How using a chronological order of sales activity can be the most profitable element to pay attention to…
So that’s how we should sell everything, right? Send people pictures and prices via email and text and sell luxury goods based upon them seeing a picture of the right thing and liking the price… simple. That should work – NOT. Yes, it does in the world of e-commerce when moving commodities and items with universal appeal. If you’re selling things that everyone knows about that fulfill day to day needs, then you should create good pictures, an informative description, a great price and BOOM! Into the shopping cart, into the warehouse software, onto the delivery schedule, onto the truck and off top the consumer destination. Simple, right? Yea for those folks… but what if you’re selling a luxury item? Like a yacht, a handmade piano, a staycation architectural design, an instrument or lessons of some sort? Uh oh, some advice and deeper understanding may be needed. Possibly a specialist, dare I say?
Let’s admit it, in our technologically advanced world, the globe has shrunk. The occasional remote luxury sale can and does occur when you have that “just something” someone has been looking for, but don’t bet your career on that being the rule because it is the exception. Admit it or don’t read on.
If you are a retailer, who doesn’t necessarily live in the “eat what you kill” sales realm but still need to interact with a specific audience and reel the fish in the boat a little at a time, using targeted messages and good content in the chronological order of deepening a relationship before the sale is still in play. You still must sell your company and yourself properly before the engagement gets real.
For ALL of us who are not selling simple, mundane commodities, the HUGE achievement we must find a way to accomplish is this: talk prospects out of cyberspace and onto the retail floor, into a virtual demo or far enough down the sales funnel through effective communications that you can make an intelligent recommendation that will fulfill their need. With luxury items you must speak to a prospect's feelings in such a way that it allows them to fall in love with something.
Allow me to set up the first step in the “5 Steps to Selling Success” process with some common sense: you must sell your company and yourself as the best resource BEFORE you attempt to sell anything. First you are selling confidence; only then are you in the proper position to sell whatever it is you sell. Allow me to explain why I am so strongly opinionated. I come from the world of cold calling. In my early years, I did what the old school salesman on a beat called “burning up shoe leather.” I walked into mom-and-pop businesses, sight unseen, and figured out how to get people to take me seriously and give me the “time of day”, knowing that the only chance I had of selling something was to get the walls of pessimism and cynicism to come down ASAP. My sales survival depended on it; these businesspeople and gatekeepers had been hammered by cold call after cold call, so I adopted a method that separated me from the idiot salespeople that descended on them hourly. If you look at the chronological order of things as I lay them out, they will make perfect sense, so much so that you’ll wonder why you didn’t think of it yourself. Pragmatic, I promise… here we go:
Please look at all of your activity through the lens of this five- step method. It will serve you well and it will change your life. It will serve you and those you love better because it will make you more profitable.
Step #1 Establish Credibility. For the sake of this example, I’ll use a fictitious jewelry company name, “Rare and Unique Keepsakes.” Their slogan is “ Never See Yourself Walking Down the Street.” They visit estate sales and order from smaller jewelry makers globally and sell things that you don’t find in your typical franchise jewelry store. If you are a sales professional behind the counter at this establishment, you would set yourself apart from lazy sales folks by making friends and staying in touch with them sure, but job #1 is to sell the prospect/visitor/customer on the fact that you chose a fantastic place to work. Your first job is to sell the fact that they came to a very special place, not your run of the mill retailer but a place where they will find the magic statement that they want in a piece of jewelry that they purchase to make for them in their day to day life.
This FIRST thing you should sell is the company you work for, the uniqueness of the pieces and brand(s) they carry and the benefits of finding a piece of jewelry there. How long they have been in business, how they’ve helped thousands of happy customers who come back time and again, things that they will no doubt want to pass along as family heirlooms etc., etc. I have always been a fan of editable scripts for myself so I can practice and refine them as I sell more of a product and improve my approach and delivery as time goes by. If you aren’t familiar with writing or practicing scripts, find an old pro who is or research it online until you get a feel for the structure, purpose and value of them.
