I have the pleasure of working with some of the very best sales people in the southeast. I accompanied one of my top reps this week. I noticed on one of his presentations he did a fantastic job with his introduction and building rapport. He was well into qualifying and asking open-ended questions, and in no time had an open dialogue underway. The prospect mentioned “a want” that would be nice to have. Right away the rep stopped the questioning and went for the close. The prospect backed away and said they were not interested. They then followed up with multiple reasons why they weren’t interested. The sales rep then started explaining all the benefits of the product but the prospect didn’t care. They only mentioned “a want” that would be nice to have and the sales rep ended up product puking information about the services.
The introduction, rapport, and qualifying stages of the sale were moving in the right direction but were lost like a lion trying to pounce on a gazelle with a redbull addiciton, who likes to zigzag.
It’s important to discover as many needs as possible before going after the close. Like a lion, you must coordinate your plan of attack. Save your energy and let the gazelle get tired before going after the kill. I know it’s easy to say but much harder to actually do. Try to focus on getting at least 3-5 wants or needs from the prospect before attempting to close.
“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it ill be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”
~ Christopher McDougall (Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen)
Everyday you are challenged to either be the Gazelle or the Lion…Preferably, I choose the Lion, but either way you need to get your hustle on to stay alive!
The comment I have always heard is “Sales is a process and not an art”. That is like saying Martial Arts is a bunch of techniques and not an art. Now don’t get me wrong. I do believe there are processes and even techniques in sales, just as martial arts, but once the basics are mastered then that is when the art of sales kicks in.
There are many different styles of selling just like there are many different styles of martial arts. I have read and listened to numerous books on selling and even though they have different approaches, they all come down to the same core ingredients.
- Introduction/Presentation
- Build Rapport
- Qualifying/Probing
- Make an offer
- Close
- Handle Objections
The martial arts has many different styles and forms as well. They also have a core set of techniques that must be learned before they are mastered. The reason why they practice the same punches and kicks over and over is so that it becomes a reflex. If someone is throwing a death blow to the head, I imagine you would rather have your reflex kick in and duck, than weighing your options on how to avoid death. The same is said for sales. Role playing helps sales reps to master the process and techniques. This way when a customer throws a deal killing objection a sales rep knows how to respond. If a sales rep has to mull it over, the customer will sense the defeat on their face and the sale is lost.
“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless – like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
~Bruce Lee(American Actor and martial arts expert. Born in San Francisco, California, USA 1940-1973)
This quote by Bruce Lee applies to sales. Once you master the process and techniques then you can be like water and adapt to every sales situation you encounter. If you perfect your skill then it will flow, but if you don’t practice you will crash.
So the question is, are you just going by the book? Or have you mastered the basics and now perfecting your art of Sales-FU, the verbal martial arts?
