Objection Handling Techniques

The ability to effectively handle objections is without doubt the single biggest factor in getting prospects to buy. An objection is first and foremost an indication that at some level the prospect has or is considering buying and should be welcomed by the salesperson. An objection is a reasonable concern on behalf of the prospect, an objection is not an unreasonable expectation and this is an important difference. Managing expectations and more particularly unreasonable expectations requires a different skill set and comes under a different heading.
One very effective way to deal with objections is to preempt them as part of your presentation, you will be aware of the four or five concerns that your average prospect has so you can incorporate them into your presentation. This can be effective at promoting you and your company in a professional manner. Rather than operate a head in the sand approach, you tackle these reasonable concerns as part of your pitch coming from a position of strength and demonstrated that you do not run from the hard questions.

When dealing with objections it is important to be aware of body language and unconscious communication. I sat in on a presentation a few weeks back and the salesperson was interrupted mid sentence and asked a hard question with regards to a competitor. While he verbally came across quite well and was able to deal with the issue, the difficult question prompted him to fold his arms and promote a closed stance. This subconscious communication gave away the fact that he was uncomfortable with the question and probably was one of the reasons that he was unable to secure the deal.

I will not be dealing with particular objections as part of this piece but rather giving you a four-step technique for dealing with any objection. Try to remember that objections should be welcomed and they mean that you are in with a good chance of selling.

The first step when dealing with the objection is to acknowledge the concern. Ensure that you make the prospect aware that you understand where they are coming from and their concern is reasonable.

The second step is to qualify the objection, find out exactly what they mean for instance "time to think" means what? What is it that they need to think about? Are there still some issues that you haven't dealt with? What are they not convinced about?

The third step is to re-sell the corresponding benefit, this time been aware that your approach first time round didn't work so you will at least have to expand and take different angles to re-enforce the point

The final step in dealing with objections is to seek agreement with the prospect. Ask them if they are happy and understand what you said and that you have been able to relieve their concern. Obviously if the answer is no, you will need to do some more convincing.

You need only to become skilled at handling the most common objections don't worry about strange or once off objections. Practice and role-play objections as the more times you deal with the particular objection, the better you will become.

We will look at managing expectations later this year, which as mentioned requires a different approach and should not be confused with objection handling. Remember an objection denotes an expression of interest and should be welcomed as part of the sale. Learn to love em.

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What Customers Hate About You

Recent research uncovered almost eighty reasons why customers dislike salespeople. Here are the top seven.

1. Not listening. This was the most cited reason customers dislike salespeople. Too many salespeople neglect to listen to what their customers or prospects say which means they fail to address the key issues that their customer has stated as being important. I remember an interaction with a couple of salespeople a few years ago. One of them asked some great questions to learn more about my particular situation. However, his counterpart did not listen to my responses, and as a result, his solution did not address my business challenges and buying requirements. In fact, his presentation was so far off base, I abruptly called an end to the meeting. Time is a precious commodity for people and when you don't listen you disrespect your prospect.

2. Talking too much. It still amazes me how many salespeople think that telling is selling. I see this in virtually every type of sales environment from B2B to B2C to Retail. My personal belief is that your prospect or customer should do most of the talking in a sales conversation. Sales people react to this idea by saying, "But if they're doing all the talking how can I sell my product?" The key is to let your customer do enough talking so that you can properly present a solution to their problem or situation.

3. Lack of knowledge. In today's information- rich world, there is no reason for a salesperson to lack knowledge about the products and services they sell. I was recently impressed by the person who gave us an estimate on a new roof for our house. He knew his products and was able to speak intelligently about them and the differences between each. I know that the life-cycles of many products are very short and that many companies introduce new products at an alarming rate. However, if you don't know enough about your products, you are going to lose your customer's respect, and in all likelihood, the sale. Do yourself a favor and invest the necessary time learning about your products and services.

4. Lack of follow-up. Many sales people say they will do something and fail to follow through. This ranges from promising to get information to taking care of a problem or concern. Many people use this as a barometer before they make a final buying decision. Here's how.

A potential customer asks for a particular piece of information and the sales person promises to deliver it by a certain date. The deadline passes and the prospect has to call and remind the salesperson. Because the sale has not been finalized, warning signals sound in the customer's mind. After all, if the sales person is this slow to respond BEFORE the sale is made (the courting stage), how long will it take him to respond AFTER the sale?

Lack of follow up results in lost sales. A person contacts two or three companies about a particular item or project. All three submit a quote but only one makes the effort to follow up. Who is more likely going to get the sale?

