I declare right up front that I am not, and never have been a fan of the Hard Sell.  You have probably guessed that from all my previous posts.

And if you ask most people about what they think about the profession of selling they will often describe something akin to the ‘Hard Sell’.   Of late  I have also noticed a rise in ‘hard sell’ stories where people are being unnecessarily pressured to buy or sales people being pressured to sell at almost any cost.

The hard times may be pushing some people to do things they wouldn’t normally do like the “Hard Sell”.

The Hard Sell can also be described as:

• Boiler Room Techniques
• High pressure selling

To put it into perspective, the ‘hard sell’ is not a common sales strategy employed by many businesses today and for most people it is not their preferred way of selling or buying.  Most people revile from being asked to sell in this way.  And I would question whether it is deemed ‘selling’ at all or just a form of bullying or intimidation.

Given the escalation I have seen in ‘Hard Sell’ stories this prompted me to have a further look at what the Hard Sell is and if it has any legitimate place in our world of business and selling today.  Here is some of what I found.

Hard Sell
(definition from www.businessdictionary.com)

Applying psychological pressure (by appealing to someone’s fears, greed, or vanity) to persuade the prospect to make a quick purchase decision. This approach is justified on the ground that most people are lazy and will postpone making a decision—even if it were in their best interest to make the commitment. This practice is, however, reviled when its sole purpose is the salesperson’s gain at the customer’s detriment. Also called high pressure selling.

I think the last sentence in this definition is key here. I highlighted this in Think you can get away with it. Think again.   If a person is willing to be convinced and happy to take part in the process fine.  However, many people who may not know what they are getting themselves into or may feel intimidated and do not know how to say ‘No’ may be caught up in the moment and buy something they do not want or need.  For example if we look at the following technique you can see what I mean.

Boiler Room techniques

Outfit where salespeople use hard-selling (often dishonest) techniques to peddle (often fraudulent) offers to unsuspecting prospects (referred to as suckers) over the phone or face to face.

These techniques have often been attributed to Insurance or Car Sales industries i.e. used car salesman,  e.g.  …extremely aggressive behavior by an Insurance Agent to convince a Prospect to purchase the insurance product without due regard for the prospect’s ability to pay the Premiums and/or needs for the product.

Just think of the Subprime market in the USA and you know what I mean.

Let it be said however that I am not proposing that all sales people in Insurance or Car Sales are selling this way.  In fact more and more businesses in these industries are consciously training their people in more sustainable and honest selling practices.   See A car sales story with a difference

Some industries like Time Share and certain personal development courses still mainly employ Hard Sell tactics bringing people in for 90 minutes pitch fests coupled with a lunch or some small incentive.   Prospects are often pressured to sign up before they leave and can be intimidated to do so as described above.

I have had experience of this myself some years ago and my advice is this: walk away and think about it before you buy unless you are really certain and have done your homework.  If the salesperson says you can’t walk away and think about it outside of the venue or call them the next day then in my opinion it’s likely to be dodgy.   A colleague described one such situation happening to her earlier this year.  The salesperson in question was charming and positive to my colleague up until she said that she needed to think about it and would get back to him.  He tried to convince her to part with $1,000 upfront but she would not do it.  It has to be said that my colleague had nothing against time share she just didn’t want to be pressured to part with her money just yet.  When she did not cave in to his demands and asserted herself, the salesperson’s attitude turned from one of charm and positivity to disdain and frustration in a split second.

By contrast, the term Soft Selling is to describe the opposite of Hard Selling and is often defined as where:

Sales philosophy oriented toward identifying the customer’s expressed and tacit needs and wants, through probing questions and careful listening. It contrasts with hard selling which promotes application of psychological pressure to generate a relatively quick sale

I do not like the term  Soft Selling, what they are really describing is Consultative, Diagnostic or Solution Selling.  Soft implies weak and insipid to me.  Those people how engage in healthy, trust based, transparent  Consultative/ Diagnostic/ Solution Selling are assertive positive and very helpful to customers and understand that not everyone is in a position to buy now.  By treating people with respect and working in partnership with them then you set yourself up for a better future.

One of my clients said just that the other day.  They employ a Consultative sales approach and have found to be far more sustainable and professional.  He said it really cements them as a preferred supplier or partner, especially up against competitors who employ ‘Hard Sell’ or price gouging tactics.  He should know because his business is a much smaller player at present up against much bigger businesses with a much larger sales forces. He said his sales people are well respected, well regarded, and are making good sales despite the competitions’ tactics.   He has held firm and not resorted to the ‘hard sell’ and it is paying off in more ways than one.

