Why you can’t have a one-type-of-sales-person-does-it-all approach

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Why you can’t have a one-type-of-sales-person-does-it-all approach

July 2, 2009 in Recruitment, Sales Assessments, Sales Skills, Sales Talent

I find it somewhat frustrating when people make simplistic claims and statements about salespeople like: ‘super sales performers are all risk takers and oblivious to rejection and failure’.

Statements like this are simply not true and trivialise the complex world of selling by trying to box people without proper analysis and insight.

There is a large body of research that shows there are many types of sales people for different types of clients, products, and markets. Just because a sales person may be excellent in one market may not mean they are well suited for another.

Take call centres for instance. If the type of sale is simple and transactional, putting in people who like complex problem solving and variety would be a very bad decision. Boredom and repetition, amongst other things, could see people like this leave sooner than intended or create havoc while there.

The reason I am speaking up about this is I find many people do not understand the intricacies of selling and tend to take a one-type-of-salesperson-does-it-all approach when selecting and developing sales people often leaving them frustrated and angry and not getting the sales performance they want.

In the last 15 years my team and I have analysed and profiled over 100 different types of sales roles as diverse as:

-    Business Banking Sales,
-    Media Sales (TV & Radio)
-    Online Advertising Sales
-    Publishing Sales
-    IT Sales
-    Hi-tech Medical Equipment Sales
-    Pharmaceutical Sales
-    Funeral Sales
-    Wholesale Sales
-    Print and Distribution Sales
-    Telephone Sales (inbound and outbound)
-    Direct Sales (party plan, etc.)
-    Money Market Sales
-    Mortgage Sales
-    Investment Sales
-    Recruitment Sales
-    Industrial Sales
-    Engineering Sales
-    Key Account Management Sales
-    Sales Management
-    Sales Directors
-    Music Licensing Sales
-    Account Co-ordinators
-    Sales Support

I am here to tell you that there were many variations in these sales roles and variation in the styles and types of people needed to perform these roles effectively. For instance, some need to be very prospecting fit, while others needs to be detailed, patient and very thorough.

When one assumes that an organisation can have one sales force with no differentiation, there are often negative consequences.

These include:

Individuals don’t work together well.
Sales opportunities seem to ‘slip away’.
Individuals can’t seem to get the job done.

The assumption that every salesperson can be all things to every customer does not work.

This assumption regards all customers and salespeople as a commodity, or an interchangeable part. For example, if a salesperson is unable to secure a sale with a customer, the organisation may not make a conclusion that the salesperson does not meet the needs of the customer.

Instead the organisation might view the customer as a commodity or an opportunity that has been lost, and will hope that the salesperson is able to secure another sale with a different customer.

A ‘one-salesperson-does-it-all approach’ does not work when you have a diverse product range or a varied pool of customers. Each customer has unique needs, operates within a unique organisation, and needs to know different information from the salesperson. Therefore it is necessary to link the salesperson’s style of working to the needs of the customer, your market and your products.

Too little work is done in this area and yet it is one of the most critical areas you need to consider for business success.

The book The Quadrant Solution by Stevens, H & Cox, J, describes a sales model based upon a quadrant that is used to evaluate the organisation and its products on its complexity and the expected customer experience.

Complexity:
When a customer is making a complex purchase, with a lot of customised offerings, the seller needs to do a lot of hand-holding during the purchase and delivery. That would be a high touch sale (hand-holding, longer more secure relationship with seller). If it is a simple purchase and the customer can handle the purchase on their own, this would be a low touch sale (customer is confident in handling purchase, doesn’t need hand-holding, short/temporary relationship).

Customer experience:
When a customer needs a high degree of technical support during and after the purchase, it is a high tech sale. If the customer has the experience and knowledge to handle the technical components of the sale, it is a low tech sale.

In the book he describes four sales styles that link into the quadrant model. These are consultative selling, relationship selling, display selling, and super closer selling.

