eight sales success secrets for today’s world · worked with hundreds if not thousands of...

Course objective

Eight secrets

Sales process

You learn:

Techniques and strategies to succeed in today’s changed world of sales

Worked with hundreds if not thousands of salespeople

Sold for over thirty years

Studied or delivered lots of sales training

Read hundreds of books

Ideas you can start using

IMMEDIATELY

1. Mindset 2. Knowledge 3. Planning 4. Rapport 5. Questions 6. Listen 7. Value 8. Get commitment

Open discussion

and position correctly

Diagnose Customer’s Situation

Create Value for Customer

Buying Decision

Open discussion

and position correctly

Diagnose Customer’s Situation

Create Value for Customer

Buying Decision

Open discussion

and position correctly

Diagnose Customer’s Situation

Create Value for Customer

Buying Decision

Open discussion

and position correctly

Diagnose Customer’s Situation

Create Value for Customer

Buying Decision

Open discussion

and position correctly

Diagnose Customer’s Situation

Create Value for Customer

Buying Decision

Mindset and Intent

Open discussion

and position correctly

Diagnose Customer’s Situation

Create Value for Customer

Buying Decision

Mindset

Get your head in the right place. In a crowded market where everybody’s shouting, how do you stand out from the crowd of salespeople? How do you have prospects that not only listen, but actively want to talk with you?

Mindset

Old style sales vs. new style sales

Salespeople sold things

They manipulated people

They had a sleazy reputation

They were self-serving

I sell, you buy

I know more than you do

I represent things the way I want

I manipulate you into buying

I’ll crush your objections

I’ll close you into a sale, whether its right for you or not

Guess what? Customers hated it…

And then came the game changer…

The buyer knows as much as the salesperson. Often, much more…

Old style sales has gone the way of the dinosaur

Be different to the sales dinosaurs

Be effective with customers

Mindset

What customers want of today’s salespeople

You and your company have to stand out from the crowd

You’ve got to be Different

Product or service features?

Quality?

Price?

Or something else?

Salesperson Competence,

39%

Total Solution, 22%

Quality of Offer, 21%

Price, 18%

Source: HR Chally, 2012

Know your customer’s needs

Customer needs come first

Be expert in the use of the solution

Be accessible and reactive

Be an effective problem solver

Proactively suggest new ideas

What’s this worth to me?

For customers, the most important question is not can your company deliver value

It is does the solution have value for them

No value for the customer? No sale

Customers are only interested in their problems and their opportunities, not yours

It really doesn’t matter what your priorities are. Customer’s interests come first

Be the expert in the use of the solution

Knowing the capabilities of your products and services is only the start

You need deep understanding of the use of your products and services and how they help customers

Customers rate your response in four ways:

Acknowledgement: How quickly can they contact you?

Response: How soon you respond?

Quality: Your ability to respond appropriately?

Execution: Subsequent quality and follow through of the response?

Problems are inevitable

Blame is counter productive

You are responsible for solving the problem

Solving problems is a valuable opportunity

Today every customer is struggling with something

That struggle leads to a constant search to find better ways to do things

When you bring true innovation to customers, you become a valued resource

Know your customer’s needs

Customer needs come first

Be expert in the use of the solution

Be accessible and reactive

Be an effective problem solver

Proactively suggest new ideas

Mindset

Intent is everything

Forget manipulative sales techniques

Really care your customer gets the right answer

Jack Welch CEO, General Electric “The more successful our

customers become, the more successful we become”

People have been trained by salespeople to resist, so don’t try to ‘sell’

People have highly tuned antennae to recognise sales tactics, so you can’t fake it

When you’re genuinely interested in them, they open up

When you try to help them find solutions to their problems, they listen

Forget trying to sell. Really try to help. Even if it means you walk away

This is DIFFICULT (And remember, you can’t fake it…)

Curiosity! The more curious you are, the

more you demonstrate you care about your customer

The more curious you are, the more you learn about how you can help your customer

Being listened to

Being understood

Believing you really care to get the

best for them

Be curious

Be analytical

Build mutual respect

Help customers solve their problems

Be equal

Only progress when it makes sense for the customer

Don’t try to ‘sell’

Do genuinely try to help

Curiosity is your best friend

Knowledge

In the old days, the salesperson knew more than the prospect. Now very often it’s the other way around. What are simple things you can do to massively increase your chances of success?

Knowledge

Be clear about the problems you solve for your customers – and their financial impacts

Forget products and services. Think how you help your customers

What problems do you solve?

What benefits do you create?

Sure you know why your customers buy?

Try asking customers why they bought. The answers will surprise you

Customers are

three times more likely to buy to solve a problem rather than gain a benefit

Top Tip! Want to treble your sales?

Stop selling features and benefits

Start solving problems for your customers

Value is only value to the customer. Beware of:

“We have the best quality”

“We have the best service”

(Who says so anyway?)

