replacing obsolete classic sales
training
with a customer-focused, no-push approach
A leading sales training consultant once
observed, “Selling hasn’t changed since they were hawking rocks to the
Pharaohs.” The same can be said for salesperson selection processes and sales force
training programs. Sales managers are still recruiting aggressive salespeople to execute
classic sales call behaviors such as establishing rapport, questioning for need, selling
features, handling objections, closing orders and following up.
This approach is in direct conflict with today’s sales environment, with customer
preferences and with the effect of modern technology on buying practices:
(1) Today’s buyer is the most sold-to in history, getting
hundreds of messages weekly from TV, radio, phone, fax, e-mail, billboards, etc. Fighting
off pushy salespeople has become a despised way of life.
(2) Over 30 years of research into what customers want from
salespeople shows that only one of the classic sales call behaviors ever makes
the top ten list. The other items on the list typically are not emphasized by sales
managers.
(3) Technologies such as the Internet make it easier to buy direct
and cut (“disintermediate”) bothersome salespeople out of the process.
The Internet is changing the way traditional marketing and sales must be conducted. There
will still be a role for in-person sales of some type, but the Internet experience is
shaping customer preferences and expectations from traditional efforts. In addition,
organizations are going to have to re-evaluate their channels to see if they still are
justified in an era of increasing direct purchase options.
So if salespeople truly want to satisfy
prospects today, they must modify their traditional sales tactics. The challenge is to
abandon a vendor-focused sales call model and start selling the way customers want to be
sold to. This requires a comprehensive No Push Selling approach across an entire
organization.
the “power persuader”
approach doesn’t work
This generation has to be the most sold-to group in
history. We are being bombarded with hundreds of daily impressions … TV and radio
commercials, billboards, signage, phone calls, faxes, e-mails, magazine ads, logos on
clothing, banners on stadiums, etc. One Information Systems executive reported receiving
170 solicitations over a two week period. Vendors and salespeople are getting more
strident just to cut through the constant background noise of sales pitches.
This is hammered home every time you get a phone call at dinner starting with, “I can
save you 30 percent on your long distance phone bill.” They don’t know who you
are, how you use the phone, or even who your current carrier is. They call you when you
don’t want to be called to tell you something you’ve expressed no interest in
hearing and then ignore you when you ask them to stop. The madness ends when you hang up
in disgust.
This is when we draw the fatal conclusion. The seductive fallacy is,
“If people are doing it,
it must work.”
Selling is not Talking People into Doing Something They Really Don’t Want to
Do. The truth of the matter is,
The power approach doesn’t
work.
It never has
worked.
It never will
work.
Everyone knows how to be annoying. We learned it as children. When this continues into
adulthood – purposely pestering customers with these power sales techniques – we
become “Power Persuaders.” We also lose our ability to become successful in the
long-term.
the sales/prospect disconnect
According to 30 years of
extensive customer research on buyer preferences, most of what is being taught about
selling is no longer applicable. There is a significant disconnect between what sales
managers select and train for, and what prospects prefer.
For example, in a 1992 Personnel Journal survey of insurance industry sales
managers, top performers were identified as high in:
(1) Emotional intensity
and drive towards short-term goals;
(2) Intuition rather than
complex analysis of subject matter;
(3) Assertiveness in
controlling the actions of others;
(4) Ego drive ...
impatience and low tolerance levels.
These insurance sales managers evidently felt that customers were saying, “I hope an
emotionally intense, short-term goal driven, non-analytical, controlling, impatient and
intolerant salesperson calls on me today.”
Conversely, a 1995 survey of buyers reported in Industrial Marketing Management
indicated these sales behavior preferences:
1. Follow-through skills
2. Product knowledge
3. Integrity
4. Problem solving abilities
5. Credibility
6. Willingness to “go to bat” for customers’ interests
7. Sales presentation skills
8. Knowledge of competitors’ products
9. Industry knowledge
10. Appropriate frequency of sales calls
Note that only the seventh item relates to classic sales call behavior. This is typical of
most buyer preference surveys for the past 30 years. Traditional activities such as
rapport, questioning, selling features, closing and objection handling are not desired
sales behaviors.
