This sales training article separates how real sales professionals go about selling versus salespeople. So, what’s the difference between a sales professional and a salesperson? Well, salespeople learn and leave it; however, sales professionals learn and grow continuously. Salespeople go through the motions; they learn just enough in order to keep their job, go through the motions, and wish they were somewhere else. Are You Evolving into a True Sales Professional or Just Going Through the Motions?
Sales professionals view their roles as a career path that can enrich them financially, professionally, and personally. Yes, they learn, but they are constantly growing via self-improvement, taking ownership for their business (they see themselves as businesspeople), and always challenging themselves to a higher level of performance. They are the twenty percent of sellers who bring in eighty percent of the revenue.
Salespeople are content to be one of the eighty percent who deliver twenty percent of the revenue. That’s why salesperson turnover is high and sales professionals are highly valued. Sales professionals know that repeated, profitable sales are the lifeblood of any business.
Run-of-the-mill salespeople tend to suffer from the following symptoms.
- They wonder where your next sale is coming from.
- They fill their selling time with secondary activities.
- They are not focused on productive revenue-producing activities.
- They are usually stuck in a state of feast or famine.
- Competitors with inferior products and services win more deals.
In a professional sales-producing role, being busy is not the same as being productive. They understand the fate of their success is not just in knowing about the features or benefits of the product or service but in their ability to get the attention of customers and prospects. They know the money is earned by being a skilled communicator. They recognize that if they can’t effectively communicate their value proposition to the market, they won’t succeed. Buyers do not pay because someone tells them they have the best products or service. No, they reward sales professionals for solving problems because they view selling as an exchange wherein, in the mind of the customer, the value of the solution far outweighs the price they have to pay.
Salespeople, take note: it doesn’t matter how much you know about your product or service, as your entire sales career in a revenue-producing role lives and dies by how effective you are at delivering new or repeated revenue. True sales professionals know that discipline, purpose, structure, planning, and actions are the template to success. Many salespeople do not find these attractive in today’s world of shortcuts, hacks, and instant gratification. The average salesperson reaches for the latest sales hack or trick to achieve some level of success with the least amount of effort possible. However, that is a fast track to the next job application. So where do you begin?
Say Goodbye to your Little Gremlin
Ah, the little gremlin on your shoulder. Anytime you are struggling with where to put your energy, what you would like to do against what you know you should do next, that’s your Little Gremlin that you’re hearing. It could be about making follow-up sales calls, and the Little Gremlin comes out and whispers, “Is it worth the effort?” You have done enough chasing for one day. Don’t worry about following up and calling every proposal you sent; you’re doing fine against your target. Plus, if they were genuinely interested in buying, they would have contacted you by now.
This pull for our energy and focus is everywhere, pulling at our attention, drawing our minds into unproductive areas of activities (YouTube funnies, anyone?) as you’re trying to make a better career and earnings for yourself. In the age of distraction, that little gremlin is there, testing you, challenging your willpower to see how bad you want it. So, you need to master your willpower, which is the decision as to what gets your awareness (what will I do next), to ignore impulses (no need to check WhatsApp), and the ability to control your thoughts (I’m going to close that deal today).
The whole key to focusing on productive sales activity is to use your willpower to move your awareness (I need to make another 5 calls before break) and then put energy/action into the activity (here is the list; let’s get going now). So, ask yourself, why are you in this role, why are you not doing what you should do, and why are you defocused? Why do I want to succeed? You need to make your ‘why for being’ so big that focusing on the ‘now’ becomes easy. Sales professionals know that self-control is what distinguishes them from salespeople. It’s what gives them the ability to show up every day, whether it’s the gym, building relationships, making connections, earning money, or sales training to brush up on the latest techniques. They learn and grow to do what others don’t bother with so they can achieve what other salespeople never will.
That’s what comes from conquering your Little Gremlin. Don’t be fooled by today’s easy-to-digest belief that the most important thing about selling is having a website, the latest CRM software, and some white papers. Because none of this will matter if you can’t get a customer’s attention by using weak, vanilla-flavored value propositions your target market ignores and simply does not care about.
