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5: Turning Qualified Prospects into First-Time Buyers

The next step in the process is convincing a prospect to purchase for the first time. This has long been the emphasis of "selling" in America, and has been prioritized over everything else, which may be the reason that marketers will damage the long-term value of a customer for the sake of a short-term sale.

As such, the sales profession has earned a poor reputation. The author cites informal research that identified some of the terms most commonly associated with "salesman": manipulative, dishonest, opportunistic, untrustworthy, insincere, and the like were among the most frequent terms. And while this reputation is well-grounded by experience, it's also worth considering that salesmen are trained and pressured by the companies that hire them to make immediate sales - they are doing what they are being paid to do.

It's taken quite some time for (some) business to recognize the long-term value of a customer, and that the a short-term sale that uses pressure-tactics to get them to buy can be damaging (devastating) to establishing a long-term relationship that will be more profitable in the long run.

Even so, making the initial sale remains a necessary task, and a significant milestone in the vendor-customer relationship, but one that has to be handled with greater care and in the proper perspective.

The Ingredients of a Successful Sale

The author begins with notions about persistence: that a recent survey found it took an average of seven calls to close a sale to a first-time buyer, as opposed to three for a repeat buyer. There was also a depression-era notion that a person has to hear about a particular film at least seven times in a 72-hour period to decide to buy a ticket. This underscores the need for patience and persistence in order to make a sale, and the notion that a salesman can close a deal on his first call is likely an unreasonable expectation.

(EN: I'm a little leery at the onset here: the author's intent seems to be to communicate the need for patience, not the value of hounding the customer - the latter is a sales tactic that makes customers pay just to get the salesman off their back. Good for a quick scam, bad for a long-term relationship.)

It's also noted that the number of contacts required to convert a prospect appear to be rising. The tough economy makes consumers more deliberate in their purchasing habits, increased competition slows the process with more choices, increased information also adds time and effort to the decision process, and companies have been actively pursuing customer retention, making it harder to get their customers to switch.

Also, the number is increased in certain situations. For example, when doing business overseas, a company must overcome cultural differences to be on even footing. It may also depend on the customer's experience with the product: a person buying their first home is going to take a lot more work than a person who is going through the process for the third time.

"Patience is the new watchword," the author asserts. It's the difference between converting a prospect into a first-time buyer (who will purchase regularly over time) or turning them into a one-time buyer (who will not come back).

Building Trust

When confronted with a company or a salesman that they have not dealt with in the past, the customer is more focused on the relationship than the product: can the company and the person be trusted. Factors they consider are whether the person seems knowledgeable, has integrity, shows genuine interest in their needs, and is expected to be in business in the future.

It's also noted that actions are important. Customers disregard anything a company it says about itself, rely more on word-of-mouth or testimonials of others, and ultimate watch what a company does rather than trusting in what it says.

(EN: A couple loose notes from external sources: there was a study that found that people reported having less trust after seeing an advertisement in which a company claimed to be trustworthy. The same study found that there was no difference in the level of trust, or lack thereof, when the advertisement presented testimonials - statistically, it's no different than the company's own claim of trustworthiness. Word-of-mouth must be independent to be credible.)

The author mentions "five trust builders" and provides detail on each.

The first factor is recognition. The first time a salesman calls, he's a stranger. The second is little better. The third time, they might remember his name. This is also the value of brands - in that the customer has "heard of" the product before they see it in a store - and the more they have heard of it, the more likely they will recognize and grant credibility to the product. The notion of "permission marketing" also relies on recognition: once the customer knows who you are and what you're selling, chances are greater they will be receptive to listening to you, and beleiveing what you have to say.

The second factor is concern for the customer's interest. People know that salesmen want to push a product, and expect them to do or say whatever it takes to make the deal, regardless of whether the product is of any benefit to the customer. It's (anecdotally) noted that a salesman who asks questions, listens to the prospect, and tailors his sales pitch to focus on features that match the needs of the customer is more successful in closing sales. This is a result of reciprocity: if you appear to be willing to "help" a customer by discussing their problems, they may be willing to help you in return by purchasing your product.

(EN: just an observation, but something I've noticed recently is that when a company speaks of its personnel, the word "helpful" is fairly common: a helpful salesman, a helpful clerk, a helpful technician. While this is self-promotion and may be disregarded, it does show that companies recognize customers value "helpful" contacts, and are attempting to associate themselves with this quality.)

