Selling.
What is it, and how do you do it? Good question. Tough question!
Instead
of trying to answer that question, over the next two weeks I am going
to pass along my notes from Jeff Thull's excellent book Exceptional
Selling.
Part one of my notes:
There
is a great tendency to leap before we listen. pxi
Authentic
and compelling customer conversations are the key. pxi
The
best salespeople are integrator – they orchestrate all the pieces
needed to solve customers' problems in novel and intriguing ways.
pxii
Jeff
proposes that we become expert conversationalists and raise the bar
of professional excellence. We should become so good. pxii
Most
sales books tell us to become better listeners. They're right, of
course, but the idea of being a good listener seriously
oversimplifies what we need to be doing in successful business
conversations. pxiii
Our
customers have to have to willing to talk to us as equals. pxiii
“Ah-ha”
moments (are what we are shooting for) pxv
This
is not a shallow interview that presumes the first hint of a problem
justifies the solution, but one that gets deep into symptoms, causes,
and consequences. pxv
A
client-in perspective. pxvi
There
is no “close” required. pxvi
Sales
professionals who are exceptional conversationalists as well as
exceptional diagnosticians are like chess masters. They know the
patterns of the board, the strategies of the game, and they know
where they are, where they're going, and their options at every
instant. This not only takes innate talent, it also takes systems,
skills, and discipline and, of course, a serious amount of practice.
pxvii
(Thull's
father was a salesman who worked with architects) pxix
A
methodology that can be replicated to produce very profitable
results. pxx
Enhance
the clarity, relevancy, credibility, and trust. pxxi
Our
conditioning, along with traditional selling lore, promotes an
adversarial style of communication. pxxi
The
goal is exceptional selling systems, skills, and disciplines to
manage exceptional conversations for exceptional results for both you
and your customers. pxxiii
This
book is about creating conversations that achieve relevancy,
credibility, and respect between individuals, no matter what the
context. pxxiv
This
book shows you how to be more efficient and more effective, but they
aren't any shortcuts to exceptional sales results. pxxiv
The
challenge is recognizing all of the potential avenues of
self-sabotage and developing the skills and disciplines that put us
in control of our actions and the entire selling process. p3
Every
viable sale you lose represents a failure to communicate. You can
look at this as a substantial communication challenge or a great
opportunity. p5
Record
your next face-to-face or phone conversation and listen to yourself
afterwards. Put yourself in your customer's place. p6
Diagnosis
is about observable symptoms of problems and the parameters of
solutions. p7
Communication
is a challenge that is entirely within our control. p8
It
can turn your results around or notch them up to the next level of
professionalism. p8
Style
in the sense I'm using it here is an expression of our mind-set, our
stance, and out approach to our relationships with customers. p9
Your
ability to constructively attract and engage a customer in a relevant
dialogue requires a conversation style as well as substantive
content. p10
(It
is all about quality dialogue/conversations, not campaigns)
You
may be sabotaging your own career. p11
There
is nothing more important, nor harder to master, than to get this
mind-set right. p13
Sometimes
the parent is a critical parent, that part of us that tends to tell,
preach, and enforce … The adult is the ideal state. p14
(Often)
salespeople unwittingly play the parent (or the police or professor)
p16
(Timothy
Wilson is a psychologist at the University of Virginia, wrote a book
titled Strangers to Ourselves, and talks about the “adaptive
unconscious”) p17
Stress
can drop you back into quickly reacting versus thoughtful patterns of
response. p18
A
flawed emphasis on two elements of conversational sales training:
presentation and persuasion. p19
The
worst presentations are answers to questions that haven't been asked.
