s2005 - Selling Smarter - Self-Study Guide
s2005 - Selling Smarter - Self-Study Guide
Selling Smarter
Copyright
This Self Study Guide is designed and laid out in a way that will guide student learning much in
the same way that an instructor would. This workbook is comprised of modules called Sessions.
Each Session focuses on a major concept in the course.
In each Session, we have included short-answer and (in some instances) multiple choice
questions which relate directly to the Session material. Throughout the guide, you can take the
opportunity to internalize what you have learned by completing the self-reflection exercises
entitled “Making Connections.”
Course Overview
It’s no secret that the sales industry continues to change and evolve rapidly. This is an exciting
and dynamic profession, although it is often underrated and misunderstood. The back-slapping,
high pressure, joke-telling sales person has disappeared. In his place is a new generation of
sales professionals: highly trained and well groomed, with the characteristics of honesty,
trustworthiness, and competence.
Today’s top salespeople are in the business of identifying needs and persuading potential
customers to respond favorably to an idea that will result in mutual satisfaction for both the
buyer and the seller. They do this in a way which puts the customer first, fully knowing that
when they meet the customers’ needs, sales will follow.
Learning Objectives
Why did you take this course? Use this opportunity to consider your personal learning
objectives and reasons for taking this course.
Pre-Assignment
Before completing a training course, it is useful to anticipate what you hope to get out of the
session. Please take a few minutes to answer the following questions.
Are you concerned that you don’t deal effectively enough with your customers and
prospects?
If you are concerned, where are the areas that you feel present the greatest challenges?
People prefer to do business with people they like. Do you feel that you successfully establish
business camaraderie with customers and prospective customers?
Are you confident that you know what your department’s competitive strength or Unique
Selling Position (USP) is, and that you make the most of them when talking to potential
customers?
Can you describe the sales cycle that your organization uses? If so, outline it briefly here.
Pre-Course Assessment
3. Which of the following statements describes the sales cycle? (Select all that apply.)
a. Is the same for every salesperson
b. Is the same for every company
c. Has steps that must be followed rigidly
d. None of the above
4. True or False: Helping other people get what they want gives us more of what we
want.
5. True or False: If you do all your sales over the phone, you don’t need to worry about
what you wear.
8. True or False: In this workshop, you will learn the one best method of selling for any
situation.
10. True or False: The image of the salesperson has remained the same over the past fifty
years.
Becoming a great salesperson takes effort and practice. While a salesperson might enter the
industry because they have great people skills and a natural ability to influence others, they can
certainly benefit from developing skills in terms of providing the best buying experience for
their customers and potential customers.
In this session, you will explore the differences between the traditional hard selling approach
and consultative (or customer-focused) sales. You will also learn about the sales cycle so that
you can focus your activities and skill development in the areas that will give you the highest
results.
Essential Skills
At one time it was not unusual for sales people to focus on pushing a product or service in a
way we call the “hard sell.” Hard selling comes from deliberately targeted activities that focus
on selling numbers and collecting money.
Things have really changed! Customers expect to be consulted and want relationships with
their sales people. Top sales people have developed skills that are based on building
relationships and developing trust with their clients. They realize that these relationships are
what fill their sales pipeline, and that the stronger relationships they develop, the less time they
have to spend on less desirable activities, such as cold calling.
Consultative Selling
Consultative selling, also called customer focused selling, is the model that we recommend to
get the best results from your sales efforts. This cycle includes techniques that are used by top
salespeople who have the fullest pipelines and get the best results.
If you consider the model below as a starting point, you will see that the more effort we make,
the better the results we get. What we need to ensure, then, is that our efforts are also efficient
so that we get even better results.
The quadrants defined by the matrix correspond to the sales cycle, which we will discuss in the
next session.
Customer focused selling is about selling from the other person’s perspective. While this
sounds simple, it is a complex process that requires attention and practice. The skills associated
with customer focused selling apply to each sales appointment, phone call, meeting
presentation, and interaction through the process. This makes selling a little bit like learning to
play chess: the rules are not that difficult, but you need to repeatedly play the game to become
skilled.
In the early stages of your relationship with a client, your goal is to use customer focused selling
to build trust and credibility. We buy from people that we like, so the opportunity is here for
you to put your impression-making skills to use. This is important whether you are speaking
with someone by phone or face to face.
What can you do to build trust and credibility with your clients?
Talking about sales as a cyclic series of activities can help us organize our activities and keep
focused. A traditional sales cycle has four states: initiate, build, manage, and optimize.
In this session, you will explore each aspect of the sales cycle. We will provide information
about each stage and encourage you to think about what you are currently doing at that sales
stage, and what new activities you might want to take on.
Initiate
Optimize
Sales Build
Cycle
Manage
Initiate
Find new opportunities and establish relationships that focus on identifying and solving client
needs. These relationships can evolve in many ways.
Build
Convert those opportunities into clients by building trust and credibility.
