‘If you build it, he will come’. Remember that line from the film Field of Dreams?

Well, you would be wise to follow Kevin Costner’s advice and build it yourself.

Build what? And who will come?

If you don’t build it, you won’t be around in 2011. Or at least you won’t be as successful as you could be.

What should you build? I’m talking about your ability to read how your clients’ businesses are going. In other words, you need to build your business acumen. It’s a Latin word meaning sharpness, keen insight or shrewdness.

Naturally it’s important to have all the sales skills that will differentiate you from your competitors. But you will need more. Much more. Let’s look at what average salespeople do today:

• Average salespeople struggle to understand how their own company competes and wins business, and they look for situations that don’t fit their company’s target market. They try to sell on price when their company isn’t that competitive.
• Average salespeople struggle to speak business language with their prospects. They lack the understanding to be able to discuss the issues, challenges, and opportunities their clients are facing a way that means something to their prospects.
• Average salespeople don’t comprehend the financial metrics that affect their prospect’s business, so they can’t provide any solutions to the challenges those metrics throw up.
• Average salespeople cannot explain how their solutions create a better future for their prospects or how their value over the competition is of great benefit to them.

On the other hand, great salespeople create value to their prospects by building their business acumen:

• Great salespeople understand their own company’s marketing strategies, their own company’s unique value proposition and how they compete against others in the marketplace.

• Great salespeople sell symbiotically, knowing how their clients compete in their markets, knowing their client’s unique value propositions.

• Great salespeople are able to discuss financial and business figures easily and comfortably, helping clients see the value of the product or service to their business.

• Great salespeople use their business acumen to pinpoint specific areas where value can be created with their products and services, to communicate how that product will create a competitive advantage to the client, and develop a solution for future business that will take the client into new markets.

Up to now, sales acumen may have seen you through the tough times, but for the future, it may not be enough. Build your business acumen, your knowledge of how businesses work, particularly your current customers’ businesses, and you’ll find your customers will come.  You’ll be able to offer much more quality to your clients and prospects, and avoid being seen as ‘just another salesperson’. And that can only be good for business!

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling
MTD Sales Training

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Your ability to sell is most often tied in to your ability to help customers make the best decisions for themselves and their businesses.

Having seen many salespeople try to persuade customers by telling them how good their products and services are, we have written many times of the need to put on the buyer’s mind-set, see things from their perspective and determine what makes them make the decision to buy.

How others make decisions was the subject of a study by Daniel Kahneman, who developed ‘prospect theory’ and won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2002.

Kahneman’s studies describe how people make choices in situations where they have to decide between alternatives that involve risk, e.g. in financial decisions. Starting from empirical evidence, the theory describes how individuals evaluate potential losses and gains. Interestingly, in its original form,  the term prospect referred to a lottery!

How does this apply to us? Well, here are six points from Kahneman’s work that help us understand how customers can be helped to make decisions:

1. Anchoring. Do more or less than 15% of the population have life insurance? The question is anchored around 15% and you are getting your customer to start with that figure in mind. So, before you start dealing with figures, have an anchored figure set the tone for the discussions.
2. Loss aversion. Losses to a customer could be rational and economic. How much would they lose if they didn’t take up your offer? Remember also the emotional losses they might encounter if they don’t go with you. How would they be made to ‘feel’ by their end-users or stakeholders if they made the decision to change?
3. Social proof. Have you noticed that sports fans like to wear the same kit as their heroes? At the deepest level, they think ‘If it works for my favourite player, maybe it could work for me’. Show your customers how others have succeeded in using your services and the benefits they gained. This social proof is a good tool to get people to make a risk-free decision.
4. Framing. Do you prefer savings and investment or cuts and spending? Basically, they’re the same thing, only the language is different. By framing the words in such a way that you are talking the same language as the customer, you enjoy a closer rapport and understanding.
5. Repetition. Advertisers know this. By maintaining a stance on a subject, you use their convincer style to recommend a decision to the customer. Repeating an idea three times in a conversation hammers the idea home.
6. Emotional credibility. Make your point relevant to the specific customer you are with. If the recession didn’t affect them, no amount of description of the economic situation will hit home. But if they had to close businesses and set up again, the recession will have a major credible impact. Persuade them from their vantage point, and you will have a good basis for decision-making.

Decision-making is emotional, and if you recognise this in your discussions with customers, it will help you to get to the decision-making point quicker.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling
MTD Sales Training

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One of the most powerful strategies you can develop as a sales consultant, is the ability to manage, and effectively lead, the relationships with your clients. And if you adopt a strong profile with your best clients, it opens up so many avenues for you to identify further opportunities where you can assist them. When you manage customer relationships well, you prove yourself an  invaluable asset to your client. Here are some ideas you might want to consider in driving forward the long-term business relationships you have:

Understand who has the power in the company. This isn’t just the hierarchy that exists, but the people who actually make decisions. And who are the people who are coming through the ranks?

Get to know how these people make decisions. Do they require long-term strategies explained to them, or are they looking for quick wins?

