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To Sell or To Educate That Is the Question Behind What Makes a Great Salesperson

Guest post by: Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Article Overview: The answer to what makes a great salesperson is desired by many from small business owners to sales managers to C suite executives. Many sales training programs still focus on selling and fail to embrace a more rewarding approach.

To Sell or To Educate That Is the Question Behind What Makes a Great Salesperson

In reading a LinkedIn Post from the Sales Training Execution Discussion Group, one of the respondents reminded me of something I had heard several years ago. During a pep talk in a large sales meeting, the CEO of Black and Decker said something like:

“Our customers don’t WANT to buy drills. They buy because the NEED holes!”

Some call this Solution Selling others will call it just doing what a good salesperson does. To be effective using this sales process really demands a thorough understanding Education Based Marketing instead of the traditional sales or product based marketing approach.

Within this marketing approach your goal is to reinforce the first two steps of the marketing process:

1. Attracting Attention
2. Building the Relationship

Education based marketing allows you to demonstrate your positive core beliefs (business ethics). Also this approach works with the 3 Buying Rules and helps to put a lid on the 5 Sales Objection Buckets:

3 Buying Rules

1. People buy from people they know and trust.
2. People buy first on emotion, then justify it with logic.
3. People buy on value unique to them.

5 Sales Objections Buckets

1. You
2. Your Company
3. Your Solutions (Products or Services)
4. Your Price
5. Your Delivery

The question you as a professional salesperson need to ask is are you positioning yourself from a product perspective or a need perspective? Then if you can go beyond the benefits and determine the additional value your solution offers, you will have a competitive advantage. Of course this begins first by educating yourself, doing your research before you can engage in education based marketing toward your potential customers (a.k.a. prospects). Who knows you may actually Be the Red Jacket in a sea of gray suits.

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Article Tags: education based marketing, sales managers, sales training programs, small business owners



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