I have provided examples of each style as a way of demonstrating my point about the variety that exists in sales, however from our research there are even more selling styles or subsets of selling styles. Not all selling roles will fit these categories however I feel it is a good place to simulate our thinking on this topic and help you make more sense of what you may need by way of sales talent.

Consultative selling style:
Salespeople who adopt a consultative selling style enjoy being the trusted consultant to their customers. They like a degree of complexity in their work, and are comfortable interacting with high-level managers. They are analytical, ambitious, educated, professional, self-confident and well-organised. They are able to work with customers who need technical support and a long-standing relationship (high tech, high touch).

Relationship selling style:
Salespeople who adopt a relationship selling style enjoy building and fostering relationships with customers. They have a strong work ethic and enjoy a hands-on approach when interacting with others. They are warm and personable and are sensitive to problems that the customer may be having. Relationship salespeople are not technically oriented, and focus on the relationship aspect of a sale (low tech, high touch).

Display selling style:
Salespeople who adopt a display selling style are comfortable promoting or displaying a product to the customer in the most effective way. They ensure that their approach is easy, convenient and simple for everyone to understand. They prefer to work with customers on a transactional basis, and are not inclined to provide the technical or long-term relationship support (low tech, low touch).

Super closer selling style:
Salespeople who adopt a super closer selling style are progressive and determined in their approach. They are extroverted, energetic and competitive in their style. They are visionary, entrepreneurial and are often viewed as experts in their field. They tend to get customers excited about the possibilities of a product/service, and their primary focus is on closing the sale. The super closer salesperson is generally moving too fast onto the next prospect to maintain a long-term relationship with the client, but will provide them with the technical support to secure the sale (high tech, low touch).

In conclusion, excellent salespeople can generally sell many things but not usually everything and even if they could, some selling environments would not suit them in the long term and therefore they would not be classified as good sales person for your business if this happened.

Our salesforces should be organised so that the natural selling style of the salesperson compliments the kind of product or service that they are selling, and fits in with the customer’s market.

My point is that we all need to know what type of sales role and sales person our businesses need to prosper. By determining a salesperson’s natural tendency or selling style, we can ensure that this is linked to the customer and products unique needs.

In today’s world we are well equipped to define the type of sales role our business needs and define the salesperson’s selling style to match that role. So let move away from limiting sales stereotypes and open ourselves to diversity.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Happy selling

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Does everyone live by selling something?

June 22, 2009 in Attitudes & Behaviours, Culture, Ethics & Values, Procurement, Sales Skills

‘Does everyone live by selling something?’

My desire to seek answers to this question was ignited back in the late 1980’s when I came across the quote ‘Everyone lives by selling something’. The quote was coined by Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish novelist, poet, travel writer and author of ‘Treasure Island’, in the late 1880’s some 100 years earlier.

It is interesting to note that Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) was a leading representative of Neo-romanticism in English literature. He was also greatly admired by many authors such as Ernest Hemingway, Rudyard Kipling, Vladimir Nabokov and others. Most modernist writers dismissed him, however, because he was popular and did not write within their narrow definition of literature. It is only recently that critics have begun to look beyond Stevenson’s popularity and allow him a place in the canon.

Over the last 20 years I have sincerely come to believe that Robert Louis Stevenson is correct in his assumption that ‘Everyone lives by selling something’. His ability to not be constrained by the prevailing views and paradigms of his time allowed him to see what many of us are coming to realise now.

Whether we call ourselves a salesperson or not, if we have an idea, product, service, skill, capability, talent, or opportunity by which we can make a living and others can benefit from, we need to be able to sell.

This means that whatever role we are in, we all need to put ourselves in a position to secure the ongoing custom of customers, members, patients, supporters, peers, students, sponsors, or clients to make a living. Even internal service providers such as HR and Procurement professionals need to be able to sell and consult in order to fulfill their roles accordingly.

In this complex world, this means that we need to make sure our talents and capabilities are visible to those who need to know about us. We need to proactively put ourselves in a position to work with others to earn what we are worth on any level, otherwise we at risk of being invisible and losing opportunity. Good salespeople have always known this, consciously or not.