Make sure you have lines of communication open with these people, and you know how they want to be contacted

Build the relationships with these people by showing how much value you offer them, in every aspect of the relationship

If someone in the client business leaves, make it your business to check in and see if there’s anything you can to help the new person create a good impression by dealing with you

Assess how your company image is being perceived within their business, and manage expectations closely and carefully

Be aware of which competitors your client is dealing with and consistently be ahead of the game by planning your future with them

By being consistent in your relationship-building with your clients, you won’t find yourself panicking if they start courting other companies as well as you. You will always offer something that others can’t, if you manage your customer relationships proactively and efficiently

Happy selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling
MTD Sales Training

Have you downloaded my latest report “The Sales Person’s Crisis”? Over 10,000 sales pros have.

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Have you heard of symbiotic selling?

Symbiosis is a cooperative relationship between two dissimilar organisms in which both organisms receive beneficial reinforcement (mutualism).

Like a shark and a remora fish. The remora will enter the shark’s mouth and clean out debris, getting food and protection. The shark gets clean teeth and gills, allowing it to swim in new waters more efficiently. That’s in the biological world. What about our world?

A cooperative relationship between the sales person and a customer is the foundation for building a profitable partnership.  Just like the relationship between the shark and remora, you need the customer and he or she needs you.

Symbiotic selling harmonises your products and services with your customer’s needs. It delivers a level of service that makes you indispensable to your customer. It creates a relationship with your customer that is far beyond a transactional arrangement. And it develops a loyalty to your brand that is hard to break.

How will the customer benefit if you establish a symbiotic relationship with them?

Just as the shark will be able to swim in new waters, your customer will be able to enter new markets and identify new opportunities.

How will you benefit from the arrangement?

You will enjoy the special relationship that preferred supplier status will create. And you’ll help develop new markets for yourself as your customer will refer you to prospects you wouldn’t have known about without your new relationship.

By building this close consultative partnership with your customers, you reduce the emphasis of pricing for your products and services, as your client becomes an advocate of your company. This develops trust and builds mutual respect.

Help your customers swim in new waters. Become their remora by offering the kind of service your competition can’t match. Then watch the business relationship (and your profits) grow.

Happy selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling
MTD Sales Training

Have you downloaded my latest report “The Sales Person’s Crisis”? Over 10,000 sales pros have.

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Go on..be negative…you know it makes sense!

Jumping on the positive-thinking bandwagon again last week, it struck me that many of our clients don’t have many reasons to be positive at the moment. They have so many pressures and adverse trading conditions that they feel overwhelmed and snowed-under by the economic situation they face. Then you come along, all positive, and try to sell them something while they only see the negative side.

We’ve discussed before how some people are motivated away from problems and pain, and how others are motivated toward opportunities and rewards. These days, many people are only able to see the negative side of things. So why not link in with that style of thinking and think negatively too!

What? Have I gone and lost my mind? Surely that will just take us down the road to destruction and starvation!

Bear with me on this for a minute. Think about it…your products and services are just what the prospect needs, right? They will benefit so much from what you have to offer, yes? And they will miss a great opportunity by not buying from you, correct? OK then, start highlighting exactly what will happen if the prospect DOESN’T buy from you!

What would be the negative consequences if they decided to buy from the competition? Or do nothing at all?

By getting them to think negatively about NOT buying from you, they experience the pain of regret and frustration by not enjoying the benefits of your services.

Here’s an example:

“So, Mr Prospect, we’ve discussed how our widgets will actually save you money in the long-run by reducing your inventory. If you decide not to go ahead, you will be still incurring the existing stocking costs, and the higher delivery charges from ABC. You’ll be losing over £xx pounds per week, even though the initial costs of our widgets will be higher. The sooner you take up this offer, the sooner you will stop losing money”

Or what about this?

“So, Mr Prospect, you’re saying you don’t want to change suppliers at the moment, right? OK, if we look at what you’re buying now, you agreed that you are spending 8% more than you would with us. That means your costs would be an extra £xxx this financial year if you stay with ABC. How long would you want that situation to last? What would be the consequences in the long run if that stayed the same?”

By appealing to the ‘away-from’ motivation of the prospect, you are looking at the negative consequences of NOT going ahead with you! It makes sense for the prospect to think of your services because of the negative consequences of not doing so.

So, thinking negatively sometimes will help you highlight what the customer will lose. And then you can spin it round to highlight what they will gain. Check out your prospect’s motivation direction, and you’ll get negativity working for you. Now, where’s my positive mind-set gone? Ah, there it is!

Happy Selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling
MTD Sales Training

Have you downloaded my latest report “The Sales Person’s Crisis”? Over 10,000 sales pros have.

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One of the best one-liners I’ve ever heard in sales is this:

“Always remember that people buy for their own reasons and not yours”

This is so true for a number of reasons and this should be engraved on your office wall!

Your products might be awesome and you’ve got key USP’s and benefits for them but if your buyers have no need or don’t want it, or don’t have the money or the authority to purchase it then you’re onto a loser.

A lot of sales people try to ram their features and benefits down the throat of their prospects without ever really understanding what they want and what their reasons are for purchasing.

