Laws of Sales Attraction
Drew Stevens PhD
Sales professionals must create magnetic appeal to increase closing efficiency. Our present global environment creates numerous obstacles that polarize sales efforts, form the proliferation of the Internet to advanced media. Ironically, with the intrigue of technological miracles the foundation of sales success exists upon 10 principles. Since the beginning of trade, selling has not changed, nor have these laws. These principles as they have for centuries are the laws that attract numerous clients and create successful selling professionals.
The Law of Preparation
The best selling professionals are always prepared. First, preparation begins with grooming and clothing. Like many, I am repulsed by numerous organizations that partake in casual clothing. To be successful one need look successful. A selling professional cannot attend an appointment in a T- Shirt and jeans. Productive professionals attract clientele with emulation. To be successful you need to dress successfully. Statistics for this article with over 1000 representatives illustrate that those dresses professionally closed 87% more business than those that didn’t.
Preparation denotes a voracious appetite for information. Productive professionals attract more clients when they read information and eventually convert this to client knowledge. The knowledge output provides client value in terms of competitiveness, productivity and even profitability. Value stems from reading newspapers, trade publications and conducting research. When clients determine from the value professionals provide they are more apt to conduct business and moreover, use them repeatidly.
Finally, closing ratios increase when selling professionals anticipate client needs. Sales attraction stems from preparation of client objections, client questions and client concerns. Selling professionals are better prepared when equipped with the vital tools required to engage conversation. Exemplars bring to meetings questions, process visuals, articles and a myriad of other information to aid conversation.
The Law of Selling Methodology
Sales training is critically important to all organizations. The frequent pace of product development, client topography and product updates necessitate continual training. However, the size, cost and geographies of delivering training become cumbersome; ironic, given our knowledge-required economy.
ES Research Group reveals that 90% of all sales training programs conducted for corporations result only in a 90-120 day increase in sales productivity and, as a result, fewer than 20% of companies realize any sustainable productivity gain that lasts beyond 12 months. In the United States alone over four billion dollars is spent per year on training selling professionals with two thirds of that money ear marked for one day training.
To be competitive, selling professionals must be competitive. It appears that taking the time to develop a training program does in fact pay tangible returns. Many companies think that sales training can help with the strategic account planning aspect of selling. More importantly is providing selling professionals with a methodology they adhere to and more importantly create attraction. The true competitive professional employs a methodology that stems from start to completion. The true professional knows how to navigate the sale in violet waters.
The Law of Value Proposition
Many professionals are quick to state what they do for a living. For example, when asked what you do, you reply, “I sell networking devices.” While not much is incorrect with this statement, the tendency forms stereotype. And, worse yet as an entrepreneur operating a business, one gets placed into a pool with competitors. There is a pragmatic need to emerge from the competition.
One of the best assets for every selling professional is a value statement. Be mindful, this is not an elevator speech. This pithy statement ends the stereotype and focuses all attention completely on the prospective client. A value proposition is solutions based with all benefits focused on the consumer. Moreover, it denotes brand. A value proposition is nothing more than a benefit statement that offers to the client to improve their condition. Customer value propositions have become one of the most widely used terms in business markets. In 2006 the Harvard Business Review “Customer Value Propositions in Business Markets” discussed how corporations use them in the branding process.
Value propositions are a powerful marketing tool that are powerful and help gravitate the buyer to your direction. These simple statements enable selling professionals to articulate their company’s position into useful terminology that engages the prospective client. The statement indicates a “What’s in it for me?” approach for the client. The intentions are to offer something that resonates with buyer’s needs.
The Law of Referrals
Proper attraction involves referral acquisition. Professionals abhor asking for referrals! Business is driven by the ability to ask for new business. If clients are happy with your work they will willingly provide others that can need to receive your value. The best way to seek referrals is when you are first engaged with the client and they are at an emotional high. More importantly you want to ask when you are in the account, since this is the best time to be top of mind.
Another imperative item to remember is that there is strength in numbers, the more you obtain the fuller the pipeline. There is a story of an insurance professional that would visit clients and not leave without three new referrals. Even if the client provided one or two, the agent would not leave until he received three or more. Needless to say, the agent retired an extremely wealthy individual.
The Law of the Decision Maker
Sales attraction is discovering the true economic buyer. 67% of selling professionals spend too much time with those that cannot make a decision. Sellers are often duped into the process because they do not ask the proper questions. Good detective work means asking the difficult questions. Detectives enjoy seeing the discomfort of others as they squirm to reply. Selling professionals should not be the ones to writhe but idle while gaining a reply.
