Read more articles by Richard Denny
Sell to Win
There are two major reasons businesses go into liquidation or bankruptcy, firstly the cause is that a company or business is unable, or just does not sell it’s products or services. Frighteningly obvious to anybody who has a semblance of business sense, but secondly and even more stupidly the cause is not being on top of the cash-flow and getting paid on time. Selling to me is the most important activity in a company, and I mean selling and let’s not call it marketing. There is a trend in this politically correct ridiculous environment that marketing sounds much more respectable and far less distasteful. In the professions they prefer to call it business development. The sales person carries huge responsibility in their influence on an organisation’s profit, and of course other people’s livelihoods. Professional selling brings in profitable business that creates sustainable growth and employment.
For most of my working life I have endeavoured to get the activity of selling to be regarded as a profession. Of course not equal in status to those highly regarded professions where it may take 4-6 years to qualify, but my belief as already stated, is that the most valuable person in any organisation is the man or woman who can go out and bring back the business. It just is not feasible to employ people, give them some product knowledge and then expect them to go out into our sophisticated, competitive and demanding market place to win business that will lead to repeat orders, recommendations and some referrals as well. Senior executives have just got to prioritise the importance of investing in their sales people. I find it so frustrating to see the money that companies invest in supporting the sales person with cars, mobile phones, computers, brochures, literature and a CRM system, to hopefully provide good quality leads, but they then fall so dramatically short on perhaps the smallest cost of all which is the training of these same people on really how to sell. How to identify real opportunities, the true meaning of the psychology of selling, how to manage their time to greater effect, how to win business when not the cheapest, and of course the massive opportunities in cross selling and up selling that can be of such tremendous help to their prospects and customers.
The modern professional sales person understands and is able to develop long term relationships. We all know the hard sell is out of date and relegated to history, the tell and sell no longer works and wins new customers. Closing techniques are part of a previous century. Do you remember ‘the 100 ways of closing a sale’ (‘the full nelson’ or the ‘half nelson’ the ‘puppy dog close’ the ‘choice close’ and so on). Trainers made a lot of money out of these and sounded great in the class-room or the seminar but not many super sellers remembered them or put them into practice. These days you cannot sell a product or service to somebody that does not need or want that product or service.
Sourcing training has been very difficult for many organisations, and of course the excuse has always been time related. Interestingly the latest up to date selling skills are taught and made available on the ibusiness-school website. This very practical and effective Global Certificate in Selling is not only highly suitable for aspiring sales person but also for the seasoned seller to reinvigorate, and energise with ideas to win more sales.
The super seller, or as I prefer to call them the Professional sales person has learnt and honed their communication and people skills. They have an in-depth knowledge of their product or service but they also embrace a deep understanding and a passion and commitment to the service culture. This is of course an extension to the normal skills that need to be acquired but it is a proven recipe in developing relationships and building a long lasting revenue stream from customers. I am often asked at my speaking engagements both in conferences, conventions and meetings this question, ‘What do you think is the most important selling skill?’ and this is followed up by, ‘the skill that will help me close more sales than any other skill?’ Easy to answer, and really quite obvious, it is of course the skill of asking the right questions. As I have already said the ‘tell and sell’ is out of date, and if I look back over my life at all the sales that I have lost and should have won, it is because I didn’t ask the right questions, giving me the information whereby I could match a prospect’s requirements to my offer, even more fundamentally in the uncovering of a possible sales projection. It is fundamentally the most important learnt skill that every professional should master. The how, the why, the what and the when questions. Selling is truly a great profession, a small investment into enhancing selling skills can reap untold rewards and profit straight to the bottom line.
Richard Denny Worldwide best selling author and international conference speaker The Richard Denny Group Tel: +44 1608 812424 Fax: + 44 1608 651638 Email: success@denny.co.uk Website: www.denny.co.uk
07-03-05