You need to uncover their pain first and find out the reasons why they would want your products and services before doing anything! Their reasons come first above all else.

And don’t assume that their reasons will be the same as yours because they’re usually not!

That’s why I always like to say “Make it easy for them to buy, rather than you sell to them”

“Buying” means that they have purchased for their reasons.

“Sold to” means that you have pushed something.

Don’t get me wrong, as long as it’s in the best interests of the client then I do not have a problem with influencing and persuading to get the deal done. Buy still, they must be centred on their reasons and not yours for wanting the sale.

Happy Selling!

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

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When you meet with a prospect for the first time and they ask you “What sets you apart from the rest?” right up front – should you answer that question or not?

In my opinion what you don’t want to do is to just show up and throw up all over your prospects by telling them how great you are because you’re guessing that what you’re telling them impresses them and that it helps them to make a buying decision.

Instead, you need to get information out of the prospect first and then use this in your answer.

So you really want to start off by looking like you’re going to answer that question and then you turn it around and ask them a question which will in turn help you to answer the question more fully.

If you do this correctly then the prospect will even forget about the question they asked to start all of this off as you take the lead in true consultative selling fashion.

I always recommend that you get some information from the prospect before you meet. i.e what their problems or challenges are so you can use this with them should they ask this question:

Like this:

PROSPECT:
“Jo, what makes your products so different to the rest?”

YOU:
“Well, one of the reasons that makes our ABC widgets so different is the way that they are manufactured. There is only a 1% return rate compared to an industry standard of 7%. You mentioned to me on the phone that this is an issue to you, how are your current widgets performing for you?”

You see, the average salesperson would just throw up all over the prospect:

“Our products do this…..”
“Our company has been in business for…..”
“We do this…..”
“We’ve worked with……”

Whereas the sales professional acts like a professional. They hardly ever go into a sales interaction blind without doing their homework upfront and that’s the difference!

Happy selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
MTD Sales Training

Telephone: 0800 849 6732

You wouldn’t walk into your doctors surgery only for him to say a quick hello and then start to write you out a prescription before he’s asked about your symptoms, your problems, where the hurt is or with you sticking your tongue and saying “saying ahh”!

So why would you do the same in your sales interactions!

So many sales people go into sales meeting with one thing on their mind:

“How am I going to pitch this prospect?”

Instead, you should go into every meeting with the view that you’re going to find out about where the hurt and the pain is first AND THEN prescribe the remedy (i.e your solution or product)

By focusing your mind in this way you will:

* Come across as someone who is just not “in it” for the sale
* Differentiate yourself from the other salespeople they are seeing
* Come across as someone who adds value
* Come across as someone who is an expert in the field
* Build a lasting, ongoing and profitable relationship

So start to think and question like a doctor does and remember:

“Prescription before diagnosis is malpractice”

Happy selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling
MTD Sales Training

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For me, no matter what you sell, a consultative selling approach will get the job done.

Here are my top 5 key tips to make sure that your selling interactions are more effective:

CONSULTATIVE SELLING TIP # 1
Have The Mindset Of A Doctor

I want you to take your salesperson’s hat off for a moment and instead put your doctors hat on.

Like with any doctors consultation they will ask you lots of questions before writing out a prescription – you need to use the same approach.

CONSULTATIVE SELLING TIP # 2
Find Out The Key Drivers For Change

In order of importance your buyers will take action more on:

1. PAIN
2. FEAR
3. PLEASURE

So while performing your doctor’s diagnosis bear this in mind. You’ll want to uncover the pain, the fears and the pleasures from your buyers.

Only then will they be “motivated” to take action.

CONSULTATIVE SELLING TIP # 3
Focus On Them And Not On Winning The Deal

If the need for the commission and sale is greater than your desire to help the buyer then this will show.

Come from the mindset that you are there to help them and get what’s best for them rather than doing everything you can to “win” the deal.

CONSULTATIVE SELLING TIP # 4
Don’t Be Afraid To Push Back

Sometimes, your buyers may not be open to what you are asking. They might be difficult to get on with and might be withholding information.

If they are like this then beware.

My experience tells me that they might have already made up their mind on who they are going with and are just using you for either:

1. Further education and ideas
2. A comparison
3. Company policy states they need to get quotes from 3 different vendors

Don’t be afraid to push back and walk away if it’s not right.

CONSULTATIVE SELLING TIP # 5
Appreciate Different Buyer Types

Don’t treat others as you’d like to be treated yourself.

Yes, that’s right!

Don’t treat others as you’d like to be treated yourself!

Instead, treat them as they would like to be treated!

Some of your buyers will be very analytical and detailed, others will not have a moment to spare.

How will you sell to these different personality types?

It’s not a one size fits all approach.

Some buyers will need facts and figures – the detail.

Other buyers will need a high level overview and the bottom line in a “no fluff” way.

————————————

Consultative selling done in the right way is a very powerful approach.

Keep the methodology simple and you won’t go far wrong.

If you remember nothing about it at all and your mind goes blank then just approach your sales interactions like a doctor would in meeting with a patient.

And remember…….

Prescription before diagnosis is malpractice!

Happy Selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Blog

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