I’ve been doing sales training of one kind or another over the last 15 years. When I’ve been taught other sales training methods, I’ve always been perplexed by what those methods ask sales people to do. Stuff like this:
- Make the buyer feel the pain.
- Try to get your buyer to cry (I’m not kidding).
- Close hard and ask questions like “Do you really need your husband here to make a decision?”
- Overcome objections by asking questions like “what else do you spend your money on today? What can you cut from your budget?”
Manipulation Vs. Value
The problem with these outlooks on training is that they’re manipulative.The focus is often on price and lack any discussion about building value. It’s this kind of stuff that made me want to run away from sales. I tried for years because I felt like I was being asked to be unethical.
Sales Is A Craft
This changed for me when a mentor taught me that sales can be a craft. One that, when done right, doesn’t have to be manipulative or feel negative. iI could finally sleep at night! Our profession has probably lost millions of talented people because they feel sales isn’t honest. I’d like to help change that.
There are four bedrock questions that everyone has to answer before moving forward with a sales career:
- How do you define success? – Selling success is not making a sale at all cost. It has to be defined by the idea that everyone feels positive about the outcome. In other words, both the buyer and seller have a win. By the way wins can be both defined by business goals or personal goals. Is that how you define success?
- Do you have a selling process? – Every good salesperson should be able to define their selling process. They should be able to describe it in detail and nowhere in that process should there be goal to manipulate the customer. Can you define your process?
- Do you consider sales a craft? – This is a big one. You have to see yourself as being part of a legitimate profession. With that should come a desire to constantly learn more and get better. Do you consider sales a craft that leads to a legitimate career?
- Do you know why things go wrong? – Do you know why you don’t make a sale all the time? Most salespeople will say no. They have these head scratching moments when they are downright confused about what went wrong. Have you experienced that? This goes to constantly trying to get better at what you do. You should always know what went wrong.
B2B Sales Are Almost Never Simple
If you can honestly answer those four questions, you’re ready to commit and move on to the next step. That step is coming to the realization that at least 80% of all B2B sales are complex. That is to say that the decision-making process for most mid-size or larger customers involves more than one person. This new way of buying completely changes how you sell.
Here’s what complex sales look like:
- The buyer has options.
- The seller can offer multiple solutions.
- More than one person is involved (this is for both the seller and buyer).
Have you found that a seemingly simple sale is complex? This usually happens when your contact claims to be the decision maker but isn’t.
If you can accept that most B2B sales are complex and can honestly answer the four bedrock questions, you’re ready to think about a sales process that isn’t manipulative. Over the next weeks I’ll be taking you through a process that I think achieves that. At least it does for me.
Hope you can join us.
Virtual Ideas 