5. Lying. "I don't care about the customer and I'll tell them anything I have to in order to get the sale." Believe it or not, I heard this comment from a participant in one of my sales training workshops. Unfortunately, the number of sales people who lie or intentionally mislead their customers is staggering. This behavior includes; overstating the capabilities of your product, stretching the truth, or giving people the wrong information. Almost everyone has bought a product from someone who was less than truthful, and as a result, has become more skeptical with their buying decisions.

6. Failing to understand their needs. This is an extension of the first two reasons customers dislike salespeople. When a sales rep talks too much and listens too little, they don't get a full understanding of their prospect's situation. I have worked and interacted with thousands of sales people over the years, both as a trainer and a buyer. I can state without hesitation, that a mere twenty percent of them actually take the time to understand their customer's needs, situation, concerns, etc. And it's this group of individuals who are the most successful.

7. Refusal to take 'no' for an answer. Almost everyone in sales knows the importance of persistence. However, there is a fine line between persistence and stalking. While you shouldn't drop your efforts after the first 'no', it is critical to recognize that you won't gain anything by pressuring people. In many cases, the reason someone says 'no' is because they don't see the value in your product/service or because they are not a highly qualified prospect.

Sales is an honorable profession. Stand out from your competition by avoiding these behaviours.

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4 Keys to a Successful Sales Strategy

With the United States in the midst of the sub-prime mortgage crisis and signs that trouble is headed towards Europe, these are uncertain times for construction firms. This being the case, it is evermore important to have a cost-effective sales strategy that will help to secure the targeted projects you need to ensure that your business continues to turn substantial profits. Fortunately, the good news is that a strategy suitable for a smaller/mid-size builder in the £1m to £20m range is not difficult to develop and is relatively inexpensive to implement.

The strategy outlined below is based on the work that Construction Business Development do for builders of this type and size. It is based on the idea that one concentrated day’s sales a week is the most cost effective way of generating new sales leads. The results speak for themselves with one day typically producing 1-2 high priority appointments between your directors and potential work providers. On top of that, this strategy tends to secure 3-5 tenders a month, mostly through utilization of telecommunications and subsequent relationship development. Finally, this strategy uses planning leads as a key source of market and project intelligence.
Basic Pre-Requisites of the Strategy.

There are some basic elements that firms should ensure are in place before pursuing any marketing strategy. Several of the most important of these are outlined below and for the vast majority of readers they will serve only as a reminder of the basics. These are:

* Commitment from the directors and managers for the a long term sales program is really important because it ensures that your bosses are behind you in your sales endeavors and will provide support when it is required
* A strong, attractive and effective corporate identity is something that all firms aspire to have but it is essential to stress that if one’s corporate image is tainted, it will become much harder to build a client base.
* Clear thinking and clear prioritization of market focus areas will help streamline your corporate process generally, but it will also help any marketing strategy because a clear focus will make the best use of a marketers time.
* Effective marketing resources are essential for promoting a corporate image and for advertising to potential clients. Most firms will already be involved in some activities related to this field, however it is worth reiterating how important it is to be strong in this area by having a wide range of resources available – i.e., brochures, websites, pdf's and email material, case studies and letters

The 4 Keys

1. Market Intelligence
Market Intelligence within this context is information relating to building projects that suit your market within a specific geographical location. It is crucial that every firm develops a process by which this type of information is collected, focused on and developed. This is done in the hope that a firm may discover projects that are still at an early stage so as to determine areas for profit. Within the process of the collection of this information it is important to discover:
* The details of the key contacts and decision makers who run these projects.
* Potential work-providers within your area who may handle projects of potential interest on a regular basis.

2. Regular Time to Develop Leads
The most important point to make about time is that a long-term plan is crucial to ensure a sustained and continuous approach to marketing. However, one day per week is often sufficient to handle these leads and this day can often be divided into blocks of half-day at a time, thus maximizing their potential. For this plan to work, the marketer concerned needs to be confident in cold calling and relationship development especially using the phone as a primary sales tool.

