Words of wisdom for this week.
“I do not seek, I find.”
~ Picasso
Over the years, a great number of sales trainers, as well as sales managers, have perpetuated a number of sales myths as if they were truths. Now, they may have been true at the time they were invented, created or thought up, but it is my belief that in today’s world economy – where change, technology and value are driving consumers to new levels of need satisfaction – these myths are no longer true – no matter who is preaching them. I would like to share just a few of these with you this week. I will also give you my reasoning as to why they are myths and not truths. You decide for yourself what makes most sense to you – what you have been hearing for several years, or what feels right to you.
Sales is a numbers game. Selling is not a numbers game. If you see enough people, you will make enough sales. Bull. Selling is a QUALITY numbers game. If you see enough of the right people (qualified prospects), you will make lots of sales. The rationale here is that the number one cause of failure in sales is the issue of rejection. If your strategy is to see lots of people – qualified or otherwise, sooner or later you are going to get more rejection than you can probably handle, and will either quit or fail. This approach is not designed to give you permission to not make lots of calls, however. It is designed to ensure you spend your valuable selling time with good prospects.
Sales is about giving information to prospects/clients. Poor salespeople TALK TOO MUCH. They give information before they get it. If this is your approach, you will tend to make one of two mistakes: you will give unnecessary information or wrong information. Selling is not about giving a presentation filled with features and benefits that your organization has decided are important for the prospect to know about. It is about giving only that information that each prospect (and they are all different) wants or needs. This is the difference between an organization or product-driven focus and a customer-driven focus.
You can fake it until you make it. Successful salespeople spend their time learning, growing, reading, observing and developing habits, attitudes, approaches and techniques that work. They know they work because their purpose is to be good. If your approach is to fake it while you are learning, sooner or later you will get caught, and in my experience it is sooner rather than later, and more often than less often.
In every sales presentation/appointment, you need some small-talk – a warming up period. This just isn’t true. Each prospect, depending on their personality style, deserves a unique and custom sales approach. Some people want and need warm-up time, but others don’t. The key is not to use the same approach with everyone, but to learn which approach is appropriate for each prospect.
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