Black Sales Journal

Sales is a tough but rewarding career.  It pays extremely well if you are with the right firm, and when you get it going well, you will always have a group of skills that you can call upon to increase your performance, and your income.

Not only is sales a tough career, it is one where opinions and impressions of others can rocket you to success, or make it more difficult. Much of this is because perceptions and trust are so important.

I would like to show how building a perception could boost your sales career.  This is not smoke and mirrors, it is real.

Build A Perception

At a point in my sales career I decided to specialize in transportation and trucking.  I am going to indicate how the three major constituents (customers, coworkers, and managers) can positively affect you career by using a couple of examples of situations that happened to me.  I think you will agree that even though the wind blows both ways, good and bad, having people believe in you is a game changer.

I realized early on that I needed a “hook” in my career as there were so many different individuals that a customer could buy commercial lines insurance coverage from.  How was I going to be any different?  It was a plus that I sold for a reputable company that had a national advertising campaign.  The rest was up to me.

Your “hook” will be based on finding a niche, underserved segment, or category that you can build a constituency in.  Let me go on describing my situation and you will see what I mean.

I made a decision that I needed to “specialize” in something because being a “jack of all trades” was not working too well.  I needed to save my career by specializing, and needed something that would result in near immediate results.  I chose selling insurance to medium to large trucking firms because they would listen.  Remember, I believe in being an expert, and you might want to refresh yourself by reading BSJ – Your Customer Needs an Expert .

What Does Your Customer Believe?

The most important thing that I did was to study the industry, the terminology, and the buying habits.  At the point that I think I knew what the customer wanted, I began to say, “I specialize in trucking business”.  When I said this to my first customer, he asked me some rather in-depth questions about the business that I answered well, and he said that he would give me a chance.  I had passed the first test.

Following this, I researched his business and made a host of suggestions as to things that he should do to make changes.  He shot down every one of them except one.  But… he realized that I did understand his business, and maybe just did not understand his operation well enough.  When I sold his account, he said to me that he was so very concerned that he aligns himself with someone who was working with his business for the long term.  I think he was saying that he needed an expert!

This customer then referred customers to me, and me to customers, and were loyal to me during my sales and sales management career.  Darn it, if the customer said I was an expert, I was an expert!

What Do Your Coworkers Perceive?

Coworkers can help you to build a business persona as well.  They have the ability to tear you down as well.  The more you learn the more you can assist them in learning, so it is important to recognize that when you get the knowledge you will gain more by sharing than by not sharing.

They will sing your praises to others regarding your expertise and will refer others with questions to you.  In situations where there are new technologies or processes, you will be the ‘de facto’ expert and gain ‘expert power’ from this.  The people that you work with will ‘need’ you, and the perception of your skills might even be stronger than the skills themselves.

You might be saying that none of this puts money in your pocket, but I want you to recognize that it increases your credibility.  Giving you a power that you cannot claim without others ‘perceiving’ you in a certain way.

It was always said that if you see three people in the morning and they say you look sick or ailing, you might want to go lie down. Well…if your coworkers proclaim you are an expert, and you customers consider you an expert….

Does Your Manager Believes In You?

Your manager is bright and  astute enough to be the  leader of your unit, but even this individual must yield to the fact that customers and your coworkers see you as a force to be listened to.  The manager is concerned with results, not just yours, but results for the sales unit.  It is a difficult to manage a band of sales professionals, and any help by having resources within the unit is welcome.

If your manager believes in you, this individual may give you more latitude with this type of business.  Sending call-in prospects or giving orphaned accounts in your field of specialty is an excellent way to recognize your abilities.  Your ability to retain, or convert these to sales gives you one more feather in your cap.

Remember that this individual is the key to increased compensation in many firms, as well as improvements in territories, resources, and support.

You have the ability to shape the perceptions others have of you, and it is time to start doing it.  Always remember that relationships help you win, and the professional who has the best relationships will win in the end.

Your comments are appreciated.

Empathy - the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner; also : the capacity for this.

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

____________________________

Selling and the sales process in general can be consuming.  Remembering the sales techniques, the product specifications, the time lines, and…oh yes, the customer.

The customer, regardless of the quips and quotes of many sales books and sayings, should not be forgotten, yet frequently is either forgotten or not made the focal point.

The best sales professionals realize that the customer’s plight will spell their success.  Having an insight into the concerns and feelings of the customer may take a little more energy, yet can result in the type of relationships that are enduring and profitable.

Logical Order

You meet a new customer for the first time, and this is your great opportunity to land a profile account and you have been waiting for it for a long time.  After the perfunctory introductions you begin to describe your company’s history, philosophy, and superb reputation.  He shows signs of agreement and understanding, and even compliments your fine organization.

You launch into the products that made your organization what it is, and even note which of your fine products you think would fit the customer’s needs based on the best selling product in your companies cadre of products.  He is engaged in the process, and showing interest.

Before we go any further with this, take note, you may be showing your knowledge of your company’s products and your presentations skills, yet you have missed the opportunity to understand what the customer needs.  You will likely blow the sale, or even worse, sell the customer something that they don’t need.  If you miss the opportunity to know the customer’s needs you will be hard pressed to provide solutions and satisfy needs.

Stephen R. Covey said it best in his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood” (Habit 5).  It has been said many other ways, but this one is the easiest to internalize.  The more knowledge you have about the customer, the more qualified you are to help that customer.  Knowing gives you the basis for empathy.

At the basis of this is good communications and the one of the least mastered skills…listening. (Black Sales Journal 4/14 – Are You Listening To Your Customer?)

How Would You Feel?

The easiest way to think about how your interaction affects the customer is to put yourself “in the shoes” of your customer.  As a customer, you want to have solid communications and a sales professional servicing your business that understands your business, and your businesses situation.

Customers want someone who has taken the time to carefully probe their needs, including their strengths and weaknesses so that they can offer solutions.  They want you to know relevant aspects of their business plan as well.  When you probe with the question, “What is your company going to look like in 8 years?” The customer might respond “Our growth will result in a tripling in size most likely because of our movement to automatic widgets as opposed to manual ones, as that is the most profitable line that we have.”

If appropriate, ask relevant questions regarding business goals and objectives.  It takes time, but that it what a true professional does.

This professional does the following:

• Seeks to understand your customer’s needs and priorities, and is genuinely empathetic because they do understand.
• Knows the customers goals and objectives and works to get fulfillment
• Clearly communicates with the customer, then follows with correspondence for monitoring and clarity.
• Avoids using technical language and jargon that your customer may not understand.
• Allows the sales process to proceed naturally, and does not exert unnecessary pressure.

Empathy allows you to recognize the importance and gravity of many of the issues in the customer’s world, and how they are affected.  It increases the urgency on some matters and decreases it on others, and that allows you to know, as the client knows, what is most important.

Don’t Fake It

Care must be taken not to be artificial in showing empathy, as if your buyer thinks that you are feigning empathy, it will almost seem patronizing.  It will simply look as if it is being done to ‘get the account’.  This is not a good place to be as no one wants to be manipulated in that fashion.  This is very evident in B2P sales, where some of the sales happen over the kitchen table.

If you cannot be genuine, then you may want to avoid the appearance of empathy, as it will be noticeable.  We have all had a sales professional (used loosely) who tried to act understanding, yet was not that good of an actor.  It is insulting to say the least.

If you have the passion that should be evident as a professional attempting to help your customers find solutions, none of this will be an issue.  You will feel the empathy more when you have uncovered the customer’s needs and special situations through your interviews and probing.

Your customer’s need you to understand, and will award you appropriately.

Your comments are appreciated.