Yet many people are still confused by the words ‘sell’, ‘selling’, ‘salesperson’, or ‘sales’. In fact when these words are mentioned in polite company, you can see many people visibly recoil at the concept and some even go so far as to object to you even mentioning the concept of selling.

Why?

Because many so called ‘legitimate‘ sales practices we experience as customers are nothing more than manipulation and deceit, aggression and intimidation, or hard sell, pressure tactics. No wonder so many people shy away from selling as a career or cringe at the thought. Whether we are conscious of it or not most of us don’t like how selling is being sold to us. I don’t blame you.

Despite the prevailing paradigms of 20th century ‘old school selling’ tactics and others’ self limiting beliefs, highly successful, effective, ethical sales people have always known the best way to sell is to proactively forging honest and open relationships (of any kind) based on trust, transparency, respect, and doing what they said they would do. This is their competitive edge. Their sales approach is more collaborative, integrated, holistic, and enlightened. The potential for these life skills and attitudes is present intrinsically in almost all of us whether we know it or not.

Now I are not trying to convince people to love selling, or even like it. However, we want people to recognise the vital role selling plays in our lives today. Without this capability our businesses wither and die.

Yet some people believe it is not their right to put themselves or their ideas forward instead relying on their good work to speak for themselves. Some think they may be seen as too boastful or self absorbed if they do so. Others are too frightened to sell and many have never been taught how to sell effectively with confidence, dignity, and grace.

That is why we still see too many good ideas and opportunities go to waste resulting in poor revenue results. Too many people do not purposefully and proactively put themselves in a position to explore opportunities with others, bring their ideas to the table, create new possibilities or earning what they are worth in the process.

Whether we earn a living from what we do or not, if we hide our talents and capabilities from others and no one knows about us or what we are capable of then how can we be of service and earn what we are worth on any level?

It’s also about being genuine.
In this increasingly networked world we all have the opportunity to connect with others all the time – in short we are selling ourselves. However, the way each of us portrays ourselves, our companies, our values and our lives are at risk of being seen as superficial if we do not genuinely communicate, connect and create with others.

If we want to cultivate and sustain genuine, healthy, profitable and viable business relationships with our clients, partners, suppliers or peers where a fair exchange of value is achieved then we, our business and our people need to go out to the market place and put ourselves in a position to work proactively with people and help them and ourselves achieve our collective business goals.

This is why I believe Everyone lives by selling something.

Whether you are working as a sales professional, business development manager, lawyer, accountant, engineer, consultant, internal human resources manager, procurement manager, business, manager, small business owner, team leader, psychologist, a jobseeker, or anyone in contact dependent career, we can all benefit from applying more enlightened, collaborative, worthy, natural sales practices in our daily lives.

I am interested in whether you believe Everyone lives by selling something. If you would like to have your say we have set up a poll at www.barrett.com.au to take your response to the question ‘do you live by selling something’.

Happy and honourable selling to you all.

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Exceptional Prospectors

April 22, 2009 in Call Reluctance, Prospecting, Sales Skills, Success

“My most important appointment is prospecting and I do it first up every day.”
“I qualify all leads I generate and have an approach to handle those that aren’t ready yet.”
“People appreciate a professional sales approach and are able to make an informed decision to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ because I clearly explain, up front, my reason for contacting them using a customer centred approach. They need only say ‘no’ if they’re not interested.”
“I have a list of categorised prospects or influencers and a set approach for each category.”

Is this what you say, and how you feel and act about prospecting?

These four points about an exceptional prospector support our findings from over 40 years of international empirical research into prospecting behaviours.

Over the past 14 years, my team has conducted thousands of psychological assessments and interviews with both managers and salespeople about their prospecting and sales behaviours.

Our research has consistently revealed that salespeople often experience their greatest difficulties, dissatisfaction, and anxiety at the prospecting stage of the sales cycle. Meanwhile, Sales Managers repeatedly express their frustration that they cannot find salespeople who are competent, confident, and motivated to prospect for new business.

