to strengthen the prospect’s position or environment or situation. If you can put a person in a position to reach his or her goals, you earn the prospect’s trust and become a “trusted advisor.”
Principle #10: Timid salespeople have skinny kids!
This is a humorous saying, the purpose of which is to have you smile or chuckle. However, there is a lot of truth in this sentence. It simply means if you aren’t stepping up to the challenges, you aren’t putting bread on the table. I will never suggest you be aggressive. I will tell you to be assertive in your sales activities, believe in yourself and your skills, and have certainty in your ability to solve prospects’ problems.
It also means to be serious about your sales success. Be serious enough to ask questions of your company’s sales leadership. Be serious enough to seek assistance when you need help.
Principle #11: You are only as good as your information.
Sales are not closed because you have a lot of facts. Sales are closed because you have a lot of information. The prospect may claim he has no money in the budget. That is a fact. However, if you understand why he is out of budget, perhaps you can better understand his concerns and place him in a position of avoiding budget problems in the future.
Principle #12: Whoever has the most information has the most influence
Information is powerful. The more information you have, the better you can understand and relate to the prospect. The more information you have, the greater your chances of influencing the purchasing decision. In order to beat your competition, you don’t have to be 10 times better than they are. You just have to have a bit more information than your competitor in order to push the decision to your side of the equation.
Principle #13: Prescription without diagnosis is malpractice in any profession.
This is the challenge for people new to sales. It is often more comfortable to talk about your products and services than it is to talk intelligently about the prospect’s issues and concerns. Therefore, we are more comfortable talking about us than we are asking questions to find out about them. The key is this: don’t tell all you know until you know what to tell.
You wouldn’t trust a doctor who prescribed a treatment without identifying your pain and the source of your pain. Your prospects are the same way. They will not trust you unless you first perform some type of diagnosis. This is accomplished by asking questions, listening to the answers, and then connecting those answers to your solutions.
Principle #14: Process takes pressure off the person.
This is a huge principle for the new salesperson. Why? Because we often believe the personality is more important than the process. If I have the choice to tweak a process or a personality, I would rather tweak a process on a sales call than tweak a personality. You should put pressure on the process and take the pressure off of your personality.
Principle #15: Don’t quote price until you ’ve established value.
When you quote your price before you ’ve communicated the values, advantages and benefits of your product or service, you will reduce your solution to a “commodity.” This means you are just like every other competitor trying to win the prospect’s business. If you’ve not established value, then no matter what price you quote, the prospect will believe it is too much money to spend for the return she is receiving for the money.
You should postpone talking price until you have established enough value in the prospect’s mind to make a positive impact.
Principle #16: The intent behind your technique determines your ethics!
New salespeople are often concerned with “coming on too strong” with a prospect. I hear this all the time: “Oh, I couldn’t use that question, I don’t want to sound too salesy!”
Let's say you have a product that enhances the prospect's current situation. In fact, you believe with all your heart that this solution is a good match for the prospect and you know by purchasing from you the prospect will greatly benefit. Now, let's say you do not ask that question because you are too uncomfortable to ask it. If that were the case, wouldn't you be doing the prospect a disservice, or an injustice?
If your intent behind asking a question is to help the prospect, then any question you ask is ethical.
On the other hand, if you are not sure this solution is the best for the prospect, you should cease your selling efforts until you know for sure this purchase will definitely contribute to his or her betterment.
This next section is based on a model taken from Abraham Maslow's "Four Stages of Learning." Maslow's theory states that when learning a skill, we generally progress in four distinct stages. For our purposes, we will call these the "Four Stages of Sales Growth."
The first stage is where you do not know you do not know. This is called Unconsciously Incompetent. You may have found yourself in this stage when you were exposed to your company’s products or services. You did not know the meaning of industry-specific terms or “buzz words.” For example, later in the book you will be introduced to a sales concept called “upsetting the prospect’s homeostatic balance.” If you are not familiar with that term, or you have not heard it used in a sales context, you are at the first stage of growth: you don’t know that you don’t know.
The second stage is where you know you do not know. This is called Consciously Incompetent. You may be at this stage when you realize you aren’t skilled in making phone calls in order to schedule appointments. Oh, you know how to use the telephone. However, you aren’t proficient in communicating why a prospect should meet with you.
When you get to this stage, three things happen to you: first, your motivation disappears; second, your frustration rises; and third, you start to doubt yourself. You begin to have second thoughts about even being a sales professional. You talk to yourself by saying, “Oh, I should have stayed in customer service. Selling is a lot harder than anyone led me to believe!” This is the stage where you put pressure on yourself. Zig Ziglar says this is the stage where you develop “stinkin’ thinkin’.” You start to overly criticize yourself. Who is your worst critic? Of course, you are…unless you are married. (Just kidding: marriage is grand…divorce is four hundred grand!)
Two important points: First, it’s okay to be at this stage, it is NOT okay to stay there. You need to progress through this stage. When you do, you will be more confident and feel better about yourself. Second, you need to know how to get out of this stage. Once again, my mentor, boss and friend Zig can help us out here. Zig suggests you keep a victory list to remind you of your past successes. This victory list should include the things that gave you the most satisfaction and confidence. As you review your victory list you will be reminded that you have succeeded in the past and you are capable of succeeding in the future! You really should create victory list.
The third stage of growth is the point where you know you know. This is called Consciously Competent. At this stage you can be productive. It is still not second nature to you, you are still not on “auto pilot,” but you know what is required to succeed and you perform those tasks at a conscious level. After a while you will acquire the skills, techniques, and experiences to deliberately use the telephone to schedule sales appointments.
The fourth stage of growth is the
