TouchPoint Selling

Feb 3 2009 11:55AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |
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By Rick Heaston

A few days ago I wrote about how, “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” And at the same time, I referred to the sales process … and how important it is based on today’s market realities.

Putting the two together, it was easy to define success and reduce it to a simple … easy to understand formula. Here it is again, “Hard work plus a good sales process equals success in today’s market.

I’m reminded of this because of my recent trip to the International Builders Show. If I didn’t hear “Back to the basics” once, I heard it a hundred times. Geez!

Shouldn’t we have the basics down already? And if we don’t … why should we be going “back” to a sales process that only works well when the market is good.

Times have changed … and so has the market. Maybe most of all, customers have changed the way they make decisions. And that means that the sales process needs to change too.

I certainly have my opinions when it comes to sales training, but have the research to back them up. So for sake of argument, let me again go outside the industry to make my point.

Ram Charan, is my source, and his book is What The Customer Wants You To Know. And let me quote:

"The heart of the new sales approach to selling is an intense focus on the prosperity of your customers. This is a rapid departure from what sales people and selling organizations do. The entire psychological orientation is shifted 180 degrees. No longer do you measure your own success first. Instead, you measure success by how well your customers are doing with your help."

Old timers can say, “We do that”. But if you read between the lines, it’s not that at all. Ram is going beyond, “What are you looking for in a new home. And what do you like and dislike in your current home.” Isn’t what he’s talking about. He’s going to a whole new level. Let me explain.

Most of what I heard at the convention was about selling … not solving. And when I say solving … I mean solving problems. After all, a customer doesn’t visit you when they’re 100% happy with where they live now. They have far too many other things to do.

Today’s customer is different. And it takes more than a feature and benefit presentation to secure the sale. Today’s customers must justify their decisions (See my blog: Justification-November 25) and know they are doing the right thing. In other words, “Making the Most Perfect Decision they can make.”

Old sales tactics don’t allow you to achieve these results. After all, “back to the basics” is all about you and what you are trying to sell. And asking them what they are looking for so you can make your presentation just doesn’t work.

You need to, as Ram said, “Make it all about them.” And to do that, you need to be interested in having your sales process match your customer’s decision process.

As always … the choice is yours.

PS: More this week!