Prospecting requires sales people to establish contact with people who might buy your products or services. Whether it is phone, face-to-face or group prospecting, inbound or outbound, nothing gets sold until you get in front of and/or talk to potential buyers.

Definition of Prospecting

Prospecting is looking for, qualifying, and pursuing potential sales opportunities with new and existing customers and appropriately developing viable prospects into profitable sales.

40 years of International Empirical Research in Prospecting
(Research Reference: Behavioral Sciences Research Press)

The research showed that the main predictor for success in sales is the amount of contact initiated with prospective buyers on a consistent basis!

Across industries, the sales people who sell the most are those who are most willing to get out and get in front of prospective buyers on a consistent daily basis. They sell more because, regardless of their talent, experience or knowledge, they always have new people to sell to. They are visible and they manage their visibility so that customers know who they are and what they can do.

The hesitation to initiate contact with prospective buyers on a consistent daily basis is more responsible for the failure of competent, motivated, capable, revenue generating sales people than any other single factor. Nothing else even comes close.

Despite content or quality, no training can earn back what it costs until and unless sales people initiate contact in sufficient numbers with new and existing clients.

It is a reality that in order to achieve and exceed sales targets through attracting new business, a significant part of the process is going to come down to how well a sales person is able to apply themselves to the prospecting process.

So Prospecting Comes First!

Prospecting is not the only part of selling, or even the most important, however if you want to grow your business it must come first. Unless a sales person will consistently prospect for new business, what difference does it make if they are empathetic or knows the product?

The Good News

While most sales people, by far, experience their greatest difficulties, dissatisfaction, and anxiety at the prospecting stage of the sales cycle, the good news is that many of their issues can be overcome and usually boil down to 2 key areas:

Lack of training in how to prospect effectively: most people are thrown in the deep end and not given adequate training in clear processes and tools to show them how to prospect effectively.
Misconstrued beliefs and attitudes around prospecting: leading to people generating fear-based thoughts, and responses towards prospecting – in other words they avoid prospecting because they are scared of it. These attitudes and subsequent behavioural responses are entirely learnt and can be easily unlearnt with the right support.

If you are at all concerned about your prospecting effectiveness, don’t worry you can address your concerns by using the right approach:

If you don’t know how to prospect but are not scared to have a go then get skills training specifically covering a structured prospecting process and techniques.
If you are afraid to prospect whether you are trained in a prospecting process and techniques or not then you would benefit from gaining insight into your beliefs and attitudes around your hesitation to prospect. (This can be achieved with purpose built assessments and qualified feedback)

If you want advice, coaching or skills training on prospecting process and techniques call us on (+61) 03 9532 7677 or email contact@barrett.com.au

If you want to read more about effective prospecting go to Peak performance in prospecting

Sincerely, your advocate for selling the right way.

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Some Good News Sales Stories

February 26, 2009 in Negotiation, Sales Relationships, Sales Skills, Success

You don’t have to discount price to win good business and good customer relationships even in tough markets.

I mentioned earlier this year my team and I are working on a large sales fitness training assignment in the finance sector around Australia. These guys are hard up against it when it come to ‘price’ being a key target at the moment. A number of their competitors are trying to buy market share with discounted prices. The market is being hammered with ‘discounting’ of all sorts – some clear, some not so clear and some very dubious.

Many people have commented ‘Is this the right time to be investing in these people given the state of the market?”.

My reply is ‘This is exactly the right time to be investing in your sales people’. And here is why.

Despite the doom and gloom and the current ‘price war’ trend this business and its people are winning good business and good customer relationships. They are really focusing on applying what they have learnt, following a disciplined sales process, focusing on real client issues and needs and delivering real value by way of integrated solutions that are well priced and fair for all.

They have adopted a disciplined sales approach, have clear leadership and a clear, consistent market message – see http://www.barrett.com.au/blogs/SalesBlog/?p=125

So I thought it would be worthwhile to share some of good news sales coming from the ‘tough’ markets of finance and show you what can be done if you set your mind to it.

