Sales Exponential

Article by David Downer

Many years ago I tried my hand as a home improvement salesman. As a member of the sales team, I was sent out to visit home owners, to deliver scripted sales pitches from which we were not allowed to deviate.

There were key points throughout the pitch where, if we did not get a categorical yes from the home owner to a “closing question”, we were not allowed to continue with the pitch until we did. The idea was that you would shut the doors on all objections, well before you got to the end of the sales pitch.

We had it drilled into us by the sales trainers: ABC – “Always Be Closing”!

For example…

Early on in the pitch we had to get the home owner’s agreement that as long as our product fulfilled all their requirements, that there was no possible reason why they couldn’t give you an order that day (before you left). If they came up with objections (they always did), you handled them there and then before moving on.

Boy talk about “hard sell”. I heard about one salesman who always turned up for an appointment, with a toothbrush sticking out of the breast pocket of his jacket; the point being that he was prepared to sit there all night if necessary, in order to get the customer’s signature on a contract with of course, a sizeable deposit.

The point here is that we were not supposed to be interested in what the householder wanted or needed; we were only supposed to be interested in our commission check!

Note: I hasten to add that I didn’t last 5 minutes with that company!

Fast forward nearly 25 years and the other day I had a first time meeting with a new business contact. We were discussing ways in which my business could help his business by setting up automated systems to handle emailing and texting to their client base.

As Realtors they regularly email and text information to clients when, for example, a new property comes onto their books. But until now (get this), they have been sending out emails one at a time. The same for text messages; they’ve been sending out individual texts from their cell phones. Imagine how time consuming that is!

Now here’s the “real lesson in salesmanship”…

I was told that all the previous sales reps that had ever walked into their office were only ever interested in one thing – “Selling the product or service they wanted to sell, regardless of whether the business owner needed the product or not!” Sounds familiar? Not one sales rep had ever bothered to ask the simple question that could have made all the difference…

“What sort of help does your business need, with regards to… (you fill in the blank)

Note: The “blank” could be anything but staying with the story… “What sort of help does your business need, with regards to improving efficiency in the way you communicate with your clients?”

Earlier today I was relaying this story to a client, who for many years (before retiring) ran a highly successful business. He told me that he regularly “interviewed” sales people who had come to sell their wares. Often (when the sales person had already blown any chance of a deal), my client would ask this simple question…

“Did you never think to ask me what my clients actually “need”?”

So; the moral of the story is:

You don’t have to be a good sales “pitcher”, just be a good communicator instead. Good communicators show interest in what the other person needs and they ask the right key questions, such as; “what sort of help does your business need, with regards to…?”