Sales Secrets
Over the years I've worked with, and observed, some great salespeople. They make developing and closing business look simple, whether it's an order for £5k or a £200m contract. How do they do it? These are what I see as their Secrets plus a tip they valued most on seemingly difficult customers.
1. Focus on what the customer wants to achieve
This is the most important thing to focus on right from the start (see Set Yourself up for Success). Call it what you like – the value, the outcome, the business issue or problem – this and why it’s important to a customer provides the motivation for them to go ahead with a project or purchase. It doesn’t just apply to salespeople but anyone doing business or involved in a project with a customer. Here are three questions that keep the focus in the right place:
- What is it the customer wants to achieve?
- Why is this important to them?
- What are their key issues and challenges?
It’s called The Two Minute Check because a good salesperson can answer these three questions in two minutes or less. Without knowing the answers it’s very difficult to qualify if and when a sale will happen, forecasting is guessing game and you can waste a lot of time (see Value your Time) on a project that gets delayed or dropped.
Sometimes we add three levels to this (3+3) – Technical, Operational and Strategic. With the impact on the customer’s overall strategy providing the strongest motivation to do it. What’s really important is listening to the answers you give – see Value Your Time.
2. Set yourself up for success
The best salespeople never become complacent whereas the average and poor ones think they are good enough to wing it. Take a look at your next customer meeting and check if you have prepared the ground for a successful outcome:
- Have you done your research? - there’s a lot of information out in the public domain now so go armed. It’s an opportunity to differentiate from the start and avoid being on the back foot with a customer who expects you to have done it
- Have you clarified the purpose of the meeting? – for both you and the customer
- Have you sent and agreed an agenda? – whether you want answers to The Two Minute Check or to agree terms to go ahead, tell this customer these are your expectations so they can be ready give to you what you want (or tell you they can’t beforehand).
If it’s a really important meeting then practice stating your purpose to someone. Get feedback and get it right. You’d be amazed the woolly answers I hear when I ask people “What’s the purpose of your next meeting?”! It’s simple and its fundamental but are you doing it to the best of your ability?
3. Spot Moments of Truth and act on them
Credit to Duncan McNeill for naming these and making this secret so clear. There are moments in a sale (and any communication between two or more people) which can have a profound effect on a relationship or how a sale progresses. The first step is noticing them. Sometimes they can be glaringly obvious eg when a customer is clearly angry about something.
At the other end of the scale they can be very subtle and being a good reader of reactions (body language and voice tone) can help eg when a customer agrees to something but we pick up signals that they are reluctant. If you choose to ignore this (or don’t spot it) the likelihood is that you will damage the relationship and weaken the bond between you. On the other hand, bringing it out into the open makes a customer feel listened to and acknowledged, creates a stronger bond and is an opportunity to do something positive with it.
This is a bit like the ultimate objection handling skill. The difference is that the onus shifts from you having to overcome something, to working together with the customer to resolve it – which in turn creates an even stronger bond.
4. Value your time more than the customer’s
This is all about making sure the customer has a clear motivation to do something - the “Why is this important to them?” from The Two Minute Check. When you think you’ve established this put yourself in the customer’s shoes and ask:
- Is this a strong enough reason to do this? and;
- Why with my company?
Make a judgement and be brave enough to go back to the customer and explain that you can’t see a strong enough reason to for them do this. It’s a great opportunity to differentiate from competitors who miss this Moment of Truth. There are three likely outcomes:
- They clarify and give you a clear motivation
- You agree a plan to establish a stronger business case
- They can’t convince you.
All are likely to bring a stronger business relationship with the customer, even the third. Both you and the customer can move on to projects that will happen. A pipeline is only useful if it’s full of real opportunities and the easiest way for a customer to get a salesperson out the door is to ask for a proposal!
5. Turn Difficult People to Your Advantage
Sometimes people are just different to us and that's why we find them difficult to deal with. The differences are easy to spot, especially if you have a model such as Social Style, Empathy Styles or DISC to help you. That makes it easy to know what to do to improve the communication and relationship – as long as you have the motivation! The exceptions to this rule are two "characters" that just about everyone finds difficult, the Time-bomb and the Landmine.
Pain or Opportunity
Most people don't know how to deal with a Time-bomb or Landmine, so just give up trying to develop any relationship with them. That means you can turn them into opportunities when you know the clues and the strategies to use, especially the Time-bomb (the more common of the two) because of their loyalty.
The Time-bomb
Our impression – though friendly at times we sense a prickliness and that we need to tread carefully. They are often critical and tend to voice this criticism. Nothing ever seems good enough, they nit-pick and can be sarcastic, appearing not to know the difference between humour and nastiness. When you're under attack it feels very personal.
What we don't see – this person is deeply caring and very loyal. If we keep high standards, despite the criticism we receive, they will praise us to others
Strategy
- Never give them surprises, especially in public. Reassure them with advanced information
- Keep high standards (despite their criticism). Remember, the attack may feel personal but it's not. They do care about you (really!)
- Ask for their help if they take up a fixed position
- Be patient when they explode (they can go on for a long time). Wait until they're ready to talk about what you want to talk about (after the dust has settled). Then you can be firm and clear about your expectations
- Despite what you may think is unacceptable behaviour, don't take them on head-to-head.
The Landmine
Our impression – Like the Time-bomb we sense a prickliness but unlike the Time-bomb, the Landmine only "explodes" if you do or say something stupid (in their eyes). They don't suffer fools gladly and are both outwardly and quietly stubborn. Their intellect can be intimidating and we see them as outspoken, prone to outbursts and not appearing to care about the consequences
What we don't see – the perfectionist, their creativity and that even though they may verbally attack you, they are very sensitive themselves
Strategy – this is very similar to the Time-bomb except that:
- The outburst comes because of something you have said or done, so it's even more important to do your homework and avoid this
- You may need to be even firmer when the dust settles.