Sorry We're Out of Silver Bullets For Sales
Sorry We're Out of Silver Bullets For Sales
By Dave Stein, Author of How Winners Sell
CEO & Founder, ES Research Group
I’ve been in sales for a generation and I’ve seen a lot. That’s a long time; but my mind is always open to new ideas. One thing I’m well aware of is that we’re fresh out of new silver bullets.
When you are new to sales or haven’t yet been exposed to the array of approaches, each new audio program, book, training program and sales tactic is like putting on a mask and snorkel and seeing for the first time that there is another world under the surface of the ocean.
Silver Bullets: The “Aha” Moments
In my early days, I remember the excitement I felt and the progress I made when I first learned how to close a deal (a silver bullet from Zig Ziglar), and later, when I began to look at a sales opportunity strategically (Robert Miller and Stephen Heiman). I clearly recall when I first mapped and then utilized the corporate politics within my customer’s organization (Jim Holden). Formulating a ROI that was of board-level quality was another high point (Mack Hanan via Tim Noonan). There were many more milestones I reached, with each “aha” moment signaling that I now had a skill that would provide me a greater capability to sell.
I went down a lot of dead-ends as well, especially early on. Just like many people new to sales, I wasn’t experienced enough to discern the difference among 1) a new version of an old, proven approach, 2) an approach that was proven and used widely but I had never seen before, and 3) an unproven or even ineffective, new approach. At the time, they all appeared as silver bullets to me, but some turned out to be fool’s gold.
The World’s Oldest Profession
Here is the way I see it now: We’ve pretty much invented everything that will be invented so far as one-to-one selling is concerned. (The same isn’t true for marketing, by the way, but that’s a different subject, mainly because it’s a one-to-many communication.) We’re not talking about nanotechnology here… or medical research… or even “rocket surgery”, (borrowed that from the mixed metaphor of a clever TV commercial).
Sure, writers, consultants and trainers with your best interests at heart will always come up with new twists on overused and stale approaches, clichés, and concepts. I did plenty of that myself over the years, delivering measurable business value to my audiences, clients and the readers of my books and articles. But the bottom line here is that, contrary to popular belief, sales is the world’s oldest profession. (There is no need to get into what was being sold when it began.) And therefore, the only silver bullets are still the old ones.
I know that as the business climate inevitably changes over time, so must your approach to selling. Otherwise you won’t be able to stay competitive. But any of these changes requires only an adjustment in what we currently do now, not a full course reversal.
Look Back for the Answers
Here is an example. As I write this, I’m on a plane on my way home from Dublin. I worked with a small group of CEOs around the subject of improving their companies’ ability to export their products internationally. Invariably in Europe the subject of tenders comes up. In Europe public companies (and government agencies) are required to publicly post ITTs (Invitations to Tender) allowing any and all companies, qualified or not, to bid for the business. The challenge for suppliers is getting any control of the buying process. Once the tender is offered, it’s extremely difficult to recruit champions and influencers to help you win, since there are laws governing how the buyers must proceed. What silver bullet will help us out deal with this situation, the CEOs wanted to know. Nothing new, just an old one: Targeting accounts. Getting into those companies and government agencies before they are involved in even the early stages of their buying process. More specifically, defining your sweet spot, doing some market research, and then strategically deploying some sales resources to build relationships, create demand, and steer those carefully selected future customers toward your vision of a solution. So when requirements are finally defined and put into the form of a tender, they are aligned with your unique capabilities to deliver results and you’re in the lead.
I can’t say I know who originally figured this out; but I can tell you that at one point, perhaps literally hundreds of years ago, this was a new silver bullet. It still is a silver bullet, but you have to look back, not forward to find it.
What Should You Do?
Some of the best sales performers I know understand the situation completely. They read every new book about sales book, listen to the latest audio CDs, and travel to the hottest seminars. Not because they are looking for new answers. They are looking for new ways to understand, refine and re-apply the tried and proven ones. There is a big difference in attitude between these people and the silver bullet seekers. It’s the golfer who spends her time at the driving range perfecting her swing, instead of in the car driving from one pro shop to another looking for the perfect club.
Where does that leave you if you aren’t delivering to target? Let’s look at that for a moment. First, are your hopes elevated by the promotion of each new sales book, cleverly-named training program, seminar, webinar and podcast? Do you really, really want to believe that the answer that has been eluding you for all these many years has finally been invented? It has. But it’s been there all, or at least a lot of the time and you haven’t seen it, or did see it and didn’t understand its value. As just one example, numbers of years ago Mack Hanan wrote books about value selling. Read one of his books and you’ll have most, if not all of what you need to sell at the highest levels of any company. I certainly haven’t seen every approach to selling business value, but I’ve seen a lot. And every one I’ve seen does basically the same thing. Tie the benefits of your product or service directly into your customer achieving a key component of their business and or financial plan.
A New Silver Bullet After All?
Let me just say that the answer doesn’t lie outside the existing collective body of work on selling. Just like winning the Masters or the Ryder Cup isn’t about discovering or inventing a new approach to playing golf. It’s all about employing what already exists better than anyone else. It’s all about refining your skills, complying with a process, measuring your progress, and continuous improvement. That’s what I’d like to see more of. Hey, maybe that’s the new silver bullet!
Sorry Were Out of Silver Bullets For Sales - To learn more about this author, visit Dave Stein's Website.
