Section 7. Selling as a Profession
Selling as a Profession
Selling is a profession. We expect professionals such as doctors, teachers and lawyers to study their subject in depth and to continue their studies throughout their career continuously improving their knowledge and skills.
I would argue that selling is equal to the other major professions because the economic impact of selling is enormous. Teachers may help us learn and develop as people, doctors make us better when we are ill and lawyers may help us when we get in trouble. Sales people are involved in developing the very industrial fabric that brings wealth, jobs and opportunity to everyone, including doctors lawyers and teachers. We are not going to be recognised as professionals with the same 'kudos' as doctors lawyers and teachers but in reality we are at a similar level.
I think professional sales people should study the process they are involved in and learn as much as possible.
It is in this spirit that I offer this discussion to you and invite comments.
Telephone marketing is usually the start of the sales process. The main job of telephone marketing is prospecting for new customers. In industry the telephone is the quickest, most effective and cheapest way of doing this.
When a potential customer expresses a positive interest the sales person adopts a co-ordinating role checking the level of interest and acting accordingly.
This is not a passive role, s/he tries to stimulate interest and to open positive discussions. S/he may go on to handle the whole process through to final agreement or s/he may pass the discussions on to a field sales person at an appropriate stage.
Field sales people might also spend some of their time prospecting for new customers by phone. The process as a whole can be planned to provide a steady flow of interested potential customers and about half of these can be expected to make a purchase in due course.
Case Study
EMC Documentum
Location: EIMS: EMC’s EMEA sales centre in Bournemouth
Task: Find enterprise level new business opportunities for EMC Documentum Content Management Software through telephone marketing.
Go a stage further than just looking for interest and where possible I was tasked with selling EMC Documentum with a minimum order value of £100 000.
This is how I did it....
1. Identified industry areas where Documentum would be advantageous
2. Identified companies and organisations, including government departments where Documentum could be useful.
3. Found and built contacts within these organisations.
4. Identified problems areas, plans regarding major IT purchases, budgets and available funds.
5. Further developed contacts and spoke to senior managers, directors and relevant decision makers.
6. Handed over a live project to the field sales team.
7. Completed a £24million project by phone and email.
Areas covered: UK, Europe, Middle East and India.
Successful areas: Pharmaceuticals, Government Departments, Oil. Gas and Energy supply Aerospace.
How it was done:
* Set up alerts using google advanced search techniques
* Selected companies and organisations I knew something about
* Researched other companies and organisations.
* Made formal approaches to purchasing/procurement/IT departments
* Set up an excel worksheet to get an overview of how each pitch was moving and set up visual diagrams so that I could get an idea of the whole process.
* Used the CRM system to the full to set reminders plan and synchronise a calendar and keep notes. Also kept detailed notes for each company that I was approaching so that any other person could see exactly what was happening.
* Used google advanced search methods to research organisations and people
* Used online translation services to get and learn some basics of the language used by the other person and tested for fluency in English. Prioritised organisations where English was spoken even if this was as a second language. Although did persist on one or two occasions in using translation services and it worked.
* Called main reception of selected companies to see how helpful (or not) they would be.
* Researched possible contacts and called people whether they were relevant of not initially. (Known as the power of knowing people in low places).
* Deliberately called people in jobs that were not directly relevant to gain information and ask for help.
* Gradually built up a profile and sent snippets of useful information to people.
* Made contact with people who were more relevant and possible decision makers. Very short calls at first just giving out information, the aim is to build confidence and trust.
* Made more meaningful calls that lasted longer and where the other person did most of the talking.
* Started to pass on contacts (who were calling me by this time) to technical experts who could give them more in depth information.
* Pitched for meetings with relevant people.
* Actively formed a decision making unit within the organisation and arranged for as many of them as possible to attend a virtual meeting (using Documentum).
* Handed the campaign over to the field sales manager for that country.
What I didn’t do…
I didn’t at any time try and sell anything. Quite the opposite every time I called someone I made sure I had a good reason to call and that I had something useful to give them.
Summary of current understanding of the psychology of selling.
Characteristics of a successful salesperson.
A great deal of research has been carried out to discover what makes a successful salesperson.
The consensus is three fold and contradictory.
The three characteristics that make up a successful salesperson are, communication skills, similarity to the buyer and expertise.