Below are found some typical figures for the volumes of leads that can be handled and the results when using the above mentioned strategy:
* Up to 25 separate contacts/companies per day
* Around 8-10 new leads, 15+ recalls
* Approximately 10-12+ new letters/emails out per day
* Between 1-2 appointments agreed
* Up to 150+ projects/contacts under development at any one time
* Generally 3-5 targeted tenders per month
* Generally one strong new connection every 6-7 weeks

Whilst these figures are impressive by themselves for what amounts to a days work, it is also important to remember that these connections build up and each has a massive long term potential

3. Executive Support
It is important that the directors of your firm, your bosses, support the sales and marketing area of the company. One of the best ways in which they can do this is to make sure that they are flexible in the time that they allocate for appointments with potential clients. However, it is also important to remember that these people can’t bend over backwards to do your every bidding and thus to maximize their time appointments should be of definite value to your firm. To ensure this, in general, appointments should meet these two criteria:
* There is a definite project to discuss.
* The firm you are meeting with regularly handles work of the type you want.

4. Encouragement of Sales Input Across the Company
In a firm it is important to remember that the sales and marketing area is on the only source of new prospects for a company. Instead the opposite is true because in principle, every member of a company can come across new prospects and projects of interest through the local press, local gossip or local knowledge, business contacts and personal networks.

These projects are often very valuable because they are based upon personal connections with employees with your firm. This being the case a system to encourage and reward such input should be put in place. If this system is managed properly, it might be possible to maximize corporate outreach at a minimal cost to the company.
Conclusions

So, where does this leave you? Obviously there is no golden bullet in terms of marketing and sales or else everyone would be doing it. But, whatever strategy one employs it is clear that there are going to be some core basics and some of the most important of these are outlined above.

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10 Deadly Sales Mistakes

Recently a customer of mine asked me to come up with a list of common mistakes made by salespeople so that she could hand it out to their sales team. I decided to keep it simple and limit the list to ten, which I have called The Ten Deadly Sales Sins.

10: Driving all Day
Spend the minimum amount of time travelling and the maximum amount of time prospecting or closing deals. Divide your area into manageable chunks and work each smaller area on a specific day each week. Only deviate from this plan where there is a very good reason such as collecting a certain sale.

9: (Really Cold) Calling
First impressions count big time. Prospect’s care about their business and not yours so have enough research done so that you can talk to them about their business. This will allow you to start to win their trust from the off. You need to stand out from the crowd and convince that your offering will add value to their business and customers

8. Falling Down on Follow Up
Call your customers or drop in to see if there are any more opportunities and that current service is up to scratch. Send out some e-mails informing of latest developments or new products and follow up with a call. Speak to old prospects to see if their circumstances have changed. Selling is about building relationships; relationships are based on communication so make sure you follow up.

7: Painful Presentations and Dull Demonstrations
Let me start by saying the amount of presentations where I have retained information and which were in some way memorable I can count on one hand. There tends to be a general consensus that they are a necessary evil. In my opinion, this is not the case and they are often used as a bad sales prop and contain reams of irrelevant information. Good presentation skills are difficult to master so that average seller should limit time spent presenting and increase time spent selling. When evaluating your presentations and presentations skills ask yourself “ What is the presentation adding to the meeting?” and always ask this question from the point of the person or persons receiving the presentation. If you’re average meeting is one hour and your presentation takes up half, could some of this time be better spend doing something else? How much of the information do people actually want to hear? A simple rule to apply when presenting is far less tell and much more interaction.

6: Stalling Your Sales Engine
Selling is all about the seller managing opportunities so that each action or conversation produces positive forward momentum ending in sales. Set yourself minimum and maximum objectives each time you talk with a prospect and always achieve in between. Ensure next steps and agree timeframes no matter how small. Let stalling be your biggest enemy and attack with all your sales might.

5: Losing Track of Time
Time is your greatest resource, be very greedy with it. Ask the question “ Is this contributing to my sales?” for every action you do and for every conversation you have. If this answer is no, you need to change what you are doing or start having a different conversation.

4: Rejecting Referrals
Referrals are by far one of the easiest ways to get good quality leads. I’m often asked when is a good time to ask for referrals. “Is it when you just made a sale?” “Is it when a prospect is really happy with the quality of back up and after service?” Of course these are all good times to ask but really the very best time to ask for referrals is “now”

3: Running Scared of the Close
The close is a reasonable request at a reasonable time. At best prospects say “yes” and at worst they say “no” and even then you can still change their mind. Ask the question “Can we do business?”

2: Not Getting to Know Each Other
You know why your product is special and can talk about all its valuable features. The prospect knows what makes their business special. To convince a prospect that your product will add value to their business you too need to know what makes their business special. How do you this, you ask lots of questions to find out. Take the time to find out about what’s important to them and what makes their business great. Only then will you be in a position to demonstrate how your product will make their business even better.

