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Recently I had a call from the manager of a wholesale distribution sales center in Houston. He had a question, "Is there a ten-step program that I can teach my salespeople to take a customer from prospect to partner?" It got my attention so I probed into his situation.
His sales center is part of a large national chain of wholesale distribution centers and he has two full-time outside sales people, one very experienced and one new. There are three other locations of his company in that market. My caller had been traveling with his new salesperson for the first time and, as he watched and listened to the presentation made to a potential customer, he realized how it rambled and lacked a specific overall plan.
My caller has been in distribution management for a long time but some of his past training included exposure to sales training from well known authors and consultants. He knew that there was no systematic process involved in the sales call he had viewed and he was hoping for a simple set of steps he could share.
His question forced me to reflect on the history of sales training. I realize that sometimes we complicate things because we try to continually improve the process. My caller made me take a look into the past into what the basics of sales education really is. Here is what I came up with.
I have read Tom Sant's book in which he gives the credit for developing a process for selling to John Henry Patterson. In about 1880, Patterson had taken over the rights to a patent for manufacturing a machine called a cash register. His new company was called NCR (National Cash Register). Even though Patterson was a strong believer in this machine and its ability to improve retail businesses, he had serious challenges finding a method for letting the rest of the world know its value. When Patterson held his first national sales meeting in 1886 the company was stuck at a sales volume of about 12 cash registers every month. He shared with his sales people all of the features of the new models and then began questioning them to determine "tips and techniques" they were using to sell these units. He had invited his brother-in-law, Joseph Crane, to attend that first meeting and offer input. Later that year Patterson convinced Crane to join NCR and they soon realized that Crane didn't need to be technically strong at servicing the machines to be successful at selling them. Crane eventually recognized that he didn't need to point out every feature of these machines but rather to concentrate only on features that would benefit each specific customer and meet his/her needs. As Crane became the most successful representative for NCR, Patterson worked with him to uncover the "system" that Crane was using. Patterson soon recognized that it was not the script or consistent wording that Crane was using but rather his focus on specific needs of the customer. This was, in effect, the beginning of what we call the consultative approach to selling. Patterson then created a process selling book called the primer, that all of his salespeople were required to follow. The primer system consisted of four basic steps, Approach (identify customer's problems), Proposition (develop a proposal to show value), Demonstration (show the answer to the problem) and Close (ask for the order).
So there, for my friend in Texas, was the start of process selling, a simple set of steps to be used consistently as a system. I could share those basics but he was asking for more. After all, he wanted a road map to go from prospecting to partnering.
I had to expand my proposal to my new friend. Here is the "simple set of steps" as I presented them:
1. Prospecting: This is "digging" to know and understand the marketplace, evaluating the territory first to find where your sales people should focus time and energy. I recommend doing a formal SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) Analysis of your sales territory first.
2. Know and understand your customer: Learn everything about that target opportunity you can. Check with every independent and manufacturer's rep for input, use the internet, check with trade publications, pull out all the stops....know your target and as much about her business as possible.
3. Approach: Develop a series of questions that generate information about the customer's need and her definition of value. A well thought out and customized approach is key.
4. Proposal: This is step to create a response that comes from the results of the questioning and the matching to our products or services to address the customer's needs or value. I sometimes call this "marrying" the correct service with the correct need. Sometimes developing the skill that comes with writing good proposals is an additional necessity here.
5. Demonstration: This is where we must show that the product or service provides the hoped-for solution. It could be as simple as showing a new product that fills the customer's needs or as challenging as loading and demonstrating a new B2B software. Here is where product and service education within our respective companies becomes critical.
6. Close: This may be the most often taught and yet most avoided portion of every selling system. From trial closes, to dollarizing, to overcoming objections, etc. there are many approaches to this step. My recommendation was to ignore gimmicks; instead have his people develop a comfortable close that is honest and non-manipulative. In his case, as a wholesale distributor, everything is about long term relationship building, so sometimes a very successful close is making another appointment to bring in a specialist or for meeting with additional people on his staff.
7. Partnering: Success in sales definitely revolves around follow-up, continual contact and relationship building. This is where the relationship expands to one of trust and a mutual sharing of ideas, opportunities and information. This is the point where a sales person demonstrates to a customer that their loyalty is earned.
Obviously, I didn't end up with a ten step program...only seven. But these steps are the basics as I see them. The steps are somewhat simplistic but I hope they work for my friend in Texas. Developing a system for selling helps assure success, keeping it simple is sometimes the surest way of making that happen.
