jim.shamlin.com

8: The Science of Sales Process

Customer-focused selling requires considering the sales process from the customer's perspective, which is a simple concept but difficult for companies to adopt. A company is most familiar with its own interests in selling a product to a customer, and their approach to the customer is clouded by their own perceptions and beliefs about the value of their product. Worse, they assume that the customer shares these perceptions and beliefs, or can be made to share them.

This is demonstrated in the way that companies train salesmen: they instill them with the internal culture of the company and teach them a great deal about the product and the process by which the company wishes to interact with customers. There is little if any consideration of the interests and situation of the customer, and when it is mentioned, it is presumed to be amenable to the firm's own agenda.

By contrast, top sales performers know that the key to success lies in understanding and working within the world of the prospect or client and act accordingly. They have not been taught this perspective by their company, but have had to figure it out on their own - which is chief among the reasons that there are so few good salesmen.

The authors define five steps or "stages" in customer-focused selling, which will be explored in this chapter:

  1. Opening. The salesman makes initial contact with a prospect and seeks to build trust and credibility. To do so, the salesman must understand the needs and interests of the buyer and set expectations.
  2. Investigation. The salesman gathers information from the buyer regarding their situation and needs/goals to gain an understanding of the criteria the buyer will use to select a product.
  3. Presentation. The salesman uses what he has learned about the customer's needs and matches them to the product or service he wishes to sell to demonstrate how the product accomplishes the goasl of the buyer.
  4. Confirmation. The salesman asks the buyer to confirm that the product meets their needs prior to asking for the sale, and deals with any problems or objections that arise.
  5. Positioning. After the prospect has agreed to purchase, the salesman seeks to establish a long-term relationship with the customer that will lead to repurchases, additional sales, and referrals.

(EN: What's immediately evident that this process is still taking the perspective of the company and salesman, and not that of the buyer. I expect that these steps will be discussed in a manner that includes the buyer's perspective, but it does not bode well that a "customer-focused" approach is hung on a salesman-focused framework.)

Process Stage 1: Opening

Success in selling means closing the deal with a customer - but the closing process is overemphasized: getting a customer to sign is the last step in a longer process that cannot be taken in isolation. In order to be effective at closing a deal, a salesman must first be adept at opening it - building a relationship with a prospect and earning their trust is essential to keeping them engaged through the entire selling process.

Sales professionals with strong opening skills (defined and measured by the author's SSAT assessment) have the ability to build trust and credibility quickly. The author emphasizes that it is opening "skills" and not opening "abilities" because they are behaviors that can be taught and trained, not an innate proclivity.

Carl Jung's theories on communication are mentioned. In particular, one can consider two factors: assertiveness (how information is put forth) and responsiveness (how information is taken in). Assertive people tend to be "good talkers" who are fast-paced and highly communicative, whereas responsive people are "good listeners" who take in information and are slow to respond.

Whereas the stereotype of a salesman is a fast-talking and assertive individual, those who are more responsive are ultimately more effective in building trust and gathering critical information in the next phase of the sales process.

Better still is the salesman who observes the communication style of the prospect and adapts his own behavior to suit. Awareness of a prospect's communication style enables a salesman to choose his approach to a customer: getting their attention, learning their needs and desires, making effective conversations, and interacting with them in general.

A simple four-square matrix is suggested as a way to sort people into four groups according to the pace of conversation (fast or slow) and their focus (people or tasks):

This is not discussed in detail before a channel switch to the kinds of transitions that occur in the opening of a sales call:

The author provides a one-sentence example of the way all for can be addressed in a single sentence at the beginning of a sales call. (EN: The example the author provides reads like canned sales-patter, and a follow-up scenario seems highly contrived.)

Process Stage 2: Investigation

The authors assert that the investigation phases can proceed once rapport, trust, and credibility have been established in the opening. (EN: I'm leery, as this seems to suggest that trust is established quickly and simply, and is immediately concretized. This is likely an incorrect and dangerous assumption.)

The chief problem is that many salesman move immediately to information sharing - providing a patter of information about their company, their products, the capabilities, and the buying process. All of this is from the perspective of the company, not the perspective of the prospect. The salesman cannot speak to the prospect's perspective because he has done nothing to learn about it.

Learning about the prospect's situation and needs so that you can tailor your presentation requires a asking strategic questions. The author defines three classes of question:

  1. Closed-ended: questions that can be quickly answered. This includes yes/no questions as well as any that can be satisfied with a short answer. They gather precise information, but create an awkward gap as it is difficult to transition to the next topic - and asking a series of closed-ended questions feels like an interrogation, which makes prospects defensive and hostile toward the salesman.
  2. Open-ended: questions that require the other person to speak at some length, the answer to which enable the salesman to gain a broader perspective and transition more fluidly to other topics. The drawback is that the prospect may speak in a meandering way and at great length, and the thrust of the conversation can be lost.
  3. Investigative. These questions are more often expressed as sentences that begin with words such as tell, describe, give, explain, or the like. They invite the respondent to share details and are more likely to receive factual answers, but again give the prospect the opportunity to meander.

