Norman Davies' Blog

Know what Works! One View - Two Lessons

Know What Works! 

 

One View - Two lessons

 

Every one of us can only see the world from our own own point of view. Even the most empathetic person still filters every thought through their own history, belief system and personal view of the world.

 

Why is this important in sales?  We need to remember that people buy for their own reasons and we sell for our reasons.

 

Now, most sales people are sophisticated enough not to ask people to buy because they want to pay their bills or earn more commissions.  Although, I have known sales people who would do just that.

 

What most sales & marketing people do is to list the features and benefits of the product to the buyer hoping that the buyer will act in a rational way (as defined by the seller) and choose to buy.

 

This is the twist.  When people decide to buy they do not act logically or practically.  When people buy they act in their own self interest.

 

Let me give you an example.  The car I drive is not based on a rational thinking.  My car is expensive to operate, expensive to repair and designed completely for performance. It is not fuel efficient and costs more to operate every month. 

 

I do not drive my car because it makes sense to drive my car, I drive my car because I like my car.  I like how it drives and I like the way driving it makes me feel.

 

My decision to drive my car is based on a decision process that is common to all of us.

 

I drive my car based on emotions - 100%. 

 

Sure, I can justify my purchase by stressing quality and long-term value but this is rationalization.

 

Lesson One 

 

When selling know that every decision is based on emotion and then justified with reason. 

 

More importantly, understand that each one of us has different emotional reasons for our decisions to buy. Whether the emotion is fear, the need for acceptance, the need for approval by those we respect, the need to please those we like, the need to feel important or the need to feel special we all need to satisfy something within ourselves. 

 

Understand what this means and you have the opportunity to frame your offer in a way that will push the right buttons. Now, pushing the right buttons will not guarantee you get the business but it does mean you will not be working against yourself.

 

In this arena listening to people and watching their choices carefully will go a long way to finding their buttons.

 

Tip: listen to what they say compares to the choices they make to truly understand what they value.

 

Lesson Two

 

Don't expect others to look out for your interest - don't expect others to care what is important to you.

 

Don't put yourself in a situation where you are constantly fighting the world to get your agenda on someone else's table.

 

If you are about quality then only work with those who value quality. If you are about price then only work with those who value price. Trying to convert people will make your life a frustration and will hold you back.

 

Align yourself with customers, employees, suppliers who share the same goals as you do. If you have a customer or an employee who does not share your values, fire them and put your energy into pleasing people whom you understand how to please.

 

The strategy

 

Businesses and individuals spend lifetimes trying to please or to influence or to control people based on their own values.

 

This does not work.

 

First, understand what you do well and what you like to do and do only that. 

 

Second, figure out who values what you do well and like to do and work with those types of people and those types of customers.

 

You will be happier and more successful.

 

The Hardest Door To open!

The Hardest Door To Open! 

 

I have met many sales people but very few true sales professionals. 

 

What makes a sales professional? 

 

Well, it is not about what you sell or even how much money you make but how seriously you take your vocation.  In fact, the vast number of men and women in sales do not consider their work a vocation but rather a job. Serious sales people look at their profession as does a professional athlete, writer, academic or public speaker. 

 

Always looking to be the best that one can be!

 

Always evaluating actions taken and words spoken!

 

Always working to be better, sharper, more effective!

 

Always looking to win and when the win happens

- quickly looking for the next, bigger win!

 

A few years ago I met a professional sales person named Henry Lee.  Henry sold books using the display method for a book and gift distributor. 

 

Henry would go to schools and businesses and leave a sample assortment of books and gifts with an order form and then return a week or two later to collect the samples, fill orders from inventory in his Van and leave a new selction of books. 

 

Henry is one of the hardest working sales people I have ever met.  He works twelve hour days, six days a week - often making 60 sales calls in a day.  His business success is all about numbers.  The more books on display, the more books ordered, the more sales calls made each day, the more orders processed and the more money collected.

 

Sometimes samples go missing and the loss comes out of Henry's pocket, not the company that supplies him with books, but Henry never lets those or other problems get him down.  He keeps smiling and just picks up his already quick step. 

 

I asked Henry how he built his territory in the competitive market of display sales and he told me his three secrets of his success.

 

1) Henry never walks past a door without opening it..

 

Sometimes the most unwelcoming door is where the greatest opportunities lay because lesser sales people have decided that it was not worth their time.  An ignored prospect can make a great opportunity for an aggressive sales person.  

 

2) Henry never accepts no he just looks for a different way...

