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The A to Z of Small Business Sales - A for Awareness

Written by: Norm Tucker

Article Overview: Awareness is a key ingredient of all personal and business sucess and critical if your business-sales need is to solve customer problems and meet customer needs.

The A to Z of Small Business Sales - A for Awareness

You’ve heard the expression ‘the fog of war’. It’s an expression used by military and political people to excuse, rationalize or justify an event that in the ‘heat of action’ did not go according to plan and resulted in casualties or deaths which are often called ‘collateral damage’.

You may note that all the italicized expression reflect an attempt to ‘dehumanize’, ‘downplay’ and ‘dispose’ a problem without dealing with it. That’s why the problem doesn’t go away. That’s one reason why for example, we still consider war justifiable. Would you agree?

Take a minute to consider how you reacted to my first two paragraphs. It will tell you something about yourself.

If you did not stop to think about what I wrote before agreeing or disagreeing with me chances are you responded from the position of what you knew and believed BEFORE you read what I wrote. You reacted from your preconceived notions and you did not hear what I said.

We do that with customers. We do not hear what they say. We are so busy making a sales pitch - selling our own brand of propaganda. We often don’t stop to ask, think or listen to the customer. How often do we really pay attention to the customer before pursuing our own need - the need to sell.

One point I’m making here is Be Aware of what you are doing and where, why, when, to whom and how. Asking yourself and your customer (or anyone) questions using the ‘5 W’s and H’ is a great way to start creating awareness.

Do you think it’s possible to solve customer problems and or meet customer needs - or your own for that matter, without awareness? I don’t think so.

Speaking of planning there’s a joke that says a “good way to get God to laugh is to tell him your plans”. Being aware that plans do not always work is really to be aware of and open to the opportunities that arise when plans go awry.

Keep your plans though. They’re not Gospel but they are useful because they put down your vision and help you keep focus.

Plans are like the fixed openings in a game of chess. They’re all set out with names such as The Roy Lopez, The Queen’s Gambit and The English Opening. They form a basis for the early going. However as the games moves along variation, diversity and improvisation become the key factors - and they are the human factors - in winning or losing.

The openings can be memorized and accomplished by anyone. But it takes real talent, flexibility, creativity and awareness to gain advantage once the game opens up.

Have you ever thought why we don’t ask a lot of questions, especially men? Targeting men may be a generalization but how many men would ask for directions if they were lost? I never used to. I always do now. I used to say I enjoyed being lost. I suspect I held the questions because of how my parents brought me up, how school taught me, and generally how my seniors-authority figures would expect me to behave.

“Little boys should be seen and not heard.” was a favorite expression of my Dad. In this world, we are expected to comply and do as we are told. Some democracy eh? In this world we are taught but do we really know how to learn? A most important way to learn is to ask and to listen. Then to understand and to do. Then repeat the cycle.

Being aware is when you put yourself in the “moccasins of someone else” and you try to understand their feelings, needs and desires. Being aware is an important element of communication, of sales and of personal development. As your level of awareness increases - and the possibilities are infinite and abundant - so will your success - personal and financial.

I’ve just finished reading “The Simplicity Survival Handbook” by Bill Jensen in which he says we are only capable of handling a small number of priorities at once. It makes sense. Is it a priority if you have 20 of them?

May I suggest that one priority you might consider by just paying attention to it for a couple of weeks for everything you to or think or say ask yourself - What is my awareness about this? Why do I feel this way” What are my assumptions here?

No need to resolve or measure or improve your awareness - just be aware of what it is - the change will follow if you allow it.

The scouts motto ‘Be Prepared’, also valid to any endeavour, reflects basic individual and group need to survive and thrive. It also reflects the slower paced expectations of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth in which events could be anticipated.

Today’s pace and instant communications leads us to ask “be prepared for what?” Do we really know what might happen next? Today, we need also to 'Be Aware' of what’s going on around us.

So far in today’s article we have mentioned key A words such as aware, ask, assumptions, allow, abundant. I feel there’ another dozen articles just on A words, perhaps a book. I’m also aware that I have not talked about the topic I promised on Sales Process.

Sidetracked again - but perhaps usefully.

Next time you can expect an article with two more A words -“Adopting a formal Sales Process and adapting it to your business”. Without a formal Sales Process, your sales opportunity loss is between 15% to 45%.

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