The author suggests that skilled salesmen tend to ask more investigative questions - though the other two kinds of questions do play a role in the process, such that it is useful to "mix up the questions" to add variety to the conversation. (EN: This seems a bit too random. It's likely better to consider what kind of information you wish to gather, then use the appropriate type of question - but then, a self-centered approach to conversation would likely degenerate into an interrogation.)

The author suggests an approach that moves from one type to the next: start with investigative questions to understand the motivation of the buyer (tell me about your problem), follow with open-ended questions to gather more information (what do you expect when you consider a solution), and then to closed-ended questions to gather precise details (how much would you be willing to pay for a product that solves the problem).

It's also essential to apply listening skills: asking questions is of no use if you do not absorb the information that the prospect provides and demonstrate your understanding. Failure to listen, particularly if you ask the same questions repeatedly because you haven't listened to the answer or make a statement contrary to what you heard, is a very effective method of shutting down a conversation.

Process Stage 3: Presentation

The next stage of the sales process involves presenting the company's offerings to a prospect. This is a common practice, but commonly done very poorly: salesman are trained to deliver a canned sales pitch that does not take into account the specific needs of the customer, which demonstrates only that the salesman has not listened to or does not care about the prospect's needs, and does much to damage trust.

The author describes three approaches the salesman may take in presenting product information to a prospect:

(EN: The author stilts his description of the last two buy suggesting that the benefits-sell is not relevant to a particular customer but the results-sell is. This is not necessarily so - both can be relevant or irrelevant depending on the way the benefit or result is presented - is it based on a generic customer or a specific one? For that matter, even features can be presented in a relevant way, though it still has the drawback of leaving the prospect to connect the dots between a feature and its benefit or result.)

The customer-focused selling process emphasizes the benefit/results based on the information gathered during the investigation phase. The salesman does not deliver a canned presentation based on what they assume customers might want, but speaks to the needs a specific customer has expressed.

It is admittedly a much more difficult process to gather information from a customer and speak in a manner that is relevant to their needs than it is to make assumptions about what the customer might find useful and prepare a deck of slides that can be presented to every customer ... but it is far more effective to do so.

Process Stage 4: Confirmation

The closing of the deal is the end of stress and worry for a salesman: his job is nearing an end and getting the customer to sign a contract means his involvement is over and he can move on to the next prospect - by now, he is tired, a bit bored, and just wants to get it over with. Conversely, the sign-off is the beginning of stress for the customer: he will commit to paying but is uncertain when he will get the product or whether it will actually deliver the benefits and results that have been promised. So while the salesman is winding down, the customer is winding up.

This makes the closing process difficult for most salesman: they feel they have done everything necessary to convince a prospect to buy and is irritated by last-minute objections on the part of the customer, and afraid that a deal may fall apart at the last minute. And rightly so: because of the difference in interests, many salesmen botch the closing process.

In customer-focused selling, closing is regarded as a collaborative process that involves working with the customer to ensure that the final decision to buy makes sense. This involves a return to the investigation and presentation steps in which the salesman discovers the reasons the customer is hesitant and provides information to address their discomfort.

A digression: the author speaks of common tricks salesmen leverage to push prospects to a close - implying that further deliberation will cause the prospect to miss his own buying deadline; exploiting the prospect's decision-making process; or shifting the burden to the prospect to provide reasons not to buy.

Objections are an inevitable part of the sales process - but they should not be regarded as obstacles. Rather, an objection should be taken as a positive sign that a prospect has positive intent, even though they are not yet ready to move forward. The role of the salesman is to help the prospect overcome their objections - but there is a critical distinction to be made between overcoming objections and merely dismissing them. To dismiss an objection is to dismiss a prospect.

Another distinction is made between an objection and a condition: An objection is a topic that the salesman can address during the sales process, such as a customer's uncertainty over whether the price is fair. A condition is an obstacle that exists outside of the sales process and interaction between salesman and prospect cannot change, such as the amount the customer can afford to pay due to the availability of budget.

A condition must be accepted, and the correct response on the part of the salesman is to establish a position to resume negotiations in the future, when conditions have changed. If a salesman continues to press in the fact of valid conditions, he loses credibility: "there is no clearer way to communicate that the sales professional is only out to make a sale."