Here is an example of how you could begin engagement with a prospect if you were working behind the counter at Rare and Unique Keepsakes - Sales pro: “Hello! Welcome to our shop, we’re happy to see you today, have you ever been in before?”
Allow me to explain the reasoning behind the structure. First off, it is short and friendly because you don’t want to pull off as oppressive and too verbose first rattle out of the box. Secondly, it ends in a question because questions are the best way to get someone to open up and have the chance of making them a friend. Thirdly, because it sets the conversation up properly for the next question you would like to ask.
They will either say yes to which you can reply: ”Fantastic, I’m so glad you came back to see us. The last time you were here did they explain how unique our jewelry is and how we find/buy it?” If they say no then you have the opportunity to ask this question: May I have permission to tell you a little about how we find our rare and unique items? Only the occasional rude person will not say yes because asking permission empowers the person asked to feel like you are offering them control of the exchange therefore they are almost always inclined to give you the floor since you asked first.
Your credibility statement is pretty much the story of where you work and your goal is to make the visitor feel special for choosing to be there. “Well Mr. Johnson, for the past twenty seven years the owners of this company have worked hard to fill a niche for people wanting to find unique jewelry that people who purchase will be able to feel special about. They visit real estate sales and purchase from small independent craftsmen from all over the world who create a lot of one-of-a-kind pieces that end up being conversation pieces and family heirlooms. It’s kind of an exciting place for a jewelry junkie like me to work, wouldn't you think?”
So during this statement we’ve done a lot to bolster the credibility of the person coming in by mentioning the amount of years in business, the unique buying habits of the owners, the benefits to a person’s life of owning unique things and how exciting of a place it is to work. You’ll notice that the statement ends in a question so as to invite the visitor to be interactive and make a comment or gesture of agreement. Until you get used to doing it, it may feel awkward or odd but after you fine tune it and personalize it to your own personality, you will wear it well and it will serve you well.
If it is a phone conversation, a text, an email or a social media post, your initial first step goal remains the same. If we are taking a look at your website, company Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or LinkedIn or other social platforms, you are wanting to accomplish the same thing. Get people to know you, who you are and position yourself as someone exciting and credible to know. If you are a sales professional know this: the first thing most serious shoppers do after they come in first contact with you is “check you out.” Your social presence as a positive force in your business space is fundamental in getting them to want to dig deeper and find out more about you and invite more interaction. Posts about helpful industry info, happy customers, positive “giving back” activities you participate in or host in the community are all credibility builders. Use them liberally and build a catalog of them that can be sifted through and served up to specific types of prospects to show you see them and hear their personal needs.
Whether you are placing a phone call, sending a text, an email, or reaching out via social media, you will serve yourself and your company well by getting into the habit of selling how special your place and how unique your goods and/or services are compared to the normal, run of the mill options available to the buyer. This should be done FIRST. Trust me please - the chronological order of when you present topics is more critical than you would think. Sales inside the framework of the 5 Steps process are like building blocks and the cornerstone of the building is credibility. This is why branding is more important than businesses like to make it. It is often shoved down the totem pole of priorities because feeling the ROI of it takes some time. Putting in place the evidence to brand powerfully takes some thought because you must make sure you are constantly telling your same story in different, compelling ways. It is work that not everyone wants to do, which is not a bad thing if you are willing to outwork your competition.
Allow me a branding example; of course I could use Apple or Nike or any number of readily recognizable more current companies known for highly successful branding but for blanketing the population and making itself a household name, I’m going with Kleenex. Facial tissues came to market over 150 years ago and were originally a part of the toiletries lineup of products. They were tissues originally used for taking off cosmetics but consumers found them convenient as replacements for handkerchiefs that didn’t need to be laundered, so the makers jumped on the popularity discovered by the marketplace and rightly so. When the market speaks… Today nobody even asks for a “facial tissue”, they ask for a Kleenex which is actually a brand name. The Clark company promoted “comfort and care” during the cold and allergy season and did so consistently until the name became synonymous with the item. Note that multiple competitors over the years have tried to cut into their market share, mostly by using price, but Kleenex wasn’t selling price, it was branded useful for the benefits - comfort and care. What does this have to do with a local market or an individual sales professional? The same can become true in a microcosm.