Here are some good news sales stories fresh from the field as of last 2 weeks:

Follow A Structured Sales Process:

‘Having a few wins, did an end-to-end solution presentation yesterday with all that wonderful structure. It went pretty well and the “prospect” was very happy with everything. He was absolutely thrilled that we could satisfy all of his concerns and that I could facilitate every need. I was pretty happy with it, went off track a few times but checked myself and went back to the process.’ Business Manager

Determine Priorities

‘Last week, we were invited by an accountant to meet with a company to discuss their business and finance needs. We were one several companies invited to present. We were informed after all the initial meetings were held that we were one of only two businesses invited back to talk further. It was stated that we were the only business to really take the time to understand the key priorities of this business and not go into product mode. They said this was refreshing and what the company was looking for in a partner. Outcome: Discussions progressed to next stage.” Business Manager

Offer Choice

‘We were approached by a current client with a pricing challenge i.e. the client said he wanted a cheaper price. Instead of dropping the price, we chose to put the ‘price’ to one side and actually focus on what the client really needed. Once we had a thorough understanding of what he needed we then presented him with 3 options – a basic, middle tier and end-to-end solution. We invited feedback from the customer and he ended up taking the end-to-end solution. It was also revealed that security was his key priority not price as originally stated. Outcome: Signed up to new deal not based on a discounted price.’ Senior Manager

Beware the ‘too good to be true deals’

‘One of our clients came in with a deal from a competitor. The client said it looked good on the surface but that he didn’t really understand it. Even with all my 30+ years of experience I admitted I couldn’t make sense of it either. It looked too good to be true and upon further investigation it was. I asked the client what he wanted to do. Outcome: Our Client tore up the competitor deal and stayed with us.’ Senior Manager

What can we learn from them?

Address your customers key priorities first and create a solution that helps them achieve their objectives you can put ‘the price’ in the right perspective.
Follow a structure sales process that keeps you on track helps you stay focused on your customer.
Get any competitor deals in writing before quoting so you can compare apples with apples.
Give your clients choice. Present some options which helps them make an informed decision about moving forward.
Have a clear message.
Be confident in your offerings. Don’t get spooked.
Be honest, up front, transparent and ethical in your dealings always.

Happy selling.

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You don’t have to make Negotiation a part of every sale

February 2, 2009 in Negotiation, Sales Skills, Value Creation

I often get requests by sales mangers for negotiation skills training for their sales people when in fact upon further investigation their people usually need consultative selling skills training first. You cannot negotiate effectively if you cannot sell effectively first. Both are processes which need to be learned and applied in the correct order. However over 90% of sales people follow no logical process when selling or negotiating leaving their sales at risk.

So to clear up the confusion between selling and negotiation I thought it might help to examine when you sell and when you negotiate.

It’s important to note that when you are selling, negotiation is not mandatory. You do not have to negotiate at all if the customer’s issue is very serious and outweighs the cost of your solution and they to buy outright

Everybody negotiates all the time, at work, at home, and as a consumer and as a sales person. For some people it seems easy, but others view the process of negotiation as a source of conflict to be resisted and avoided if possible.

Negotiation is a process and a skill that can be developed. Negotiation can be described as a process that involves two or more people dealing with each other with the intention of forming an agreement and a commitment to a course of action. In a sales environment, negotiation often involves a series of communications between two parties to form an agreement about the details of a sales solution.
In many cases, it is possible for a proposal to be generated that satisfies the needs of both parties. However, sometimes one or more parties may have to accept less than they had hoped for when they entered the negotiation process. And finally, in other situations, the fulfillment of one party’s wishes may come entirely at the expense of the other party’s.

Therefore, negotiation is the process of navigating your way through each of these alternatives, ideally aiming to come to an agreement that is complimentary to both parties’ needs.

