Reinventing the Sales Professional

Why You Need More Than the Traditional Sales Skills to Survive in the Age of the Mega Brand

By Loretto Mara - Managing Director - High Performance Training

The most marked feature of the marketplace in recent decades has been the ever-increasing dominance of the bigger brands. But this dominance is not just about size or market brute strength – much of the growth behind those brands is due to the rising levels of sophistication applied to sales function.

Against such odds, the smaller operators (‘smaller’ in this context means anything less than a global brand), must be smarter and quicker if they are to survive and prosper; and that means thinking in new and different ways. Most important of all, it is no longer enough just to think of yourself as a salesperson, but as the provider of innovative solutions to your customer’s problems. After all, the last thing the retailer wants is yet another addition to their already over-supplied product lines. But while they might cover their ears on hearing an over-familiar sales pitch, they will listen to fresh approaches to old issues.

A recurring theme in our executive training programmes is the issue of attitude. Too many people in the sales area continue to rely on the methods and approaches that brought them success in the past, but which may not fit with the shifting perceptions and expectations of the customer. To some extent, those expectations are driven by the dominant brands, but that does not mean the smaller operator can’t hitch a ride on those very same trends and use them to their own advantage.

It hardly needs saying that communication skills are the chief weapon in the salesperson’s arsenal, but it’s a mistake to assume that all are equal in this regard, and even those with what might be considered a ‘natural’ selling ability might not be fulfilling their true potential.

Anna Keely, Programme Director for Communication Skills, Customer Care, and Telephone Skills at High Performance Training, says successful communication begins before the salesperson even meets the customer. Attitude is vital to success, and the chances of success are maximised by first having total product knowledge; complete confidence in the product, and a belief that there is an eager demand for the product out there once the customer is made aware of it.

These factors create a positive platform from which to operate. But, rather than practice a ‘one size fits all’ sales pitch, it is better to approach the issue from your customer’s perspective. Find out what they want, what their needs are: once you’ve done that, you have established an empathetic link with the customer that enables you understand them more fully. From that point onwards, your efforts at communication will be made both easier and more productive.

Anna recommends that, before setting out for a sales meeting, you think in terms of Who/What/Why/Where/When/How. Who is this particular customer? What are their needs? Why should they want to buy my particular product? How am I to service this account over time? Only when you’ve answered these questions as fully as possible do you consider the questions you’ll put to the customer, or how you’ll present your product or service as a solution to their requirements or objectives.

This level of pre-planning, allied to your product knowledge, comes to life in the sales process through the combined media of Questioning Skills, Active Listening, and Assertiveness. The objective of these skills is to get the customer to like you by matching their outlook to yours, and it begins with asking what they want out of the process. Closed questions (i.e. those that elicit a straight ‘yes’ or ‘no’ reply) are virtually useless because they leave you with no prompts to take the conversation further. Ask instead for the customer’s opinion or their perception of certain product or market issues: that will get them talking; providing you with the hints and cues to develop the issues of their needs and the means by which you, as the salesperson, can address them.

This brings in the element of Active Listening, which in turn rests on the concept of Emotional Intelligence – the science of being alert to the signals we all emit as part of the communication process. Thus, close attention to the customer’s body language is a vital part of determining how receptive they are to your ideas. All of us will hear everything the customer says, but listening demands a higher degree of attention; picking up on those details that reveal their attitude to the product, to the salesperson, to their own customers. Active listening means paying attention to what is important to the customer: if you’re not already on first name terms then get there as soon as possible by noting their name at the outset and using it whenever you have the opportunity to address what you’ve identified as their needs.

Also, make a note of whether they stray occasionally into mentions of their social lives or non-work interests. Some people are quite happy to intersperse business talk with comments on the weekend’s rugby fixtures or their taste in music, and these should be taken as opportunities to consolidate your relationship with the customer. Others want simply to get the business done, so in these cases keep the talk simply to issues of sales and customer care. The objective, in all cases, is to identify what the customer wants from the process and give them just that.

Finally, assertiveness plays a role in maintaining balance in your relationship with the customer. Certainly, their needs are paramount, but that does not mean that yours are subservient. The assertiveness element means recognising that your needs and objectives are just as valid and must be recognised. In essence, it is about establishing a relationship based on equality and mutual respect – qualities that will not only deliver sales in the short term, but keep the customer coming back time and again. And there is no greater prize than that.

For further information please contact Loretto Mara at 01 853 2215, loretto@highperformance.ie

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