Branding a company or an individual salesperson locally is actually less expensive than ever and so are finding niche markets to get in front of. If you religiously tell the right people who are most interested in what you sell “who you are and how you serve”, you can build credibility stronger and more effectively than your competition. We had an Army-Navy retailer here in Nashville called Freidman's. No one ever said they were going to the Army-Navy store to look for outdoor recreational stuff like canoes, bow and arrows, camo stuff or hunting ammo. They were going to Freidman's. As a young marketing pro, forty plus years ago, I wrote their slogan, ”We Sell Fun!” It stuck because for outdoor fun, everyone talked about Freidman's. Friedman's Army-Navy didn't embrace technology and recently went out of business instead of establishing an online presence. What a shame, they could have continued branding for even less money!
My Prospects International colleague “Clyde the Lead Generation Guy” is now on a campaign to brand himself in a new arena. He successfully branded himself in a small market as “Clyde the Piano Guy” and outperformed every piano sales person in the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas. He used his moniker everywhere - emails, texts, phone calls, all social media platforms and branded himself so well that even though he’s been with us for a while now, he is still getting piano buyers reaching out to him.
In summary, marquis values are applicable to every level of selling. Be you a company, product, service, or sales representative you can and MUST establish credibility first. Before you can make a friend as a company, brand or sales pro, someone has to deem you worth considering, worth checking into, worth talking to, therefore credibility is and has to be the first module of the sales process. If you ignore its importance you are swimming upstream against the way people decide to consider purchasing. Conversely, if you have more credibility than your competition you will enjoy an unbelievable sales advantage.
Step #2 Establish Rapport This is a fancy way of saying “make a friend.” It is critical to get a prospect to like and trust you BEFORE you start a “fact finding” or “discovery process.” At every juncture of your prospecting, remember this old Teddy Roosevelt saying: “Nobody cares what you know until they know that you care.” Here is one of my favorite personal messages: “The company with the most friends wins!” Getting the barriers of mistrust to come down is one of the oldest, most significant challenges known to sales-dom; always has been. It still is. In our digital age, we may send many emails, links and posts to gain someone’s confidence before they are willing to engage with us. We will most likely have to execute many “touches” before they are willing to speak “live” to us in person or via virtual demo. Even if you are talking them down through a sales funnel without a personal touch, your AI game needs to be sensitive enough to make them feel like you care about what they want and need before they will seriously consider buying from you. Regardless of the playing field, you must make a friend to know you have achieved trust.
Establishing credibility first and then the rapport, cannot be stated too strongly. They are more important than any promotion or product knowledge you may be able to impart. This language, “credibility first and then rapport” comes with a slight disclaimer in that commingling can and does occur between steps one and two, small dashes of the 5 Steps recipe. Your generally lovable demeanor, assuming you have one, may cause some premature likeability and magnetic early friend tendencies and that is OK. Your personality shouldn't change between the steps, in fact personalities are as individual as are senses of humor, so the purpose of this method is not to tell people who to be, only what to address in a certain chronological order for best results. Any good sales coach, manager or trainer will have to admit that no matter how highly they think of their abilities to develop sales talent, there are some things that can't be programmed. A sense of humor, perpetual optimism, curiosity and instincts come to mind. “The 5 Steps to Sales Success” method will elevate the sales performance of any sales person who doesn’t already have a successful track to run on. I’ve seen it save floundering careers, make OK sales professionals good, make good ones great, and make great ones superstars. The level of commitment to its execution and how disciplined they became in adhering to it had everything to do with how far it took them, but if they “bought in” and used it daily it, in every instance, it made them more successful.