Develop A Killer Sales Pitch
Let’s get real. No customer or prospect cares about you, your goals, your family, your product, or how your day is going. They care about themselves, their challenges, and their position. Your sales pitch and conversations have to be and only be about how you would benefit them if they listened. (Why listen!). Don’t waste valuable attention time by starting to talk about your company, your products, your services, etc. To get their attention, sales professionals focus entirely on how they can help them. They home in on (why listen, why care) to quickly move the sales conversation to focus on solving their problem. So, the bottom line is, no matter what you’re selling, your pursuit for sales success will always be defined by your ability to deliver a killer sales pitch (including a compelling value position). To stay fresh and tuned in to what is happening in the market, professional sellers will vary their sales message to match the real-world reality. What sales professionals put into that message will always be based on the skills of expert salesmanship and buying psychology.
Note: If you don’t have the sales skills to acquire, develop, and maintain customers, then you don’t have a sales career. If you’re relying on inbound leads, referrals, or emails, then you don’t have a predictable and dependable way to move from salesperson to sales professional. You’re simply one of the many relying on whatever fate brings to your desk. So, you must have the ability to generate leads and convert leads to potential buyers and on to revenue. The truth is that most salespeople don’t have a product knowledge problem; they have a sales conversation and conversion problem.
Buying Mode Statistics That Define Long Term Sales Success.
OK, let me in on a secret that the top-performing sales professionals know. That at any given time in any given market less than 5% of your target market is in buying mode. While they absolutely will try to capture this 5% of the target, they know that when they split up that 5% of buying-mode customers between the competitors, well, they will never get rich. Long-term sales success or even business success is in the nearly 40% of buyers who are saying, ‘I think I have a problem—where do I start?’.
Further down the funnel are those who don’t even know they have a problem to begin with. This is the majority of any market and can be upwards of 60% who have not started a buying journey. Because believe it or not, even unaware buyers can turn into customers if you have the skills to approach and nurture them.
To reach, connect, and have conversations with any buyer regardless of what buying mode they are in requires that you bring value, educate them, and tell them something they hadn’t considered (unconsidered needs). When a prospect isn’t informed or knowledgeable on a subject, they stick to the status quo and avoid risk, and we know that buyers don’t buy in this state. But the more they are engaged and educated, the more that risk reduces over time and the more likely they are to buy. The key here is that you are the one educating them, and you’re also making sure that when they hit enter in the buying mode stage, you are in pole position to win the business. To achieve this, your touchpoint (social media, email, and phone call) messages must be powerful, insightful, valuable, and educational. The internet is full of promotional pieces about buying from me, and they simply don’t work.
The seasoned sales profession has a system that:
- Attracts
- Educates
- Nurtures
- Gets the buyer (or buying group) to act!
Sales Training Tip: Sales Professionals Know Their Customer.
Anyone in sales knows that when it comes to acquiring new customers, the most basic starting point is understanding who they are. When this is deeply understood (who they are, their market, market challenges, how they do business, etc.), you can create highly personalized messages that get the attention of your target audience. You need to research your customer’s deepest and most pressing issues. Then spend time planning what could be their fears, hopes, wishes, and future outcomes. This is the internal discussion happening in your customers’ offices that never gets aired. Sales professionals move beyond the obvious and work out how their audience thinks, feels, and acts.
‘Tap into the conversation already taking place in your customer’s mind.
The old adage of taking a walk in their shoes so you can plot out what is in your prospect’s mind. Sales pros are obsessed with their customers’ business, markets, customers, threats, opportunities, and positions. Getting to know all these details is crucial, and it’s the most important to get right, as no amount of selling matters if you can’t master this.
Another insight that sales professionals use is to research some keyword search terms their market potentially researches for their products or services. They read what the audience is saying. What questions are they asking? What are they talking about? What news are they sharing? What is the market saying? Pay close attention to the language they’re using when it comes to the existing products and services already on the market.
