Selling processes have been around for a very long time. My bookshelves are full of binders from various “selling process” workshops that many of you would recognize and most have attended at some point in your career. A recent search on Amazon.com revealed that there are over a hundred books written on the subject and countless white papers that have been published.
But, why?
Why are so many sales organizations consumed with their selling processes? I often hear from reps who invest lots of time filling out paperwork or punching data into a CRM database. I’ve seen sales process flowcharts that make my eyes blur and start to water. None of this seems very productive to me.
Has anyone ever stopped to think about this from the customer’s perspective? How much does the customer really care about your selling process? Not much. Experience tells me that customers are much more interested in who they are doing business with, how that person makes them feel, and what value that person ultimately brings to the relationship.
Here’s the truth: customers don‘t really care about your process, but they do care about the quality of people they do business with.
Sales Process Agnostics win more than their fair share of the business because they focus on principles (what the customer wants) and not on processes (what your boss wants). After observing thousands of sales professionals in action as a manager, coach, trainer and even as a potential prospect, I’ve discovered the ten critical principles that will win you more business than any sales process out there. So what are these principles? And how do you measure up?
Please resist the temptation to read these and say, “I already know that.” The world doesn’t pay you for what you know—it pays you for what you do.
Ask yourself, “How good am I at consistently leveraging the following principles?” Evaluate yourself on a scale from one (poor) to five (the best).
#1. Set and exceed written goals. Not just sales goals, but life goals. Unhappiness is not knowing what we really want and then killing ourselves to get it.
#2. Accept responsibility. Own your own stuff, both good and bad and don’t look for scapegoats. It’s easy to blame failure on the manufacturing divisions, the corporate pricing structure, the competition or your pay plan. Everyone is quick to take claim for their successes, but do you also accept 100 percent responsibility for your failures?
#3. Prepare. What is the purpose for your next customer conversation? What specific value are you bringing to that conversation and what are the potential payoffs for both you and the customer? Why should the customer be interested in having this conversation, with you, right now? If you can clearly answer these, you’re on your way to proper preparation.
#4. Ask great questions. Spend quality time planning the questions you want to ask before you engage. Ask questions that are thought provoking, not mind numbing. “What keeps you up at night?” is mind numbing. “What are some of the things that have helped you get to where are today?” is thought provoking. Ask questions that your competition never thinks to ask. Any questions?
#5. Increase your knowledge. Strive to know more about your products, company, industry, customer, competition, customer’s customers, geographical market, customer’s competition and YOURSELF.
#6. Sharpen your communication skills. How much time have you spent in the last year studying and improving your speaking, listening, presenting and writing skills?
#7. Know the line between persistent and pest. Some reps give up way too soon, and others don’t know when to walk away. Ask your customer what their expectations are and then tread that line carefully.
#8. Build long-term relationships. Going out for lunch or playing golf together is not building relationships. It’s feeding and entertaining. Customers are more than just customers, they’re people. How much do you really know about what is important to them?
#9. Have a clear definition of “selling.” If you ask 25 different sales reps to define selling you, are probably going to get 25 different answers. Is it “persuading”, “convincing others to buy”, “overcoming objections”, or my favorite “the art of closing the deal”? Unless you (and everyone else in your organization) are perfectly clear on “what” selling is, how can you possibly improve?
#10. Read, write and exercise. What are you reading that is helping you get to the next level? Everything you need to know to improve your success has probably already been written. Have you read it yet?
Writing is a simple but powerful tool that helps evaluate your journey, sharpens your thinking and gives you the ability to “play back” your successes. Where is your journal?
Exercise clears your mind, increases your energy level and improves your overall health. I realize this requires self-discipline, but so does selling. How fit are you?
This is a simple (and non-scientific) way of evaluating yourself. There are ten elements with a total perfect score of 50 points. Where is your performance today?
44 – 50 Congratulations!
You are a rock star, but be careful that you don’t take your eye off of the prize. Good work deserves more good work.
35 – 43 So close you can almost taste it
You have the assets but your liabilities keep getting in the way. Invest just 15 minutes a day improving these performance gaps and you’ll break new ground (and new sales records).
28 – 34 Welcome to the club
You are in the biggest population of salespeople who achieve moderate results. That doesn’t mean you should give up. Create a personal plan today to improve yourself and then find the discipline to execute that plan each and every day.
23 – 27 Press hard, three copies, the bottom one is yours
You may be getting orders, but there probably isn’t much of a commitment to helping others. This is where bad reputations are born.
10 – 22 Ouch!
You’re probably depending too much on external selling processes and not enough time investing in what matters most to your success…YOU!
Speaking of Sales is about finding, winning and keeping customers for life. If that’s part of your job, then you won’t want to miss the next issue.
Until then,
Tim
Tim Wackel
tim@timwackel.com
214.369.7722
Tim Wackel is hired by sales executives who want their teams to
blow the number away. Tim’s “no excuses” programs
are insightful, engaging and focused on providing real world strategies
that salespeople can (and will!) implement right away. Sales teams
from BMC Software, Cisco, Fossil, Hewlett Packard, Allstate, Thomson
Reuters, Raytheon, Pricewaterhouse-Coopers, Catalina Marketing,
Philips Medical Systems, Red Hat and TXU Energy count on Tim to
help them create more success in business and in life.
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