Selling is a transfer of trust. Our selling methods must evolve with the changes in the world around us. In my lifetime, introducing new technologies has radically changed how one succeeds in sales.
Consider this. I became a salesman in 1972 at a time when the internet was still a research project. My first job title was Sales Engineer. I lived in North Texas and called on independent welding and gas distributors in Dallas, Fort Worth, Wichita Falls, Abilene, Sherman, Austin, and San Antonio. My means of connecting with clients involved the telephone and driving just over 20,000 miles per year in my Ford Custom. Selling for success involved following this 5-step sales cycle that was developed by IBM: (1) Open the call with small talk, (2) Investigate the needs, (3) Give your product benefits, (4) Handle objections, and finally, (5) Close the call with an assortment of techniques.
Build Trust
The center of any successful sales cycle was, is, and always will be building trust in customer relationships. Being able to converse with your customers on their terms builds trust. The distributors I called on in the ‘70s were patient with my formulaic approach. I quickly learned that “small talk” should involve the Dallas Cowboys, Houston Oilers, Texas Rangers, or Houston Astros. Since I was from Baltimore, Maryland, I was considered a Yankee. My clients needed some convincing that Maryland was south of the Mason-Dixon Line! I enjoyed making connections with my clientele and was even asked what happened to my Baltimore dialect when I returned home for visits.
I developed a deep sense of trust with those Texas distributors. I still remember each of their names, likes, and dislikes. Their work ethic and customer relationship experiences have been guiding principles in my career. With today’s technology, the way relationships develop has changed. There are now so many more avenues of communication to establish trust, which remains at the center of the successful sales cycle.
The Importance of Rapport
To establish trust, you need to seek the other person’s welfare. To do this, you must develop a rapport with your clients. You need the ability to enter their world and understand it. Without heartfelt rapport, it is difficult to develop trust and influence. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. If you find your prospect won’t engage, they probably have a personal relationship with your competitor and don’t want to break that alliance.
If you encourage your customers or prospects to talk about themselves for 20 minutes, they will bond with you. This requires strict adherence to the 80/20 listening rule. That is, the customer talks for at least 80% of the time while you actively listen to them and speak only for 20% of the time.
Understand your customer
Here is a series of questions to ask that will help you understand your customer’s background.
- How long have you worked here?
- What are your responsibilities?
- How long have you lived in this area?
- How do you get to work?
Another way to learn more about your customer is to note their behavioral mannerisms. You should mirror and match their body language, tonality, and words. Phrases like, “I see what you mean,” “I hear what you are saying,” or “How did that make you feel?” let your client know that you are emotionally engaged.
To be better prepared to understand your customers’ behavior, I recommend you take a DISC assessment (discprofile.com/what-is-disc). It will determine if you are a Dominant, Influencing, Steady, or Conscientious communicator. Along with learning your behavioral style, invest time in learning the characteristics of the other three styles. Your goal is to explore how to meet your customers halfway between your style and theirs.
Discover the Need
Once you have established trust, your new contact will naturally begin to tell you how to fit his/her need into your product or service offering. While people tend to make decisions intellectually, they are often emotional buyers.
On the emotional level, consider these 5 buying motives:
- Pain in the present (distraction)
- Pain in the future (fear)
- Gain in the present (stimulation)
- Gain in the future (security)
- Impulsive buy (arousal)
The Need Trail
Once a client has presented a need, be sure to follow the Need Trail with these inquiries:
- Tell me more.
- How long have you had this issue?
- What have you tried?
- How did that work for you?
- How much is the issue costing/impacting you?
- What other issues do you have?
- Is it important to make a change?
There are some important things you should note when using the Need Trail.
When you ask, “What have you tried, and how did it work?” You are preventing them from suggesting something that they have already tried with failed results.
Second, you are asking, “What other issues do you have?” because normally, the first issue a client brings up is not their biggest problem. This question primes the pump. Many times, it is the second or third issue they disclose that is the most critical. Your objective is to collect the total cost/impact of all the customer’s issues.
Finally, don’t ask, “Is it important to make a change?” until you have exhausted all the avenues of inquiry.
Validate the Decision Maker
Digitalization has radically altered the sales cycle. It makes communication — the centerpiece of any sales negotiation — so much faster and broader. More people and more data can be involved in the “Validating the Decision Maker” phase of the successful sales process. This change is so drastic that in the last two years, the title of the sales process has changed from “Consultative” to “Enterprise Selling.” Consultative selling refers to a process involving mostly personal interactions. On the other hand, Enterprise Selling implies using digital tools, such as an integrated Enterprise Resource Program (ERP), eCommerce, content management, and artificial intelligence (AI), in addition to people.