Once all the information is collected, they organize the findings into categories of comments or concerns that appear the most. They look for and find the gaps or shortcomings in the products or services already out on the market. This gap is their entry ticket to begin mapping out a contact strategy to create compelling “why listen” messages that resonate with their audience.
They also know that profiling their ideal customer set improves selling motions, how to position the product and service offering, communication strategy, value propositions, tone of voice, channel selection, and more. Being really specific is key. The sales skills of learning what buyers want, where you can help them, and having sales conversations with the right people in a sequenced way are timeless sales tactics.
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Sales Training Principle – Learn “Give To Get”.
Sales pros know that whether they are on the phone, using cold email outreach, or engaging in social media activity, they share valuable insights to get the attention, ears, and eyes of the buyer. This content sharing could be independent research, free reports, white papers, videos, market commentary, etc. The goal is always to offer the prospects incredible value, typically a solution piece focused on a problem they may be struggling with, without asking for anything because givers gain. The critical point here is that whatever is shared must be perceived as valuable, and it must deliver. Again, it can’t be the cheap, badly presented content that bombards the Internet and buyers’ inboxes daily.
Have a Compelling Value Proposition.
Why would a potential customer listen to you? The hardest part of selling is getting a real conversation started, so how will you go about getting that conversation started?. Weak and irrelevant messages do not open up a buyer to listening; you are just interrupting their day. Your value proposition has to command attention, create an aha moment, and pique their interest (why care). So, start thinking about your offer. Your offer is your basic business proposition and is by far the most important element in your entire sales message.
- What are you selling?
- Why will they listen?
- Why should they care?
- How much does it cost?
- How will you support any claims?
- What’s In It For Them (WIIFT)!
To fine-tune a value proposition, you need to get creative with it. Really think about what your best statement could be. (It must be verifiable and something you deliver on). Start really big, put it down on paper or on a whiteboard, then narrow it down and test it on friends or colleagues. A compelling value proposition is more powerful than answering objections. Because the idea of your value proposition is to kickstart a buyer’s journey.
Anticipate and Overcome Objections
Salespeople who display confidence and empathy during objection handling truly set themselves apart. What is important to remember is that, when your prospect raises an objection, it does not necessarily mean he or she has rejected your offer. They may simply be examining their options, weighing the risks, or trying to wrap their heads around the idea of change, which most people typically resist. Skilled salespeople will use a five-step process to handle objections, and they move with agility through the knowledge, skill, and discipline that make up these expert moves:
- Encourage
- Clarify
- Confirm
- Respond
- Check
What are the main objections you encounter?
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How will you overcome these objections?
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Selling begins with a conversation, not a sales pitch.
While selling and closing a deal is your ultimate goal, to begin with a sales pitch is the wrong approach. A sales professional is like a therapist; they try to diagnose someone’s issue. Are they open to change (because buying is a change management project)? And then, if what you’re selling can help relieve the identified pain, you present a solution that they will want to take to get to the future state you have painted. The sales conversion process needs to identify what is not working for them and where the gaps are between where they are now versus where they want to be. What is their ‘Why?’ Why will they listen? Why will they care? Why should they act?
TALKER
A nice way to formulate your sales conversations is via Talker.
T = Tone of your voice.
A = Ask great discovery questions.
L = Listen actively for signals.
K = Keep notes for recap and clarification.
E = Elaborate on points and objections. and
R = Repeat what you have heard.
Remember that the 2 core elements of selling are conversations and commitments. They work in tandem to progress a sale. Critically, it is your sales conversations that unlock customer commitments. Once you get their true position, open up the sales conversation with three or four open-ended questions:
Tell me about your current process to do X.
What are you looking to improve about Y?
What would happen if you didn’t do anything?
How would you measure success in this?
What has stopped you from Z?
Where do you think that B will make the most impact?
To move a sale forward towards a conclusion, you need to get your prospect to tell you about where they want to go and their desired outcome. To close the conversion gap, you must diagnose the problem by looking at the gap between the customer’s current state (what you uncovered) and the optimum future state. The difference between the current and future states (with consensus from the buying committee on the expected outcome) is where you show the value of your expertise and your solution.