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Sorry, We’re Out of Silver Bullets For Sales
By Dave Stein, Author of How Winners Sell
CEO & Founder, ES Research Group
I’ve been in sales for a generation and I’ve seen a lot. That’s a long time; but my mind is always open to new ideas. One thing I’m well aware of is that we’re fresh out of new silver bullets.
When you are new to sales or haven’t yet been exposed to the array of approaches, each new audio program, book, training program and sales tactic is like putting on a mask and snorkel and seeing for the first time that there is another world under the surface of the ocean.
Silver Bullets: The “Aha” Moments
In my early days, I remember the excitement I felt and the progress I made when I first learned how to close a deal (a silver bullet from Zig Ziglar), and later, when I began to look at a sales opportunity strategically (Robert Miller and Stephen Heiman). I clearly recall when I first mapped and then utilized the corporate politics within my customer’s organization (Jim Holden). Formulating a ROI that was of board-level quality was another high point (Mack Hanan via Tim Noonan). There were many more milestones I reached, with each “aha” moment signaling that I now had a skill that would provide me a greater capability to sell.
I went down a lot of dead-ends as well, especially early on. Just like many people new to sales, I wasn’t experienced enough to discern the difference among 1) a new version of an old, proven approach, 2) an approach that was proven and used widely but I had never seen before, and 3) an unproven or even ineffective, new approach. At the time, they all appeared as silver bullets to me, but some turned out to be fool’s gold.
The World’s Oldest Profession
Here is the way I see it now: We’ve pretty much invented everything that will be invented so far as one-to-one selling is concerned. (The same isn’t true for marketing, by the way, but that’s a different subject, mainly because it’s a one-to-many communication.) We’re not talking about nanotechnology here… or medical research… or even “rocket surgery”, (borrowed that from the mixed metaphor of a clever TV commercial).
Sure, writers, consultants and trainers with your best interests at heart will always come up with new twists on overused and stale approaches, clichés, and concepts. I did plenty of that myself over the years, delivering measurable business value to my audiences, clients and the readers of my books and articles. But the bottom line here is that, contrary to popular belief, sales is the world’s oldest profession. (There is no need to get into what was being sold when it began.) And therefore, the only silver bullets are still the old ones.
I know that as the business climate inevitably changes over time, so must your approach to selling. Otherwise you won’t be able to stay competitive. But any of these changes requires only an adjustment in what we currently do now, not a full course reversal.
Look Back for the Answers
Here is an example. As I write this, I’m on a plane on my way home from Dublin. I worked with a small group of CEOs around the subject of improving their companies’ ability to export their products internationally. Invariably in Europe the subject of tenders comes up. In Europe public companies (and government agencies) are required to publicly post ITTs (Invitations to Tender) allowing any and all companies, qualified or not, to bid for the business. The challenge for suppliers is getting any control of the buying process. Once the tender is offered, it’s extremely difficult to recruit champions and influencers to help you win, since there are laws governing how the buyers must proceed. What silver bullet will help us out deal with this situation, the CEOs wanted to know. Nothing new, just an old one: Targeting accounts. Getting into those companies and government agencies before they are involved in even the early stages of their buying process. More specifically, defining your sweet spot, doing some market research, and then strategically deploying some sales resources to build relationships, create demand, and steer those carefully selected future customers toward your vision of a solution. So when requirements are finally defined and put into the form of a tender, they are aligned with your unique capabilities to deliver results and you’re in the lead.
I can’t say I know who originally figured this out; but I can tell you that at one point, perhaps literally hundreds of years ago, this was a new silver bullet. It still is a silver bullet, but you have to look back, not forward to find it.
What Should You Do?
Some of the best sales performers I know understand the situation completely. They read every new book about sales book, listen to the latest audio CDs, and travel to the hottest seminars. Not because they are looking for new answers. They are looking for new ways to understand, refine and re-apply the tried and proven ones. There is a big difference in attitude between these people and the silver bullet seekers. It’s the golfer who spends her time at the driving range perfecting her swing, instead of in the car driving from one pro shop to another looking for the perfect club.
Where does that leave you if you aren’t delivering to target? Let’s look at that for a moment. First, are your hopes elevated by the promotion of each new sales book, cleverly-named training program, seminar, webinar and podcast? Do you really, really want to believe that the answer that has been eluding you for all these many years has finally been invented? It has. But it’s been there all, or at least a lot of the time and you haven’t seen it, or did see it and didn’t understand its value. As just one example, numbers of years ago Mack Hanan wrote books about value selling. Read one of his books and you’ll have most, if not all of what you need to sell at the highest levels of any company. I certainly haven’t seen every approach to selling business value, but I’ve seen a lot. And every one I’ve seen does basically the same thing. Tie the benefits of your product or service directly into your customer achieving a key component of their business and or financial plan.
A New Silver Bullet After All?
Let me just say that the answer doesn’t lie outside the existing collective body of work on selling. Just like winning the Masters or the Ryder Cup isn’t about discovering or inventing a new approach to playing golf. It’s all about employing what already exists better than anyone else. It’s all about refining your skills, complying with a process, measuring your progress, and continuous improvement. That’s what I’d like to see more of. Hey, maybe that’s the new silver bullet!
Sorry Were Out of Silver Bullets For Sales - To learn more about this author, visit Dave Stein's Website.
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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