In the early years of my marriage, my wife used to think that I didn’t “get down to business” fast enough. She was thinking about the economy of the time I was investing, but later came to realize that my small talk and friend-making created a closing ratio that was much more time-saving than burning through relationships because prospects weren’t quite ready to buy. Getting things done is always important, but I like to remind folks that lose their sense of timing (because they are impatient for a sale) with a quote from the old iconic basketball coach John Wooden, “Go fast but don’t be in a hurry!” My pipeline became full of friends who bought at a slower but much higher rate than my competitors. The moral of this paragraph? Execute as many touches via every communications method you have in your tool box to get a prospect to trust you. By going too fast, you can really slow down your sales production.
Some of the very, very best sales pros I’ve ever known seemed to sell effortlessly, although they were very intentional in working on relationship-selling and purposely slowing things down on the front end so they could get to the end game faster… make sense? The summary is simple – time spent NOT on products but on people is some of the most valuable time you can spend in the sales process. Sales experts such as Mike Weinberg agree with this philosophy. In his HubSpot nominated book “New Sales Simplified" he wrote, “People Buy from People They Like.”
Since people buy on emotion and back it up with logic 80% of the time, the value of making friends can’t be understated. I’ll end this Step 2 “Establish Rapport” section by repeating a favorite message of mine: “The Company With the Most Friends Wins!”
Step #3 Fact Finding (Identify needs) This happens in different ways in our world today. In the past it was mostly a “live” one-on-one” engagement. In the current communications landscape it is most often done online. Frequently by text and sometimes via email or a social media resource. Either way, if you have already achieved getting the prospect to like your company and you as a specialist, the discovery session will go much better. They will be much more amenable to opening up and much less guarded.
The Fact Finding process needs to be done in the most efficient way, so if you are selling a luxury item or something that needs to fit someone well personally, a “live” conversation would be optimum. In today’s world, often a text is considered as close as you can get until they travel pretty far down the sales funnel. However they are most likely to give you good information about their feelings, wants and needs, you need to follow their lead and let them dictate the mode of communication. It is desirable to shoot for a “live”, in the store appointment as the goal, but in some instances it takes a while to get that commitment and you may need to conduct the discovery in bits and pieces using your device(s). Whatever makes them most comfortable opening up is best. Sometimes it’s a survey or questionnaire but the attitude you take is critical. Whether you are live, virtual or social, you will serve your success best by remembering that ”God gave you two ears and one mouth; take this ratio into consideration as you engage your prospects.” The best of the best, top performing sales pros are great listeners. If you concentrate on asking questions that get the prospect to paint the proper picture of why they want what they want, you’ll be doing yourself and them justice.
Be very mindful of the trap that many associates fall into when they take the “fact finding” as an opportunity to impress the prospect with all the product knowledge they have, all the while forgetting to temper their expertise with concern for what the prospect is telling them. This is not the time to unload all of your product knowledge in an effort to impress them by how much of an expert you are, that they just have to buy because you are so smart. Timely and caring statements on topic will deepen their trust; a diatribe WILL NOT… in person on your phone or online. Once more, getting them to talk and being a good listener goes a long way toward earning their trust and ultimately their business.
Simply ask questions that help them describe their needs, then raise their perception of value and the benefits with facts about the benefits of what you sell. Gently guide the conversation toward benefits and value, in lieu of basic price shopping. Continue to reinforce the fact that this is an important decision and you just want to provide all the information they need to introduce them to the right product or service for them to consider. This decision is similar to the consideration of a new family member they will be inviting to bring home, one that could potentially be in their family forever! Unless it is truly an entry level consideration, in which instance you should be setting them up for their next step up while they are deciding on the one that they need immediately, the questions may need to be asked of busy people in short encounters so be sure to document where you are in the sales funnel with them by keeping up with their past comments. You will endear yourself to them if you are highly organized and they will love to know you are actually listening and hearing their needs. A CRM is a must.
