Thursday, November 30, 2006
Success is All About Asking
© Jeff Allen 2006
If you were ever in sales, Do you remember the first big sale you ever made, even
if it was simply getting someone to do a favor? For me it was a learning experience
I’ll never forget. In my first business venture, I started a small company selling feed
supplements to dairy farmers. At the time it seemed like a simple sale to make. Dairy
farmers wanted greater milk production from their cattle, and feed supplements were
a way to do it.
In my mind the combination was perfect and there wouldn’t need to be much “selling”
involved. Being young and optimistic, I had convinced myself all I had to do was tell
the dairy farmer that feed supplements would increase his herd’s milk production, and
he’d buy. Boy was I wrong. At the time I knew virtually nothing about nutrition, and
apparently less about selling. Fortunately I was quick to learn and slow to give up. Over
a short period of time I’d become quite knowledgeable in cattle nutrition. I was determined
to educate the farmers I’d been working with, thinking they’d eventually see the benefit of
feed supplements. But I still wasn’t making any sales. I finally realized I needed to find a way
to have longer conversations with the dairy farmers to get a better understanding of their
concerns.
To do this, I decided to show up with ice cold sodas to share with the farmer and his employees.
It wasn’t long after I started this little process that my sales took off, but more importantly, I
learned that it is imperative to gain an understanding of what it is the buyer wants. Often we
find ourselves thinking sales is simply informing the buyer that our product will save them
money and/or make some area of their life better, which may be absolutely true, however, it
is often not what the buyer is most concerned about. In today’s highly competitive market
place it is imperative to know what your buyer wants. The hard part, however, is you need to
know your buyer before you can figure out what it is she or he wants. It doesn’t matter if
you’re in executive sales or an entrepreneur staking your claim in the small business world,
the principle is the same.
So how is it then that we come to know what the buyer wants? …through superior
communication.Every great sales person or entrepreneur needs to have the ability
to communicate very effectively. That may sound simple, but effective communication
is more than giving a solid, well outlined presentation. Communication is the ability to
exchange thoughts and feelings (more feelings than thoughts). Effective communication
in sales consists of two critical components.
1) You must have a great sales process; a framework you can use to gauge exactly where
the buyer is and what you need to do next to get him/her closer to buying.
2) You must absolutely know and trust yourself.
The thought of ‘knowing and trusting yourself’ may sound a little strange. You’re probably
thinking that you know yourself pretty well, but in actuality it is a little more complex than
you would think, but I’ll get into that here in a bit. Knowing and trusting yourself and having
a good sales process go hand in hand when it comes to being consistent and effective in sales.
With all the sales people I’ve coached, if they didn’t have both components they struggled to
perform consistently. Those who I trained to know and trust themselves but did not yet have
a sales process did far better than those who already had a good sales process but didn’t know
and trust themselves.
Those who didn’t know who they were at a very intimate level lacked the confidence to make an
effective presentation and/or were not able to understand the buyer’s needs.To elaborate more,
let me briefly go through a good sales process (or framework) that will help you know what it is
you need to be communicating as you go through each step of the process. The sales process is
a method to gain a better understanding of the buyer’s needs that begins at initial contact and
continues until money is exchanged. By having a good sales process, you are able to attract
more people, with easier buy in, and far less objections. Without a good sales process you will
find yourself working harder, rather than smarter. The first step to any sales processes is to
establish trust. Without the buyer’s trust, you’ll not be able to move very far in the sales process.
This is where you are setting appointments and gaining favorable attention. It truly takes tenacity,
but stay committed to setting appointments and keeping a daily log of potential contacts.The second
step I call ‘discovering the why’. At this stage you need to have a set of million dollar questions that
will get the buyer talking (and tell you why they want to buy).