“We’re better than our competitors because we give a three year guarantee. That proves our quality is the best”

But the product only has a useful life of three months. So does the three year guarantee have any value at all?

Product and services create value by what they do, not by what they are

Value is specific to the particular customer

Value has to be expressed in specific terms:

Monetary – for example, do this and save

Time saving – for example, save five hours a week by doing this

Numbers – for example, do this and you will probably lose 5kg in weight

Be clear about the benefits you offer

and the problems you solve – in your customer’s terms

Find a way of expressing those

solutions in numbers

Knowledge

Google tells you everything you need to know

How did we survive before Google?

Search a company

Search a person

Search an industry

Search a product or service

Search competitors

Log out of Google

Check out your own search results. You might find something you need to do something about…

Customers gained power and the upper hand with Google

Google is your way to get back to equality

Knowledge

Connect with people on social media – and then be visible and helpful

Forget the hype, live the reality

On its own, social networking is no big deal

When combined with everything else you do, its awesome!

Never forget. Its not ‘lead generation’.

Its ‘relationship building’

Think networking event…

LinkedIn – for business to business

Facebook – for business to consumer

Twitter – for both and growing fast!

Does your picture look

business like?

Does your profile sound

helpful?

Are you easy to contact?

Are you using keywords to be

found?

Search for people you would like to know and connect with them

Show you care. Use a personal message – not the standard text

Try the magic phrase “We might be able to help each other”

Be visible Post two/three times a week

Link to stuff (yours and others) your followers might find helpful

Don’t blatantly advertise yourself

Be helpful Try to answer other’s questions

Join relevant groups and add your opinion

Facebook is about people to people friendships Use a ‘Page’ not your profile

Use the page similarly to your LinkedIn profile

When you’ve got LinkedIn and Facebook going, give Twitter a try too

Half an hour, two to three times a week

Online networking is highly efficient

Build relationships, don’t overtly sell

Planning

Plan your success. Confirm progress. Agree the objective, for the prospect and you.

Planning

Plan your time

Many salespeople alternate between feast and famine

You need a consistent mix of activities

The start point is a balanced pipeline

That needs consistent prospecting

You need to prospect every day

Allocate an amount of time – and do it

Prospecting is a constant activity

It need to be scheduled regularly

Planning

At the end of every discussion, summarise and confirm

Structure

Thank you…

We discussed…

We agreed…

(Include numbers you’re going to use)

Next we’re going to…

Planning

Match their buying process to your selling process

Your Sales Process

Customer’s Buying Process

You need to match buying and selling processes to avoid unpleasant surprises They have a way they buy

You have a way you sell

The processes need to join up

Your Sales Process

Customer’s Buying Process

“If you were to decide to go ahead with this, what would need to happen?”

Your Sales Process

Customer’s Buying Process

Who else is involved?

What proof might be needed?

What financial approvals might be needed?

Your Sales Process

Customer’s Buying Process

Are there any things that have to happen in your own company? Credit check?

Any approvals?

Your Sales Process

Customer’s Buying Process

For big sales, consider an Evaluation Plan List the steps required to get a

result, in the order they need to happen

Include post sales activities too

Share with the customer for their approval

Be a professional

Plan your time

Confirm and gain agreement to progress

Match processes to remove surprises

Rapport

Customers want to deal with savvy business people. This is all about how you can be the expert your customers trust and want to work with

Rapport

Be the expert and an equal

Two definitions…

“A person who has a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of or skill in a particular area”

“A credible authority who defines what to pay attention to, what things mean, how things work and how things will turn out”

When you’re the Expert:

Customers find you

Customers want your advice

You help them solve their problems

It’s not just about knowledge. The key is perspective and ability to…

Relate your knowledge to the customer’s situation

Clarify and define the issues

Recommend action to progress

Confident? or

Arrogant?

Think Doctor… If they prescribed a solution

without diagnosing the problem first, would you trust them?

What should you pay attention to?

What does it mean to you?

How does it work?

How will things will turn out?

Listen to the customer, and then repeat what you’ve heard to confirm understanding

Help them define their problems and their impacts

Share useful information that helps them understand

Help them make sense of the mass of information

Rapport

Be a problem solver – people are three times more likely to buy to solve a problem

Remember…

People are 3 times more likely to buy

to solve a problem rather than gain a benefit

Too expensive

Too slow

Too hard

Not working

…

Too expensive – how much?

Often you have to help the customer estimate the cost. So for example:

Too slow – what’s that costing?

Not working – how much is being missed?