1. Alarming Attitudes
With the right attitude and energy nearly everyone can learn the skills required to become a seller and forge a successful and lucrative career for themselves. However even today sales are still viewed in some quarters as a stopgap career move. Some companies too add flames to this fire by tossing away underperforming new hires at rate of knots. Its time these people and organisations woke up to the fact to be successful requires proper training, correct company supports, a varied skill set and most of all a professional attitude on behalf of everybody involved.

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Selling In The Economy Crisis

Watch the news lately? Hard to avoid watching the train wreck on Wall Street, isn’t it? As you listen to people across America, from newscasters to people on the bus, one word seems to be on the tip of everyone’s tongue: FEAR. There is a lot of talk about things “seizing up” and things “freezing” in an economic crisis. The government is giving dire warnings. Doesn’t sound like a very vibrant economy, does it? Do you believe everything that you hear? Maybe the crisis is worse than the news says. Maybe it isn’t nearly as bad as they say. Maybe they have it right. Whether the news is right or not, the real question is, “What are you going to do about it?” The emphasis is on YOU. Depending on what is between your ears, this is either a horrible time to be out selling, or a great time to be selling. Whether it is horrible or great is truly up to you, not the news.

In each crisis, there is opportunity. Despite the message on the news shows, the world isn’t going to stop spinning. The sun is going to come up in the east, and another day will unfold. That day is a blank slate. That day is the opportunity in the crisis. Each morning, you’ve got a choice. Are you going to be controlled by circumstance that you don’t like, or are you going to make your own circumstance? It can be easy to be paralyzed by fear. After all, FEAR is False Emotion Appearing Real.
Think about that for a second. Think about all the times you’ve been afraid of something and what you were afraid of never happened. Or, if it did happen, it wasn’t nearly as bad as you imagined it would be. Fear is only in your head. It isn’t in the ground, it isn’t in the water, it is in your head. So, you control fear unless you choose to let it control you. No matter how bad the economy may or may not be, people and companies still have problems that need to be solved. And, they will still need help solving them. Sales aren’t going to stop. The true sales professional with great skills will prosper and those without the skills, will struggle.

What are some things that you can do to keep your performance up and prosper in the short and long term?
* Put our metrics under a microscope. Increase your call volume, don’t let it drop. Be more aware of all your activities on a daily basis.
* Time management is key. Are you spending your time worrying about what you can’t control or are you working to develop business?
* Get motive! Prospects have a reason for talking with you. Find out what it is. Knowing motive is a key element in any sale, even in a good economy. When people are afraid, motive is even more important.
* When you are following up with people, add value by giving them something they can use. If you do, they’ll come to you when they are ready to buy. If you just pester with needless follow up, you chase them to your competitors.
* Work on your selling skills, especially asking the right questions. Dig deeper. Ask more follow up questions. “Why do you think that is?” is a great follow up question. There are seven ways to ask that question. Use them all.
* Work on your listening skills. Don’t let vague words pass you by. Soon is a vague word. Ask the question, “What is soon in your world?” Hear a vague word, ask a question!
* Watch your language. Are you using positive or negative words? If negative words, or phrases that voice complaints are creeping in to your vocabulary, get rid of them. They will impact you in a negative way. We are what we feed our brain.
* Keep your attitude positive. Attitude is contagious to other parts of your life.
* Exercise. By exercise I don’t mean jumping to conclusions. Get out and walk, run, jog, stretch, swim, bike, or anything else that gets your body moving. Exercise releases endorphins that feel good.
* Focus on the solution, not on the problem. If you aren’t getting the results you need, focus on what must be done differently in order to succeed. If you focus on the problem, you’ll only get more of that. Focus on the solution and you’ll find the answer.

How the current economic situation plays out for you is up to you. The government is not going to solve your problem. Remember, in every crisis, some people fall by the wayside and some people prosper.

Which one will you be?

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Why Sales Fail

Are your sales cycles longer than necessary?
Are you losing business to the competition when you shouldn’t be?
Are you having trouble differentiating yourself?
Are you getting price objections when your product is clearly superior?

If you face any of the above, it’s because you are using sales methods.
Do I have your attention? Good, because sales operates on a set of myths that perpetuate failure.

I am going to debunk these myths that have defined the entire industry for decades, if not centuries. Myths that have cost companies, sales people, and clients unfathomable money, time and success. Myths that not only advocate misguided sales methods, but design unproductive marketing and advertising campaigns, and keep management from being able to forecast revenue. And myths that have kept sales people from closing all the sales they should be closing.


