4 Keys to Making More Sales

While it's easier than ever to start and grow a business, that also means many more new businesses are springing up around us and the competition for prospective customers' attention amidst all the noise is fierce. This week's Moving Forward Monday presents the 4 Keys to Making More Sales composed exclusively for Fishbowl by Bruce Pulver, Author, Speaker, and Sales Expert...

Today, the world is more competitive and complex than ever. Not only do competitors move quickly and aggressively, prospective customers are smarter, well-informed, and more sophisticated. Buyers have less time to invest in the evaluation and purchase process. We need more than fancy pitches, shiny shoes, and feature boasting in our sales arsenal. Yes, formal sales methods and processes are important. Value-based, Consultative, Strategic, and Challenger Selling methods all provide structure and framework. They are also good for establishing a common internal sales language for deal strategy and sales tracking. Bravo for process, methodology and doctrine. Mastery and use are great, but alone will not guarantee success. To start closing more deals in today’s environment, eliminate the following four old and tired sales techniques used in the past to S.E.L.L. and start Making More Sales.

1. Stop Selling Your Product. Your Customer Doesn’t Care

Regardless of what you think, your customer doesn’t care about your product, so why do you continue to lead by selling it? Instead, get committed to relentlessly understanding your customers’ problems. This means becoming relentless about learning the problems, the causes, the costs of not solving them, the benefit of solving them, what removing the problems mean to the client, and why that is important (professionally and personally). Only when you understand the problem from the customer’s perspective can you expect to have an interaction that creates a meaningful, relevant, or valuable role with your client. Unless and until the customer knows that you understand the problem deeply, don’t expect them to listen to a sales pitch. Your customer doesn’t care about your product. SELL THE SOLUTION TO YOUR CUSTOMER'S PROBLEM, NOT YOUR PRODUCT.

2. End the Pitching and Learn to Listen

You can’t listen enough. Ask another question for clarity and additional information. After the customer tells you their problems remember you have just started learning. Some good examples you can use are:

• Why is that a problem?

• What are the key reasons for the problem?

• What is the problem costing you in terms of time, money, and missed opportunities?

• What have they done thus far to solve the problem?

• Why has that failed?

• What happens if they don’t solve the problem?

• Who in the organization is so intent on solving this problem and why?

• What will it mean to solve the problem?

Now ask more questions. Resist the temptation to pitch. Now resist it again. When you stop listening and start pitching, you are no longer learning and you also stop leading the conversation. The result is a push and often comes with a push back. If you start pitching too soon, the prospective customer can quickly shutdown and checkout of the conversation. If you can’t tell whether or not you are pitching, ask yourself “How long has it been since I asked a question?” If you can’t remember… YOU ARE PITCHING!

3. Let Go of Making the Sale and Start Making Buying Easy

Do you know the scene in the movie GlenGary Glenn Ross where Alex Baldwin preaches to “Always Be Closing”? Yes, closing the business is the ultimate goal. But it is important to get deeper and understand more to how you will make that happen. Try this approach in your sales efforts.

• Learn your customer’s buying process. Most organizations have a buying process just like yours has a selling process. Needs development, budgeting, vendor inclusion, evaluation and selection, approval processes, negotiation protocols, contract review and formal approvals and signature. Get completely versed in what it takes for the customer to make a purchase. Start learning at the beginning stages of developing the opportunity. Confirm along the way.Surprises are your enemy both with the customer and within your organization. One example, not knowing Board approval is required. Why? Agenda’s for Board meetings are often set weeks in advance of the meeting. What if you projected your contact to be signed in June but you find out mid-month it is not on the agenda for the June meeting. Big problem. The list of potential obstacles is endless. LEARN early and often.

• Align your own internal process (proposal development, demonstration/references, pricing, contracting, etc.) with your customer’s. Then prepare the internal resources needed to close your deal. Be prepared in advance and map this process with your customer so you are on the road to closure using the smoothest path possible. Focus on their buying requirements, know your internal hurdles, prepare and lead your company through the customer’s buying maze. This effort will serve you well.

• Be transparent with your customer in every way possible so they know that to help them with their process, you will need their help to move efficiently through your internal channels. Examples of this are to set realistic expectations about your company’s response lead times for contractual requests such as language changes, pricing considerations, implementation timeline impact of contract signature delays, and so on. While the customer may not care or agree, at least they will know what you are dealing with when they ask for specifics during their buying process.

4. Lose the Pursuit of SUPER-producer and Start Hanging Around After the Sale

Once you've grown your business to where you are straddling serving current customers while pursuing new ones, remember that in the long run, your current customer needs you more than a prospective one. Too many people work harder on earning a new customer than on retaining a current one. Why would you close a deal, and then turn the Customer over to implementation or operations just to find the next sale? But we do this all the time. Why? For years we have been told the number of at bats we have increases the number of chances we win. At face value this makes sense. But why (after working so hard to win a customer) would you take your eye off that customer and leave the relationship you built to someone in implementation or delivery/operations who was not involved in the sales process? BIG MISTAKE. Your time and your credibility are your most valuable assets. While time cannot be replenished, staying involved after sale, being there to ensure customer success will absolutely reduce the amount of time you must invest to earn the second order from that customer. Your credibility must be guarded with all entire being. Selling then leaving can create a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde impression of you with the customer. You were there during the sale and disappeared after it. This poor customer impression is very often irreversible.

Sales is a complex process with elements of communication, persuasion, relationship development, trust, competition, restrictive conditions and much more. Yesterday’s tried and true sales methods and assumptions need to be challenged and updated to meet the way customers buy today. By paying attention to these buying changes and adjusting your approach, you can Make More Sales.

Best of Luck and Happy Selling!

Bruce Pulver, Author, Speaker, and Sales Professional.

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