The very best persuaders and sales communicators are those who concentrate all their attention on identifying the exact gap that exists. Because if the customer doesn’t accept that the gap exists, it is unlikely that a sales opportunity exists.
Sales Insight—Present Value like a Sales Pro
At the heart of your presentation, you need to present your “bundles of value.” Whether to make it easier to do business, address purely objective types of value, or target the subjective judgments of buyers. Your main points and takeaways could center on functional value. Functional value includes improvements, reductions, quality, scalability, etc. Another option is Ease of Doing Business Value. Areas such as time savings, reducing hassle, response, expertise, etc. Depending on your relationship and the buying group mix, you may want to focus on individual value. In emotional decision-making, do not underestimate individual value concerns.
Effective communication depends on controlling verbal, vocal, and visual messages—the three Vs of communication. For communication to be credible, the three V’s need to be aligned—all saying the same message. When messages are mixed, the audience can become confused, irritated, and disbelieving.
Is Your Sales Opportunity Ripe.
While most sales training will focus on the substance of the negotiations, the timing of the sales negotiation, or “closing the sale,” is also key. This is also known as the ripeness of the opportunity. It means your customers feel that they are in an uncomfortable and costly situation. At that “ripe” moment, they seek or are amenable to proposals that offer “a way out” of their status quo position. When a sale is not ripe, it is when one or more of the buying group will not come to the table (internal roadblocks) to negotiate the final deal; then the opportunity is usually not ready for your final proposal. Finding the ripe moment to enter negotiating the closing of the sales requires insights, yes, commitments, and customer acknowledgement that they must find a way out of their current situation.
Some audit questions for your sales process and to see if a ZOPA exists.
- It seems like… it is valuable to you?
- It seems like you don’t like it.
- It seems like you value it.
- It seems like it makes it easier for you.
- It seems like you’re reluctant to.
- How does this program sound?
- Which of these two options do you like best?
- What’s your impression so far?
- How do you feel about the monthly option?
- What additional information do you need in order to decide?
Closing the deal
The ABCs of selling mean to always be closing. Use a checklist methodology to be prepared. Remember that getting to the big yes requires smaller yes commitments along the way. Sell yourself first on the value of what you do. Own the sale.
Ask a closing question and zip it. Look for verbal and visual buying signals throughout.
- “Would you agree this solution is what you need?
- Don’t you think that this solution ticks all your boxes and is the best way forward for you?”
- After we provide that information that you just mentioned, will you be in a position to sign the agreement?”
- “Why don’t you give us a try?”
- If you give me the go-ahead, I can set up your account within 24 hours. Will I do that?
- I’d love you to join our list of satisfied customers such as… and… Can we say you will be next on the list?
Always congratulate the other side afterwards, no matter how poorly the other side negotiates. It’s common courtesy, helps strengthen the relationship, and creates goodwill when future negotiations are necessary.
Sales Negotiation Traps to Avoid.
- Overvaluing Your Position.
- Focusing Too Much on Price.
- Compromising Your Values.
- Making Unappealing Offers.
- Compromising Your Interests, or Authority
- Beware of buyer-reverse pricing tactics.
- Not knowing what the buyer is willing to invest.
Keep Going With Your Sales Training and Learning
Top sales professionals succeed because they keep learning and will even access a free sales training video. They demonstrate both extravert behaviors (such as coming across as assertive and confident when it comes to meeting new people) and introvert behaviors (such as listening carefully). Wherever you fall on the introversion-extraversion spectrum, you need to demonstrate both sets of behaviors in order to succeed. Celebrating even small wins as you progress toward your goal can be empowering and motivating. When you have a win, take a moment to congratulate yourself.
This doesn’t have to cost money. Even just treating yourself to a quick walk around the block outside your office after you finally submit your quarterly report, or a bubble bath after a day on the phone prospecting, can be immensely rewarding. More than just making you feel good, celebrating wins helps to keep you focused on your goals, increases your motivation, and helps you to recognize the progress that you are making toward what’s most important to you—becoming a top sales professional!!.