The art of any sales process is to get a clear understanding of the why, because the buy is always in
the why.The third step is to present. Use the five D’s to present the right information with the right
conviction so the buyer really sees that you have the solution for his/her needs (Dart, Drama,
Details, Dream, Desire). The Fourth step is to come to an agreement. If you have done a great
job up to this point the buyer will have already told you they want to get started. However, if the
buyer has still not committed, then a strong close is needed. To make a strong close, be confident
and speak from the heart. While a sales process is important, it is just a framework. The real power
in a sales process comes from knowing who you are and trusting yourself. Each step of the sales
process will be directly affected by your personality and the personality of the buyer.
You can discover your personality at www.winningpersonality.com/free-profile, and use the
access code: successu.When you know and trust yourself, you can effectively apply each step
of any sales process and turn it into a selling machine. There are many aspects of knowing
yourself that will help you in a sales process, for example; how do you establish your goals?
Is it through facts and figures, or is it through feelings and emotions? How do you stay clear
with your motivation? Does your motivation become clearer working as a group, or as an
individual?
Is your motivation best served leading the group, or promoting ideas for others to
implement? These types of factors will have an influence on how you setup and manage
your sales process.Another major aspect of knowing yourself is that you also gain a much
greater understanding of others. By going through a process of getting to know the real you,
you come to a greater understanding of different personalities and how to identify a person’s
buying habits. Once you know a person’s personality, you then know what their underlying
motivations are. For example, is the buyer one who needs to see facts and figures in writing,
or more concerned about what everyone else is doing in the market? Does the buyer like to
make quick decisions, or is she or he very patient and likes to ‘feel’ things out?
As you begin to see what type of personality the buyer is, you’ll be much more able to
effectively communicate to the buyer in a way she or he will best understand.If you want
to truly be effective in communicating your message to the buyer, you need to have a
solid framework to know precisely where the buyer is at in the sales process, but even
more important is you need to know yourself and trust yourself. As a final thought, those
who ask the most get the most, and those who ask the best get even more. When you know
yourself and trust yourself, it is easy to ask from anyone, and when you have a good sales
process, you’ll always know what to ask and when to ask it.
© Jeff Allen 2006
If you were ever in sales, Do you remember the first big sale you ever made, even
if it was simply getting someone to do a favor? For me it was a learning experience
I’ll never forget. In my first business venture, I started a small company selling feed
supplements to dairy farmers. At the time it seemed like a simple sale to make. Dairy
farmers wanted greater milk production from their cattle, and feed supplements were
a way to do it.
In my mind the combination was perfect and there wouldn’t need to be much “selling”
involved. Being young and optimistic, I had convinced myself all I had to do was tell
the dairy farmer that feed supplements would increase his herd’s milk production, and
he’d buy. Boy was I wrong. At the time I knew virtually nothing about nutrition, and
apparently less about selling. Fortunately I was quick to learn and slow to give up. Over
a short period of time I’d become quite knowledgeable in cattle nutrition. I was determined
to educate the farmers I’d been working with, thinking they’d eventually see the benefit of
feed supplements. But I still wasn’t making any sales. I finally realized I needed to find a way
to have longer conversations with the dairy farmers to get a better understanding of their
concerns.
To do this, I decided to show up with ice cold sodas to share with the farmer and his employees.
It wasn’t long after I started this little process that my sales took off, but more importantly, I
learned that it is imperative to gain an understanding of what it is the buyer wants. Often we
find ourselves thinking sales is simply informing the buyer that our product will save them
money and/or make some area of their life better, which may be absolutely true, however, it
is often not what the buyer is most concerned about. In today’s highly competitive market
place it is imperative to know what your buyer wants. The hard part, however, is you need to
know your buyer before you can figure out what it is she or he wants. It doesn’t matter if
you’re in executive sales or an entrepreneur staking your claim in the small business world,
the principle is the same.
So how is it then that we come to know what the buyer wants? …through superior
communication.Every great sales person or entrepreneur needs to have the ability
to communicate very effectively. That may sound simple, but effective communication
is more than giving a solid, well outlined presentation. Communication is the ability to
exchange thoughts and feelings (more feelings than thoughts). Effective communication
in sales consists of two critical components.