Skilled communication involves flexibility, skills in questioning and building rapport.
The paradox is that one person cannot easily fulfil both roles of similarity and expertise. It is possible for a skilled sales person to chose the most appropriate in the circumstances they face. It is possible to build rapport by acting like the buyer but the buyer won't perceive someone who is the same as themselves as an expert.
Conversely if a sales person adopts the role of an expert s/he cannot be similar to the buyer.
So the current strategy is to encourage salespeople to act as much like the buyer as possible and draw on additional or outside expertise.
Written material can take the role of the expert and endorsements can be used to add expertise.
Influence techniques used in selling.
Augmentation (deliberate mistakes).
The salesperson stresses a strong point about the product or service and then (with a show of embarrassment) allows a weakness to be revealed. This builds a stronger belief in the integrity of the salesperson.
This is the same technique as the 'double sided message' used in public relations and which can be used in sales letters.
Reactance (anxiety) reduction.
Decision making always involves a degree of anxiety. When buyers experience a high level of anxiety they form negative attitudes to the sales person and or the product. They can 'react' and do the opposite to what they intend. In practice this can mean buying from another company.
Reactance reduction is usually combined with efforts to reassure the buyer that they have full control during the purchasing process. The best way of doing this is to give the buyer control.
Foot in the door.
Ask for a small request that is easily granted and then ask for more.
Door in the face.
Ask for an unreasonable request that will be refused and drop down to a more reasonable (pre-planned) request. This technique does increase the likelihood of the second request being granted.
'Every penny helps'.
Reducing a large cost to smaller amounts.
Low balling.
After reaching agreement at a lower price the sales person starts to introduce extras that increases the price. Surprisingly perhaps, this is very effective.
Sampling.
Give the buyer a sample. If the buyer takes the sample away for a trial it is known as the 'puppy dog sale'.
The most effective method.
Multiple methods are the most effective.
Reaction (anxiety) reduction has proved to be the most effective general sales method. It becomes more effective if used together with augmentation and another method.
Sales presentations can be planned to use multiple methods
Industrial buying psychology.
The similarity between building business relationships and social relationships.
In reality there is very little difference between a business relationship and a social relationship.
From time to time we are placed in positions where we want to develop new social relationships. When building a social relationship it is important to start slowly.
An analogy can be made with sport and I put cricket and tennis as examples. Before a cricket match the players practice in the nets and before a tennis match the opponents warm up. During this phase there is no competition. The bowlers and tennis players lob half volleys to each other to allow the other person to 'get their eye in'.
It might be the case in some consumer marketing that the sale is a one off situation where no future relationship develops; but in industrial marketing one of the main objectives is to build a long term relationship. Companies don't have relationships with each other. The people in one company have relationships with the people in another company. The aim in business, if possible, is to make these relationships permanent.
We call the building of a business relationship 'selling'. In reality selling is no different to a person who moves to a new area needs to make new friends.
There are three important factors in building new social relationships that are now taught in schools and can be read about in magazines and books. They are so simple that most people figure them out for themselves before they leave school.
1. You don't make the other person feel at risk
2. You encourage the other person to talk to you more than you talk to them. This is normally done by encouraging the other person to talk about themselves and you listen actively.
3. "Don't come on too strong".
Buying is an interactive process. There needs to be a buyer and seller so buyers need sales people just as much as salespeople need buyers. When a buyer is actively looking for something s/he is also looking for a suitable salesperson.
So the first job in sales is to find buyers who are actively looking for the product they are offering.
To understand industrial buying and selling in depth we need to look at some aspects of social psychology.
Modern psychology takes a 'cognitive' perspective. That is it considers how people think when they act.
Buyers always think before doing anything.
Sometimes they only think for a split second and sometimes they think about something for months.
When buyers think about a purchase they also access memory and emotions.
Thinking is an emotional as well as a cognitive process. Every thought we have brings with it a congruent emotion. Unless we are anxious when the emotions can disrupt our thinking.
Decisions about whether to buy something or not involve thoughts, memories and emotions. The emotional aspect of decision making is the most influential.
Thinking about a purchase provokes feelings of anxiety to a greater or lesser degree.
Every time we make a decision we experience anxiety to a greater or lesser degree. The more meaningful the decision is to us the greater will be the anxiety.