The details of the “fact finding” are crucial to presenting to the prospect the perfect item or service to consider. If you get a true feel for their needs and budget by asking the right questions and presenting the right options, your presentation/demonstration will be on target. If you are not in true tune with their dreams and/or wishes, you probably talked too much and didn’t get them to open up enough. You then run the risk of spending your time trying to sell them what you want them to buy instead of what they are willing to buy. Please remember to appeal to their emotions at every opportunity. It is amazing how price becomes very, very secondary after a prospect falls in love with something or more accurately what something can do for them. Since luxury items are most often bought on emotion, then backed up with logic, concentrate on the feelings first, then use your product knowledge to reinforce the matter as they head down the path of making a good decision. Unless you are dealing with the occasional analytical type, feelings are the key, not specs. Specs can be the closer AFTER the feelings are engaged and heightened; so as is the entire purpose of the 5 Step Sales Process, be mindful of the order of things: feelings first, then statistics, nuts and bolts. You never want to spend valuable time expounding on something that the listener is not excited to hear about. Remember, you have two ears and one mouth.
Step #4 Make Sincere Recommendations/The Selection Process
By the time you have narrowed the possibilities the prospective buyer should consider, you should have already accomplished three critical things:
#1 You have convinced them that your company is a safe and reputable one to do business with and that the brand(s) you are showing them are a great option to consider.
#2 You have convinced them that you are a trustworthy expert who has their best interests at heart. #3 You have gleaned enough about why they want what they want and all the pertinent info necessary to present the proper product or service inside, or close to, their price range.
I do recommend appealing to their dreams and showing them the “top of the line” goods or services before you present the pragmatic options. Top down selling will increase the average ticket size of your catalog of sales. It should not be oppressive or aggressive; always bear in mind that “question-based selling” is the art of helping them arrive at the best place for them to end up by guiding them with good questions and advice. If you show someone the (to revive an old cliche’) “Cadillac” of whatever you are selling first, you are doing them a service. Finding something they can afford that gets as close to a premium option you have them experience is truly doing them a decision-making favor.
In the “fact finding”, you should be sure to get a feel for their price range and level of passion for quality. Why do I state this obvious real estate to cover? Because “buyers can be liars.” They may have their guard up and become deceptive not because they are generally dishonest but because buying can be viewed by the consumer as a field with landmines in it and tipping your hand could be disastrous to your checkbook, to your financial wellbeing and not necessarily in the best interest of making a good buying decision. This is why establishing trust is a must. This is also why kind hearted “tie down” questions and checking their body language and the sincerity of their answers, whether in person or virtually, is important. A sincere back and forth dialogue allows for agreements and intelligent questions along the way.
My instinct has always been to get them to dream BIG before the price range is established. It can elevate what they feel when they hear excellence in lieu of more pedestrian options. The selection process, regardless of what they are buying, should be non-invasive and servant-hearted. The client can be encouraged to consider certain things, but unless they come out and ask you which one you think they should choose, you should not be too assertive. Their love and needs will guide them in a certain direction and their willingness to spend certain amounts will be tied to their excitement level about singular items or services. Remember to act as the concierge on their way to their best long-term decision without being forceful. You don’t want to undermine the confidence you have built in case they do turn to you at decision time for something other than the “best price.” They may need the emotional validation only a friend can provide. Finally, it is time, with these other elements in place, for the final step…
Step #5 Closing
Honestly, in years past, closing was more important and pertinent than it is today. Book after book was written, seminar after seminar, workshop after workshop, and the mantra ABC (Always Be Closing) was the battle cry for salespeople. Another saying repeated over and again to reinforce the ABC culture was, “the minute they walk out that door, your chance to do business with them just went down 50%.” That was the mindset when the discretionary dollars were flowing like wine.
The reality in today’s landscape is that people want to buy, they just don’t want to be sold. To feel secure they need to believe that they are in charge of the buying process even though taking control of the direction of the process is your first and most important job. The way to allow them to feel in control while you are shepherding them is to be sure to ask questions and not be the “here’s what you need to do” guy/gal.