By contrast, an objection should be viewed as a request for further discussion: the salesman should seek to clearly understand what the prospect needs at that point, and this requires him to listen and interpret rather than simply responding. Doing so requires the salesman to understand the objection: whether the prospect has clearly articulated it, what might be causing him to feel hesitant, and what he needs ion order to move forward. The authors provide a six-step process:

  1. Listen. Take time to hear the prospect out to get a clear sense of their objection. This is especially difficult for more experienced salesmen because they have likely heard the same objections many times and expect that they can treat this customer like every other customer who has raised the same objection - which is unsatisfactory and dismissive.
  2. Acknowledge. Demonstrate that you are attentive to the client's concerns by acknowledging and empathizing with them. A salesman might repeat the information back to demonstrate they have listened, but ultimately the most effective approach is to communicate to the prospect that the salesman hasn't merely heard them, but agrees.
  3. Question. Ask investigative questions to uncover information about the objection - this gives the prospect the ability to consider the validity of their objection, and the salesman gathers material that can be used to provide a relevant response to it.
  4. Summarize. After hearing the prospect out fully, summarize their objection in details to confirm that you understand their point of view accurately.
  5. Answer. Consider the information about the objection has been gathered and agreed upon in responding to the objection and addressing the specific concerns.
  6. Confirm. Once the answer has been given, confirm that it addresses the concerns that have been raised to the prospect's satisfaction and that the prospect is ready to move forward, or move on to the next objection.

Process Stage 5: Positioning

When a prospect has agreed to purchase, their role changes: they are now a customer or a client. The salesman has closed the deal, but their work is not over because they have an opportunity to establish a long-term relationship that will secure the customer's future business, with the ultimate goal of making them a life-long customer.

This is often neglected, but research has repeatedly demonstrated that a firm achieves greater profit at less expense by maintaining existing customers than by prospecting to find new ones, and that the highest churn rates are seen from one-time customers who do not repurchase due to dissatisfaction with their first sale.

In addition to getting a customer to repurchase, building a relationship helps gain additional business (customers will buy more product from you), greater share of wallet (customers will buy from you more often), and referral business (customers will recommend you to others).

The authors refer to a PDCA cycle (Plan, Do, Check, Assess) that can be followed to account for new information and provide continuous improvement of customer satisfaction measures. Little explanation/illustration is provided, but the author asserts that using it can improve relationships and increase trust.

A word about referrals: many salesmen ask for referrals prematurely. Immediately upon closing the deal, the salesman asks the customer to refer other people, or even asks the customer to give them the names and contact information for other people he might call upon. The proper time to ask for references is after a relationship has been established and the client is feeling confident in their decision - which is not likely to be immediate and may not occur until the customer has used the product for quite some time.

Case Study: Terminal Supply Company

Trusted Supply Company is an automotive electrical firm that started as a husband-and-wife team in 1966 and has since grown to a chain of seven branches. The firm regards the knowledge and experience of its sales force as a cornerstone of their success.

The authors administered the SSAT to their staff, and it was found that the top sales performers scored very low. Meanwhile, some of the newer and less successful salespeople had very high scores. On closer inspection, it became evident that salesmen were successful due to "sheer will" and "muscle" rather than selling skills.

Because salesmen where churning through high numbers of prospects and getting a small percentage of sales, it was clear that they were missing opportunities simply because the didn't take time to ask the right questions. The existing sales methodology was to train salesmen to memorize and deliver canned scripts, and the existing sales practice was passive, calling large numbers of prospects and asking "What can I get for you?" and accepting that the take-rate would be low.

Afterward, the company shifted to a more customer-oriented approach to selling: taking the time to learn about customers' needs and suggesting solutions that were relevant. Within the first three months, the sales figures were up 20% for the company, with some individuals achieving increases that were up to 60%. A year later, sales for the company were up 15%, which is a respectable rate given the economic situation at the time.

Case Study: Blood Centers of America

Blood Centers of America is a nonprofit organization that operates donation centers across the US and supplies about 30% of the nation's transfusion requirements. Their chief challenge is recruiting volunteers on donating blood, which is essentially a sales-related task.

Historically, the organization saw its task as being more marketing-oriented: making people aware of the opportunity to donate, but not being more proactive in bringing specific individuals into the center to make a donation.

Volunteer coordinators who assist with blood drives collected basic information from donors, but never asked questions that would give them a clear sense of what motivated people to donate - which made it difficult to solicit repeat visits. In many instance, the recruiter who would contact a potential donor would seldom meet with their clients in person.

Both practices were changed, and the recruitment team used the information gathered and the relationship with individual donors to help maintain the relationship, get them to donate more often, and get them to help refer new business.

It also enabled them to develop a model to more precisely predict the number of units of blood that would be donated per month in aggregate. Being able to measure results is credited in improving the morale of their volunteers and retain staff.

JIM.SHAMLIN.COM
DISCLAIMERS · CONTACT