areas where you can potentially differentiate yourself. This list is by no means exhaustive, and your side-by-side comparison will probably be different for each competitor.

Once you have completed a comparison, you need to determine your strengths and weaknesses versus those of your competitors. I think you’ll be amazed at how many ways there are to distinguish yourself from your competition. This simple exercise will help you better understand how and when to set up your competition, as well as who your best prospects are.

Assuming you’ve done your homework and you know your unique capabilities, you still don’t want to answer your prospect’s question immediately. Why? It doesn’t do any good to spout off your differences, if your prospect doesn’t consider them a positive. The next time you’re asked that question, simply respond with, “I’m not sure you should buy from me. Although we have a great product/service, it’s not always the best fit. Let me ask you some questions, so we can both determine if our product/service makes sense.” Not only do you keep from putting your foot in your mouth, but you also just earned significant TRUST points with your prospect. In addition, you’re only providing information that your prospect deems relevant.

This is also a good time to find out whom you’re up against, so you can compare the two. If the prospect won’t provide that information, politely state “I’d really like to make sure I’m comparing apples to apples in order to accurately answer your question.” My experience is, the less information a prospect is willing to provide, the less likely you are to get the deal.

After you have done a comparison and verified what’s important to your prospect, then it’s time to demonstrate or share how you’re different and worth the investment. If you can’t actually demonstrate your difference, then you should provide support material that backs up your claim (testimonials, referrals, quantitative data, polls, etc.).

The better you demonstrate and/or articulate why your prospect should buy from you, the better you’ll be able to differentiate yourself from your competition and ultimately win more business.

Many companies put a lot of energy into making effective presentations and writing proposals to sell their products/services. While presentations and proposals are great ways to promote an offering, in most cases they are not properly utilized to win business. Salespeople hope the presentation and/or proposal will do all the selling for them. The salesperson makes the case; the buyer makes nice comments and requests time to review; and nothing happens. Too little business seems to close as a result of this approach.

Buyers are masters at controlling the sales process. The Buyer often gets salespeople to do a premature presentation or proposal, careful to avoid making any kind of commitment to buy or even talk again at a specific time. This forces the salesperson to chase someone who, in most cases, does not want to be caught. In today’s competitive marketplace, companies cannot afford to engage in this loser’s game. It’s a false myth that if Buyers would just take the time to look at our presentations or see our proposals, they would see the features and benefits and buy.

The real problem is not with your Presentation/Proposal, but with the way the sales team deals with the Presentation/Agreement steps in the sales process.

A Buyer who requests a presentation or proposal is not always “real.” So don’t get too excited. Slow down — and go farther — by taking the time to find out the reasons for the request. Take control of the process by giving them the pen and having them write what the proposal should look like or what they want to see in a presentation. Determine these three things before you invest the time, money and effort in proposing or presenting:

• “What issues do you want to address?”

• “How will you determine if they were addressed successfully; what does success look like?”

• “Assuming it was a successful presentation or trial, what happens at the end?

First, this will help you focus on the buyer’s problems and priorities and avoid irrelevant features and benefits. Second, you know the criteria by which your offering will be judged and earn the right to know how you measure up. Finally, you know the next step after all your efforts. Always try to trade a presentation or proposal for a decision.

Richard is aggravated with his sales team. They are active and they are selling. Sales are up, but margins are down. The business model allows reps to be flexible in the field and sell at the prices they feel appropriate, but something is missing. Richard is unsure how to help his field reps get more margin. He doesn’t want to have to take back the ability to set pricing from the reps, but doesn’t know what information they need to be better at the task.

Margins are grown or lost through effective selling practices. Too many salespeople are dealing with the demon in their head that whispers “you can’t charge that much — you’ll lose the business” or “that’s gouging the customer and they’ll be angry” by unnecessarily lowering margins. Price is not an issue when the sales person gets to the real emotional issues behind a customer’s interest.