I understand it is tough out there for many businesses but desperate times do not call for desperate sales measures. (Desperate times don’t call for desperate measures)

While the ‘Hard Sell’ has always been around and is likely to be around for some time in the future I would encourage you stay true to what you know is right.

Sincerely, your advocate for selling the right way.

1.      How much is a good sales person worth to you?
2.      How much is a good hiring manager worth to you?

Speaking about recruitment in these current economic times may seem foolish, however in the area of selling, this is where you could make great strides by picking up highly effective sales people who have found themselves on the job market or are looking for a better business to work in.   I know of a few highly competent sales people and sales managers who have been let go along with other staff as part of large staff reduction strategies.

In my opinion, the last people I would let go in this market would be highly competent and high producing sales people.

Which leads me to the contentious issue about who makes the decisions to hire and fire sales people. In particular, who hires sales people.

The financial and personal impact of the Hiring Manager in any organisation is enormous.  They  decide who can and cannot be hired.  We know that the attitudes, preferences and prejudices, of the person responsible for recruitment will affect the quality of the people hired, even if that person is not the direct line manager of the new recruit.   If we reflect we can see how our own emotions, behavioural preferences, prejudices and ideals impacting on who joins our company.

There is a direct financial impact on any business when it comes to hiring new sales staff.

Sales Managers are directly accountable for the success or otherwise of the salespeople they manage – their own performance is critically judged by the performance their team and sales managers live or die, career wise, by how well their sales people perform.

So who is in charge of the selection criteria and recruitment decisions of your sales people?

Realistically it should be the people how are actually leading the sales team, i.e. the Sales Managers.  Many sales managers intuitively know what they want and need however, I often see two issues arise which can dramatically affect the quality of the sales recruitment decisions made by sales managers:

1. Many sales managers do not know how to clearly articulate and define the qualities they need in terms that can be assessed and measured objectively
2. Many sales managers are not well trained in effective, structured recruitment practices and often rely on gut feel, resumes, unstructured references and the ‘personality’ of the candidate which are the least predictive of sales performance.

This leaves them vulnerable to poor hiring decisions and means then that recruitment processes and decisions are often left to those people who are not directly responsible for managing the sales team.

When another person is in charge of recruiting sales people and is not the line manager responsible for the new sales person, it is often very hard to appreciate the qualities, knowledge and skills that are required to perform successfully in a sales role, especially if they have never been in a sales role themselves.

This can lead to other major issues, for instance I was told this story recently by a frustrated sales manager:

HR Manager (who owns the hiring decision) tells Sales Manager after a sales candidate interview, “You can’t hire this sales person because they are too sales focused”.

The sales manager asked what the HR manager meant and they replied that “I think this person is too pushy and we want ‘nice’ people who are friendly and helpful’.  The sales manager was so annoyed because what he saw in the candidate was the assertive, proactive, professional behaviours and skills necessary for a B2B sales person and now he was going to have to deal with the consequences of this hiring decision, i.e. another ‘nice’ person who won’t get out and sell.  He confessed he already had too many of these people.

If sales managers cannot be well equipped and in charge of the hiring decision or cannot clearly express what they need to another, then those people who are in charge of recruitment, in my opinion, need to be held directly accountable for the performance of the sales people they select because:

Cost without Accountability leads to

• Hiring people who do not produce or stay
• Failing to hire people who would have produced and stayed

To impact positively on the successful recruitment of sales people I recommend that non line management recruiters do one or more of the following:

• Relinquish control of sales assessment, selection and staffing if they do not wish to be accountable and allow their sales managers to be trained in effective recruitment practices so they can best manage the process
• Be required to accompany salespeople on prospecting activities and sales calls for at least 14 days per year to better appreciate what happens in the role
• Share results accountability for sales revenue by participating in a base salary plus commission incentive measured on the performance of the sales force they have recommended.

Simply put, the right thing to do is to train up our sales managers in how to properly define, assess and select the right sales people for their teams and business and give them control over the sales recruitment process.   Then they can be held truly accountable for their team and their results.

In sales you hire results not potential.

Your advocate for selling the right way.

FYI Structured Sales Recruitment Kits available at www.barrett.com.au or call (+61) 03 9532 7677.

Take note: Lawyers, Accountants, Engineers, Marketing Consultants et al

Professional Services Firms are struggling when it comes to keeping and finding business.  This on top of the fact that many have to come to grips with the fact they need to sell.   The market has definitely changed.  You cannot sit there aggressively waiting for the phone to ring anymore.

In speaking with one partner from a well respected law firm, he vented his frustration at the lack of action being taken in his firm by partners and their teams in terms of driving the push to find new business in current and new accounts.  He stated that some teams were just sitting around with no work to do and no one knows what to do about it.

“It’s so frustrating, they just don’t even know how to pick up a phone and call clients and prospects.  They are just sitting there saying they have no work to do all the while our business is struggling to meet revenue targets.   While I know some service areas have been hit harder than others there is still work to be done and if we could only just get talking to customers we would be ok.  All I know to do is to get out and have coffee with as many clients as I can and even though I haven’t been trained in how to sell well am finding business.  Although I would like to know how to do it better for sure”.

Despite the tougher market, there are market opportunities are out there.  There is money to be made.  There are clients to be won!  However, many professional services firms are not realising their true potential.

Relying mainly on passive referrals for new business leads and glossy marketing materials, most professional services firms are not securing their current and future revenue streams.  They have left themselves vulnerable and weak.  In many cases they are not even accessing their existing client data bases to see what new business opportunities exist there.

And don’t even talk to them about cross selling and up selling other service lines – many remain trapped in the silo mentality.

Through our work and observations in the professional services sector, it appears many managing partners and principals are wanting more from their partners, directors, managers and associates when it comes to proactively building sustainable and profitable business relationships with their clients.  The problem is many of them do not know where  to start or how to do it.  They have tried to make a start by putting on a Business Development Manager but it’s really the partners and managers themselves that need to be out there selling as part of their job.

Our research shows that no longer is it good enough for these people to rely solely on their technical competence i.e. being only a lawyer or accountant.  Now and in the future, these people also need to effectively self promote and prospect for new business using professional and ethical sales strategies, demonstrating real value for money.

However, the sales function does not come naturally to most people in these professions and often they don’t possess the relevant tools necessary to make it work.  They certainly weren’t taught this at university.  In fact many were fed derogatory myths about selling and many still believe them to be true today.  Which is one of the reasons they are in trouble.

We have found that many professional services staff have not been shown the right way to sell or taught the behaviours and skills necessary to put them in a position to win quality business.  Often the sales function’s importance is undermined, underestimated or left to too few people, usually the most senior partner or “rain maker”, possibly leaving the business vulnerable to missed market opportunities, hidden revenue and competitor erosion.

Many firms lack the foundations to create a viable professional sales culture e.g.:

• Inaccurate or poor perception of what good selling really is and its importance to business
• Very poor skills in the sales area
• Partners and directors lacking direct accountability for new business and revenue growth
• Mixed messages: “I’ve got to find more business but if I don’t do my  6 billable hours I won’t meet my performance standards”.  Partners are being caught in the billable hour performance trap and not using putting the time to get out and grow business they can then pass on to their teams to deliver.
• No use of client data bases and a silo mentality limiting up sell and cross sell opportunities
• No new business sales strategy or plan
• No client retention strategy or plan
• No sales model for people to learn, follow and apply
• Sales limited to ‘pull’ prospecting strategies such as brochures, website, etc. at the expense of proactive prospecting and real professional relationship sales strategies
• No Key Performance Indicators and Key Result Areas linked to sales, new business growth etc.

To name a few.

Given that professional services firms are operating in an increasingly competitive market place with more sophisticated clients expecting higher levels of service and value and some of their services are at risk of being commoditised:

What are firms doing to differentiate themselves?
How are they ensuring their future viability and success?
How are they making sure they are sales fit?

The ones who get it right NOW will set themselves up well now and in the future.   Those that don’t will either be reduced to shadows of themselves or be out of business all together.

So to all you lawyers, accountants, engineers, and consultants out there, if you are not already, it’s time to get sales fit and learn how to sell the right way.

It will be worth it.

Sincerely, your advocate for selling the right way.

In the world of sales there has always been the following advice for customers and for good reason:

• Buyer beware
• Read the fine print
• If it’s too good to be true then it is

And so on.

As much as I advocate for and encourage healthy, trust based, open transparent  customer relationships I am fully aware of the ‘dark side’ in the profession of sales.

In my travels, sadly I hear of many stories about people being ripped off and taken advantage of often with no idea about what is happening to them until it’s too late.  All under the guise of selling.

There will always be those people who are after victims instead of customers.  While they call themselves ‘sales people’ they are really con artists, thieves and ‘rip off merchants’. They are always looking at how they can get something at someone else’s expense.  If you’re unsure about your sales ethics check out Are your self-promotion and prospecting tactics ethical or not?
However with so much access to information these days customers are doing their research and shonky sales people are getting found out more and more.

If you want to rip people off, think again.

As I wrote last week about healthy sales relationships and good news sales stories here are some things to look out for as a customer when some people cross to the ‘dark’side’ of selling.

