Four Sales Success Secrets

Take just a second and think of a time you took a dislike to a salesperson and didn't buy from him or her. What did he or she do?

Most of us can probably think of a time when someone was trying to sell something to us and we resented it. One situation that immediately comes to mind for many of us is the telephone call we get at dinnertime. The person calling typically reads a script. When you object, they go to their backup script.

What would you say are the reasons people don't buy? How about these four examples:

Didn't trust the person.

Didn't see a need for what he or she is selling.

Didn't see any benefits or strong reasons to purchase.

Concern about after-the-sale service.

Do you ever have a hard time understanding why the customer is not interested or why they don't buy?

Each of us can have a tough day. And sometimes we seem to run into customers who know what they want and want what we have right away. Those are ideal situations. Unfortunately, they aren't the majority of situations we encounter. Sometimes, it just seems so apparent to us that we have what the customer needs. If only we could get them to understand.

What can we do about it?

Instead of selling, start solving problems. Too many sales people spend too much time talking and not enough asking questions and listening. They are working their agenda, not the customer's.

In getting ready to facilitate a sales training session, we interviewed the most successful salespeople at this particular company. I'll never forget what one person said, because he put it so bluntly and plainly. He said, "I solve problems." He went on to say that what made him stand out from other salespeople was that he tackled the problems that other salespeople ran away from. The customer valued and recognized his help.

Use a consultative or counselor approach.

Here's a four-step consultative-selling model that is highly effective. It is based on fundamental principles of sales success. It's not fancy, but it works.

Step number one is relating. Relating overcomes the barrier of no trust.

Step number two is discovering. Discovering overcomes the barrier of no need.

Step number three is advocating. Advocating overcomes the barrier of no help.

Step number four is supporting. Supporting overcomes the barrier of no satisfaction after the sale.

SUCCESS SECRET #1 - RELATING

People buy from people they trust. We know that. So, how do we establish trust? Well, first, what destroys trust? Just what we talked about above - proposing a product without regard for or sensitivity to the needs or wants of the customer. Now, there has been so much discussion about this, you might think, who would ever do that today? Isn't everyone aware of the need to understand the customer? In an ideal world, the answer would be yes. But in the real world, we often have our own agendas, we get so excited about what we have to offer, we don't see each customer as being unique, or we are focusing on how much money we're going to make from the sale.

Establish trust through credibility and empathy

Credibility demonstrates to the customer that we have the ability to solve their problems. Empathy shows that we understand their situation. When you demonstrate empathy, you establish an emotional tie with the customer. Respect starts to build and with it, trust.

SUCCESS SECRET #2 - DISCOVERING

The consultative salesperson understands the difference between what the customer has and what the customer wants or needs. How? By asking the right questions. This salesperson knows, as many sales people do, that people buy for emotional, or personal reasons as well as for rational or task reasons. What the consulting salesperson does differently is to ask the right questions the ones that help him or her understand what the customer's task and personal reasons are for buying. By really understanding these reasons and by summarizing them back to the customer, the customer knows the salesperson is competent to solve his or her problem. This is the heart of the counselor approach.

The salesperson who consults also does an excellent job at listening to the customer's responses to the questions. This means putting aside our own responses for a while and really using active listening techniques. This does several things. It helps establish trust, which is the first barrier we need to overcome to make the sale. There aren't too many people who really listen well. The second thing it does is to make sure we have the correct information. Third, it helps us avoid giving our solution too early.

When the consultative process is used correctly, you'll know because the customer will say something like, "That's exactly what I was looking for." Then you know that you've hit the bullseye. You'll run into less rejection, fewer people who will say no and you'll also be able to tell much more clearly whether the product you have is the right one for the customer in the first place. You'll save time and improve quality.

The salesperson summarizes these differences and presents them back to the customer. They can be presented either in writing, for more complex sales, or verbally, for less involved sales. In many respects, this is similar to the concept of closing the sale by taking small steps. In other words, at a number of points during your discussion with the customer, you are going to want to know if you understand correctly what he or she is saying. You restate to do this. The discovery summary is an accumulation of all the relevant and important information the customer has told you. It does not propose a solution. Rather, it restates what the customer has said he or she sees as differences between what he or she has and what he or she wants or needs. We call this the "gap." When the gap is wide and deep, some salespeople refer to this as the "pain" the customer is experiencing. When someone is in that state, they usually will make a much quicker decision.

SUCCESS SECRET #3 - ADVOCATING

The next step of the model is to propose a solution that provides benefits for the customer. Once the needs are known, through discovery, this becomes easier to do. Proposing a solution involves asking for the sale. If I've done a really thorough discovery of the client's needs, and the client has agreed with the discovery summary, and if I have a solution that matches what he or she wants, coming to an agreement will be a natural step. Where too many salespeople run into problems is that they go immediately to advocating or selling a solution, based on their latest, best or most profitable product, without understanding customer's perceptions and priorities. Then, when the objections start coming, it's because the customer doesn't readily see the problem that the solution is supposed to solve. Trust is lost and the sale as well.

SUCCESS SECRET #4 - SUPPORTING

The final step is to ensure customer satisfaction after the sale. Reinforcing the sale to prevent buyer's remorse is one way to do this. We also want to prevent the customer from falling into the "Zone of Indifference." This is a situation where the customer is not dissatisfied enough to leave. But the customer is also not experiencing a high level of satisfaction. This zone is an invitation for competition. How many times have you heard stories about orphaned clients, people who have not been contacted? Maintaining that contact is only one way to ensure continuing customer loyalty and referrals. If there is a problem, if it is corrected quickly the customer will be more forgiving. If not, we may lose the customer's business.

Finally, the most successful salespeople don't leave anything to chance in supporting the sale. They are concerned about implementation. Once they have an important contract or agreement for a sale, they handhold it to make sure nothing falls in the crack. They may even do some of the work for the customer just to keep control and keep the process moving.

THE RESULTS ARE MEASURABLE

Just how much can the consultative approach increase sales? In a study commissioned for New York Life Insurance Company in 1994, during the 12 months following the initial training, agents trained in Counselor Salesperson (CSP) earned approximately twice the first-year commissions of those not trained in CSP. Trained agents were appointed to at least one of the company-sponsored councils 48% of the time versus five percent for agents that were not trained.

More experienced salespeople will tend to use a consultative approach. The reason is that without a consultative approach, salespeople are not as successful so they will tend to leave the profession more often and sooner. For new or relatively new people, and even for some veterans who want to polish their skills and take their sales to a higher level, understanding this consultative process can make all the difference in the world in higher sales and greater satisfaction.

The Story Behind Counselor Selling

The model described in this article is based on Wilson Learning's Counselor Salesperson approach. Larry Wilson, the founder of Wilson Learning, was originally a teacher. But with a growing family, he needed extra income. So he became a life insurance salesman - a highly successful one. When people asked him why he was so successful, he didn't know. He knew people liked him. But he wasn't sure what else contributed to his success. So he did research and discovered the reasons he was successful. The research showed that there were several steps he used that contributed to his success. Those steps became the foundation for the Counselor Salesperson Model. Larry started telling his methods to other life insurance salespeople, and ultimately, decided to start Wilson Learning as a way to train others in the technology. Wilson Learning has evolved into a global training organization.


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For information about Wilson Learning and their sales, leadership and other programs, call us at 800-4321-WIN. We can arrange for a special session of Wilson Learning's The Counselor Salesperson for your sales team. Have your salespeople start solving cus