In Consultative selling, the salesperson would ask his/her contact, “Besides you and me, who will be involved in resolving the issues we discussed?” With today’s digitally embedded customer relationship management (CRM) software, that group of decision makers is broadened. AI is able to provide an organizational chart with pertinent information on how a customer’s decisions are made. For example, Predictive AI will evaluate the rationale from the perspective of the C-suite executive’s strategic direction. It can reveal the plant manager/engineering/quality control desires for implementation results. And it can point out the operations/purchasing agents need to minimize destructive change during implementation.
AI can help create collaborative partnerships with your customers by understanding each player’s buying motives. It can also make predictions for what the customer should be buying next and when the purchase should occur. For independent distributors, eCommerce and AI have the capability of differentiating your products and services from other online website channels. Your advantages include personalization, local presence, added value services, and preferred telephone services.
The Investment
We have reviewed the steps in the sales cycle where you build trust with your customer, follow the Need Trail, and use the latest digital tools to identify and support the decision makers. Now it’s time to move into investment discussions, known as the “money step.” This is when decision makers make a commitment to purchase. Up to this point in the sales cycle, the product and services solutions should not have been clearly identified by the sales team. Exposing your product or service solution earlier in the Need step can lead to you becoming “the unpaid consultant.” A customer may share your solution with a competitor or shop the resolution for the lowest price.
Before the solution to the need(s) is revealed, it is important to determine whether the customer has sufficient resources and desire to solve their problem(s). Check with your finance department to be sure the client is preapproved. Clearly identify the customer’s terms and conditions and payment method. This will have an impact on your pricing strategy.
The investment step requires the seller to review the Need Trail described earlier and determine how much it is currently costing the customer to not make a purchasing decision. I generally find that for a customer to make an investment, the cost of solving a problem should be no more than 25% of the developed need and have a return on investment of less than two years. The salesperson must prove to the client that he can’t afford the cost of not accepting your solutions.
Proof
In the Proof step, the salesman discloses the product or service solution and reviews its features, benefits and pricing in detail.
An important term to be aware of during the entire sales cycle is Head Trash. When a salesperson thinks he/she knows what is on the prospect’s mind without asking, this is known as head trash. These assumptions are often negative, which lead to lower expectations and the tendency to give away value not actually expected or required by the prospects.
To confirm the client’s interest, use the Range Finder. Ask, “On a scale of 0 to 10, 0 meaning you have no interest and 10 meaning you have decided to buy, where are you?” This allows you to parse out unresolved questions the prospect may have. These are often easy to resolve. If the customer has interest but scores less than 10, ask, “What do you have to see to get you to 10?” Repeat the cycle until the prospect gives you a 10. To get to 10, some prospects may want a demonstration, a form of guarantee, or a change in terms.
With some products or services, you may want to use a conditional contract or signed purchase order. I have found that demonstrating the product or service for a short period of time often leads to a signed contract or purchase order. Again, use the Range Finder to ensure you know what is on the prospect’s mind.
If the sales cycle is properly implemented, the salesperson often doesn’t even have to ask for the order. The customer will close the sale himself. Beware, prospects do not feel obligated to honor verbal commitments. As a past Vice President of Sales, I have had many reps come to me excited about a sale they think made via a verbal commitment only to find it hard to get the prospect back on the phone or to accept an appointment. Prospects tend to change their mind regarding verbal commitments and are often too embarrassed to see the salesperson again. I recommend either a written contract or a signed purchase order before the sale is implemented. Don’t rush. Review, repeat, remind, and get it signed!
Finally, beware of buyer’s remorse. Once a contract is signed, thank the customer for the order and give him an opportunity to back out. Ask, “You wouldn’t cancel because of changes we agreed upon, would you?” This gives the customer a chance to verbalize their commitment. You don’t want him to wake up in the middle of the night thinking he had made a big mistake. Handle any apprehension now.
Happy Selling
This 5-step sales cycle — Discovery of need, Validation of the decision maker, Investment, and Proof, with Trust in Relationship at its center — has proven successful for over 50 years. In the distribution business, a salesperson should always know where he/she is in this cycle. Each step should be discussed with the prospect and include a strategy to move the sale forward. In monthly reviews, sales managers should be asking their salespeople where they are in the process and supporting them on next step strategies.
Selling is the transfer of trust. How you earn that trust is the key to a winning sales cycle. Happy selling!
