A to Z of Selling

Attitude

It all starts here, the correct mental attitude is essential before anyone can do well in sales. Actually it makes the difference in any important task, I will go as far to say that in fact ones personal attitude will dictate how one gets on in life generally.

So without the right attitude one will not make any real or positive progress.

Here are some facts:

1. Your attitude toward customers influences your behaviour. You cannot fake it or always camouflage how you feel.
2. Your attitude determines the level of your job commitment and ultimately job satisfaction.
3. Your attitude affects everyone who comes in contact with you in person or on the telephone.
4. Your attitude is reflected by your tone of voice and also in your non-verbal body language, i.e. in the way you stand or sit, your facial expression and in other ways.
5. Your attitude is not fixed, the attitude you choose to display is entirely up to you.

Belief

This is the second of our factors in the successful makeup of salespeople. I for one know well that without an abundance of these first two factors there is no real point of going any further in sales or in any job as a salesperson.

What do I mean by this?

Firstly, I personally believe that nothing great is archived without passion and devotion. This however can only happen if attitude and personal belief are already in place.

Many people have the right approach and positive attitude in what they do, but do they have the passion and tenacity to see it through?

Belief is the key to the answer here as only those that can commit will progress as belief always comes before commitment, as in the dictionary.

Commitment

The actual word gives us a clue as to what is going on here. Commitment is one of the keys to success. This involves hard work and dedication.

Commitment has 3 x M’s in the actual word itself, in business these stand for Money more Money!

That is because in business without money or perceived profit involved one will not get commitment, and visa versa, that is a fact!

Communication

Communication methods are more numerous than ever before, which ever way we do it the real need is to communicate effectively, and on a regular basis to all of ones customers and colleagues.

Every company or organisation moves forward with and through effective communications. Without this nothing much happens, does it?  No discussions or agreements lead to nothing happening. Poor communicators get poor results. Good communicators will achieve good results.

It’s the way we communicate today that dictates our success tomorrow.

In his book ‘Seven basic management processes’ Henri Fayol (1841–1925) one of the very first of the management gurus puts communication in the centre of a circle with his other six in an outer circle surrounding it.

Customer

It should go without saying that the customer is the centre of all we do and in most cases the only reason most people are employed in the first place.

Customer centric courses are popular and always lead to improved attitudes and better customer service. Taking one or two days to learn the skills and to focus on how we should treat and deal with the customer is essential to the running of companies in all sectors these days.

Confidence

Real confidence comes when other things are in place. For example the first two attributes we cover in this document, Attitude and Belief. Both must be in place before we can be confident enough to win through.

Confidence is never secure even transparently so if we don’t have what I call Domain Knowledge. That is a thorough comprehension of our companies products and services. It is the difference that makes it special (USP’s & Benefits) On top of this if it wasn’t enough already we can add customer sector understanding, or at least experience in selling to the market.

Close

Here I mean sales closing skills. Nothing happens and we will fail to sell, and live well as salespeople unless we close the deal!

Closing falls into two areas Pre-closing and Closing to win.

Examples of Pre-Closing Questions: -

- What other information do you need before proceeding?

- Is there anything else you would like to cover before progressing?

- What is the next step in your purchasing policy?

Examples of Closing Questions: -

- Can we start completing the paper work now?

- Shall we  commence the instillation in November or December?

- Do I need an official order to progress this?

Change

Change is often feared! The more set in their ways someone is the more difficult it is to make them change or move on issues that the company wants to change. Traditionally few ever liked to move out of their ‘Comfort Zone’. Hence in the old days there were few new millionaires.

Fundamental to successful change is how we manage it in the first place. Understanding this can save so much it might just be the most effective training module and few hours anybody can spend in management terms.

In a nutshell the A to H of change (used as a guide to work with) is: -

Attitude / Belief / Commitment / Do it / Effectively /

Fun doing it / Goals achieved / Habit forming.

Desire

Companies might even agree they need your product or service but do they actually want it? There is a gap a mile wide between Need and Want. I turn to the age old sales adage A.I.D.A. – Attention / Interest / Desire / Action.

When selling over the phone we have their attention for ten seconds, we have to buy the next 30 seconds with what ever we say (communicate) in the few sentences that time allows. Then having got their attention we have to hit the right note to win their interest.

Once the salesperson has the customer’s interest and are discussing possibilities most think they are over the hump and have a suspect that should move to buy given time. Wrong, how very wrong!

Most are still only prospects that will not be convinced let alone want or desire the product or service. Things like change, perception, lethargy and even fear will always get in the way. The selling process has actually only just begun when we have somebody’s ear and maybe their interest.

Working in the Gap is one sales module that concentrates on the ways, efforts and methods we can use to move the prospect across the gap between ‘Interest and Desire’ to reach that ever elusive goal of ‘Action’.