p20
Ask
yourself these questions: Do your customers know the true cost of the
absence of the solutions you sell? Do they even know if they are
experiencing the problems that your solutions are designed to resolve
or the risks they are exposed to if they don't buy that solution? p20
The
solutions we sell are often more confusing to customers than the
problems we solve. p21
(You
want to tie your offer to their business, it is about relevancy)
Persuasion
alienates customers … They are going to see you as a “lecturing
professor.” p23
How
often have you been pressured to buy a product that wasn't right for
your needs, been sold a product or service that didn't live up to the
hype, fallen prey to the bait-and-switch ploy, had to be rude to end
a sales call, taken a survey that is just a come-on for a sales
pitch? p26
Children,
students, and criminals. Is that how you see your customers? (You do
not want to be a lecturing professor but it is possible to be an
inspiring professor) p27
The
good news is that with that strong, negative image, it is very easy
to differentiate ourselves … when customers begin a conversation
with negative expectations and then realize that those thoughts were
not justified in your case, it accelerates the credibility-building
process and engenders trust. p28
We
need to be professionally involved and emotionally detached in our
conversations with customers. p29
Think
confident instead of passionate, think of the doctor role
model. p30
Stop
presenting and start connecting … Stop persuading and start
collaborating. p30
The
“V” word is overused. p32 (he is talking about the word value)
What
is my incentive to change? … Show me how this dream will become
reality and give me the confidence to invest in your solution. p32
In
the quest to differentiate our companies in the customer's eyes and
to win complex sales, the more we focus on value, and the more we all
sound the same. It's a substantive communication challenge that most
sales professionals are failing to meet. p33
We
have no idea if our value has relevance with this customer. p33
Value
propositions evolved into value cliches … indistinguishable from
one another. p35
We
are all guilty of over-presenting generic value. p36
Rightly
or wrongly, customers dismiss value propositions as empty words. p37
Some
customers are going to buy (from your generic value propositions) But
these sales are going to be problematic, and you'll also be working
much harder than is necessary … They have received little or no
help interpreting the value. p38
You
must help the customer connect the dots … Your primary
responsibility is to make it relevant. p39
The
value gap is the chasm that exists between what value sellers believe
they provide to their customers and what customers are willing to pay
for. p40
(The
top sales professionals) are experts at creating relevant and
credible conversations … Once you know how to translate value, you
are on your way to regular and predictable success in sales … When
a value translation is done properly, the pieces of the customer's
puzzle come together and you get the credit. p41
Reorganize
your value data into the value triad: sources of value, uses of
value, and absence of value. p42
(Sources
of value) they are the product and service attributes that you've
probably been presenting all along. p43
(Uses
of value) In what way will they be able to use the value you provide
or require the value you provide? p44
(Absence
of value) Because most salespeople spend some much time focusing on
the value they can create for customers, they rarely consider this
concept. p44
When
we make initial contact with prospective customers, one of our very
first tasks is to verify that these generic absences of value
actually exist. p45
How
valuable is penicillin to a person who has no infection? p45
Leverage
the capabilities, requirements, and absence of value through the
interplay of two variable factors: positioning and perspective. p46
(Performance
has more value/profit than process, which has more than a product –
he calls it a Value Spectrum)
Each
individual's situation determines what is of value to him or her
personally. p47
Most
value propositions are not designed for presentation directly to
customers … It's a preliminary hypothesis (a value assumption) p48
The
agreement is that there will be a mutual contribution of resources to
investigate to what degree the hypothesis holds true … You are
willing for the hypothesis to be true or not true. p49
The
first step in validation connects directly to the one area that has
the greatest power to compel customers to act – the absence of
value, of the problem/opportunity. p49
This
lifecycle of value (Value Proposition, Value Assumption, Value
Required, Value Expected, Value Achieved) is the track that the most
successful sales professionals follow as they translate value. p50
If
value doesn't exist for either the customer or the seller, the
checkpoints along the track ensure that you will quickly discover
that fact and be able to move to a more viable opportunity. p51
(The
foundation of a successful salesperson's mind-set is) an intense
focus on bringing value to their clients. p53
Changing
your mind-set is truly the foundation for credible conversations and
exceptional sales success … Once you “get your mind right,” the
mechanics will make sense and the words will flow naturally. p54
A
pause suggests you are listening and considering your customer's
words … Silence is a sign of wisdom. p55
Our
ability to execute in sales is rooted in the mind-set and skill. p55
The
more effective we become as a decision process guide, the more likely
customers are to support our efforts. p55
This
creates a cycle of sales success that reinforces itself. (Relevance
creates Credibility creates Trust creates Access creates Insight
create more Relevance and on and on) p56
The
communication mind-set that best supports our ability to create
success for our customers is summed up in the concept of Value
Diagnosis (it's Diagnostic Selling, and it is) the antithesis of a
presentation mind-set. p56
Diagnosis
is more effective than presentation because: p57
–
It is always focused on the customer.
–
It is about the observable symptoms of
problems and the parameters of solutions, not blame.
–
It engages the customer as a
collaborative partner.
–
It promotes ownership.
–
It differentiates you from your
competition.
