The A to Z of Small Business Sales - SP Sales Process - Essentials of a Counsellor Sales Process
The A to Z of Small Business Sales - SP Sales Process - Essentials of a Counsellor Sales Process
I used to play a lot of contract bridge. One of my favorite partners used to say “Don’t make a twenty five dollar play against a two bit player”. Why? It’s wasted. It’s too subtle. It won’t work.
Regardless of what you are selling the steps and approach of Counsellor Selling will help you make sales and build customer loyalty. The real question is: how can I effectively use my time in relations to the benefit of the sale. You are obviously not going to take two hours to make a ten dollar sale.
Adapt the words to the occasion. Be aware of what you’re doing and why. Also be aware of what the customer is doing and why. There are four types of sales people: Unconscious competent; Unconscious incompetent; Conscious incompetent; Conscious competent. I think we should strive to be in the ‘Conscious competent’ category.
Sales is more than words and hustle. It’s a process of discovery, understanding, developing trust and relationship and problem solving. if you think about it, there is not a problem anywhere in the world that could not be solved or improved upon with communication and relationship.
The sales process a process of transformation that starts with recognizing and communicating a need, exploring and understanding the need to finally choosing the solution to the need. All that is done by the customer. The sales person acts as consultant, facilitator, enabler, catalyst through the process.
Counsellor Sales builds a relationship between the customer and the sales person. The relationship building enables the customer to discover, clarify and understand the problem and what they can do about it. The sales person helps to find a fit between the customers needs, options and available service or products.
The relationship develops the following elements:
1. Establishes trust.
2. Reveals the problem.
3. Helps solve the problem.
4. Offers support.
In the Counsellor Sales process the sales person helps not sells; the customer is not sold, the customer chooses and buys. The main obstacles to buying are:
1. No Trust (Between the customer, sales person, product, service, selling company).
2. No Need. (No problem to solve, or problem not defined. A problem is the difference between what you have and what you want.
3. No Help. (Your product or service does not help solve the customer’s problem sufficiently to warrant a purchase.)
4. No Hurry. (Assuming trust, need and help barriers have been understood and overcome, the customers fear of change may outweigh perceived benefit.)
The process in Counsellor Sales is called LSPCA:
Listening.
Sharing.
Clarifying.
Presenting.
Asking.
The steps of the process are:
1. Discovery
Here a lot of questions and deep listening enable understanding of the customer’s situation: needs, feelings, experience, assumptions, the problem, the causes of the problem, the gaps between problem and solution, benefits of solving the problem, opportunities and obstacles to fix the problem.
The key aspects of Discovery are questioning and listening, clarifying, relating, sharing which will result in empathy, understanding and building trust.
Note: Avoid questions that start with ‘why’. Why questions put the customer on the defensive. They can sound more like an interrogation than a discovery. A Discovery allows the customer to become comfortable with the problem, the sales person, and allows the opportunity for the customer to believe somebody is listening to and trying to understand the customer’s needs.
Note: You also need to determine who is the decision maker in the customer’s buying process. This information will determine how much time you spend with the customer, what you cover, and how-when you engage the decision maker.
2. Discovery Agreement
Here the sales person feeds back to the customer what he or she has learned. A good way to do this is by relating back the ‘5 w’s and w’ (What where, when who, why and how of the customer’s problem, need, and expectation.). The idea is to get a common understanding of the problem, the cause, extent and urgency of the customer’s need and expectations, the benefits to the customer of solving the problem, and how important it is to solve the problem.
During the Discovery periodically ask for confirmations from the customer that you are correct. You are essentially attempting to eliminate assumptions and inaccuracies. You also want to minimize objections to your presentation of the solution later on.
Note: At this stage the sales person has not introduced any proposed solutions - i.e. the product or service that he or she wishes to sell. The Discovery Agreement enables the sales person to determine the commonalities between the customer’s need and available products and services and thus to determine the potential and likelihood of a sale.
Your Discovery should summarize the customer’s present situation, the customer’s objectives, and the customer’s obstacles to solving the problem. At the end of the Discovery Agreement process ask: “Do you agree Mr. or Mrs. --- that we share a common understanding of what you need?”
An effective feedback demonstrates that the sales person understands the problem and thus builds credibility, trust and confidence. It will also reinforce in the customer’s mind the need, the benefits, the urgency of solving the problem and is thus a powerful prelude to advocating the solution.
In some complex situations, it is useful to put the Discovery Agreement in writing. In many instances, it is useful for the sales person to keep notes as the Discovery proceeds.
