sometimes we need to use friendly reminder to keep us from
backsliding into old ways of thinking about selling that lead us down the wrong
path with potential clients.
I was inspired to write this article after a few
coaching sessions I attended on
professional selling skills and
also having been into professional selling for more then two decade.
Other day I
had conversation with one of my team
member who has been
struggling with a mental block about how to detach from the traditional sales
thinking he had learned from old-school sales "gurus". You know who
they are. You may even have some of their books or tapes. And you know their
sales messages too: "Always be closing," "Think positive, and
you'll overcome all your cold calling fears," "All you need to boost
your sales is a few new sales techniques."
I
always feel that all these outdated sales messages fail to
address the core issue of how we think about selling, and unless we get to that
core, and change it once and for all, we'll go on struggling with the same
counterproductive sales behaviors. We'll go on experiencing the same
difficulties and frustrations..
Maybe it's time to take
a different approach ,Maybe we need to seriously analyze our sales thinking so that we can identify why we're not making more
sales. If
we look at the present current selling mind
set so called bookish professional selling technique I strongly feel
we need to
revisit the same for our
own betterment …that means instead of applying these in each and every sales call .let us stop and apply where ever it is required
.
.
Then what is it
we need to do ? As we
are all aware Traditional sales mindset always
believes in strong sales pitch ,but over a period of time I believe we
need to start a conversation with the
client instead of sales
pitch !! opening Laptop at drop
of a hat and jumping into presentation about yourself, your company, what you offer as learnt in
your sales training will not
always work . let
me explain, Analyse the situation
and Start
with an opening conversational phrase that focuses on a specific problem that
your product or service solves. If you don't know what this is, ask your
current customers why they purchased your solution. One example of an opening
phrase might be, "I'm just calling to see if you'd be open to some
different ideas related to lowering your current electricity bill you may be paying ?" Notice that you are not pitching your
solution with this opening phrase.
·
One more
I have
noticed is that sales people are always worried on sales process sequence techniques as drilled by sales
trainer which calls for unlearning . central goal is always to discover whether you
and your potential client are a good fit. Not
the traditional way of looking
at closing the sale and over emphasizing on sales
process .Believe me You need not have to take responsibility for moving the sales
process forward.
If you
simply focus your conversation on problems that you can help potential clients to solve, and if you don't
jump the gun by trying to move the sales process forward, you will find that
potential clients will actually bring you into their buying process. What I mean
to communicate is that sales process will take by
itself if you stick to
core issue of solving
his problem .instead of following
in Toto the bookish sales process techniques
·
I strongly
believe that When you lose a sale, it's usually right at the
beginning of the sales process. Not like
what you have learnt in your sales training that end you lose a sale at the end of the process .Let
me explain If
you believe that you lose sales because you make a mistake at the end of the
process, take a look back at how you began the relationship. Did you start with
a presentation? Did you use traditional sales language like, "others in your industry
have bought our solution, so you should consider it as well"?When you use traditional
sales language, potential clients can't help but label you with the negative
stereotype of "salesperson." This makes it almost impossible for them
to relate to you from a position of trust. And if trust isn't established at
the outset, honest communication about the problems they're trying to solve,
and how you might be able to help them, becomes impossible too.
There are
many other ancient Traditional
selling technique which should
be seriously looked upon which I can
write on and on that will
run into pages .let
me conclude with one such technic
which you might have learnt that "Chasing"
potential clients has always been considered normal and necessary, but it's
rooted in the macho selling image that, "If you don't keep chasing, it
means you're giving up -- and that means you're a failure." This is dead
wrong! Instead of chasing potential clients, tell them that you would like to
avoid anything that resembles the old cat-and-mouse chasing game by scheduling
a time for your next appointment
At some
point in your sales
process you should also understand
how
to withdraw from sales
process and not
chase your potential client like
dog chasing a vehicle !!
I am not
saying that the so called
professional selling classes or
training programme is
useless but rather I
feel as you move up
in the ladder we
need to unlearn
and rework and re look at these techniques and
not to use
them blindly 