The third factor is honesty. The notion of "not lying" is straightforward, and the customer expects salesmen to lie to them, so it's important not only to tell the truth, but to be able to provide supporting evidence. Sales has been fast-and-loose with the truth so frequently that customers doubt much of what they say - the scent of dishonesty can undermine a sale or damage a relationship, so being scrupulously honest is important not only to gain trust, but to overcome existing credibility problems.

The fourth factor is similar: promise only what you can deliver. This is next of kin to honesty, and has suffered the same credibility problems from generations of salesmen who would exaggerate benefits and cover up problems that the customer will encounter - and when the experience of the product doesn't meet expectations set during the selling process, this creates cognitive dissonance and destroys future credibility.

The fifth factor, really more of a suggestion, is to practice team selling. The author mentions a B2B instance, in which the sales rep brought along some of the key people who would be involved in servicing the account. The implication is that the presence of the team impresses the customer that you have people to take care of their needs and facilitates the selling process (the rep doesn't have to "get back to you on that" because the person with the answer is in the room).

(EN: Another random bit on the team approach is that it prevents the salesman from being the only "link" between the firms -so that when the salesman leaves the company, the customer is less likely to follow him.)

Listening

Much ado is made about what a salesman should say to a prospect, and there is a common stereotype of a fast-talking salesman who overwhelms the mark with a nonstop patter up to the moment the deal is closed. But this is not conducive to building rapport and trust: listening is more important.

Aside of the social implications (listening is a sign of respect), there are also functional ones: if you don't listen to the customer, you won't understand their needs, and you won't be able to help them find an appropriate solution.

The author describes the notion of active listening - not merely remaining silent while someone else speaks, but paying attention to what they are saying. The author suggests this is because we think faster than we listen, and the brain has "spare time" that it fills with other things that distract us from the speaker.

The author looks to another source for advice on dealing with distractions, which generally encourages the listener to consider things that are peripheral to the conversation: try to anticipate what they will say next, try to notice if there's anything they seem to be avoiding, examine their facial expression and body language, etc. rather than letting you mind wander.

(EN: I've not seen this explanation, and I'm not sure I buy it. My sense is that people are capable of focusing intently when they are interested, and the reason salesmen have trouble paying attention to the customer is not a matter of listening and thinking speeds, but merely because they genuinely do not care about the customer, other than as the source of a sale. The real "to do" here is to change the attitude of salesmen to focus on the customer's needs rather than trying to rush past the conversation to close the deal.)

When it's Your Turn to Talk

There is a caution about the canned sales pitch, which generally consists of general information that is designed to "sell" the product based on features that the seller thinks are important to the buyer. The problem is, they often get it wrong, and bore the prospect by spending a lot of time talking about things that the prospect does not care about at all, discussing every aspect of the product in hopes that something in the presentation might spark the listener's interest,.

An effective salesmen should avoid the "pitch" altogether: listen and ask questions in order to understand the prospect's needs and position the product as a solution to those specific needs. Anything else is of no interest to the prospect, and may make them less likely to purchase. The author even goes so far as to say that "the canned sales pitch can be disastrous"

Another serious mistake is to attempt to close the deal too soon. This is also a sign of a salesman who cares only about making the sale and doesn't understand the customer's needs. Especially in high-ticket items or B2B sales, purchases are not made on impulse and attempting to shortcut the buying process is unlikely to meet with success, and may even be offensive to the prospect. People and companies alike will buy at their own speed.

The author describes the concept of a "sales doctor" - which takes a problem-solving approach to sales: the salesman recognizes the customer's "pain", takes steps to diagnose the cause of the condition, and the product is the treatment that will address the problem. Ultimately, the success for the salesman isn't that he's sold the treatment, but that the treatment addressed the condition - because if he's merely selling treatments, he will lose patients to the competitor. (EN: a bit facile, but it brings together a number of good points.)

(ENL: After this, there is a succotash of random tips, backed by wending anecdotes, and primarily for B2B sales. It's nothing that I haven't seen in other literature on the topic of sales, and given that B2B sales has always been more about relationships than high-pressure quick-dealing, I don't expect this is anything unique.)