A recent client had issues trying to establish a sale with a recent pharmaceutical. The client told me she was being detained by a budget of $10,000. After some prodding I asked the size of the firm. Admittance discovered the firm is in the top five pharmaceutical companies in the world with expenditures of over $50 billion. The sales professional was not speaking to a decision maker! Selling professionals must be intelligent enough to know about the organization, the competition to conduct and intellectual conversation. The knowledge creates a flow of information for discussion. When selling professionals walk into a meeting without correct information, possible questions, and relevant examples they do not have the essence of good detective work. Research has found that the title never denotes the economic buyer. 87% of respondents in a research survey stipulated they underestimated the decision maker by virtue of title.
The Law of Value
There is a wonderful detective show in syndication on television entitled “Monk”. The analytical detective works vehemently to resolve the case quickly. He eludes numerous hurdles yet in the end as the cliché states, “he always gets his man”. The same must hold true for selling professionals. True selling professionals endeavor to resolve client issues before the client understands the issue. They have a passion for converting products and services into value.
In a recent interview with over 10,000 clients, they indicate their desire for sales professionals that can speak client language, understand the core issues and get to the heart of the matter expediently. Ask clients provocative questions that get them thinking about legacy, expectations and strategic direction. Attraction comes from making them think about the issue and converting the need into emotion.
The Law of Networking
Truly the best professionals constantly network. Selling professionals by nature require constant engagement with others to comprehend business trends and meet new opportunities. Admittedly, there exist a plethora of networking associations and organizations, choose those close to your location and aligned with your business. Review your local paper for functions that interest you and attend as a guest, but go! If you do not attend, your competitors are.
The Law of Desire
Successful professionals love challenges, are exceptional at overcoming adversity and love what they represent. They are never shy or non-conversant, and you can sense their spirit and their passion when they speak. There is a South African word called unbutu, meaning “from the spirit.” Successful professionals have an aura of spirit, of love, of passion, of commitment in everything and anything that they do. The more you can create unbutu in your sales presentations and your sales, the more energetic and inspirational you can be to your clients. Thus creating more attraction in your pipeline and in your closure ratios.
For business to flourish professionals must abundantly desire. Recall why you discovered selling and the desire for achievement. The passion for assisting others is the fuel that bounds from failure to fortune.
The Law of Faith
There is no better nourishment and attraction then faith. Faith is a component of both passion and love. Faith is the ability to disavow the norms and continue. Thomas Edison did not believe he failed he had faith to succeed. If Henry Ford, and Andrew Carnegie did not have faith our American business system would not be the supreme power it is. And if Abraham Lincoln did not have faith, African Americans would not be free and his name would not be associated with America’s greatest president. In fact, faith was so imperative for Lincoln because his successes did not arrive until after his 40th birthday. Faith is one of the largest key components to the laws of selling attraction.
The Law of Success
I recall a young man that had limited athletic ability. He was reared in a dysfunctional home and loathed by family and friends. After much discovery he found an outlet in track and field. After years of searching he found a tool that displaced the discontent in his life. With much practice he got better and began to appreciate the sport. His success brought about future success. He visualized future success. Within months he became the captain of his team and a four-time school record holder. He also enrolled and graduated from a prominent university. Professionals have to breathe it, become it and yearn for it. Success does not come easy. The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King jr. stated, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.” Take the ladder of success one step at a time by seeing each step, living each step and appreciating each step.
These laws are simply a roadmap to creative success. These laws function similar to a GPS system. They become guideposts to recognize and live by. Our spontaneous world leaves little time to reflect, we must act quickly. The best professionals absorb, collate materials and create action. To live by these laws, do not procrastinate, act quickly, your next sale might depend on how you fight or side with the laws!
© Drew Stevens PhD 2008. All rights reserved.
About Drew Stevens PhD
Drew Stevens PhD assists organizations to dramatically accelerate business growth. He is the author of seven books including Split Second Selling and Split Second Customer Service and Little Book of Hope. Dr. Drew is a thought leader on sales and customer service issues. He can be reached at www.gettingtothefinishline.com.
Labels: business development, lead generation, make money, sales and marketing, sales coaching, sales help, sales manager training, sales techniques, Sales Training, selling, selling strategies
Read more...
