It may be that you are reading this book because you are established in a sales career and are looking for some fresh ideas to help. Maybe you are reading it because you are new to selling and want to supplement your company's sales training. Perhaps you are thinking "What sales training?". It could be that you are a sales manager, managing director. or you run your own business and are looking for more general ideas to develop sales. .
Of course it is possible that you are not a salesperson at all. You could be thinking about a sales career, or be involved in marketing, sales and customer support or training and education. Perhaps you have just been made redundant, sorry 'become a consultant'. It happened to me, so I can make jokes like that.
Whatever the reason for reading this book, the fact that you have made it this far says that you are actually interested in getting stuck into making a success of your business rather than waiting for someone else to sort things out. To do that you are going to have to sell. I was talking to a friend recently who demonstrated this point. He said when the recession hit him he had no choice, he just had to get out there and sell. He sold his car, he sold his house, he sold his furniture ...
Well, that is one way to sell your way out of recession, but there are easier ways.
There is nothing entirely new in this book, but what I have done is to approach everything with a fresh perspective. To look at selling from a holistic point of view. To look at selling from the point of view of the buyer and modify the techniques so that they are more acceptable. To help you to sell to people the way they like to buy.
I have looked carefully at a world of recession, unemployment and business collapse; a world facing economic and environmental crisis; a world overloaded with information. Instead of assuming that the government will sort it out, I have turned the situation around. We can't change the world, but we can change the way we look at it.
Imagine if things don't change! How can we adapt the way we sell to take advantage of a different climate? How can we turn a positive into a negative? Norman Vincent Peale, in his books and speeches about positive thinking, has said that "every problem contains the seed of its own solution".
Every one of us is having to face the challenge of change right now. I am not going to give you any universal panacea for success. What I hope to achieve is to help you to look at what you do in a different light. Turn your sales skills around so that they work in the current climate. Above all I intend to demonstrate that selling can be fun, selling can be profitable and selling can be ethical. What's more, it can be all three at the same time.
In this part of the book I am going to take the entire sales process apart and using the magic formula called KASH, show you how to increase your sales. Later we will look at the individual skills and techniques in detail. For now let's stick to the simple principles and get a better view on the world. But before we look at the process of selling, let's first look at your role as a salesperson.
There are no special secrets in selling. It is not some mystical art or special skill vested at birth in a chosen few. In fact, there is nothing very special about selling. It is a natural skill that we all possess. As with all skills, there will be those who are better able to sell than others, but 'we don't have to be concert pianists to make a living playing the piano'. .
From early childhood we all learn the skills of selling and use them effectively to get what we want in life. The special presents from our parents, the school trip or the part time job. When we left school or college, the first big sale was getting that first job.
Actually, let's consider getting a job in more detail for a moment. Whenever you secure a new job you have made a successful sale. You identified a number of prospective companies you believed you would like to work with. Then you approached them and secured an appointment to present your case.
At the interview you did two things. The first was to find out more about the company and the people there. Is this the kind of company that you would like to work with? You established rapport with them. Having decided that you liked them, the next step was for you to present your self, your skills, knowledge, commitment etc., and persuade the company that they would benefit from agreeing to a long term contract for your services. You were probably competing for the job against a number of other people, but you made the sale.
Having secured the job, you delivered the service by going to work and doing the work. Along the way you probably had to make a few more sales to achieve promotion, salary increases, attend training courses, or just to persuade the company to agree to some of your ideas.
The only difference with selling as a profession is that you need to follow the sales process more often, and you need to become more proficient at the sales skills. Back to the job - how many interviews did you have to attend, how many companies did you approach to get the job?
Selling is mostly about numbers. If you approach enough people with a proposition, the law of large numbers says that eventually you will meet someone who likes the proposition and is prepared to buy. Success in selling comes from making that activity more effective and best way to do that is to break the sales process into clear identifiable steps. Then work on improving the Knowledge, Attitude, Skills and Habits needed for each step until you master it. That's exactly what we will be doing throughout this book.
In order to survive, a business needs to sell enough of its products or services to produce the income to pay its salaries and other overheads, and to make a reasonable profit to expand and grow the business and reward the shareholders of the company for risking their capital in the business.
But the company doesn't necessarily need salespeople to do that. It could send out direct mail letters, use direct response advertising or appoint agents. Many businesses are able to operate successfully using those methods of distribution and your company may find them successful in reaching some of your customers.
The fact that they need to employ you as a salesperson means that for a significant part of the business, success depends upon human contact - on the development of a personal relationship. That is where you come in.
Selling is a people business. Selling is about establishing and maintaining mutually profitable relationships. Remember the definition of selling from the last chapter - I said I would keep on repeating it.
There is also another important aspect of the role of the salesperson - evangelism. Advertising and direct mail can be extremely successful but neither is particularly efficient as a means of getting and keeping attention. The extent to which these means of promotion succeed depends largely upon the enthusiasm of the buyer.
You, however, can enthuse about the product, the company, the industry, the problems, the economy, the other customers etc., and that enthusiasm can be infectious. I am sure that you have bought products in the past because of the salesperson's enthusiastic manner rather than because of an overwhelming need.
