5 Changes You Must Master to Succeed in Today’s Selling Environment
One of my clients has a veteran salesperson, let’s call him, Bob. I’ve known him for years. Bob is a very charismatic person, an absolutely fabulous rapport builder (to a degree that I’ve always envied), and he builds deeply personal relationships with his customers. He’s the kind of guy that if you met him out in public, you’d immediately tab him as a salesperson, and probably a great one. And you would have been right – about ten years ago. Today, not so much, and there’s a big reason why.
The sales world has changed. It’s changed in a big way, and some salespeople are struggling to keep up. Bob had always viewed sales as a friendship contest – and to be fair, for much of his career it worked for him. Today, it doesn’t.
Customers were stopping their purchases with Bob because he just wasn’t useful. I spoke with a few of them and their comments boiled down to this:
“Look, I like Bob. We all do. He’s a great guy, but the truth is that Bob isn’t much help to us. Whenever we have a technical question, he has to call someone else and have them get ahold of us. His competitor can answer questions on the spot, so we buy most everything from him.”
A competitive salesperson spends a lot of time keeping abreast with industry developments and is constantly refreshing his or her knowledge of the customer’s business and introducing new products and services.
I advised my client that if Bob wants to remain vital in his sales career (and he’s not close to retirement age yet), he’s going to have to master these five changes:
- Embrace sales process. One thing that sharp salespeople do today is that they are always conscious of sales process, and they keep their customers involved in a sales process at all times. There’s no better way of building a relationship with your customer than to always be selling to them – requalifying them for new products or services, presenting, and constantly working to improve the customer’s condition. The “just wing it” salesperson is behind the 8-ball in this respect.
- Become a business resource. Bob’s competitor won business not because he was more likeable than Bob – in fact, both customers made it clear that in the “friendship sweepstakes,” Bob was in the lead by half a lap – but because he could be a business resource for his customers. Customers know that the competitor is good for more than buying a good lunch – he’s good for helping them solve their problems.
- Always have a call objective. Most of Bob’s sales calls were centered around simply reinforcing friendships and staying visible. Meanwhile, his competitors pick his pocket because they are going in with a call objective, working to constantly advance the status of their business relationships.
- Develop customer expertise. The most valuable knowledge is customer knowledge. Bob’s competitor worked to build his knowledge of his customers on every sales call. In fact, both of them remarked on the competitor’s ongoing questions. “It’s like he’s always trying to learn more about us,” one said. Bob is a friend who talks about the Chiefs football team; his competitor talks about the direction that his customers are going in.
- Make good use of the customer’s time. Both customers remarked on how time-efficient the competitor is. “He does something positive for us on every visit,” one said. “Granted, he’s not as personal. We like him, but he’s not our friend like Bob is. But we know that every time he’s here, something good will happen – and Bob stopped doing that long ago.” Your customer now expects a return on his time investment with you. How are you going to generate that?
By the way, it’s not only veteran salespeople who fall victim to this kind of selling and its consequences. I’ve had young salespeople with the sale ‘friends first’ focus, and they lose business for the same reason.
Today’s customer demands more than a buddy. The customer demands a resource – and if you can’t be that, your competitor will.
Troy Harrison is the author of “Sell Like You Mean It!” and a Speaker, Consultant, and Sales Navigator. He helps companies build more profitable and productive sales forces with his cutting-edge sales training and methodologies. For information on booking speaking/training engagements, consulting, or to sign up for his weekly E-zine, call 913-645-3603, e-mail Troy@TroyHarrison.com, or visit www.TroyHarrison.com.
Category: Sales
Tags: Vistage International