The buyer is stupid
Let me begin with a story. I mentioned this at the start of a sales training with a noted hardware provider. Everyone cheered and gave me a standing ovation. I was surprised: for me the title was so silly that I expected laughter. For me the title was equivalent to: I would have had an easier birth if it weren’t for my mother.
These successful professionals were doing the stuff that sellers are expected to do: gathering data, understanding a ‘buyer’s Pain’, learning enough about a buyer’s needs so they could present a relevant solution, developing relationships, offering strategic ways to solve persistent problems, providing good service, following up, having a trustworthy product, being a great Trusted Advisor.
Yet they were not getting the results they deserved, feeling frustrated that given how well they understood buyer’s needs and provided creative solutions (Truly they did!), gave such great service (They care! They care!), had such a good product (The best!), and assiduously followed up (After waiting just the right number of days!), they closed only a small percentage of their prospects.

Indeed, they were perplexed at the prolonged time it took to close, and watched in dismay and annoyance as a prospect often chose the wrong solution or - even more confounding - chose no solution at all. So much wasted time. And the loss of so many prospects who would have closed if they knew how. There could be only one conclusion: the buyer was stupid.

Maybe, I suggested, there is something you are missing. They couldn’t think what it could be: they were smart, rigorous, and professional. They assumed the disappointing results were ‘givens’: that buyers made stupid decisions, didn’t really know what they needed, didn’t appreciate quality, had no loyalty, weren’t smart enough to understand a new product. What if the buyer weren't stupid?

And, so, the problem with sales. Given the best sales skills in the world, given care and responsibility, a great product and branding, and talking to the ‘right’ decision makers, you close only a fraction of your prospects. Telemarketing and scripted calls close ½-1%. Small business bankers close approximately 2% even after a year of face-visits. Software sales close approximately 5-7%. But it’s safe to say that there is a more-or-less 90% failure rate, from time of prospecting, using available selling skills. Yet you have continued to seek perfection over the years. You focused on Customer Care, then Relationship Management, then Trusted Advisor. You’ve discovered buyer Pain, marketed with Neuromarketing and targeted the Old Brain. You’ve done Solution Selling and SPIN, gotten to VITO, and looked for the High Probability. You keep learning how to better yourselves with updated forms of pitching, presenting, prospecting, closing, educating, and handling objections. You learn to put your needs second, and profess to really care that customers get what they need, even if it’s not your product. You hire seasoned professionals, assuming they’ll be more successful – and then play musical chairs as you fire them for deficient numbers and hire someone similar in hopes of greater success. You assume that if you provide the right information, in the right way, at the right time, and brand yourselves fashionably, the buyer will understand why they need to buy. From you.

Sales, advertising, marketing all are based on product placement and perceived-problem resolution – a Problem Management Model if you will. The industry spends trillions on demographic studies, neuroscience studies of learning how the buyer’s brain works, focus groups, market tests. But all that achieves is higher probabilities for specific markets - not a way to manage or influence an individual prospect’s decision-making capacity. But you still fail to close all of the sales you deserve to close.

Regardless of sales vehicle or skill, the industry or the price tag, the same basic set of beliefs about the ‘job’ of sales persists, building in reduced possibilities (a 400 %+ increase over your standard expectations could be the norm), 100 hours a month wasted using your bodies as prospecting tools, and months or years of positioning, strategizing, and waiting. Adding insult to injury, you hire 4X more sellers than necessary because close rates are so abysmal that you have to hire more people to make up the numbers.

And what about the buyer? What if the buyer is getting less than what they need, paying more for it, and not getting their resolution in a timely way because they are just responding to the sales model? What if the buyer has the best will in the world – truly wants the best vendor or solution or time frame - and still ends up with an inferior solution? Where do they go wrong? And why don’t the very skills of ‘sales’ help them get it right?

As yet, few have questioned the model itself. You’ve just built in failure as being an expectation of the field, and continuing the frustration of finding new ways to do the same thing differently, with the same results - better and better skills at doing the same wrong things better and better.

What is going on here?
Where sales fails

I’m here to tell you that you are wonderful, your product is great, and your buyers are smart. It’s the model itself that is broken.

Let me begin by naming a few overarching myths that sales perpetuates:

* buyers buy because they are in Pain;
* buyers recognize a need when they notice a problem;
* buyers buy on price;
* buyers buy on emotion;
* buyers need to have a ‘face’ visit with a seller to develop a relationship;
* buyers buy from a seller they like because they like and trust them;
* good branding and great products will drive sales;
* being professional, doing great information-gathering, being a great Trusted Advisor, will teach a buyer how to trust and choose a vendor;
* sellers need to understand a buyer’s problem/’pain’;
providing and gathering the right information will enable buyers to make sense of their need.

