4-16-2014
Early in my sales training career, I ran across this definition of ?training?: Training is a planned program designed to impart specific knowledge, skills, and attitudes to increase desired behavior in measurable ways.
Whenever I sit down to write and record one of these knowledge bites, I?m thinking, What do you need to know, what skills do you need to strengthen, and how can I influence your beliefs and attitudes about selling?
Attitude is important. Having a philosophy of selling is important.
A philosophy is a set of ideas or beliefs relating to a field or activity. A philosophy is an underlying theory.
Let?s look at what you believe about closing the sale.
You see, most closing problems aren't really closing problems. Too many Accidental Salespeople never get to the point in their sales process where closing is appropriate. They don't keep their sales open long enough to get them closed.
Still, many sales managers and business owners fixate on closing to the exclusion of all the other steps in the process that make closing a "natural outcome" of taking prospects through your process.
I?m going to give you my philosophy of closing here, my system of beliefs and attitudes about closing. Here goes.
I believe that the word ?closing? itself is not the best description of what salespeople do. The word carries the connotation of bringing something to an end. And while we are completing the sales process, we only just starting the business relationship. There is no business relationship in my book until I have written someone a check or someone has written me a check and I have delivered a product or service.
Here are four new ways to think (philosophize) and speak about closing:
1. Opening the business relationship. Now your prospect becomes your customer and writes you a check and starts to enjoy the benefits of your product or service.
2. Confirming the order. At this point, it?s not a matter of a closing line, but simply a matter of the details of delivery dates and details. Once these are worked out, there?s nothing left to do but write the order.
3. Implementing the plan or solution. It?s time to execute instead of talk. This should be as exciting for the buyer as it is the seller. The buyer gets to solve her problem and improve her business.
4. Order acquisition. Gaining a new customer is like obtaining a new asset for your business. Order acquisition describes a complex sale where there is a team of people meeting with the prospect?s company. That process can include C-Level to C-Level conversations. It may also involve discussions with the company?s marketing, finance, and supply chain experts. In this scenario, you become an ?orchestrator? as much as you remain a salesperson. You have to orchestrate meetings among members of your team and get them working on behalf of members of the buyer's team.
But first you must get onto a buyer?s radar by seeding, cold calling, getting a referral, or resorting to some other means of making a connection. You have the initial meeting. You open the conversation about problems and needs. You move to demonstrating your company?s capability of solving the problem or improving their business. You present the plan and the pricing and you acquire an order. But that?s not where it ends.
You now have an opportunity to go to work for the customer you put so much effort into selling. The real success is when you get a second or third order from the same customer and obtain referrals to other people in your chief contact?s network.
What you believe about selling and closing will drive your behavior. If you believe closing is something you do to the buyer, you will act differently than if you believe closing is something the buyer wants as much as you do. What kind of philosophy of selling would you have if you ran a ?Help Wanted? ad for a sales job with this headline: ?Killer Wanted??
I saw it the classified section of a prominent trade magazine. The company that placed the ad was looking for a salesperson who was a "killer."
That's an interesting hiring standard.
The ad didn't specify other criteria, like achievement history, written and oral communication skills, integrity, initiative, and empathy.
"Only killers need apply" was the clear message of the ad.
"Why," I wondered, "wasn't the company seeking a professional salesperson with a proven record of sales and customer satisfaction?"
And what if that company's customers got wind of the fact that the company only hired "killers" and the "killer" was coming to call on them? No doubt the manager who submitted the ad only meant "killer" figuratively.
But the choice of the word indicates that the manager hasn't gotten the message that today's superstars are more like farmers than hunters. They cultivate relationships instead of "bag" an order. They view their clients as partners instead of prey.
Which is a better philosophy?: to see closing as killing or opening a business relationship that is a win-win for you and the customer?
Chris Lytle is the founder of Sparque, Inc. He?s the best-selling author of The Accidental Salesperson and The Accidental Sales Manager. Reach Chris by e-mail chris.lytle@sparque.biz
Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend
