Anything
worth doing well is worth duplicating.
To duplicate anything well it’s
important to have a system that allows
you to re-create your best efforts
and desired outcomes on a consistent
basis. That is why everything we collaborate
with clients on is based on Pete
Nelson's system The Seven
Primary Points of a Sale.
Take
McDonald’s, for instance, which
best selling author, Michael Gerber
(The eMyth) refers to as
one of the greatest businesses in
history because of the system they
execute. No matter where you are in
the world, venture into a McDonald’s
and you can expect to find the food
tasting the same, the service is the
same and in most cases, the restaurants
are the same.
Regardless
of how you feel about fast-food, you
have to admire a company that has
so thoroughly defined and executed
their sales system that after a million-plus
employees, billions of customers and
nearly forty years of being in business,
their proven system continues to drive
their business, rather than their
business driving the system. And let’s
not forget that McDonald’s didn’t
start off as a multi-billion dollar
conglomerate.
Like
nearly all entrepreneurs, McDonald’s
started out as a very small business,
which was built and subsequently grown
through the BIG vision of the company’s
owner Ray Kroc. Mr. Kroc’s vision
was based on a systematic sales approach
that was rooted in his belief of how
customers wanted to buy and how they
wanted to experience food on the go
or with their families.
Take
that example and let’s bring
the concept of replication closer
to you and your business. What is
your sales process? Do you have a
defined system for consistently moving
your prospects through your sales
cycle? If you do, how often do you
stay within the system? And perhaps,
most importantly, do you know where
you and your prospects are at all
times during the sales process?
Your
Personal Road Map
Like
McDonald’s and any other company
that has a successful system driving
its business, to consistently make
the most of your marketing and sales
efforts, you will want to have a proven,
easy to follow and simple to execute
system for turning leads and referrals
into paying clients in the most time
and cost efficient manner possible.
The following is based on Pete Nelson’s
system The Seven Primary Points
of a Sale. It is designed
to act as your personal road map through
the entire marketing and selling process.
You will quickly notice that these
seven points are universal to almost
all outside selling scenarios, particularly
relevant to the process of selling
a service. These seven steps are also
part of many inside selling environments.
Not
only will this seven point system
help you know where you and your prospects
are at all times during the selling
process, but it will help you be more
effective and more efficient with
your overall marketing and selling
efforts.
1.
Pre-Sale Conditioning
A sales manager for a group of outside
sales reps was once heard saying,
“Selling is not God’s
punishment for not being born rich.”
He went on to point out that if you
are not passionate and excited about
selling you can guarantee one thing
– you won’t be working
with too many satisfied clients.
It’s no accident that the first
Primary Point of a Sale is “Pre-Sale
Conditioning”, which is
all about possessing a strong,
positive and focused mindset.
This is the underlying foundation
for achieving consistent, long term
success in sales, just as it is in
achieving success in all areas of
business and life.
Most
women entrepreneurs, however, find
that their mindset isn’t as
strong as they’d like it to
be, especially when it comes to sales
or even marketing. The prevailing
attitude is that selling and even
promoting one’s self is slimy,
uncomfortable and unethical. Women
entrepreneurs are constantly on the
lookout for an easier, less stressful
way to sell and market. They’re
searching for a way that is more conducive
to their values and natural communication
style.
The
reality is that without sales, not
much is going to get done in this
world. This is absolutely true when
you’re trying to grow and sustain
a successful business. Selling isn’t
unethical and slimy, true selling
is education. And it doesn’t
have to be overwhelming and stressful.
Successful selling and marketing starts
with a shift in your perception. For
many that shift is to understand that
the only time selling is slimy, uncomfortable
or unethical is when you’re
trying to take advantage of a customer
by going against the customer’s
wishes, wants and needs. And if that
is not you, you don’t have to
worry about your values or the customer’s
values being compromised.
The proper mindset allows you to effectively
identify, prioritize, gather resources
and execute any and all sales strategies
with ease, eliminating the feeling of
pressure. Success in sales, as it is
success in business and marketing, is
predicated upon the Five
P’s of Successful Selling –
Proper – Preparation – Prevents
– Poor – Performance.
2.
Prospecting & Influencing
Armed with the right mindset and your
strategy well planned out, this point
in the selling process is where you
begin executing on your strategy. It
is also where you will usually have
initial contact with a referral or lead.
This initial contact can be arranged
through standard referrals, advertisements,
direct marketing, a presentation, a
networking event, an article you wrote,
search engines
or any number of other ways. The reality
is that your prospective client may
not be inclined to buy something from
you at the initial point of contact.
Which is why our agency often refers
to this point in the selling process
as “Opening Doors
Through TOMA”.
TOMA stands for Top of Mind Awareness,
which means anytime your prospects are
thinking of a challenge or need that
your service and product helps them
overcome, they are thinking of you and
your company as a viable and natural
solution. At this stage of the selling
process, your main focus isn’t
to get the customer to buy from you.
The main focus is to get prospects to
see enough value in you and your solution
to move you to the next point in the
Seven Primary Points of a Sale.
3.
Uncovering The Truth
This point in the sales process is where
you formally, or in some cases, in-formally,
learn about the issues and challenges
your prospect is experiencing. Do not
assume you and your company have the
right solution for them, even if you
know you do. Your primary intention
here is to get to the truth and you
cannot confuse this truth by inserting
your own assumptions before you have
enough information to validate them.
At the heart of this is a genuine interest
and focus on the prospect. They’re
the star at this point of the sales
process.
One of the world’s leading authorities
on eliminating pressure and tension
from the sales process is the founder
of Unlock The Game, Ari Galper. Ari’s
a good friend of Pete
Nelson, the creator of Selling
In Color. When Pete and Ari sat down
for an interview recently, Ari said
the first thing to connecting with a
prospect at this point in the selling
process is diffusing pressure and getting
visibility into a prospect or client’s
true agenda. As he put it, “A
client doesn’t care how much you
know, until he knows how much you care.”
Once the prospect feels your desire
to close them right way is genuinely
gone they will not feel so vulnerable
or defensive and guess what –
neither will you. At this point they
will be much more open to telling you
what’s “really going
on” inside their organization
and therefore, providing you with the
information needed to effectively take
you to the next point in the sales process.
4.
Customizing Your Solutions
John Naisbitt, a former senior executive
for IBM and Kodak, once said about this
stage of the sales process, “In
selling, as in medicine, prescription
before diagnosis is malpractice.”With
that in mind, this point in the selling
process you and/or members of your team
will be presenting how your company’s
solutions will solve the challenges
or issues your prospect wants you to
help them with. If you’ve done
your job during Primary Point #3 you
will have received the necessary information
to appropriately prescribe your solutions
for the prospect.
This is where it becomes
crucial to understand the primary
decision
making style of those you’re
pitching to and communicate with them
in the way they want to be communicated
with. But no matter the type of decision
maker you’re dealing with, remember
they receive the “STAR”
treatment, so make the solution all
about them and their company –
not all about you and your company.
The more you can customize, and in
some cases, fully personalize, your
solution for the prospect the better
chances you have of winning the account.
Once you’ve presented your
customized solution for the client,
you will immediately find yourself
in the next point of the sales process.
5.
Handling Resistance & Pressure
At some point in every sales process
you will be faced with objections,
concerns and very direct questions
about you and your company’s
ability to deliver on its promise.
This is pressure, or as many people,
refer to it as crunch time. This usually
occurs immediately following Primary
Point #4, where you delivered the
solutions for your prospect’s
challenges.
What’s really important to be
aware of during this point is that
a vast number of people you will sell
to have either worked as a salesperson,
been trained on closing tactics by
their company or they’ve either
read, listened to and/or attended
programs on selling just as you have.
The outcome is that many of the people
you will sell to today know all about
“closing techniques”
and “how to overcome objections”.
Old habits are difficult to break
and this is precisely where many well
intentioned entrepreneurs find themselves
falling into the trap of employing
antiquated and manipulative sales
tactics when the pressure is turned
up. Or, they simply fold under the
pressure. When this occurs you’re
instantly creating tension and raising
alarms within your prospect rather
than creating excitement and raising
their interest in doing business with
you. This not only won’t accelerate
your sales cycle but slows it down
considerably.
When your prospect is hesitant to
move forward at this point in the
sales process remember to never take
their hesitancy or questions as a
personal attack on you. You will want
to remove your ego from this point
of the selling process as much as
you can.
More than likely, the
questions, objections and hesitancy
your prospect is expressing is in
direct relation to one or more of
the following four things:
(1) They’re
responding based on their preferred
and natural decision making characteristics.
(2) You did not adequately
address their true needs and communicate
your solutions in a way they can relate
to.
(3) There are agendas
and issues you have not yet uncovered
that are causing hesitancy in making
a decision on your solution.
(4) They simply want
to clarify and reinforce your solutions.
Knowing where your prospect is coming
from with their questions, objections
and/or hesitancy will allow you to
be better equipped to eliminate any
tension or pressure during this point.
Do this effectively and you will have
moved to the next point in the sales
process.
6.
Securing The Sale
There have been thousands of books,
audio courses and training programs
solely devoted to this point of the
sales process. It’s often referred
to as “closing”. Contrary
to traditional sales methodologies,
you do not have to possess some magical,
secret closing technique in order
to be successful at securing the deal.
In fact, you should never have to
sell anything to anyone. If you’ve
effectively done your job during the
previous five points, especially Primary
Points #3 - #5, you just facilitate
your prospect selling your solution
to themselves. In
other words, this may very well be
the easiest point in the entire selling
process.
If, on the other hand, there are still
lingering issues and unanswered questions,
you will find securing a sale at this
stage very difficult. Trying to force
a sale here when the prospect isn’t
fully ready to say, “YES”
can very easily kill your chances
of securing the sale at all.
If you’re finding the prospect
or client isn’t fully ready to
commit, we cannot stress how important
it is to put your personal needs aside
and strictly focus on your prospect’s
needs and issues. Listen carefully to
their questions, objections or concerns.
Anchor your responses to their preferred
style of communicating and preferred
style of making decisions. Specifically,
anchor your solutions with what you
already know is most important to them
and the core issues they’re looking
for you to help them solve.
7.
Follow Up & Follow Through
You’ve made it through point #6
and secured the sale. Your new client
is excited, you’re thrilled and
everything seems right with the world.
So now what? Go on to the next prospect?
Yes, but not without first making sure
you are consistently following up and
following through with the prospect
you just turned into a client.
Following up and following through opens
up customer interaction and extends
customer satisfaction. Yet, so many
entrepreneurs believe that once a contract
is signed the work is over. The mentality
is that it’s time to move onto
the next deal. On the contrary, once
the contract is signed this is where
the real work begins.
As a consumer yourself, you know exactly
what happens when you feel disconnected
from someone who sold you something,
especially if that something involved
a big purchase. You’re hurt, angry
and resentful. These are three things
you do not want your clients feeling
about you and your company after they
have purchased your solution.
In our agency’s experience of
working with hundreds of organizations
and thousands of professionals, we believe
the ability to follow through, or as
some people refer to it as following
up, is the single most important ingredient
for keeping clients, selling more to
existing clients and obtaining
valuable referrals. Following
up and following through builds a loyal
and trust worthy brand.
___________________________________________
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