Manage
Manage the relationship and focus on serving your customers by offering solutions, resolving
problems, meeting their needs, getting their agreement to buy.
Optimize
Grow the relationship with consistent results and problem solving. This is the time to set up
long term relationships through additional problem solving, business building, and referrals.
Initiate
Networking Tips
The easiest sales are with customers that you already know or have already bought from you. In
order to keep your pipeline full, however, it’s important to attract a variety of customers from
different industries or types of businesses. That way, if there is an economic slowdown, a
business shuts down, or a natural disaster, your potential to sell is not so strongly affected.
These days, it is common for salespeople to get involved in a range of networking activities
that may not seem directly related to one particular sale, but they are a help in getting
established within a network or community.
Cold Calling
Many top salespeople learned a tremendous amount about sales by cold calling, and there are
lots of salespeople who make all of their sales strictly over the phone. Phone sales often mean
that the sales person is taking incoming calls from inquiring clients. This means that they do not
have to find clients, but they do have to qualify those clients within a phone call.
Reverse Networking
Reverse networking is an effective and popular technique with sales and marketing
professionals. In traditional networking, we often try to introduce ourselves to prospective
clients. With reverse networking, we let go of the notion that we need to put ourselves in the
face of clients. Instead, we focus on introducing people who can benefit from one another.
For example, if I sell computer parts, and one of my clients or even a friend is looking for life
insurance, I will introduce them to someone I recommend as a life insurance broker. I do not
gain from the introduction in any way, but I still provide the service. I do not expect any kind of
reciprocal referrals for this, but the idea is that those two people will keep me in mind for
computer parts they need in the future.
Build
Once you meet your client, you begin building your relationship with them. These relationships
are based on trust. As you build the relationship, you will investigate your potential client’s
problems, get a solid understanding of their situation, pre-qualify them as a buyer, and consider
how you will make your presentation to them in a dynamic way. Remember that your
presentation has to appeal to them from their point of view, and that customer focused selling
is a consultative process.
Manage
You can manage relationships and focus on serving your customers by offering solutions,
resolving problems, meeting their needs, and then getting their agreement to buy. In this part
of the sales cycle, you will make your presentation, considering all aspect of your client’s needs
and the benefits of your solution. You will also ask them to make a buying decision and work
through any objections that they have.
Another thing that a sales professional must work with is what makes their company, product,
and/or service unique. This is called your Unique Selling Point (or Position) – the USP for short.
Make sure that you can answer your prospects question when they ask why you are in the best
position to provide this solution.
Our customers are experiencing information overload much of the time, so the amount of
attention that they will give you is limited. If you send them a written proposal, expect that
they will scan it very quickly. This means that your headings and text need to be short and to
the point. During an in person or telephone presentation, watch and listen for cues that you
have their attention and are answering their questions. Adjust your approach as necessary to
keep them engaged.
Optimize
Grow the relationship with consistent results and problem solving. This is the time to set up
long term relationships through additional problem solving, business building, and referrals.
When you consider this aspect of the sales cycle, this is also the aspect you will use to help top
up your pipeline. Even if your prospect says “no,” that does not mean that they will never do
business with you, or that they don’t trust you. Sometimes it means that they need more time
to consider your offer, or that there is some very real barrier they have to deal with. Instead of
thinking that “no” is the end of your relationship, you can continue to build the relationship. For
example, you can ask the client for referrals – they will often give them to you.
The other aspect to consider at this stage of the sales cycle is to consider whether there are
other opportunities to work with the same organization. Can you build on the relationship that
you have developed and help other departments, locations, and people within the same
company? If you have not been introduced to those opportunities through the sales cycle, ask.
The final phase of optimizing is to evaluate what you have done throughout this sale. What
have you learned? What can you do better or differently next time in order to reach a more
successful result?
We often talk about positive thinking, the laws of attraction, and expectancy theory. These
things are all related and have a bearing on our activities as professional sales people. We know
that successful sales people do not just do the right things; they also think in ways that lead
them to results.
In this session, you will think about how these three concepts can help you enrich your sales
career. We will also share some tips for looking as good as you feel and presenting a
professional image.
The law of attraction is about focusing your thoughts so that you take actions that lead you to
the things that you want. Expectancy theory states that we generally get what we expect; if we
listen to the things that we say to ourselves, our thinking shapes our results. A winner’s self-talk
might be: “I did well today. I’ll do even better tomorrow.” Someone who thinks negatively is
more apt to think: “Without bad luck, I’d have no luck at all.”
Optimism is a learned skill. Is this important for sales people and entrepreneurs to
remember? Why or why not?
Professionalism
Appearance is important for all sales people. If you look at the top 10% of salespeople in your
organization or industry, you will see that part of their presentation is to pay attention to their
appearance. If you do not look like someone who cares about being a representative of your
company, or someone who wishes to be seen as credible and trustworthy, then you will
probably not get the same results as your well-presented counterparts. Even if you do all your
sales over the phone, maintaining a professional image is crucial for your self-talk.