3. The Presentation
Sticking strictly to facts, relevant commonalities, shared experiences, and linked to what has been summarized in the Discovery Agreement, the sales person presents information on the company, the product, the service.
The Presentation might start with “Based on what you have told me...followed by a summary of the Discovery Agreement, the features of the solution and how they benefit the customer and solve the customer’s problem. Demonstrate if you can. Better still, get the customer to use the product hands-on. Cover everything discussed in the Discovery Agreement.
Cover how your solution helps the customer personally.
After the presentation, ask for customer feedback and questions, deal with objections (stick strictly to facts and to the Discovery Agreement) and then seek agreement that the solution meets the customer’s needs and the customer appreciates the benefits.
Note: The sales persons attitude toward questions, objections, hesitations is important to success and to the customer’s perception of trust and condifence. Be supportive of the customer. Use questions, objections, hesitations as an opportunity to learn - about how effective your sales approach is and what you might change in the future and about what the customer’s needs are to make the next step (i.e. the purchase decision).
4. The Decision
Ask for the order. How you close the sale depends on what you’re selling and the relationship you have built with the customer. By this time, if the customer perceives you, your company and your solution as being credible, professional and reliable.
Essentially with Counsellor Selling, you really do not need to ask for the business, the solution is already apparent. However to close the sale you must ask and ask confidently, unapologetically and specifically - ten times out of ten.
Two books previously recommended in my article “The A to Z of Small Business Sales - SP for Sales Process - Adopting a formal Sales Process and adapting it to your business” deal specifically with closings. They are:
“Conceptual Selling” by Robert Miller, Stephen E. Heiman and Tad Tuleja
“Stop, Ask, and Listen - how to welcome your customers and increase your sales” by Kelly Robertson (Guest Selling Process)
The A to Z of Small Business Sales SP Sales Process Essentials of a Counsellor Sales Process - To learn more about this author, visit Norm Tucker's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
How much time you invest in each sales-customer interaction depends on the value-benefit of the transaction. You would not for example make a $100 pitch if you were selling a 10 cent product.
I used to play a lot of contract bridge. One of my favorite partners used to say “Don’t make a twenty five dollar play against a two bit player”. Why? It’s wasted. It’s too subtle. It won’t work.
Regardless of what you are selling the steps and approach of Counsellor Selling will help you make sales and build customer loyalty. The real question is: how can I effectively use my time in relations to the benefit of the sale. You are obviously not going to take two hours to make a ten dollar sale.
Adapt the words to the occasion. Be aware of what you’re doing and why. Also be aware of what the customer is doing and why. There are four types of sales people: Unconscious competent; Unconscious incompetent; Conscious incompetent; Conscious competent. I think we should strive to be in the ‘Conscious competent’ category.
Sales is more than words and hustle. It’s a process of discovery, understanding, developing trust and relationship and problem solving. if you think about it, there is not a problem anywhere in the world that could not be solved or improved upon with communication and relationship.
The sales process a process of transformation that starts with recognizing and communicating a need, exploring and understanding the need to finally choosing the solution to the need. All that is done by the customer. The sales person acts as consultant, facilitator, enabler, catalyst through the process.
Counsellor Sales builds a relationship between the customer and the sales person. The relationship building enables the customer to discover, clarify and understand the problem and what they can do about it. The sales person helps to find a fit between the customers needs, options and available service or products.
The relationship develops the following elements:
1. Establishes trust.
2. Reveals the problem.
3. Helps solve the problem.
4. Offers support.
In the Counsellor Sales process the sales person helps not sells; the customer is not sold, the customer chooses and buys. The main obstacles to buying are:
1. No Trust (Between the customer, sales person, product, service, selling company).
2. No Need. (No problem to solve, or problem not defined. A problem is the difference between what you have and what you want.
3. No Help. (Your product or service does not help solve the customer’s problem sufficiently to warrant a purchase.)
4. No Hurry. (Assuming trust, need and help barriers have been understood and overcome, the customers fear of change may outweigh perceived benefit.)
The process in Counsellor Sales is called LSPCA:
Listening.
Sharing.
Clarifying.
Presenting.
Asking.
The steps of the process are:
1. Discovery
Here a lot of questions and deep listening enable understanding of the customer’s situation: needs, feelings, experience, assumptions, the problem, the causes of the problem, the gaps between problem and solution, benefits of solving the problem, opportunities and obstacles to fix the problem.