Possible outcomes
There are five possible outcomes of negotiation:

Compete = Win:Lose
Avoid = Lose:Lose
Accommodate = Lose:Win
Compromise = neutral
Collaborate = Win:Win

In my experience when I negotiate I aim for #5 and get either #5 or #4. I know that I do not want #’s 1-3 to happen. However too often I see sales people end up with #’s 2 or 3. This is no good for anyone and can train clients to expect things they do not deserve like unnecessary discounts.

Rule of thumb for negotiation in sales:

Unless you have the power or authority to change or modify terms, create new product solutions, you cannot negotiate.
Negotiation should never be a substitute for selling. You need to be able to sell well first and foremost.
Negotiation is an effective strategic tool that you use ONLY when you need it.
The earlier you give away concessions in the sales process the less impact they will have.
Be aware of giving sales people the authority to discount. All too often this is a licence to give away your margins too soon and too often. We see this when people ‘cave in’ on price too soon for fear having to deal with potential conflict which usually doesn’t eventuate if the sale is done effectively. However they never let the sale run its course to find out.
Discounting is a negotiation tool that should only be applied as a last resort and should have a trade off in it for your business so can you benefit from the deal as well. This is different from volume pricing which rewards people for buying bulk from you.
If you postpone tough negotiations whenever possible you will miss learning about new things, getting new ideas, new ways of pulling your offer together as well as creating potential conflict down the track.

You sell when you:

Identify clients’ real needs and priorities, create viable solutions that are of value to the client and outweigh the cost of purchase and gain agreement to move forward to close the deal and do the work.
Can’t vary the terms. If you can’t vary terms and negotiate and the client won’t agree to move forward with you on the current plan then it is a ‘no sale’. Move on rather than give it away. Giving it away is not negotiating it is just giving something of value away which costs you.

You negotiate when you:

Both parties can vary the terms
Resources are scarce
Agreement and conflict exit simultaneously

Value versus Cost

To help you avoid unnecessary negotiations when selling first of all find out what people really value and what is most important to them.

If you and your sales people are having trouble doing this then you need to improve your and your sales teams’ ability to have quality business discussions with clients and prospects, in particular, their ability to thoroughly understand their customers priorities and business needs and how your products and service can be crafted into relevant solutions that will address specific requirements and create value for the client.

This would include developing their questioning, creative problem solving, up selling/cross selling and solution selling skills.

Effective negotiation in a sales situation requires people being able to:

Be Assertive
Challenge every assertion
Get the real facts before offering up anything
Uncover real needs and issues
Negotiate late and negotiate little
Manage conflict and not take it personally
Analyse the situation and the demands and weigh them up appropriately
Keep the customers’ needs in mind at all times as well as your own
Aim high
Respond to demands for concession
Develop a proposal with guide-lines and trade-offs (if necessary)
Prevent the customer from ‘fragmenting’ your proposal
Present a total proposal that ‘adds up’ to a win/win solution
Focus on achieving satisfaction for both parties
Don’t make the 1st move
Don’t’ accept the 1st offer
Are willing to walk away
Use all their most effective communication skills (listening, paraphrasing, questioning, problem solving, etc.)
Apply a process
Don’t avoid negotiations
Have a ‘negotiation consciousness’

When do you need to negotiate instead of sell?

When a client demands an arrangement which is different from what you are able to offer
When you are dealing with a tough client who wants to ‘win’
When a client and you disagree on some aspect of the proposal
When the client will not agree to your initial offer (find out why because some people just like to win and want to bargain as part of the process. This is quite common is some cultures as part of the ritual of the sale)
When we are unable to reach agreement, even after many discussions
When you can’t move forward unless you change your approach some way
When you can’t deliver from you current suite of resources or you need to step outside of what you normally do to win the business (take care as this can be very costly)

I hope this helps put some perspective to selling and negotiation. I have found Neil Rackman’s Major Account Sales Strategy book is a good resource on this topic.
Happy selling and success to your sales negotiations.

Contact us to improve your selling and negotiation skills on 03 9532 7677 or You can reach me via http://www.barrett.com.au/AboutUs/ContactUs.html?ONEPAGE=TRUE.

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