If the above were true, buyers would have solved their problem yesterday, or make quicker decisions, or choose the very cheapest solution every time. But they don’t.

As a result of operating out of the wrong beliefs, sellers:

* have sales cycles up to 5 times longer than necessary;
get unnecessary money objections;
* assume that a 90%+ failure rate is the norm (and build these inadequate projections into their budgets);
* chase prospects for months or years and then possibly lose the sale;
* assume the Pain + good solution + good service + good price + need = purchase;
* don’t know when they have lost the sale until it is too late to recover;
* work arduously on attempting to know all of the answers to ensure they sound professional, represent their company well, and attempt to be seen as true professionals;
* spend zillions of dollars figuring out how to present and pitch information that buyers may not need in order to buy;
* don’t recognize that a buyer will never buy until they have spent too much time on them.

Sales has failed because it assumes that you can sell product by fully understanding the Identified Problem and positioning and pricing and presenting your solution appropriately, using the most appropriate medium, in front of the ‘right’ people.

When I ask sellers why they lost a deal, they ultimately say – after first complaining about what a jerk the buyer is - that if they had done their job ‘better’ the buyer would have bought. So... it’s the seller who is stupid?
It's always a systems problem

Given your skill set, you do a wonderful job. Truly. I’ve met very, very few of you whom I would call unprofessional. Across industries and market segments, from telemarketers to senior Partners, I find that you truly care about your clients, and really want to do a good job. You somehow weather the daily rejection (also built into the profession) and keep on keepin’ on. Each day you fight the good fight. You read more books on your profession than professionals in any other industry – working ever harder at getting that ‘edge’ that will help you close the deal. One half a billion dollars a year are spent on sales training world wide. It’s a very very professional group with ethics, standards, and commitment.

Yet, through no fault of your own, you haven’t been taught the secret: that a buyer’s Identified Problem – that problem or ‘pain’ that you work so assiduously to understand and resolve – can’t be fixed the way you’ve been taught to help fix it. You haven’t been taught that sales should be a systems competency, that a buyer’s Identified Problem is only a small piece of a much larger issue they are facing, unwittingly held in place daily by the company or team, history and rules, politics and relationships.

Indeed, the buyer’s Identified Problem is only the tip of the iceberg – the visible part of some much larger, unresolved, set of issues. And having a product that will ‘fix’ the perceived problem is like putting a band aid on a broken leg: it treats the Identified Problem as if it were a relatively isolated event.

Systems thinking believes that nothing stands alone, that everything is somehow related, that nothing exists in a vacuum, that there are ‘…key interrelationships that influence behavior over time. These are not interrelationships between people, but among key variables…” (pg 44, The Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge).

The Neuroscience of Human Relationships by Louis Cozolino says, “Our experience of the world is constructed around the notion of the isolated self…. Yet… all of our biologies are interwoven” (pg 3). Nothing stands alone. Nothing is isolated from the system that creates, surrounds, perpetuates, and constrains it. In other words, to change, the very elements within the system that created and maintains the problem must seek, and then embrace, the change.
Not an isolated event

Here’s a simplistic analogy: Imagine driving down a street and seeing a “For Sale” sign on the house of your dreams - and going directly in and buying it. Unthinkable! Your spouse will most probably object; your budget and funding would have to be considered; your time frame would need to be organized; you’d somehow have to manage an array of interrelationships (schools, playgroups, soccer practice, moving schedules, weather) that are unique to you and your living situation. Great house, great price, great location, you have the money, you need to move anyway…. And your spouse might want to change jobs and need to relocate. Or you are waiting for interest rates to drop. Or you need to have knee surgery next month. Or or or….

When you consider offering a solution to a prospect, it’s important to remember that all of the stakeholders and ideas and unspoken biases and hidden, historic events and policies and rules that reside within the prospect’s company, team, or family have conspired to create, maintain, and perpetuate the Identified Problem.

So what is perceived as the prospect’s Identified Problem is merely a highly visible segment of a much larger problem within the buyer’s culture – like having historic money issues that would preclude you from easily getting a loan on that perfect new house. Add this to the challenge that the problem has become part of the fabric of the system and will continue to maintain itself daily (and will resist change) until something else replaces it that the entire system buys-in to.