“In person” is different from virtual and over the phone or completely digital, all have their nuances and there are different tools you haul out of the sales tool chest for each situation, BUT the fundamentals in each circumstance remain. If they like the company and person they are considering buying from, if you or your AI has asked the right questions then made common sense recommendations based upon the needs and feelings they have expressed, then closing is just the action of allowing the gate to click shut behind you. It doesn’t need to be a huge challenge or event. In fact, a smooth and drama free closing is most often achieved if steps one through four are executed properly.
The “in person” experience (whose memory is easily called up by recalling some car deals in your past) of dickering and having the salesman go back to the sales manager for the “new best price” is unsavory to most buyers today. This is why terms like “true pricing” and “transparency” have become popular. The most reliable way to close a deal in today’s environment is to position yourself as the concierge and, after giving the prospect their best options, simply ask them what their decision is.
What we used to call “horse trading” techniques are actually despised by and large by the most recent generation of buyers. The procedure of bargaining, once held in reverence and admittedly fun for the older generations, has succumbed to technology and the information age. Sales professionals need first to impress upon buyers the reality that information and wisdom are not always one and the same, and that the context they, the servant hearted specialist, can provide is the most efficient way to make a decision that is in their own best interest.
Pressure is negative and, in most cases, an inefficient tactic and a deal killer. A kind question such as, “Is this the ________________ (fill in the blank with any good or service) you feel fits your needs best?” will serve the prospect, your reputation, and your closing ratio much better than reviving some old, antiquated closing techniques and being worried about the old “today and today only” mentality. I could create or list a lot of “kind” and effective closing questions but since sales is a creative act, it is best for you to “feel” the heart and spirit of the potential buyer and craft a caring question that fits their personality and needs at the time.
The take-away here for the fifth and final step is: if you performed steps 1–4 correctly and did not get out of sequence, step 5 (which used to be the most difficult step and the one the so-called experts wrote volumes about) is the easiest and least important. If you effectively get them to believe in your company and product and get them to like you, if you listen intently so you make the most pragmatic recommendations, then present the proper options based upon their needs and financial capabilities, closing is simply a question you ask so that they can make a choice. It is not an art or sales survival situation; it is simply a question they answer based upon their capability to purchase driven by the passion you allowed them to experience.
Back to sales 101: 80 % of the time, “People buy on an emotion and back it up with logic”. Great salespeople deal in emotions and benefits; good salespeople deal in perseverance in spite of a lack of compassion. Poor salespeople (and might I be bold enough to say manufacturers) deal primarily in moving units… contrary to the fact that “every dollar spent is tied to a person with thoughts and feelings,” not necessarily looking for the lowest price, but the best way to enhance their lives. It is our job to be the tour guide, not the convincer in spite of their inclination, yet being a convincer if it serves their predisposition. If you sell to their feelings, needs and provide benefits first and address price diplomatically but secondary to value, you will be placing their needs first and most effectively serve yours as well.
In summary: It would thrill me to know that I have provided a track for you to run on that would transform your career into a more productive and enjoyable experience. I do believe that there is something MUCH more important to anyone’s success than adopting the “5 Steps to Selling Success” method. That would be simply to have one! Whether you boil it down to four, dissect and reconstruct it to have seven or find another one that works better for you, the very most crucial thing for you is to have a method. You have nothing to refine if you haven’t one to begin with, and it is astronomically amazing how many scales individuals “shoot from the hip” and create more waste and inefficiency therefore more work and stress than if they put in the work to be efficient and have a chronological or, for that matter, any kind of logical approach.
Times change, the tools to perform the 5 steps evolve, but human nature remains a constant so you must play to it. This is why the steps are constructed in such a manner that they require you to refine any scripts, visuals, posts and supporting assets in such a way that they lead the prospect gently down the sales highway to a destination that you, the tour guide, should coach them caringly to arrive at.
Enjoy the process and the challenges, and the results will manifest themselves. Have fun selling, it is the best way to be a top performer.
“Art and science have their meeting point in method.” - Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton
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