A 1995 survey of 1,300 U.S. and Canadian industrial firms found that 43 percent provide no
sales training. And of the industrial firms that did train, the author’s conclusion
was that most sales training was not cost effective. Looking at data such as the
sample above, it is apparent that the sales training was likely focusing on an obsolete
set of traditional sales skills.
changing sales paradigms
Traditional sales training and sales literature is full
of inaccurate assumptions and misguided advice. The only way to correct the problem is to
stay focused on prospect sales preferences with a No Push approach. Basic No Push
principles include:
The Presentation is the Key
In survey after survey of customers, the Presentation step is the only preferred classic
sales behavior. Buyers don’t want to establish rapport until they have decided to do
business with you. They know their needs and don’t want to take a lot of time having
you “uncover” them (which assumes you understand their business better than they
do.) They don’t want their objections handled or to fight off a string of closes.
There’s no secret. Know your product, your competition, the customer’s business
well enough to project your advantages, and then provide great follow-through for any
requests.
Partnership or Consultative Selling is a Deception
Many salespeople try to raise their status in the eyes of the customer. The only result is
that they destroy their credibility. Partnership Selling isn’t possible. The vendor
is not going to share in any customer losses from using the vendor’s product, yet
makes a profit selling it. Consultative Selling is an inherent conflict of interest, since
salespeople get a “commission kickback” on their advice. No Push salespeople are
open and straight-forward with customers about what they do for a living.
Only Twisted Minds Twist Arms
Traditional selling is often manipulative. There is a popular 400 page book dedicated
solely to closing secrets. The “tricks” approach to selling is despised by
customers. Salespeople must teach and enlighten, not force the decision process. Prospects
close themselves. They gladly buy when there is a match between cost, value and need. No
Push salespeople let prospects drive the sale.
“No” Has to Be an Acceptable Answer
Nothing infuriates prospects faster than ignoring their wishes. Selling is not Talking
People into Doing Something They Really Don’t Want to Do. Remember, it’s harder
to find a new customer than a new sales style.
Why Blow Tomorrow for Today?
If we are in sales for the long-term, then we know there are always two sales going on ...
the Today Sale and the Tomorrow Sale. Why pressure a customer for a short-term Today Sale
and lose repeat Tomorrow Sales forever?
a contrarian approach
No Push Selling challenges sales managers’ and
salespeople’s most basic beliefs. It is a contrarian view of classical, structured,
manipulative selling. It takes traditional sales techniques and reverses many of them ...
because that’s what prospects want. No Push tactics include:
 Provide the
sales behaviors Total Quality research shows buyers want vs.
forcing prospects through the structured sales call method
developed
internally.
Do what
customers least expect (but want most) from salespeople vs. look
and sound like every other salesperson in the world.
Identify
“suspects” for the product vs. sell to anyone who can fog a mirror.
Be open and
direct about the “I benefit from your order” sales situatio vs.
masquerading as a consultant or partner.
Get down (no
push) for the sales call and up for the paperwork vs. up (pushy)
for the call and down for the paperwork.
Educate and
inform about product buying criteria and quality
vs. selling features.
Clarify
concerns vs. handle objections.
Admit to
problems and mistakes vs. explaining them away.
Make it easy
for the prospect to say “No” vs. ignoring and overcoming
the No-word.
Promise not to
bother prospects with needless follow-up vs. calling repeatedly
to see if they “got the information I mailed.”
Walk away from
“bad business” vs. close anything possible.
Plant seeds for
Tomorrow vs. sell everything you can today.
Make fun of
yourself vs. “never is heard a discouraging word.”
Stay “on
the wagon” vs. give in to Power Persuader shortcuts.
summary
No Push Selling is designed for today’s
marketplace. It is completely customer focused, teaching how to sell in a No Push fashion
that prospects prefer for short-term sales and for long term relationships. Shaking off
the Power Persuader approach and adopting No Push Selling can take your results to the
next level of success and income for the long term.
top
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