A selling concept that’s been around for at least 100 years is to make your sales presentation, ask for the order, and shut up. And the first person who talks “loses”. While there is some truth in this, why must one person lose? Why cannot they both win? Why can the salesperson not find the right solution for that customer’s needs, recommend it, have the customer accept that recommendation, and have both parties walk away believing that they both came out ahead? That can be done, and it’s called Elegant Selling.
There are many misconceptions about selling. Here are the most common.
• Great Salespeople Are Great Talkers: In fact, the exact opposite is true. Effective salespeople are great listeners. They spend most of their time listening to what the prospect has to say, and that enables them to effortlessly sell prospects exactly what they need.
• Close, Close, Close: “Always be closing.” “Close early, and close often.” “Start with a few trial closes, and then go for the final close!” There are dozens of variations on the concept of closing, closing and yet more closing. And while a hard close works in limited applications, the salesperson who is always closing creates a combative, confrontational, you-lose, I-win, screw-you environment. In Elegant Selling, the salesperson rarely has to close the sale. The prospect cuts him off half to three-quarters way through the sales presentation to ask how to place an order or when he can get delivery!
• You Can Sell Anyone! While is possible for the really persuasive salesperson to actually sell something to everyone, where does that put you? Such salespeople end up with returns, cancelled sales, complaints to the company and the Better Business Bureau, and NO repeat business or referrals. It is a hell of a way to make a living!
How Elegant Selling Works: The process works for selling to both consumers and in business-to-business industrial sales, and the more complex or expensive the products or services, the better the process works.
• Consultative Selling: This is a term that has been around for many years, and many sales managers and recruiters use it because it sounds positive and professional. However, few sales managers or salespeople truly understand it, and even fewer actually use it. Elegant Selling is the next level above Consultative Selling, which is to act as an adviser or councilor–rather than a hard-nosed salesperson–and recommend solutions to the prospect’s problems.
• Understand the Prospect: Elegant Selling begins with a comprehensive understanding of the prospect. If it is a consumer, this may be done via screening during the marketing, prospecting or lead-generation process, or through questioning of the consumer. If the prospect is a business, it requires researching that business and understanding how that business operates, what they make, against whom they compete, and the problems and frustrations their managers and employees face every day.
• Perform a Needs Analysis: This is the most important step in Elegant Selling, and a process the close/close/close, close early, close often, do a trial close, close hard salespeople do not perform because they understand neither the concept itself nor the need for it. In Elegant Selling, this step consumes as much as half of the entire sales process, and it involves gaining an understanding of what the prospect’s needs and problems are, what motivates the prospect to purchase from one vendor or another, how the prospect values price versus quality, and how the prospect rates such factors as appearance, performance, durability, technology, service and support.
• FP2: This is the formula behind Elegant Selling. “FP” stands for “Find the Pain” and it is squared because it also stands for “Fix the Problem”. Elegant Selling is the processing of Finding the Pain and Fixing the Problem. FP2! Identify the prospect’s problems, frustrations, shortcomings and challenges (Find the Pain), and offer a configuration of your products and/or services that specifically and precisely addresses them (Fix the Problem).
• Forget about Closing: As the salesperson begins to be fed back to the prospect a detailed description of his problems, frustrations, challenges and needs, he realizes that the salesperson was actually listening to what he was saying. A connection is made. Trust is built. The salesperson has instant credibility. “This person really understands me”, “Wow, this guy really gets it” and “She really understands what I am up against every day” are some of the thoughts whirling through the prospect’s mind. Then the salesperson starts to explain how the package of products and services she is recommending will fix the problems, frustrations, needs and challenges of the prospect. At some point, the prospect jumps in and asks how soon he can get delivery, or when can he get it installed, or how does he pay for it. Close? Who need to close? The prospect cannot wait to place his order, take delivery, start solving his problems, and begin to make his live easier and more productive!
• Forget about Satisfied Customers: A satisfied customers is the goal of most businesses, but with Elegant Selling you end up with customers who are thrilled with your ability to so precisely identify their needs and meet them. There are no returns, no cancelled sales and no complaints. Instead there are letters and e-mails of thanks, recommendations to their colleagues, plenty of re-orders, and a constant stream of referrals.
How Many Questions Can You Ask During the Needs Analysis? When we conduct sales training for a client, we first travel in the field with two or three of their salespeople. I was traveling with Mike, and he told me that a salesperson can only ask three, maybe four questions, and then the prospect simply will not answer any more questions, so he has to move into the product presentation part of the selling process.
The next call was a prospect Mike had called on for a few years, but he’d never got a single order from them. As we walked down the hall to the plant manager’s office, I told Mike I would do the sales call, but he needed to keep count of how many questions I asked the prospect and how many questions he answered.
When we arrived, I introduced myself to the plant manager and I began asking him about his operations, what he wanted to accomplish, where his business was going, and what problems he wanted to solve. I asked him at the beginning if I could take notes, and he said that was fine, and I ended up with four pages of hand-written notes about his business and a need he had in the plant’s research lab. Half-way through my Needs Analysis, he buzzed his research director, and asked her to join us. By the end of the Needs Analysis, we had detailed specs for a unit the company needed for their research lab. I told the plant manager and research director we would develop a quotation and proposal and get back to them. Both the plant manager and the research director broke out in broad smiles, and both shook my hand enthusiastically. The plant manager thanked me for our interest in his business, and told he looked forward to reviewing our quotation and proposal.
As soon as we got to the parking lot, Mike grabbed me by the arm. “23 and 23” he told me excitedly. I was a little confused.
:”Excuse me?” I asked.
“You asked them 23 questions, and they gave you 23 answers!” he responded.
Does Elegant Selling Really Work? Based on the specs we got from the plant manager and the research director, Mike’s company developed a proposal and quotation for a unit for their research lab, and they sent it to the plant manager. Mike followed up by phone and answered one question the plant manager had for him about the quote. He also followed up with the research director who had already met with the plant manager and had read through the proposal. “Dead on,” was her only comment.
A Purchase Order appeared a few days later. And many more orders appeared for years after that, and that company became one of Mike’s best accounts!
The whole process can only be described as “elegant”!
Close? Who had to close? Mike never closed anyone. Not with Elegant Selling!
Selling Should Be Elegant Never Confrontational or Combative - To learn more about this author, visit Alec Schibanoff's Website.
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Dave Kurlan
Dave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development.
Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit.
He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine.
He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball.
He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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George Ludwig
George Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance.
Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson.
His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more.
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Alec Schibanoff
(Visit Alec's Website)
Alec Schibanoff is managing director of
AAS Associates, a management consulting
firm specializing in business-to-business
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