When sales people get caught reacting to intellectual issues, margin becomes more difficult to maintain. Buying is an emotional decision that is only justified by the exchange of intellectual information. Price becomes less of an issue when there is a strong emotional connection to the need to relieve or avoid a problem. No one asks an ambulance driver for a quote before getting a ride to the hospital!

By developing the practice of allowing a prospect to discover the true cost of their situation or their need to change, a sales professional will find that the margin grows and that the prospect understands why they are willing to accept that price. Sales amateurs only get as far as discussing the intellectual issues, such as the cost of doing business, the trouble with late deliveries, the loss of customers or similar “business” issues, which is why the prospect will always ask for cuts in the margin. The most powerful intellectual issue most buyers are used to controlling is price.

Low margins, more often than not, are a symptom of an incomplete selling process. Get those dollars back on your side of the equation by taking the prospect all the way from intellectual business issues to the personal, emotional connections that really drive the decision making. Then, you’ll not only make the sale, but you’ll make it for higher margin than the customer would pay your competition for the same products or service.

By Sam Parker of JustSell.com.

Several months ago, I tried to work two 60-hour work weeks back-to-back – a kind of Thoreau “went to the woods… to live deliberately” thing.  That and I figured I easily owed it to those who got us through tough times before.

Fortunately, I love my work.

I’m pretty sure I’d done it before (especially in the early days of Just Sell back in 1998 – 2000). But here’s the twist … I did it with a clock – a sort of speed chess clock where I started it only when I did activities that contributed directly to my job (and stopped it for those “How was your weekend?” moments, bathroom visits, calls from The Spaniard (my wife) and personal web time.

60 hours of work. Two weeks straight. (Again… fortunately I love most of what I do.)

Five things happened right out of the gate on Day 1…

1. One colleague excitedly asked me what they could expect from me with the additional man week of time added to the two (20 hours x 2 weeks = 40).
2. It took me about 10 hours at the office to get the first 8 hours of real work (remember… no personal, web, bathroom, lunch, commuting time included).
3. I quickly realized I’d need 6 days out of the week to hit 60 hours (it couldn’t be seven – even as a 212er, I get the “all work and no play” thing – that link: daytime only – much too scary without the sun – squeamish stay clear).
4. I gave much more deliberate attention to my time (small talk was out).
5. I realized how lucky I was to have it be a choice to do it.

So here’s what happened after two weeks … I failed.

Facts…

• Worked 106.6 hours (6400 minutes), 13.4 hours short of the target.
• 53.8 hours worked in the first week, 52.8 in the second week.
• Worked every day to hit the 106 total hours but Saturdays and Sundays were roughly half days (against my original rule of not working at least one day each week).
• Got more done but would have a difficult time proving it given the nature of my work.

Thoughts…

• I love my work and as a result tend to be addicted to it. Even so, after about 8.5 real hours of work (using the speed chess clock method), I found I was ready to break.
• I’m not sure if I experienced diminishing returns or not. I don’t feel like I did but on the days when I went over 9, I’m guessing there was some of that.
• I don’t think my family or marriage suffered but that might be one of those things you only learn about a several years later (“And that work experiment?  What the hell was that?  I’m out of here.”  Not likely from The Spaniard.  “And during that wicked recession in 2009 my dad would work more, trying “to create value in the world” he would say (roll eyes)… to keep things moving.  Freakin’ Cat’s in the Cradle, man. That’s how I ended up like this, you know.”)
• I’m guessing to be effective the ideal real working hour’s number is going to be different for everyone. I’m confident it’s over 40 if we really want to do something wonderful but I imagine if you don’t like your work, that’s probably too much (but so is 20 probably).
• I think we need to make sure we understand we have an obligation to each other. The goal isn’t to work less. It’s to contribute to the world and bring our particular value to the table.  If we focus on that, my guess is we’ll find ourselves in a much better place.

How can we show care without work?

Be sure you’re focusing on how much you can give with your time rather than how little of your time you can give.  It’s a better bet for creating value (helping others), success, and ultimately, more fun.

“Two 60′s” is an article provided by JustSell.com, the web’s resource for sales leaders.