When anxiety reaches a certain level we begin to think irrationally.
When we experience anxiety our brains act in a set way that is difficult to override and we can't expect buyers to override the anxiety they are feeling.
When we experience anxiety about making a decision three things happen in a progressive sequence.
1. We avoid thinking about the subject
2. Our brains block access to thoughts about the subject
3. We will 'escape' if the anxiety gets too high.
As we approach the point of making a decision the anxiety will increase.
When we make a sales approach to someone we cause them to feel anxious.
We need to keep the anxiety they feel to a minimum by giving them reassurance and working with them in a manner and speed that they will accept.
Attitudes
This mix of thoughts, memories and emotions is called, an 'attitude'.
Attitudes can be identified and measured.
Attitudes are a measure of like or dislike. They are never neutral and are formed very quickly. A positive attitude can be easily changed into a negative one. It is difficult to change a negative attitude into a positive one but it can be done.
Salespeople are usually faced with a negative attitude at first. We automatically feel this when we talk to somebody new and we can see it when we are face to face.
There are techniques for understanding and changing attitudes. This is a major part of our job as sales people.
We reduce the anxiety they feel to a minimum to reduce the formation of negative attitudes and promote the formation of positive attitudes and they begin to 'like' us.
Like many old Victorian adages the saying
"Familiarity breeds contempt." Is the exact opposite of the truth.
Familiarity, in fact, breeds content.
The need for information
When we buy things that are meaningful to us we need information about them. The more meaningful the more information we need.
If something isn't meaningful we act on emotional cues.
Most industrial purchasing is meaningful to the buyer and so they will need a level of information equal to how meaningful the purchase is.
Make a list of the general factors that make industrial purchases meaningful.
Information tools at our disposal.
Letters, leaflets, faxes, e-mails, notes, brochures, web sites, phone calls.
The psychology of persuasive design and copywriting.
Some advertising designers now understand how to design a layout so that key information is noticed and might be remembered. The principles of advertising design and copywriting can be transferred to all written and visual communication.
Use pictures, headlines, sub headlines and a strap line in letters and leaflets.
Copywriting
Write from the buyer’s point of view and tell a story.
Make a list of what your product or service offers a potential customer and a list of what they have to gain.
What you have to offer
What they gain
When writing a letter focus on what the customer gains not on what you have to offer.
A highly persuasive formula…
The psychology of persuasive communication has gown since world war 2. A highly persuasive formula for presenting an argument is called the double sided message.
Step one
Put forward your strongest argument and link it to a credible source.
Step two.
Put forward a weak counter argument and link it to a very low credible source.
Step 3
Either repeat your first point again or state your second strongest argument.
If you want to see this in action watch the BBC news. Warning this could make you a bit cynical as the penny will soon drop that most ‘news’ items are actually well staged public relations exercises.
If you want to delve deeper into the psychology of persuasive communication read Philip Zimbardo’s The Psychology of Attitude change and Social Influence (McGraw Hill 1991).
But be prepared to lose some naivety…
Interpersonal communication
Selling has a great deal in common with counselling.
Questions get a conversation going and keep it going
Build rapport by mimicking
Deepen rapport by reflecting back. This is done by paraphrasing what the other person has said to you and saying it back to them.
The so called 'objections' that old schoolers refer to are really questions that allow a conversation to develop.
Wit practise things like yes (or no) tags can be introduced into a conversation. "I think you are quite interested in this subject aren't you?" "If they had proper locks they wouldn't get broken into would they?"
There's a lot more to this subject but practising questions and reflecting back will bring about open and honest conversations that lead to the best outcome.
Selling is all about conversation and the essence of conversation is…
Asking questions, listening and listening to the answers.
Good advice would be to read up as much as possible about the subject and develop your own style by practise. There are cultural and personal differences.
I have whittled business questions down to seven which I have learned off by heart and have practised so that I can use any variation as and when needed.
I use a very informal and conversational manner emphasising my Yorkshire accent.
1. I erm, I just wondered if we could have a quick sort of business conversation…?
2. Erm, what’s the current state of play regarding xyz…?
3. Are you looking to make any improvements?
4. Oh I see, so what problems are you facing just now…?
5. Are looking at alternatives then?
6. So, erm, if we were allowed to make an approach about this, how, erm, how would we go about it?
7. OK, so what should I do now (to help you)?
The erms and hesitations are emphasised because you should always be trying to allow the other person to interject and take over the conversation.