The key aspects of Discovery are questioning and listening, clarifying, relating, sharing which will result in empathy, understanding and building trust.
Note: Avoid questions that start with ‘why’. Why questions put the customer on the defensive. They can sound more like an interrogation than a discovery. A Discovery allows the customer to become comfortable with the problem, the sales person, and allows the opportunity for the customer to believe somebody is listening to and trying to understand the customer’s needs.
Note: You also need to determine who is the decision maker in the customer’s buying process. This information will determine how much time you spend with the customer, what you cover, and how-when you engage the decision maker.
2. Discovery Agreement
Here the sales person feeds back to the customer what he or she has learned. A good way to do this is by relating back the ‘5 w’s and w’ (What where, when who, why and how of the customer’s problem, need, and expectation.). The idea is to get a common understanding of the problem, the cause, extent and urgency of the customer’s need and expectations, the benefits to the customer of solving the problem, and how important it is to solve the problem.
During the Discovery periodically ask for confirmations from the customer that you are correct. You are essentially attempting to eliminate assumptions and inaccuracies. You also want to minimize objections to your presentation of the solution later on.
Note: At this stage the sales person has not introduced any proposed solutions - i.e. the product or service that he or she wishes to sell. The Discovery Agreement enables the sales person to determine the commonalities between the customer’s need and available products and services and thus to determine the potential and likelihood of a sale.
Your Discovery should summarize the customer’s present situation, the customer’s objectives, and the customer’s obstacles to solving the problem. At the end of the Discovery Agreement process ask: “Do you agree Mr. or Mrs. --- that we share a common understanding of what you need?”
An effective feedback demonstrates that the sales person understands the problem and thus builds credibility, trust and confidence. It will also reinforce in the customer’s mind the need, the benefits, the urgency of solving the problem and is thus a powerful prelude to advocating the solution.
In some complex situations, it is useful to put the Discovery Agreement in writing. In many instances, it is useful for the sales person to keep notes as the Discovery proceeds.
3. The Presentation
Sticking strictly to facts, relevant commonalities, shared experiences, and linked to what has been summarized in the Discovery Agreement, the sales person presents information on the company, the product, the service.
The Presentation might start with “Based on what you have told me...followed by a summary of the Discovery Agreement, the features of the solution and how they benefit the customer and solve the customer’s problem. Demonstrate if you can. Better still, get the customer to use the product hands-on. Cover everything discussed in the Discovery Agreement.
Cover how your solution helps the customer personally.
After the presentation, ask for customer feedback and questions, deal with objections (stick strictly to facts and to the Discovery Agreement) and then seek agreement that the solution meets the customer’s needs and the customer appreciates the benefits.
Note: The sales persons attitude toward questions, objections, hesitations is important to success and to the customer’s perception of trust and condifence. Be supportive of the customer. Use questions, objections, hesitations as an opportunity to learn - about how effective your sales approach is and what you might change in the future and about what the customer’s needs are to make the next step (i.e. the purchase decision).
4. The Decision
Ask for the order. How you close the sale depends on what you’re selling and the relationship you have built with the customer. By this time, if the customer perceives you, your company and your solution as being credible, professional and reliable.
Essentially with Counsellor Selling, you really do not need to ask for the business, the solution is already apparent. However to close the sale you must ask and ask confidently, unapologetically and specifically - ten times out of ten.
Two books previously recommended in my article “The A to Z of Small Business Sales - SP for Sales Process - Adopting a formal Sales Process and adapting it to your business” deal specifically with closings. They are:
“Conceptual Selling” by Robert Miller, Stephen E. Heiman and Tad Tuleja
“Stop, Ask, and Listen - how to welcome your customers and increase your sales” by Kelly Robertson (Guest Selling Process)
The A to Z of Small Business Sales SP Sales Process Essentials of a Counsellor Sales Process - To learn more about this author, visit Norm Tucker's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
Dave KurlanDave 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 |
|||
David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
|||
Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
|||
Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
|||
John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
|||
George LudwigGeorge 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. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
|||
Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
|||
Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to Norm's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 | |
|
| |
 | ||
 |
||
 |
||
|
||
|
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
 |
 Workplace Culture Factual Mental Imagery Improve Web Site Conversions Get Ready for The Recovery |
|
 | ||
 |
Top 50 Franchising Blogs
Top 50 Franchising Blogs | |
 |
Fortune Hunters
CBC Entrepreneur TV | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
|
|
|
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||