This tangle of interdependent components (sometimes invisible even to the prospect) creates an Identified Problem that needs so much more than just recognizing, understanding or resolving. And, because your product probably does resolve the visible part of the Identified Problem, you dangerously assume that your product could be the prospect’s solution, leading you to continue the ‘push’ strategies invoked by sales.

But by then you’re not only facing unnecessarily long sales cycles, you’re also facing a resistance problem. That’s why you end up getting objections, excuses, confusions, time delays, contact problems, and decision issues, and closing such a small percent of your prospects.
Sales can't discern systems

As you can see, it’s quite simplistic to think that your care and professionalism, product, or any external solution coming in at the wrong time – even when the Identified Problem seems to seek a resolution - cannot resolve this. Of course, some prospects show up and buy. I call this the Lucky Stripe - that magical place where everything shows up just right and you close a sale quickly. This happens because the prospect has already managed their systems decisions.

Make no mistake: this resolution of systems components needs to happen anyway - with you or without you – and the time it takes buyers to accomplish this is the length of the sales cycle.

The entire model of selling is based on the wrong assumptions. Buyers buy not when they discover a need, or have pain; they’ve been living with that for a period of time. They buy only when they have defined their own internal questions, resolved and discovered their own unique path through their systems issues, and figured out how to bring in change without disruption. Once this occurs, they will know exactly how to buy you and they will actually need your sales skills and product knowledge. But until then, the sales model potentially slows down any comprehensive resolution.

Sales fails because you are pushing, pulling, influencing the area surrounding the Identified Problem, handling just the tip of the iceberg. Sales fails because it assumes that great products and well-positioned data will teach a buyer to buy. And sales ultimately fails because the system will fight change until all internal systems elements are managed. Sales must become a Systems Resolution Event – not a Problem Management Model.
Success is possible

It is indeed possible to help buyers manage their buying decisions. To do this you will have to learn an additional set of skills: new ways to listen and new things to listen for, new types of questions to ask, new curiosity, new focus and a new way to enter the seller-buyer interaction.

Your results will be profound. You will:

have much, much shorter sales cycles as buyers will be able to make all necessary decisions much more quickly;
have a much broader range of prospects, including folks who hadn’t been seeking a solution but indeed need your product;
be able to discern the difference between a real prospect and someone needs to be dropped (even on the first call);
quickly become part of the buyer’s decision team and lead them efficiently through critical systems decisions;
differentiate yourself from the competition because you are facilitating the real issues – helping resolve the Core Problem vs. the Identified Problem;
and hear no objections as there won’t be anything to object to.
Adding this front end to your current sales approach will give you a shorter sales cycle overall. Remember: the buyer has to do all this anyway; s/he might as well do it with you. Doing it with you will save time, differentiate you, and create a lasting bond. And your buyers will have found their own answers, melding your solution into the solution they design.

Change the game. Selling and buying are two different activities and handle the two distinct phases necessary for a buying decision – the buyer-led systems management phase, and the seller-driven product placement phase. Do you want to sell? Or have someone buy?

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The 3 Rules of Successful Selling

Businesses succeed because of high sales; businesses fail because of low sales. All else is commentary.

Therefore the most important thing you can do if you want your business to survive and thrive is to learn to sell. Selling is a skill that can be learned by anyone. You just have to follow some simple procedures and obey three simple rules. Here are those three simple rules. If you follow them then your success in selling is guaranteed.

Rule 1: Your customers (and customers to be) are not stupid.

In today's world people are more educated and informed than ever before. People are more sophisticated and discerning. People just don't fall for blatant and manipulative tactics. I get a little frustrated when I am told that "the sale ends on Friday". I know, and you know, that it is immediately replaced with a new sale that starts on Saturday! People know that there is no such thing as a free lunch. No-one is very surprised when they get selected to enter the Reader's Digest free prize draw. The successful salesperson treats their customers and customers to be with respect.

Rule 2: Sell how you like to be sold to.

When I ask people how they like to be sold to, I always get some very similar responses. People like to be treated with respect and courtesy. People like to be listened to. People like the salesperson to be interested in finding out what they want. People want the salesperson to put their interests first. People want to be helped to make a decision that is right for them. Why then would anyone attempt to sell any differently? To a certain extent you already know what good selling is!


Rule 3: People are convinced that salespeople want to sell them something. They are right, so tell them!

Perhaps because of previous encounters, people can be rather suspicious of salespeople. In the back of their mind they are worried that the salesperson will try to push them into buying something. To overcome this fear, just tell people what you are doing.