A salesperson adds to a product or service the human touch. Nothing can simulate this. However, it does mean that you need a couple of essential ingredients in order to succeed
Commitment and Belief.
You need commitment to, and belief in, the company, the product, the industry, and in yourself and your ability to succeed. We will look at these ingredients in detail a little later.
There are many different types of selling and before we go any further, I believe it will be helpful to look at the different types and for you to understand what is expected of you in your job. In this book I am not going to cover all the aspects of every different type of selling in detail. As we move through the general process of selling, you will notice that certain skills will be more important to you than others, depending upon the way your company sells.
We are all familiar with retail sellers in our day to day living. We all use the high street shops and probably some of the more specialist retail outlets. The distinguishing factor about a retail outlet is that most of the goods we wish to purchase are held in stock. The role of the salesperson is mostly to help customers define which of the range of products is best suited to their needs and then to process the sale.
The salesperson is seldom required to find and secure new customers. Most will be attracted as a result of recommendations from friends, passing the shop or as a result of searching in directories such as yellow pages. However, the chances of a customer returning will often be significantly influenced by the quality of service provided by salespeople.
This category of salespeople includes everyone who calls on private houses in order to retail products 'on the door step'. There is a steady market for door to door selling, the familiar milk float and other van sales like fresh fish and video rentals or 'catalogue-style' selling of cosmetics and household items. This type of selling could become increasingly popular as a route out of unemployment and involves all aspects of new business creation and servicing an existing customer base.
Claimed to be the fastest method of sales distribution in the world, multi-level or network marketing works on the principle that 'if you like a product you will recommend it to your friends'. Usually the most successful businesses are based upon a consumer product range with a frequent reorder cycle. The products are often of a high quality, unique and, as a result, quite expensive. They are often products which are best sold as a result of a demonstration.
The primary skill in successful multi-level marketing is recruiting new distributors. Potential customers sign up as distributors and then receive a discount on their own purchases as well as retailing to friends who are interested. Success, from a selling point of view therefore, depends mostly upon new business acquisition as the system itself takes care of the repurchase process.
Tele- selling is a particularly useful method of selling low margin products such as advertising space, office supplies, computer software and seminar tickets. To be profitable in these businesses, it is essential to sell in volume with low overheads. Tele-selling enables the salesperson to contact a large number of prospects and customers in a short time frame.
Tele-selling involves a high level of new business acquisition. Customer loyalty is more difficult to achieve because of the lack of 'face to face' contact, although a good tele-seller will usually build a substantial book of regular customers.
This can be split into two sub categories - selling to retail outlets and selling to value-added resellers (who will repackage and add service to the product before selling it on). With both types of business, the objective of the salesperson is to help resellers improve their businesses.
This area of selling is more dependent upon regular customers than probably any other, and in many instances the market is quite small and defined. Salespeople in these markets can usually identify all their prospects and customers, and will often be competing to secure greater shelf space. Support services such as training, technical and marketing support, advertising and promotional campaigns are an important part of the sales strategy.
This category includes most 'business to business' sales. Many of the products are specialised and the skill and knowledge of the sales engineer and technical support team form an essential part of the product. Salespeople in this field tend to be well qualified and may often have spent some time on the 'other side of the fence' as a buyer or production specialist.
This type of selling often involves a long sales process with a fairly even split between existing customers and new business. Markets are generally quite small, very clearly defined and can involve the salesperson in extensive travel.
This category of salespeople is unfortunately most frequently associated with bad selling practices. It includes life assurance and home improvements, which often comprise the largest sales-teams. Salespeople in this group are often paid on a commission-only basis, resulting in many who are new to direct sales appearing to the public as 'pushy'.
From an income and achievement point of view, direct sales often offers the potential for very high earnings and some direct salespeople become millionaires. High emphasis is placed upon new business acquisition with almost all sales coming from that source initially. Direct salespeople who survive and succeed, although most unfortunately do not, will eventually build a solid business based primarily on reselling to existing customers.
For people selling large contracts to corporations, local authorities and governments, the primary skills involved are in negotiation. Often there are few prospects but a large number of people involved in each project. The sales cycle will often take two or three years to complete involving technical evaluation teams, lawyers and board meetings, in addition to the regular sales progress meetings.
This type of selling requires a high level of influencing and marketing activity to ensure that all the people involved in the purchase are positively disposed towards the seller. In particular, it is essential that relationships are well developed. Mistakes are costly but once a sale is made, there will often be a long period in which the customer and supplier work together.
The role of the salesperson it is one of the most important functions in business. I recently worked with a well established and successful company that was recruiting a new sales force for the first time. "How did you sell the business that got you this far?", I inquired. "Oh, our Managing Director has done all the selling up to now", they replied, "but he can't cope with it all any more."
This is often the position and it shows just how important the selling role is. Until the company is established, selling is handled at the very highest level. Have a good look at the importance of your role as a salesperson to your company. Write out a list of all the functions and expectations of you as a salesperson. In effect, a detailed job description. You might like to include some of the items from the sample list below.
If you take time to do this exercise it will help you to identify where you need to focus most of your attention in developing your career. For example, if you work in retail sales your may find that developing skills in finding and approaching the market are not as important as developing skills in asking questions and creating rapport.