The whole deal
If you are considering going into sales, the thought of calling people cold or closing a sale can be a barrier. There are popular and misleading stereotypes of fast-talking, thick-skinned sales people, which may prompt the thought that the rest of us should take up a career in, say, accountancy. But there’s no cause to turn and run: successful sales skills and techniques can be taught. ‘The secrets of selling’ are what a recently published book* promises to explain. Its author Geoff King shared some of his insights with Prospects. Cold calling, for instance, does not have to be like those pointless and thankless phone calls to your home trying to sell mortgages or double-glazing. ‘Done properly,’ says Geoff, ‘cold calling is all about searching, not selling - the point is to find people who are interested and in your target market. If they are, a second phone call is the time to make an appointment to meet them.’ Selling psychologyGeoff believes that using the psychology of the sales situation gives you an edge. This involves - adjusting the sales message to suit your sales prospect’s personality: are they go-getters or reserved, cautious types, for example?
- understanding the role of emotion in sales negotiations;
- figuring out the prospect’s buying motive (e.g. is price less important to them than quality?);
- and pitching the sale at a personal level – for instance, by asking how the proposed sale would affect the prospect personally rather than talking about the whole company.
‘In almost all sales,’ says Geoff, ‘people buy on emotional grounds and then try to justify it on logical grounds.’ Five steps to successAccording to Geoff, the typical sales deal has five parts. ‘The first part is what I call the introduction, where you and the prospect gain a rapport - and also importantly a belief that you may be able to help them. ‘The second and longest part of most sales is consultation – for example, imagine you went to a doctor; you would expect a consultation or questioning when the doctor would ask you about the symptoms. Wouldn’t you be gobsmacked if you had hardly sat down in the doctor’s surgery before he started telling you about this amazing new white pill that he’s got. You’d think “he’s selling to me”. Through consultation, you need to get an understanding of the prospect’s situation regarding whatever you’re selling. ‘The third part of the deal is what you might call check questions, which don’t have to be very long but they need to be asked - something along the lines of: “Are you sure we covered everything?” ‘It’s only then, at point four, when we can start the selling - where you match the features of what you’re offering with the buyer’s needs and create a meeting of minds. ‘The final stage is asking for the business - often called closing - which should seem a natural next step if you’ve done the rest properly. To start with, you may fear it but you’ll soon find it is natural. People don’t like being sold to, but they like help with buying.’ The closeGeoff has eight different sorts of ways of closing a sale. For example, there is 'closing on a minor issue': 'If you were selling a service and it was quite a large amount, say £3 million of IT consultancy, you don’t say: “So can we go ahead then?” Rather you just ask for a small piece of work - in the case of IT consultancy you might sell an architect for a month to just sketch out what needs to be done. That gets you over that “static problem”. ‘Another way is the “alternative close”- for instance “Can I arrange the delivery for the 18th or the 25th of this month - which will suit you better? ‘There’s also an “assumptive close”: “It looks as if everything’s agreed. I’ll get our team together so we can start promptly,” The thing to bear in mind is confidence sells, arrogance repels people. ‘Or you can check availability – let’s see if that particular consultant is available – and, hey presto, they’re available. ‘Then there’s the “conditional close” where you bring the sale down to one final decision - such as “If I can get it for you in blue would you be happy to buy it.” (And yes I do happen to find it in blue.)’ Finally, Geoff has two rules of closing. ‘Always ask for the work - people expect it of you and will feel uncomfortable if you don’t ask or if you dance around the question. And secondly, once you’ve asked, you have to shut up, say nothing. It’s uncanny - you find that whoever speaks next loses.’ *The Secrets of Selling by Geoff King (Financial Times Prentice Hall £14.99) can be ordered from www.pearson-books.com/prospects. A student discount is available.More articles about sales and recruitment careers
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