In almost all successful sales conversations the sales person starts the conversational ball rolling and the buyer takes over and controls the conversation. You should be quietly encouraging the prospective customer to do most of the talking.
The will come a stage in the conversation when the buyer starts to interject into the conversation. When this happens back off let them speak and listen to them.
‘Connecting’ with other people
Ron Holland in his book Talk and Grow Rich writes that people are either visual, auditory or emotional in how they think. They leak out this thinking pattern in what they say. A visual person would refer in speech to sight in one form or another, an auditory person the sense of hearing and an emotional thinker would mention feelings. Ron says we should become aware of this and model the other person to gain rapport.
This is more difficult than it may seem and people don’t give that many clues. However it is important to model another person if we want to gain a strong rapport and the best way to do this is to mimic them. If you watch friends when they are together they mimic each other without thinking about it and the closer the friendship the closer the mimicking.
Wendy Jago an NLP coach in her book The NLP Brain Builder (Piatkus 2010) outlines what NLP calls meta programmes or ways we process information and act in the world. According to Wendy Jago we think in the following meta programming. (I’ve adapted this into a table and linked it to other psychology observations).
Logical step by step thinking
Holistic big picture thinking
Step by step small chunks of information
Big picture large chunks of information
Procedural (logical)
Inventive (creative)
Actions and thoughts in the present time
Actions and thoughts set in the future
Away from problems and action
Towards problems and actions
Lower risk threshold
Higher risk threshold
Task Centred and focussed
People centred and multiple ideas
Doer
Thinker
Visual thinker
Internal conversations
More predominant in
Men
Women
Older people
Younger people
Experienced
Less experienced
Less confident
More confident
Big company
Small company (except with autocratic boss)
Autocratic/strong leadership
Democratic/Laissez faire
Quicker snap decisions
Slower considered decisions
Respond best to
Short bytes of information throughout
Short bytes initially then longer conversations and a lot of information
Pictures, charts graphs etc
Pictures with explanations
More formal approach
Can be more informal
Step by step approach getting small agreements to proceed to the next step in a current time frame
Paint a big picture will get agreement on the complete idea. If you can, put the whole idea to them and set it in the future
Features
Benefits
Likely to…
Make snap decisions that they won’t easily change
Take longer and appear indecisive until they are sure then they buy in big
Want delivery in part to test
Want the whole thing as soon as possible
Resist arranging meetings and then want short meetings
Want early meetings that last a long time
Will tolerate less product knowledge
Will demand in depth product knowledge
More tolerant of errors
Less tolerant of errors
More loyal
Fully committed initially but can change suddenly with no apparent reason – when a new idea comes along – less loyal in the long term
In decision making teams that consist of both types of meta thinking patterns this group will tend to dominate the outcome and usually win if there is conflict
In mixed teams this group will tend to shy away from conflict unless they have really bought into an idea when they can push hard for change but will then become unpopular and may be removed from the team
Tend to stay in the same job and get promoted slowly
Change jobs and roles and can achieve sudden leap frog type promotions
Implications of NLP for telephone marketing
We almost always work at the cutting edge of the sales process finding new business opportunities. This means we are always talking to new people and we need to build rapport with them as quickly as possible.
We have to make presumptive assumptions about the people we are talking to. The best initial policy is to keep early calls short and then assess the call and alter our approach to suit the other person next time we speak to them.
We use questions to get to know people. We can test for logical and holistic thinkers by asking simple open and closed questions. In an early call a logical thinker is likely to respond to an open question with a yes or no answer or a very short answer. Whereas a holistic thinker may respond to a closed question with a more in depth answer than we might expect. Little things like this – which is down to individual style – allows us to make a presumptive assumption and test the response. If we get a good response we carry on in that style if not we change to suit the person we are talking to.
If you haven’t already realised, as salespeople we have to be competent at both styles of meta processing so that we can ‘connect’ with everyone we talk to; at least as much as possible. We will however always ‘connect’ better with people who process information in the same way that we do.
Counsellors and therapists learn these skills and we should do the same.
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