training • white paper

replacing obsolete classic sales training
with a customer-focused, no-push approach

Paul Russell, a leading sales training trainer, once joked, “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 qualit 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.

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References:

Abramovitch, Ingrid, “Outrageous Sales Calls,” Success Selling, May 1994, pg. 26.
Anonymous, “Lessons from Legends,” Success Selling, May 1994, pg. 8.
Cohen, Andy, “No Deal,” Sales & Marketing Management, August 1998, pgs. 51-54.
Craft, Larry, “Questionnaire Helps Identify Top Sales Producers,” Personnel Journal, June 1992, pg. 6.
Cusimano, Jim, “Ameritech Sales Training Turns Tradition Upside Down,” Marketing News, September 14, 1992, pgs. 34-35.
Degroot, Robert P., “An Overview of Twelve Selling Models,” Personal Selling Power, July/August 1994, pgs. 56-57.
Dion, Paul, Easterling, Debbie and Miller, Shirley Jo, “What is Really Necessary in Successful Buyer/Seller Relationships?”, Industrial Marketing Management, 1995,  pgs. 1-9.
Frienenreich, Kenneth and Moine, Donald J., “Winning Sales Strategies for the 90’s,” Insurance Review, January 1990, pgs. 26-29.
Hayes, Michael H. and Hartley, Steven W., “How Buyers View Industrial Salespeople,” Industrial Marketing Management, May 1989, pgs. 73-80.
Jolson, Marvin A. and Comer, Lucette B., “Predicting the Effectiveness of Industrial Saleswomen,” Industrial Marketing Management, February 1992, pgs. 69-75.
Keenan, Jr. William, “Getting Customers into the A.C.T.” Sales & Marketing Management, February 1995, pgs. 58-63.
Kiesche, Elizabeth S., “CW-IDSI Survey: Customers Satisfied–Barely,” Chemical Week, April 6, 1994, pgs 68-72.
Schnebelt, Derrick C., “Turning the Tables,” Sales & Marketing Management, January 1993, pgs. 22-23.
Puri, S. Joe, “Where Industrial Sales Training is Weak,” Industrial Marketing Management, May 1993, pgs. 101-108.
“Success Scope,” Success Selling, May 1994, pg. 28.
Skipworth, Mark, “The View from the Other Side: What buyers think of sales pitches,” American Salesman, October 1994, pgs. 12-15.
Williams, Alvin J. and Seminerio, John, “What Buyers Like from Salesmen,” Industrial Marketing Management, March 1985, pgs. 75-78.

Information in this report was obtained from sources CooperComm believes to be reliable. CooperComm disclaims any and all warranties as to the reliability, accuracy and adequacy of such information and CooperComm shall have no liability for the inclusion or exclusion of information. CooperComm may, without notice, change expressed opinions. Use of this report to achieve desired results is the sole responsibility of the reader.