Alan Kohler wrote about one to causes that can lead to unethical selling practices when highlighted the need for finance brokers and financial planners to shift to a ‘fee for service’ model  rather than the trailer commissions from products model and on Smartcompany.com.au 02 March 2009.  While I hope most brokers and financial planners do the right thing by their customers regardless of how they are remunerated, the real problem with trailer commissions is that is sets up competing motivations i.e  ‘Do I give my client what is best for them or best for me?’  The issue as I see it is that we are likely to get products that make the most money for the broker or planner not the best product or solution for us.  We are at risk of becoming a vehicle for them to make as much money as possible at our expense.

Here is a story from the field to illustrate the point:

Business Banker gets contacted by a Broker and Accountant of a Grazier in northern Queensland.  The Broker and the Accountant are wanting to get the Grazier into a financial product where they can make more money on trailer commissions even though the product concerned is not the right product for the Grazier and will cost the him a lot more than he needs to pay.

The Business Banker, who shared this story with me, did not give the Broker and the Accountant what they wanted.  However he felt very uncomfortable knowing this was happening and was unable to help the Grazier directly as the client relationship was with the Accountant.

It’s bad enough the broker was shopping around for trailer commissions, but when your own accountant is in on the act then who can you trust?

Lesson: Whenever you are being recommended a financial product of any sort by your Broker, Financial Planner or Accountant, ask them point blank do they get trailer commissions or any other kickbacks from the deal.  If they do, then keep looking, preferably for a new Broker, Financial Planner or Accountant.

Remedy: fee for service, not trailer commissions.

Ask questions and read the fine print

I don’t know about you but I like to know what I am getting upfront before I make a purchase. I do not like surprises. Here’s another story about buyer beware:

Another business banker was telling me a story about a prospect he was speaking to who was trying to get out of a financial deal that his current bank had put him into without fully disclosing all the fees involved.

The current deal was drawn up for the prospect by his current bank.  The deal was ‘very good’ according to what was on paper.  The business banker I spoke to said to this prospect  that deals like this usually attracted high Treasury fees (which had not been disclosed at this stage) and he couldn’t understand why they hadn’t been cited in the deal.  He suggested that the prospect go and ask about the back end of the deal and get it fully disclosed.  The prospect did ask about these fees but was reassured by his bank that everything was ok.  The prospect signed the deal and was stung for, you guessed it, treasury fee of $20,000 that wasn’t disclosed up front.

Now the prospect is trying to get out of the deal, but has signed the paperwork.

Lesson: check for variance in any contract.  If you don’t feel comfortable, don’t sign.  Get professional advice (however make sure your adviser is not on trailer commissions for that advice).

Do your research and check the real deal

From the Telco industry.

Customer wants a new mobile phone and contract.  He calls a mobile phone dealer to buy a new phone and contract over the phone.  After lengthy discussions with the mobile phone dealer he pays for the phone contract and a new phone separately only to find out later that the phone contract actually included the new phone as part of the cost.  At no time was this make clear even though he asked on several occasions about the way the deal was structured.

He ends up paying for the phone twice.

Essentially this customer was robbed.

Unlike more stably priced industries the finance market fluctuates.  Therefore it pays to really check out what the current rates are.

Another business banker I know gets a call from a prospect she had been talking to.  The prospect cites that they are being offered two vastly different rates by their current bank for the same deal.

The prospect stated they had acquired a new business banker who was quoting them 12.4% for a fully secured loan.  It didn’t sound right to the prospect so he called around to the same bank but in different regions and twice was quoted 8.5% for the same deal.  He rang back his new business banker to tell them the news, and they demanded to know who he had spoken to and how dare he look around.   Who is she kidding?  The prospect is now in discussion with the business banker I know about how they can move ALL their banking to the new bank.

Lesson: Do your research before you buy, especially in industries that are littered with ‘deals’.  And check what goes with that *.  That asterix is responsible for more dubious deals than we can poke a stick at.  Also don’t cop abuse from shonky sales people.

All these stories are NOT about good selling practices, they are about people cheating and ripping off other people.

Customers are onto it.  And customers are sick of it.  Customers are taking their business elsewhere.

Today’s customers have access to more information than ever before and have more choice.  And whilst it might take more time to check you out customers can and they do.

Most customers know what they are after even if they don’t know how to articulate it sometimes. Today, customers expect to deal with a real professional who knows their own business and how they can best serve their customers’ needs with creative solutions and fresh ideas.

Customers don’t expect to be coerced, bullied, tricked or intimidated into buying. They don’t expect to be treated like an idiot by shonky sales people who just talk at them and flash brochures or product sheets hoping to dazzle them or seduce them into signing deals.

Customers are now after ‘business people’ who can sell. They are looking for partners to help them map a pathway forward into the future.  Now that is GOOD SELLING.

Happy selling.