Belief in God, the scriptures advise us, assures us of the following:
We are loved by our Creator.
Nothing we do can diminish that love.
God will be with us for all of our lives.
God is omnipotent, omnipresent, all knowing, and all powerful.
(Continued below ...)
What does this have to do with salesmanship? Let's explore what the
traditional view of selling is all about. Typically, people who sell view it as
a way to manipulate others. To get them to buy things from you. To score, as if
in a contest.
You know the drill all too well (as do your prospects): A salesperson
develops a pitch, targets and woos the mark; if all goes well, the mark takes
the bait, the salesperson celebrates and moves on to the next mark. This is a
crude view of the process, perhaps, but painfully close to the way the
cheese-in-the-mousetrap scenario is supposed to unfold according to the gospel
of classic salesmanship. The question is: Does this represent a genuine
relationship between the seller and the buyer? No way! Save for a few precious
exceptions, it amounts to us vs. them combat? slick, superficial, plastic, and
often based on a form of deception. The salesperson pretends to care about the
prospect/customer but, in fact, only cares about bagging his prey. The better
the salesperson, the less transparent this is, but it still IS!
The time has come to rethink the entire process.
To do so, we have to dial back for a moment. We must view selling as a way of
building and maintaining faith in one another. That is more than semantics; it
is a novel philosophy. And as surprising as it may be, developing and
incorporating a new philosophy is a key component of the transition from selling
in the standard Willy Loman manner to selling in a format that resembles and
learns from The Master.
Our philosophy begins with the recognition that we are all God's children. We
have faith in Him because we are members of the family of God. Think of how
important and powerful this is: If we are doubters, God doesn't treat us as
prospects or, if we are believers, as customers. Instead, we are all members of
the family of God, believers and disbelievers alike.
Everyone who sells anything must pause and reflect on this, not for its
religious significance (although it is based on religious roots) but because it
has profound and pragmatic implications for the world of business. The wise
salesperson will learn from The Master and relate to customers and prospects as
virtual family members as opposed to strangers, targets, or marks to be sold!
Traditional selling is infused with a mythology, a Holy Grail of sorts, that
is pure nonsense. Worse than that, it is a route to mediocrity at best, and more
likely a route to failure.
It is time to reinvent the traditional view of selling. Now!
Think of the conventional wisdom about selling as The Myths of Willy Loman:
Myth: A good salesperson has the gift of gab.
Reality: Gab? Does anyone want gab? How fast do you run from that? A
good salesperson acquires the gift of identifying what customers and prospects
really want and finds a way to satisfy that. His talk is not of gab, but of
substance and demonstrable value.
Myth: The salesperson is the hunter and the prospect is the prey.
Reality: What a shortsighted way to view the process of building and
nurturing lifelong relationships. A hunt or a battle? That's not selling: It is
war and great salespeople never, ever want to engage in war with their
customers. Those who do may make their quotas, but they will never earn the
trust, respect, and loyalty that drives exceptional relationships and, in turn,
extraordinary careers. The real winners align themselves with their customers as
opposed to pitting themselves against them.
Myth: Selling is just another component of the business process.
Reality: Every successful enterprise has the key building blocks of
(a) product/service development, (b) distribution, and (c) sales. All are vital,
but sales is in a class by itself. When practiced by The Master's standards,
sales is the connection that fuses an enterprise to people, helps to shape the
company's offerings to meet customers' evolving needs, and nurtures its growth
over time.
There is no lifeblood in a business that manufactures blankets, packages and
ships them to Wal-Mart, but has no real contact with consumers. And no future.
Yes, management may pocket the checks, but others will start talking to
consumers, understanding that they now want blankets with designer names
imprinted on them, and advising Wal-Mart that they need to shift their strategy
and their suppliers. Disciplined and flexible as it is, Wal-Mart will make this
shift. It does so every day and salespeople make it happen.
Specifically, those salespeople who act as professionals, as advisors, and as
drivers of change and growth.
Which brings us to a key question: What is a customer? The traditional view
of a customer is someone the business serves or sells to. The time has come to
reinvent this perspective and adopt a 360-degree model that is simple in its
focus and powerful in its impact.
The 360-Degree Customer Experience
The customer is someone we build our business around.
To the extent that they are no longer customers. They are members of the
family.
Building your business around members of the family, instead of the standard
transactional view of serving customers, requires that you make the following
transitions in your viewpoint and your actions:
Traditional Way
vs
Master’s Way
Meet Customer Expectations vs Exceed Their Expectations
Satisfy Customers vs Thrill Them
Give Customers Everything They Expect vs Surprise Them with Gestures of
Thoughtfulness
Give Customers Access to Products/Services vs Wrap Them in a Cocoon of Care
Be Satisfied if Customers Like Your Product/Service/Company vs Make Certain
They Fall in Love with Your Product/Service/Company
Close a Sale vs Offer Customers a Lifetime of Unique Experiences and Values
Be Willing to Take Customers’ Next Orders vs Commit to Them
As you can see, especially when compared to traditional selling, the
360-Degree family member experience is:
- Personal.
- Proactive.
- Perpetual.
- Protective.
Nothing is more powerful than this.
WHY MOST SALESPEOPLE CAN'T SELL
1. They have nothing interesting to say.
2. They cannot present their products and services in a compelling fashion—in
other words, as more than just products and services.
3. They believe they have done their job if they get prospects to like what they
are offering. The fact is, they have to fall in love with it.
4. They fail to develop a Power offer that makes what they are selling
impossible to refuse.
5. They don't bother to read the prospect. They're too preoccupied with the
commissions they WON'T earn precisely because all of the focus is on themselves.
Copyright © 2008 by Mark Stevens
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