The P’s Of Selling

Since P words tend to be positive, many people have used P words in training material with great success. At the risk of repeating some of what many of you may have already heard, I thought I would do a little blog about my P’s for Selling.
Perspiration – I have never seen a successful salesperson who didn’t work hard. You may not have the best product, or be smarter than your competition, or be better looking, or even have the best personality but you can work harder than your competition. Hard work doesn’t insure success but it can make up for many of your companies or your products short comings.
Persistence – I wouldn’t say you should never give up on a sale. Sometime you are better off to stop chasing business you can’t win and focus on the business you can win. Too many times to count, after months of calling a customer and leaving messages without a response, the customer has called me back and thanked me for my persistence. Being persistent also means being persistent with your efforts and your message. Do what you say you are going to do, when you say you are going to do it. Your message should also be persistent. Know who you are and what the value you bring to the customer is and stick to your message. You can adjust your message based on feedback from the customer but if your message keeps changing then your customer will be confused and a confused customer most likely won’t buy from you.
Positive – As a sales manager, I have been on sales calls where the sales person is so beaten down by internal issues inside the company that they come off as negative or not believable. If you don’t believe in your product or company then you are working for the wrong company. Believe me, a sharp client can see the look in your eyes if you lose faith in your company or in your product and if you have lost faith they aren’t going to buy from you. With that in mind, I do believe there is a time to do what I call “going negative” but that is a subject for another day.
Pain – Much is made about finding out about what the customer’s pains are. I am a true believer in uncovering the pain and mapping that to your solution. Keep in mind that there are three types of pain: Latent Pain, Pain Felt, and Pain Solution Vision. Each type of pain has its advantages and disadvantages. This would also be a good subject for another blog.
Punctuality – My wife and children say that I am a fanatic about being on time. This is true in every part of my life. I’m not only almost always on time; I’m almost always way early. I think this is one of the keys to my success in sales. If I have a meeting at a customer site, I try to arrive at least 15 to 30 minutes early. That way if I get lost or if there is bad traffic, I still arrive on time. If I get to the site early, I can spend the extra time going over my plan for the meeting and making sure I’m calmed down from my trip. If I’m flying in for a meeting the night before, I will always take a drive to the customer site the night before to make sure I know where it is and about how long it will take to get there. These days most of my meetings are via webinars. As you may have guessed, I always show up at least 5 minutes before the meeting is scheduled to start. This obsession with being early also relates to items I’m to deliver to the customer. If I say I’m going to deliver a proposal on Friday, I do everything I can to deliver it on Thursday. Always, “Under Promise and Over Deliver”. The negative part of this obsession is that I tend to drive people crazy with this desire to be early for everything. I would like to say that as I have gotten older that I have mellowed in this area but that would be a lie. Just ask my kids.
Personality – If you don’t have a good personality you probably aren’t in sales or you won’t be for long. With that said, you don’t have to have a great personality to be successful in sales. You can overcome your short comings in this area by making sure you focus on the customer. Ask questions, listen, and add value to the conversation. Keep in mind that most people like to talk about their stuff not your stuff. Get interested in their business and in them, and you will have no problems getting along with your customers. While relationship selling isn’t as important as it use to be, it is still very important. It is also much harder to develop a relationship if you do all your selling over the phone but building the relationship is still a must, it is just harder to accomplish.
Value Proposition – I know this is cheating a little bit on the P theme but, I think that understanding your value proposition and how it relates to the customer is the most important part of sales. Our value proposition at Salesnet is: “Based on the extensive knowledge of sales process and CRM technology. Salesnet has the ability to improve your company’s sales effectiveness with our patented sales process work flow engine. At Salesnet we will help you develop and drive your best practices and improve your ability to forecast accurately. ” Your value proposition can be different for different industries and can be refined as you work with a customer to become a much more detailed value proposition of the value you will bring to that particular customer.
Until next time, Remember “Success is 99% you and 1% the rest of the world.” Scott Farmer