When you know the cost of the

problem, you’re well placed to talk about

the specific value of your solution

A cost without a financial benefit is a cost

A cost with a financial benefit is an

investment

So when you relate the cost of the problem to the cost of the solution, you

make financial sense for your customer

Costs make your proposal compelling “So we agree this problem is costing you

about €10,000 a year” “That being the case, would you say it

makes sense to invest €1,000 to fix the problem” (And with that background, they’re less likely

to ask for a discount, and more likely to go ahead now)

People buy to solve problems

Problems are unique to the person and situation

The scale of the problem defines the value of your solution

When you match the cost of the problem with the cost of the solution you justify the price

Rapport

Four questions to start a new business relationship

You’ve asked about them. You’ve got a coffee. What next?

“What’s keeping you awake at night?”

“What’s the biggest problem around here?”

Try this…

What are the big things you’re trying to accomplish?

If you could accomplish them, what would the results be?

What have you tried so far?

What’s stopping you now?

Questions

Be the doctor and diagnose the situation. People want to buy precise solutions to their problems. That means you need to know exactly what their problems are, so you can relate your solution to their situation, precisely.

You’re the doctor, they’re the patient

You can only prescribe a solution when you have a full diagnosis of the problem

Sales success today is about solving problems

Customers are busy – you need to prove there’s value in them talking with you right from the start

When the customer knows every conversation with you adds value, you build a trusted relationship

In every discussion:

Help your customers understand their situation

Use your expert status to bring new perspectives to their situation

When your sales process adds value, you gain huge respect

Find problems by asking questions

You need a framework to ask all the right questions

This questioning framework gathers all the information to create the customer’s perfect solution

What are the problems?

How does the customer prioritise the problems?

What are the impacts of the problems?

Who else do the problems touch?

What are the problems?

How does the customer prioritise the problems?

What are the impacts of the problems?

Who else do the problems touch?

What are the problems?

How does the customer prioritise the problems?

What are the impacts of the problems?

Who else do the problems touch?

What are the problems?

How does the customer prioritise the problems?

What are the impacts of the problems?

Who else do the problems touch?

Why, why, why, …

Usually the further you dig, the bigger the problem gets (and the need for a solution intensifies…)

What happens if this problem isn’t fixed?

How bad would that be?

What might be the consequences?

Sometimes there aren’t numbers. In that case look for:

Qualitative indicators

Personal factors

What are the problems?

How does the customer prioritise the problems?

What are the impacts of the problems?

Who else do the problems touch?

When you talk to everybody involved, chances of success increase massively

No unknown voices or opinions

You have a broader view of the impacts

Very often the problems get bigger and are better defined

Your ability to influence increases hugely

When you’re done, summarise…

The problem

Why it’s a problem

What it’s impact is and the consequences of not fixing it

Who is involved

…and get agreement

If you start talking about your solutions too soon, you kill your credibility as a trusted advisor

You keep your solution to yourself until you understand everything there is to know about the customer’s problems

Only then can you match your solution precisely to what the customer needs

You’ve done everything right, but there isn’t a problem you can try to solve

Politely, walk. It’s amazing what happens next…

Asking great questions:

Proves you are the expert

Helps your customer define their problem and its impact

When you have helped define the problem, you’re in pole position to provide the solution

Listen

The customer will tell you everything you need to know, if you listen. When the customer does all the talking, they have a great meeting. If you do all the talking, you’re just another (probably annoying) salesperson.

Listen

The more they talk, the better the meeting

Two ears, one mouth

Use them in those proportions

They should talk (much) more than you

The more they talk, the better the meeting they have

The more they talk, the more your expert status is reinforced

Don’t interrupt or try to jump in…

When they finish talking, pause before you speak

It’s amazing how often they’ll add some critical information

Powerful face-to-face, awesome on the phone

Listened to and Understood

Don’t assume anything. Always check and confirm… ‘What does “xyz” mean to you?’

‘Can I summarise to make sure I’m understanding completely?’

When they do the talking, they have a great meeting

Clarify and confirm understanding

Value

What unique value does your solution offer the prospect? Everybody’s worried about price. Or they want to put it off to next month. Or they just don’t want to take any risks. This is all about killer tactics to get past price and delaying tactics.

Value

Problem > Feature > Benefit > Value

Value to the customer is everything

Their definition of value will be unique

Find out what they value, and then express how your solution delivers it

The whole point of the questions is to understand what they value

You only move to describing the solution when you really understand the specific value to that customer

You need to be able to make an explicit join between:

Problem

Feature

Benefit

Value to the customer

“From what we’ve discussed, it sounds to me like…”

You need to be warmer in the winter

This log burning stove kicks out over 20kW of heat

That’s enough to warm your entire house

It’ll save you €1,000 a year in comparison with the heaters you’re using now

The final part – the saving – is the kicker

Your solution has gone from being just

nice to have to an essential

great investment Will they buy it? You bet…

Value

What is the solution worth to them – and how does that relate to the price?