Tell them that your company exists by engaging in commercial transactions or relationships with customers. You provide products and / or services to customers and they pay money for them. However, what you do first is to understand what is important to the prospective customer. When you understand this, you will see if your products and/or services can help them. If they can, then you will recommend an appropriate solution. The customer can then decide to say "yes" or "no" to the proposal. By being up front with the customer you remove any fears they may have and establish trust with them.

Mastering the art and science of selling is one of the best investments you can ever make to ensure your business succeeds in today's competitive modern marketplace. Secure your future prosperity and become a master of selling.

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Successful Selling and the Theory of Relativity

Are you as successful as you can be? Are you limiting your personal growth? In this article, you will learn how to remove all barriers that prevent you from maximizing your success.

Albert Einstein formulated the theory that says that space and time are relative concepts rather than absolute concepts. For example, consider a car speedometer reading at 65 miles per hour. How fast is the car going? This question seems like the beginning of the joke of who is buried in Grant’s tomb and you are expecting a punch line. No joke here, I assure you. As a matter of fact, most would respond 65 miles per hour. This is the correct answer if and only if you are comparing the car to someone who is not moving. However, if you compare that same car to the car driving next to it that is driving 55 miles per hour, your car is only moving at 10 miles per hour.

So, what does that have to do with sales? When you look at your sales performance, to what standard do you compare yourself? Is it to the others on the sales team? Is it to your quota? Is it to a sales record that has stood for 10 years in your company? Maybe you look at your performance relative to your income goals?

While any of these comparative points are important, they all have one thing in common. They limit your potential. How good can you be? If you set a ceiling to that, you will never know. Yes, hitting your quota is important. Achieving your income goal is also important. But could you achieve more? Could you be better? The car moving at 65 miles per hour is moving pretty fast, but only relative to a non-moving entity. Your competitors are moving right along with you. Maybe you are in the lead, but competition does not stagnate. To them, maybe you are only moving at 10 miles per hour.

Compare that same car to a jet. The speed of the car is not overly impressive. The jet can get you from New York to Florida in a couple of hours. The car needs 24 hours to reach the same destination. Competitors get smarter. Customers get smarter. And you have to get better if you are going to be successful. What worked yesterday is not going to work tomorrow. Self improvement is the only way to do it.

There are no ceilings in sales unless you place them there. One of my favorite quotes is, “When someone says it can’t be done, it only means that HE can’t do it.” Every day people accomplish the seemingly impossible. How do they do it? Simple. They don’t compare themselves to any standard. They have no limitations. As I write this, I’m flying on a plane. If the Wright brothers believed in ceilings, I’d be driving. If Bill Gates believed that people would never own a personal computer, I’d be writing this on a typewriter.

To further make this point, I thought I would share a personal story. When I was in the eighth grade, my family moved from New York to New Jersey. (Where to start with the jokes…) At the time that we moved, I was an excellent student, A’s across the board. Shortly after moving, I injured my knee playing baseball. I ended up having two knee surgeries and spent my entire freshman year of high school on crutches. Here I am living in a new state, going to a new school, knowing next to no one. I lost my focus.

I became friendly with a few kids who were not very good students. They were nice kids, not troublemakers, but they did not perform well in school. During my freshman year of high school, I set my personal worst records for grades, but I was able to rationalize my performance. My grades were nothing to write home about, but I was scoring better than my friends. From that relative point of view, I was doing fine.

Towards the end of my freshman year, I became friends with a different group of kids. These friends later attended Wharton, Harvard, Emory, and Bates. All prestigious schools… Relative to them, my grades were a disgrace. They never made me feel badly about it, but I felt uncomfortable. Their success drove me to rediscover myself. During the remainder of my high school and collegiate career, I elevated my game to top of the class. I credit much of that with changing my approach to relativity.

Nature also uses the theory of relativity. If you put a fish in a 10 gallon tank, the fish will only grow to a certain size. The surroundings of the fish limit its size and growth. Put that same fish in a larger tank and the fish will continue to grow. Want to get better at golf? Play with better golfers. Want to run faster? Train with better runners.

What limitations are you putting on your sales success? Are you failing to achieve your quota? Are your friends on the team missing their quota too? Do you accept that because you are all failing? Or do you compare yourself to a higher standard? What are you doing each and every day to improve yourself? Is your goal just to be better, or is it to be the best?

You are the only obstacle to your success. Get out of your own way and enjoy the results.

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