There seem to be quite a few myths in the world about selling. As an original outsider, I’ve learnt by trial and error. While my experience in selling is by no means comprehensive, compiled below is the result of my experiences over the last year.
Sales is hard. Convincing someone to part with their money can be quite the process. You need to realize this fact, as you will have days where you will feel frustrated, exhausted and just plain dejected about the prospects of your potential customers purchasing something from you.
You sell software. You also sell yourself, your past experience, your process, your personality and your image. What I’ve come to realize, is that sales itself is not just about selling a product, it is about selling everything. You sell yourself as a potential provider/vendor, project partner, confidence and more.
1. Value, Value, Value
Selling can be quite hard when the conversation is about fluff. To change the conversation there is one main ingredient that you can leverage: Value. By focusing on value, you can not just prove your worth, but you provide excuses for people to believe in you and your product.
Most companies will not be comfortable signing a 4/5/6 figure cheque on a smooth sales conversation. To counteract the innate resistance, you must guide and provide incremental steps. If you have read SPIN selling you know about expanding on problems to reveal implications, but this focuses the issue on the customer problems– it does little to create trust in you.
To create trust and push a sales forward create unexpected value. Conduct your business in a timely process that gives the potential client confidence. Map your process with the idea that steps are key. Small wins throughout the process can incrementally move you towards your end goal.
For larger contracts that means doing work in good faith. However small the work is, it helps to establish the relationship and proves in many ways you follow through on your word, and are competent enough to perform work properly.
The value itself can be small design documents, a balsamiq mockup, or a summary of some of your past customers experiences, or contact information provided at a customer request, or not.
2. Adaptation
One of the most difficult things for humans to do is adapt properly to the behaviour of others. We have all heard the narrative from Dale Carnegie about how people like people that are alike, this is a good concept. The concept needs to shift a bit in sales: move from an alike conversation to an awareness conversation. Well educated professionals understand sales, they also understand when they are being sold, and when a conversation is not being pushed.
As a salesperson, you need to focus not just on their drivers, or problems, but on their behaviour. If someone is in the mood to talk court, short no bullshit metrics– give it to them. If a person would like to talk vendor vetting, speak to that.
3. The Cliff
There exists what can be coined as a peak. In every conversation in sales there is a moment where the ask can be properly put forward that is accepted and allows the conversation to shift into a true sales conversation. This moment needs to be put forward with confidence, not arrogance, or authority, but confidence. As noted above, smart people know when they are being sold, they also understand that sales need to happen. The timing for this moment can be tricky, but it needs to happen.
4. The Price
As your sales process has proceeded, you have provided value, adapted your conversations properly, even navigated the cliff. What you have not done is reveal price. By focusing away from price, the conversation turns into “just” a price conversation. As long as your product is not extremely over priced, a negotiation can take place. Negotiations become about business and move away from an emotional conversation that could occur at first.
These four rules have been a focus in my sales process. In the future I will continue to apply them to contracts, opportunities and more.
Selling Contracts
There seem to be quite a few myths in the world about selling. As an original outsider, I’ve learnt by trial and error. While my experience in selling is by no means comprehensive, compiled below is the result of my experiences over the last year.
Sales is hard. Convincing someone to part with their money can be quite the process. You need to realize this fact, as you will have days where you will feel frustrated, exhausted and just plain dejected about the prospects of your potential customers purchasing something from you.
You sell software. You also sell yourself, your past experience, your process, your personality and your image. What I’ve come to realize, is that sales itself is not just about selling a product, it is about selling everything. You sell yourself as a potential provider/vendor, project partner, confidence and more.
1. Value, Value, Value
Selling can be quite hard when the conversation is about fluff. To change the conversation there is one main ingredient that you can leverage: Value. By focusing on value, you can not just prove your worth, but you provide excuses for people to believe in you and your product.
Most companies will not be comfortable signing a 4/5/6 figure cheque on a smooth sales conversation. To counteract the innate resistance, you must guide and provide incremental steps. If you have read SPIN selling you know about expanding on problems to reveal implications, but this focuses the issue on the customer problems– it does little to create trust in you.
To create trust and push a sales forward create unexpected value. Conduct your business in a timely process that gives the potential client confidence. Map your process with the idea that steps are key. Small wins throughout the process can incrementally move you towards your end goal.
For larger contracts that means doing work in good faith. However small the work is, it helps to establish the relationship and proves in many ways you follow through on your word, and are competent enough to perform work properly.
The value itself can be small design documents, a balsamiq mockup, or a summary of some of your past customers experiences, or contact information provided at a customer request, or not.
2. Adaptation
One of the most difficult things for humans to do is adapt properly to the behaviour of others. We have all heard the narrative from Dale Carnegie about how people like people that are alike, this is a good concept. The concept needs to shift a bit in sales: move from an alike conversation to an awareness conversation. Well educated professionals understand sales, they also understand when they are being sold, and when a conversation is not being pushed.
As a salesperson, you need to focus not just on their drivers, or problems, but on their behaviour. If someone is in the mood to talk court, short no bullshit metrics– give it to them. If a person would like to talk vendor vetting, speak to that.
3. The Cliff
There exists what can be coined as a peak. In every conversation in sales there is a moment where the ask can be properly put forward that is accepted and allows the conversation to shift into a true sales conversation. This moment needs to be put forward with confidence, not arrogance, or authority, but confidence. As noted above, smart people know when they are being sold, they also understand that sales need to happen. The timing for this moment can be tricky, but it needs to happen.
4. The Price
As your sales process has proceeded, you have provided value, adapted your conversations properly, even navigated the cliff. What you have not done is reveal price. By focusing away from price, the conversation turns into “just” a price conversation. As long as your product is not extremely over priced, a negotiation can take place. Negotiations become about business and move away from an emotional conversation that could occur at first.
These four rules have been a focus in my sales process. In the future I will continue to apply them to contracts, opportunities and more.
Posted 12 years ago