1) You must have a great sales process; a framework you can use to gauge exactly where
the buyer is and what you need to do next to get him/her closer to buying.
2) You must absolutely know and trust yourself.
The thought of ‘knowing and trusting yourself’ may sound a little strange. You’re probably
thinking that you know yourself pretty well, but in actuality it is a little more complex than
you would think, but I’ll get into that here in a bit. Knowing and trusting yourself and having
a good sales process go hand in hand when it comes to being consistent and effective in sales.
With all the sales people I’ve coached, if they didn’t have both components they struggled to
perform consistently. Those who I trained to know and trust themselves but did not yet have
a sales process did far better than those who already had a good sales process but didn’t know
and trust themselves.
Those who didn’t know who they were at a very intimate level lacked the confidence to make an
effective presentation and/or were not able to understand the buyer’s needs.To elaborate more,
let me briefly go through a good sales process (or framework) that will help you know what it is
you need to be communicating as you go through each step of the process. The sales process is
a method to gain a better understanding of the buyer’s needs that begins at initial contact and
continues until money is exchanged. By having a good sales process, you are able to attract
more people, with easier buy in, and far less objections. Without a good sales process you will
find yourself working harder, rather than smarter. The first step to any sales processes is to
establish trust. Without the buyer’s trust, you’ll not be able to move very far in the sales process.
This is where you are setting appointments and gaining favorable attention. It truly takes tenacity,
but stay committed to setting appointments and keeping a daily log of potential contacts.The second
step I call ‘discovering the why’. At this stage you need to have a set of million dollar questions that
will get the buyer talking (and tell you why they want to buy).
The art of any sales process is to get a clear understanding of the why, because the buy is always in
the why.The third step is to present. Use the five D’s to present the right information with the right
conviction so the buyer really sees that you have the solution for his/her needs (Dart, Drama,
Details, Dream, Desire). The Fourth step is to come to an agreement. If you have done a great
job up to this point the buyer will have already told you they want to get started. However, if the
buyer has still not committed, then a strong close is needed. To make a strong close, be confident
and speak from the heart. While a sales process is important, it is just a framework. The real power
in a sales process comes from knowing who you are and trusting yourself. Each step of the sales
process will be directly affected by your personality and the personality of the buyer.
You can discover your personality at www.winningpersonality.com/free-profile, and use the
access code: successu.When you know and trust yourself, you can effectively apply each step
of any sales process and turn it into a selling machine. There are many aspects of knowing
yourself that will help you in a sales process, for example; how do you establish your goals?
Is it through facts and figures, or is it through feelings and emotions? How do you stay clear
with your motivation? Does your motivation become clearer working as a group, or as an
individual?
Is your motivation best served leading the group, or promoting ideas for others to
implement? These types of factors will have an influence on how you setup and manage
your sales process.Another major aspect of knowing yourself is that you also gain a much
greater understanding of others. By going through a process of getting to know the real you,
you come to a greater understanding of different personalities and how to identify a person’s
buying habits. Once you know a person’s personality, you then know what their underlying
motivations are. For example, is the buyer one who needs to see facts and figures in writing,
or more concerned about what everyone else is doing in the market? Does the buyer like to
make quick decisions, or is she or he very patient and likes to ‘feel’ things out?
As you begin to see what type of personality the buyer is, you’ll be much more able to
effectively communicate to the buyer in a way she or he will best understand.If you want
to truly be effective in communicating your message to the buyer, you need to have a
solid framework to know precisely where the buyer is at in the sales process, but even
more important is you need to know yourself and trust yourself. As a final thought, those
who ask the most get the most, and those who ask the best get even more. When you know
yourself and trust yourself, it is easy to ask from anyone, and when you have a good sales
process, you’ll always know what to ask and when to ask it.