From your questioning, you should have a good idea of the cost and impact of the problem

If you haven’t, you haven’t asked enough questions yet!

Now’s the time to prove what a great deal this is

You know the impact and cost of the problem

You know the cost of the solution

So now you can show what a great investment your solution is – using your customer’s own figures!

“So from what you’re saying, it sounds like this is costing you… Have I got that right?”

“The solution is going to cost in the order of…”

“That sounds like a great investment to me. What do you think?”

Top Tip! Get the customer to work out the

return on investment

When it’s their figure, it’s much more credible than when its your figure

Value

What has value to them but little cost to you?

Even when the return is proved, it is very likely there will still be a price negotiation

When you know the customer’s problem, you have the ammunition to resist

Look for things they need, that you can supply at little or no cost

Delivery?

Training videos?

Advice?

These all become bargaining chips when the real price negotiation starts – provided you understand their value to the customer

Being specific about the financial value of your solution to the customer makes it compelling

Linking the cost of the problem to the price of the solution demonstrates value

Recognise valuable bargaining chips that will help the final price negotiation

Get commitment

Ask for the order in a balanced way. In the old days, you closed your customers, and dealt with their objections. That just doesn’t work today – customers are way too savvy for that. This is all about ideas that really work today to get commitment to go ahead – now.

Secret 8: Get commitment

Know when to ask – recognise where you are in the sales cycle

Leve

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Progress through sales cycle

Features and benefits

Price

All sales follow cycles

When you know where you are, you now what to do next

Leve

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Progress through sales cycle

Features and benefits

Price

There is an initial interest in price

The customer wants to know if there is value in talking or not

“Can we come back to that when I’ve got a better understanding of what you need?”

“We have a range of solutions that might be able to help you, but a the moment I’m not sure which to suggest”

“Our solutions range from x (quite low) to y (quite high). Can we spend a couple of minutes to find out what might be right for you?”

Leve

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rest

Progress through sales cycle

Features and benefits

Price

As the discussion progresses, the customer is interested in features and benefits

Leve

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rest

Progress through sales cycle

Features and benefits

Price

When the customer is ready to progress, attention turns back to price

Easy! When price comes back into discussion

Get commitment

Ask a balanced question

Very often the single biggest factor that makes a difference in making sales is

simply asking the customer to buy

It doesn’t have to be aggressive or

pushy, just matter of fact

The question must be balanced - OK for the customer to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’

When they don’t feel threatened or manipulated, you are more likely to get the right answer

Think this way – if it really makes sense, you’re helping your customer to get to the benefits

If you don’t ask, you don’t know

Don’t believe they’re “Thinking about

it”. They’re not

“From what we’ve talked about, does this sound like a good idea?”

“What would you like to have happen next?”

Ask the question, then

SHUT UP! The longer you keep quiet, the

better. The more you’ll learn. Only speak when you’re sure everything that’s in your prospect’s head has been said

A decision tells you what needs to happen next

You don’t want somebody “Thinking about it” or worse, “Very interested”

“No” is good. Providing you really understand why, and if it’s possible to make it “Yes”

You MUST ask the final question

Asking for a decision helps the customer

The only way to progress and get clarity is to ask

Secret 8: Get commitment

When negotiating – make the pie bigger

Sooner or later, the bargaining starts

Recognise bargaining means you’re in a good place

Just because somebody is bargaining doesn’t mean you have to give

If you’re going to negotiate with something, it has to have value to the buyer

Bland statements about great quality or amazing customer service are abstract and have no value

Your challenge – make the pie bigger You want to bring more factors to

the discussion other than price

Convenience, speed, and many other factors can have value

Be clear where you are

Be clear where you’re going

What are your objectives?

What are their objectives?

Always move towards your

objectives

Who are their people? Are they empowered to make decisions?

What is a start point where both sides agree?

How can your proposition look its most powerful?

What options ‘make the pie bigger’?

How can risks be minimised?

Listen more than you speak. Watch the body language

Take baby steps to commitment

You can only progress by talking

When you were asking questions, you were probably given all the ammunition you need

Price is not the only negotiation tool

You can only negotiate with things the customer values

Just because somebody asks doesn’t mean you have to give

When negotiating, always move towards your objective

In summary

1. Mindset 2. Knowledge 3. Planning 4. Rapport 5. Questions 6. Listen 7. Value 8. Get commitment

Mike McCormac - Sales and Business Success Guru

Mike McCormac is a recognised international expert in business growth and sales success.

Mike teaches a variety of business and sales topics in business schools and colleges internationally and has an MBA. His professional career spans several high-profile successful roles in sales, marketing and business leadership.

Mike has worked for some of the world’s largest corporations and won contracts up to one billion Euros in value. He has also worked with many small and medium sized businesses to create, train and implement effective business strategy, sales processes and sales skills to drive growth and success.