Determination

Giving up is not in the successful salespersons vocabulary.

There used to be two hovercrafts running between Portsmouth and The Isle of White, they were named Tenacity and Perseverance. In the eighties when I ran a sales force of 150 people I joked with them in my conference speech that in ten years the hovercraft only once broke down together on the same day. In which case as sales people with the twin skills of tenacity and perseverance, both essential to succeed in sales they too could therefore have one day off sick and broken down in ten years!

Do it factor

Do it right, and do it now. Even if one has to prepare and work on it, if it is worth doing and important enough then do it now, not tomorrow. This I believe will always see you on the right track in this world. Reinhold Wurth once lectured us on ‘Do the right things right’ three hours and thousands of words later we learnt to do it.

Beware of ‘Doing the wrong thing right’, this is one of the worst time wasting factors. Then look out, as most of us can fall into the ‘do the right things wrong’ category! 

Enthusiasm

One of my favourite words, other than Passion I can’t think of a more important trait in a sales person, one goes hand in hand with the other.

When we are looking for the way across that ‘Gap’ between Interest and Desire we build a bridge and then walk the prospect across every step of the way until they reach the other side what gets us moving is our enthusiasm for what we are doing, our conviction in our product and/or service.

Excellence

The pursuit of excellence in ones work is an admirable quest, one that is almost never ending. To stay ahead as times and circumstances change we have to deal with this moving target as continuous improvements. Every time we revisit a subject or in my case a training course one should look to make improvements however small to keep the momentum of excellence going forward. I break all my course material down into modules to make this a manageable task. In fact no two courses or modules are ever exactly the same twice.

Focus

Knowing what to focus on is often the problem, doing the right thing right is the term I use when training. Sales people should know their priorities, one of which is feeding and keeping the pipeline full, with good marketing and prospecting. Others are following up, progressing the sale ever forward, then using good timing we close the deals that are ready.

These tasks need balance and focus on what we are doing next to keep us on track as it is so easy to be diverted. If one stays in control then our commitment and focus will soon allow us to return to the uncompleted tasks.

Goal

We must score goals, win business and close deals. No salesperson will last long without bringing in business. Goals are one way to look at the important tasks necessary to make this happen, as above in focus we need to prioritise our work. Most people will go for the easy goals first, then progress the other suspects to set up more goals.

Gain

Here I mean the gain type of sales questions, there being several types of questions used, one is the ‘payback’ or ’gain’ type of question. Every deal, product or course I ever sold, the customer firstly needed to understand and agree the deliverables, matched correctly to their needs before going ahead.

Examples: -

• “When your team are fully trained how much more will they bring in?”
• “What would you do with the £2,000 you will save every year?”
• “What other benefits will you and your clients feel when your systems are made secure?”

Habit

Once we are all set and know our important tasks and priorities we can focus on what we do, do it again, do it better each time and get to the right level for it to succeed in what we are selling then just repeat it over and over again so it becomes a successful process, selling should become natural like a habit.

Hard work

All that I have written above and below is of no consequence unless one applies oneself and works hard at it. No sales jobs are easy, the best people however make it look easy as they have perfected the method and applied themselves effectively to the work at hand. Working hard can’t be avoided in the first year or so, working smart however is also critical as doing the wrong things wrong will always lead to failure. See the item on working smart below.

Implementation

Knowledge is sleep, implementation is power!

This is a quote from Dr. Reinhold Wurth, once my old boss, he said this at a company congress then pausing for two minutes to let it sink in, then continued to lecture us all for two or was it three hours on the importance of implementation. “Nothing else matters, the top management knows it and every one of you here being senior managers also know it, so I am asking – why don’t you just do it?” 

Involvement

I prefer the word commitment rather than involvement, but the reason its included here is to demonstrate the difference. Most plodders are involved, some unfortunately don’t even get this far! All successful people are ‘committed’ to what they do. It is a bit like breakfast… Bacon and eggs, the chicken is involved but the pig is committed!

Justification

No sale or deal is struck successfully unless there is a reason behind doing it, this is the justification needed to progress. Often it is a issue or problem that needs resolving, I teach salespeople to hunt for these key buttons that will justify any spend and see the sale through to a successful conclusion.

Knowledge

We already know that knowledge is no good without implementation. So what do we need to learn? Here is a list: -

• Sales Skills (Acknowledgeable and effective in the use)
• Product and/or service knowledge (On what we are selling)
• Domain Knowledge
• Market place experience.

Yes all four are needed, but only to a level that is effective for us to sell.

If it is a technical sale then we need to understand enough to sell it, but no more! Yes there will be technical detail required by some people at times but you will have specialists in house even in the team that can answer these.

Please be aware that when selling: -       More is often less!

Love it or leave it

Interestingly it is, that when one really develops a passion for something it all starts to go well!  If you can’t make that happen then do yourself a favour and walk away, go and find something that you can commit to, and be successful at!