 

A sign that reads "no solicitors" doesn't stop Henry.  He simply simply smiles warmly and continues through.  Always polite and respectful he knows that he is on a mission and he will not let a sign stop him in his quest to expose the world to his great products. 

 

3) Henry is aware that often the hardest door to open is the car door.

 

Henry knows that the because the greatest challenge to overcome in sales is not the competition or difficult customers but rather the fears and doubts that fill our own minds. Sometimes, just getting started and opening our own car door is the biggest fight of the day.

 

It is true that for sales people sometimes the hardest action is just to get started.  Uncertainly and fear of rejection holds us back and can seriously limit our opportunity.  Often that fear keeps us from picking up the telephone or knocking on the door or even to open the car door and just get started.

 

How to fight this?

 

The key is to believe in our mission to deliver our products and services.  We must not take rejection personally and must learn not to take a 'no'  as  a personal rejection but rather as a simple indication that this person is not ready for our services and that we need to move on to the next prospect.

 

Keep our happy customers at the top of our mind and remember that they were once prospects too.

 

Believe in our product, our company and ourselves and remember that pioneers always face the most difficult work and that the role of the pioneer has always been a difficult one.

 

Remember that sales is the one occupation that where we can get paid more for performance.  Think of all the people who sit behind desks and have no way to increase their income and improve lifestyle without changing jobs, as sales people we have that ability.

 

Smile, lift your chin and step forward!

The Power of Leverage!

The Power of Leverage! 

 

More than two thousand years ago, in a burst of insight, the Greek mathematician Archimedes  said:  

 

Give me a lever and a place to stand,

and I can move the world!

 

The most powerful action a business can take to boost sales productivity and performance is to focus on creating sales leverage.

 

What is a leverage?

 

 

 

It's just Newton's third law. If you apply a force to one end of a lever, you're exerting a torque, which is defined as the product of two quantities: the length of the arm you're pushing on, and the amount of force you're applying.
 
The same torque acts on the far end of the lever. The force generated at the far end is scaled by the ratio of the lengths of the arms of the lever.

 

We all know that if we need to move a heavy object that the longer the lever the easier the work.  This is the concept behind using a tire iron to loosen the nuts on a car wheel.

 

The same is true in business the more activities that are coordinated toward a common end the stronger the overall force.  In sales leverage delivers powerful results by combining multliple efforts to increase the overall result. 

 

How can this work in business - well actually, the implementation is simple. Not easy - but simple!

 

Below is an example of how a fully leveraged sales strategy can leverage sales effort to greater results.

 

Sales

 

The sales person in the field presents products and services professionally using well design literature that fits with the corporate look supported by professional sales tools - blackberry email, professional email auto responders, handwritten follow-up thank you cards and regular customer contact.

 

Marketing

 

The marketing department receives current and timely lists of prospects and customers and creates email newsletters, targeted direct mail and promotions.The sales department is kept up to date with all marketing efforts and with feedback from customers and prospects.  New leads generated from promotions are quickly forwarded to the sales department.  The sales department forwards results of sales calls on prospects back to the marketing department.

 

Accounting

 

The accounting department works together with management and the sales department to set standards for credit granting.  The sales department works with customers to collect credit information on behalf the accounting department.  The accounting department provides regular and frequent credit reports which are provided to the sales department so that sales efforts can be focused on the most credit worthy customers. Field sales representative provides information to the credit department on issues which may affect the credit worthiness of customers.  The credit department keeps the sales department aware of customers whose accounts are overdue so that the sales team can leverage their relationships to facilitate collections or structure acceptable payment programs.

 

Manufacturing / Production

 

Manufacturing provides the sales department with details of production schedules and works with the sales and marketing departments to dovetail production with promotions and clients needs thereby maximizing inventory turns.  Production works with sales to set production goals and to make changes to products based on customer feedback.

 

Customer Service

 

Telephone sales works with all departments to provide feedback on customers and on order flow.  Information garnered on customers is forwarded to the sales, marketing,production and accounting departments.

 

Shipping / Delivery

 

The shipping department works with sales and customer service to deliver shipments in a timely manner.  Delivery staff provides sales and customer service with feedback garnered during delivers such as competitors activity or changes observed at customer's facilities.

 

When everyone works together everything works better.  Every customer contact becomes sales focused and an opportunity to learn more about a customer's needs and status.  This provides the organization with a powerful, client centred, sales machine designed to  maximize customer satisfaction and company profitability.

 

Is this how your business works?  If not, why not? taking steps to be certain that your business is fully leveraged will have a dramatic affect on sales as well as company moral. 

 

In a fully leveraged business no body feel left out of the decision process and every body feel important - because everyone is important!

 

Think about it!