Strategic Discipline Blog

Connecting.  In our monthly sales training with one of my clients we’ve established that building rapport, respect, trust and the relationship is the most important part of the sales process.  The RAINGroup.com’s study What Sales Winners Do Differently includes tips and research that diminish this aspect of selling in today’s environment. 

Have you heard the news?   Consultative Selling is Dead.   This from an Inc Article, Why Consultative Doesn't Work.  Not alone, Harvard Business Review issued an article in as much agreeing with this End of Solution Sales. 

I promised to provide nineteen questions your sales people should be asking to qualify prospects.  These questions are provided to me through our Gazelles partnership association with Objective Management Group.  When I first started selling I recall being excited anytime I got someone who wanted to speak to me about my service.   Radio sales was a tough business to start a sales career, and someone who would actually speak to you generated a lot of enthusiasm.  As time evolved I recognized that my time was as valuable as my prospects and I learned that if I spent time with someone who wasn’t qualified it meant I had less time to invest in a good prospect.  I can recall having a great debate with another coach, who was my mentor, over the value of qualifying for price.  In his opinion you shouldn’t qualify for price at the outset because the prospect wouldn’t be able to appreciate the value our service provides until after we discovered their frustration.  My view wasn’t it didn’t do any good to explain value if the prospect didn’t have enough money to pay for our services. 

It's discouraging to discover that if you're spending time on your proposal, talking about your solution, your company and the future you're putting your focus on the wrong things to make a sale. 

The first day of medical school students visit the morgue.  This is where their mistakes end up they are reminded. Nothing quite as dramatic is done for sales people, however if you have an idea how to impact salespeople in a like manner please suggest it! 

One of the keys to success is the discipline to develop systems.  Sales people as a rule reject systems.  In many cases they feel success is all about them.  The good ones recognize they use a system, following essentially the same basics with each prospect. 

How do you get your prospects to understand the full value of your solution that you provide?  As discussed in previous blogs it has nothing to do with telling them about you, rather it comes from listening and asking the right questions.  The diagram below offer's Jeff Thull's Diagnostic Business Development Process.  The first question the prospect needs to answer is, why do they need to change?  As noted in my previous blog Are Prospects Following Your Sales Process or Theirs? - Jeff Thull as much as 40% fall into a group that don't purchase because they didn't see a problem, or weren't convinced they could change.

What's the biggest obstacle to making a sale today?  Answer:  Your prospect doesn't believe he has a problem, and if he does, he doesn't believe he has the capability to change.  In fact 40% of all sales don't close, not because your competition won the opportunity, but because your prospect didn't see the problem or didn't believe they could change.  That's right 40% of your opportunities are lost simply because your prospect didn't see the problem or wasn't convinced they could change.