Most sales people still feel their rapport building or personality is the reason why sales are made, but customers want problems solved, in addition to saving time, money, or anything else that impacts their bottom line.
Sales pros today are made up of people who can identify and solve customer issues, those who cannot will fall behind. Its simple, if you can solve or successfully address an issue a client has, you will gain a major competitive edge.
Why do most sales people fail?
They love to hear themselves talk.
They simply cannot listen.
They think too much about what they are about to say versus actually listening.
They NEVER write things down.
They have no questions planned or written out.
Sales could be simple, if we just take our ego out of the equation. Sales is nothing more than following the sequence below:
Ask well thought out "Open-Ended" questions (questions starting with what, how, or why).
Listen, I mean REALLY listen and do not worry about selling right away.
Make sure you understand everything the client has said.
Start solving, NOT selling.
If you follow these steps, you are now ahead of the competition. "How do we know this?" Over 90% of sales are made after the 5th attempt (Sales Management Association Study, 2003), yet only 10% of today's sales people will go that far. Why? More than likely they've run out of things to say because they have not learned enough about the client.
Ask yourself a fundamental question. If my competition knew more about my client's needs and challenges would they have a better chance to win their business? Of course they would. The key to sales is to explore and find out things that position you to help the customer. Your credibility and value goes through the roof, thus making it very difficult for the client to leave you. The same can be said for a prospect. If you target an account where the competition has rested on the mentality of "my client loves me" would you be able to replace them if you found a way to solve a problem? Of course!
Sales can be easy, but we all have to practice. Many companies state they do not have time to practice which means many organizations are simply "shooting from the hip". Practice enables technique to become second nature. This breeds consistency. Consistency is essential to experiencing a continual stream of successes that generate results.