Life long learning

Even old hands at the game need reminders to re-focus their mind and to re-sharpen their axe on a regular basis to stay ahead. Nobody but nobody is beyond learning something new.

Momentum

One of my favourite words in business, and so often the lost factor in sales teams. It is one of the real keys to profitable growth. No momentum no results. Good momentum good results. Show me a company that can reproduce its success by continually replicating itself and the stuff that works well and I will show you a very profitable company even a market leader. On the individual level in business as in sport those that can get in the zone, keep it together and keep the momentum going will always win.

Motivation

When most of the points already covered in this document are in place, one will already be successful, and because of it will be self-motivated.

According to Maslow ‘self-actualisation’ is the ultimate level of motivation. This is when we have already achieved a high level of recognition for what we are doing, we will feel comfortable in life generally having covered all the other bases. Achieving this much enables us to progress in other directions and become self-fulfilled.

Needs

One of the basic qualifiers in questioning before any selling can take place, it is central to helping us remember to only progress with any prospect, only when all three of the following requirements are in place:

Money – Authority – Need

Negotiations

Everybody wants to do better, for themselves for their company or for their dependents. Whatever the case might be professionals will negotiate their way towards making these improvements. In selling it is usually costs and levels of service or quality that are negotiated. This is a whole area of learning with specialist skills that need to be mastered before one can use and implement to win win.

Opportunities

Hand in hand with ‘Potential’ included below, when qualifying prospects in the early stages of selling we need to assess if there is a real opportunity or not.

Pain

PAIN Questions, otherwise known as ‘implication’ questions are the third of the four types of questions taught in selling. They take the importance of solving the problems and issues behind the customers need to a different level. When answered we can start to measure the gains possible when our solution is in place.

Examples: -

• “What will happen if your salespeople don’t improve?”
• “How much is that costing you every year?
• “Can you risk compromising your client’s confidentiality?”

Passion

One of the key words present in abundance when success is present. All achievers at what ever level will have an element of passion in what they do their product or service and their company, they will be totally committed and very positive that what they are selling is the best solution, they will put it across professionally and enthusiastically, it is little wonder that passionate people are the most successful in any type of business or sales. Closely connected to pride.

Potential

This is the measure we use with regard to prospects and any sales opportunity. Essential to know what the possibilities are so we can then justify how long we spend working on them in the selling process

Perception

“Perception is real even when not reality!”

Edward de Bono

Understanding this means that if the client thinks it’s raining when it’s actually not, then if you want to win the sale you find an umbrella and you pretend to get wet!

A lot of sales are lost due to not understanding the key influencers, with perception often not being logical, after all it is an emotion.

Persuade

Sooner rather than later in the sales process one must convince and persuade the prospect that they need to take seriously what we can deliver. We need to persuade them that we have the abilities, experience and solutions that will overcome their problems and match their needs.

Pragmatic

In selling we must be so many things to succeed, but pragmatic is very high on the essential list. It means being practical, realistic, hard-nosed, sensible.

To do well we have to be more concerned with practical results than with ideals, theories and principles.

Problem

Sales people are encouraged to ask a series of questions when selling to uncover their chances. When a need is established, the best dig deeper and find out just what is behind the problem and all the issues connected to it.

Only then and never before they understand the customers problem will they talk about the correct solutions that match the obvious requirement. 

Productive

The best in any sales are more productive and profitable than the others. It could be they are more prolific and work more, or are smarter at what they do, it could be because they have been there longest they get the better leads, etc. But what ever reason they will earn a lot more than the others and management know they have secured them because they can’t afford for them to leave and work for a competitor.

Some things work better than others, finding out what and how best to utilise ones skills and resources is key to higher productivity and the sooner we do it the better and happier we will all be. This slide replaced the two for effective and efficient.

Profit

Simply no profit no business, protecting the profit in each negotiation, be it buying or selling, is central to maintaining and even increasing the bottom line in any business. Our training module ‘working in the gap’ covers some interesting statistics and often ignored facts in making profits more secure.

Positive

Positive mental attitude, so much a fundamental before we can achieve anything, and part of our very first word in this long list in the A to Z of sales.

‘I keep my thoughts positive because my thoughts become my words’

Qualification

It is necessary to qualify the possibilities of a successful sale at a very early stage of any sales process. Our time is the one resource we can personally take control over and protect from being wasted. It belongs to nobody else more than us (Even our employer knows this) and it is how we utilise our time that will make or break us.

Qualification or rather disqualification of prospects that are unlikely to come through before they take up our valuable selling time is key here. We should use a system of evaluations to help us check each big opportunity.

Questions

Nobody likes being told what to do so it’s the way we ask and the questions we use that will lead to our success or failure in selling.

“Selling is asking, not telling!”

Return on Investment (R.O.I.)

Many business leaders need to calculate the return on any investment in key projects, if they can’t measure it they often don’t do it. The following are four examples of the challenges faced in business today: -

Improved efficiency equals savings that must be proven

Claims of increased productivity need to be measured

Extra profit calculated resulting from changes made 

Estimates and quotations on savings using client statistics.

What ever the method used one needs to prove the returns and measurable gains to be made when applying ones solution.

Relationships

Relationships engender trust and then continued business follows, eventually allowing a partnership in business to develop.

Relationship selling is the title of one of my best sales courses which follows on from and takes the Sales Consultancy or Questioning methods further after such a course we then identify and understand the personality behind the individual. Advanced stuff for professional salespeople only.

Skills

Under productivity we agreed that the best maximise on and utilise their skills. Skills in selling are many fold, and not to be mistaken for this A to Z of essential and desirable characteristics in selling.  Skills in selling can be broken down to modular elements like questioning, qualifying, presenting, negotiating, and closing. These basic five examples alone can be split down again into two or three elements, each being trainable skills that one can learn, practice and implement to result in improvements to ones skills and career success.

Situation

We need to start any prospect call by only asking questions concerning their situation. We are testing (qualifying) for their needs in the areas that concern our product or service solutions. We continue to ask questions to gather information that eventually achieves two things, 1) whether it is worth our while to progress and develop this prospect onto the ‘suspect’ or ‘future customer’ list, and secondly 2) at the same time inform the prospect, through asking not telling, that we have the abilities to solve any problems likely in the area under discussion.

Satisfaction

The key to repeat sales, few if any (as long as there is a choice) return to purchase from the same source if they are dissatisfied. Many don’t even complain they just walk. Interestingly those that do complain and receive satisfactory results actually nearly always become more loyal.

Hence the title of my complaints management course, ‘Complaints Bring Gifts’ 

Trust

Trust always comes before customer or client or their commitment. That is always the case and the only place you will find commitment or customer before trust is in the dictionary.

Timing

Getting the timing right can lead to what others see as ‘lucky’ results in selling. In fact if there is such a thing as luck in selling, it is: -

“When opportunity meets preparation”

Note: One key area to qualifying the sale is timing, ask “When would any proposed project like this become good timing for the business”?

Targets

Sales forecasts, figures and agreed targets are needed to monitor results, and are a basic starting point that must be monitored on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.

Managers can’t manage what can’t be measured

Peter Drucker

Unique

What are your company’s unique selling points? The USP’s are keys to convincing in selling, they enable successful negotiation and are essentials to overcome obstacles that would otherwise become major objections to purchase.

Value

Everybody wants value for their money. However some salespeople seem to forget this especially when the prospect mentions the price.

Don’t ever talk about ‘price’ forget the very word. Move forward and discuss costs and compare real value for money.

Want

The biggest key to selling is WANT. Yes not need or problem or even value, obviously we have to get these things right, but the fact is we will not get the business if the customer doesn’t want it!

Want indicates desire and therefore emotional involvement, which when obtained and agreed takes us towards closing the sale and only one step away from commitment.

What / When / Why / Where / Which / Who / How

The seven words to use at the start of any open question. All salespeople know the difference between open and closed questions, the former are used all through the sale to open and develop possibilities. The later closed questions are used when we need an answer to a choice or when we want to narrow things down. The above WWWWWWH or 6WH method is used to vary open questioning to maximise and alter the range of questions asked.

Working Hard

There is no substitute to working hard and putting in the hours of effort. However if one doesn’t work smart, no amount of hard work or time allowed will bring us success as we might well be barking up the wrong tree or doing the wrong things wrong.

Zone

I have included this without really knowing if it has a place here or in selling. The closest a salesperson gets is maybe focus, see above. We have all heard the term ‘In the Zone’ which is normally associated with sports and those professionals that operate at top levels at whatever sport they are in.

Being in the zone is like operating without consciously thinking about it, I have experienced this only a few times, one I can relate that happened many years ago when playing golf. It was a perfect summer’s day sometime in the mid nineties and I was playing with an old friend, after about three holes I parred four in a row and then had back to back birdies, I didn’t know it then but for just over an hour I was in the zone.

On the walk to the tenth we stopped, I scored my card and started to think about how well I was doing, Mistake made! Right away my game was back to normal, bogey, then double bogey. I had gone around the front nine in three over par and could hardly believe it or remember how. I can only recall that the sun was on my back, my brain was in autopilot, my swing was a dream and the results for a while were as good as it gets.

In work one has to continually think about what one is doing, at least it’s the case in the professions I ever undertook. So maybe it’s only a physical thing, where the brain links to the subconscious. The closest in business I’ve got is when I repeated the right things right naturally and made decisions immediately as if it was second nature.

John Herbert