Think of one way that you could present a more professional image.
People who set goals are usually more successful in most ways than people who don’t set goals.
You can’t reach a destination if you don’t know where you want to go! Once you have a
destination in mind, you will want to plan how to get there.
In this session, you will learn an acronym that will help you remember the parts of a good goal.
You will also have an opportunity to set a goal to work towards after the workshop.
Your goals should motivate you to go after them and achieve the things that you want. Good
goals should have SPIRIT!
Specific
Be specific about what you want or don’t want to achieve. The result should be tangible and
measurable. “Look gorgeous” is pretty ambiguous; “Lose 20 pounds” is specific. “Sell more” is
vague; “Sell $2 million dollars’ worth of product” is specific.
Prizes
Reward yourself at different points in the goal, particularly if it’s long-term. If your goal is to set
up a home office, for example, you might purchase a new desk when the room is cleared out
and ready.
Individual
The goal must be something that you want to do. If your spouse wants you to lose 20 pounds
but you think you look fine, you’re not going to want to work towards the goal.
Review
Review your progress periodically. Does the goal make sense? Are you stuck? Do you need to
adjust certain parts of it?
Inspiring
Frame the goal positively. Make it fun to accomplish. You could make a poster of the end result,
frame it, and post it on the wall.
Time-Bound
Give yourself a deadline for achieving the goal. Even better, split the goal into small parts and
give yourself a deadline for each item.
There is research that suggests that setting goals can be pretty tough on us if we aren’t sensible
in going about it, because the process should be as important as the end result, and if we don’t
reach our goals, we feel like failures. To overcome that, we can call these goals targets. The
target concept can offer you some mental flexibility.
Use SPIRIT to set one sales goal to work on after this course.
Although we may talk about managing time and attending time management workshops, we
need to realize that we cannot really manage time; we can only manage ourselves. We cannot
add more hours into a day, nor can we rearrange the time that is available to us each day.
In this session, we will share a new way to look at time management. We will also offer a few
tips that can maximize your efficiency. You will also have an opportunity to choose one area to
begin improvement on to get you on the path to efficiency.
Since we can make some significant inroads with improving our efficiency by managing
ourselves, let’s talk about things we can do so that we manage our own time.
There are people who attend time management sessions and return to work prepared to
schedule themselves even more efficiently. Compare this to people who return feeling
overwhelmed at the work they have to do, and so they do not get started at all. Make sure you
are in the group that sees the benefits and takes reasonable steps to effect change. Don’t think
that you have to do it all at once!
Even if the professional sales person just puts one or two ideas into practice, they can become
much more effective than they have ever been. One of the things that can perhaps get in the
way of managing our own time is that there are so many tools and gadgets available for us
today.
Here are the main tips that we recommend. As stated earlier, applying just one or two of these
techniques can really supercharge your results. The potential is then there to apply more
techniques as time goes on and make your results even greater.
Get rid of all that clutter! Purge your office area (and car, if that’s cluttered too) and get things
organized. This is the task that often overwhelms people, especially those who take comfort
from having all their “stuff” nearby. This includes organizing and backing up your computer
files. We spend an inordinate amount of time looking for things when our workspace is not
organized (just like we do at home when we can’t find our favorite shirt or pair of socks).
Use a master calendar. Combine your work and home calendars so that you are on top of all
activities and don’t have to check multiple calendars in order to know where you should be.
Make sure you can access them from all the places you go, not just your computer that is on
your desk at work. There are lots of programs that can help you coordinate this.
Prioritize your task list. Use a numbering or lettering system and be dedicated to working on
items at the top of your list so that they do not get neglected.
If you are on your computer a lot (i.e. doing a lot of phone sales), consider using dual computer
screens. This allows you to work on one document on one screen while you have your priority
list open on the other. If you don’t cover up your priority list, you are more likely to keep on
track.
Change your e-mail habits. We have become accustomed to constant e-mail interruption,
which is actually hampering our productivity. Although some of you will bristle at this
suggestion, we recommend that you try it for a two week period: check your e-mail just twice a
day. (I like first thing in the morning and after lunch.) Responses that will take you more than 10
minutes (because of research needed, for example) should be moved to your task list and
assigned a priority, so that your e-mail inbox doesn’t get cluttered. E-mails that you can answer
quickly can be replied to right away.
Now, design a plan for implementing this technique when you return to work.
Customer service, that responsibility we have to provide our customers with what they need
and want, can also be looked at through a slightly different lens. Customer service is about the
ability to serve.
In this session, you will explore what customer service means to your customers. You will also
consider the sales experience from their perspective. Thinking about these things from a
different angle should help you to become a more empathetic and effective salesperson.
Customer Service
When we make a commitment to serve, we can include the idea of serving our clients and
customers, whether they are external or internal. We focus on activities and principles which
make strong connections and which complement our sales cycle and the activities which form
the basis of customer focused selling. This means looking at what our customer needs before
we consider what we, as sales people, want or need from the sale itself.
What are some needs your clients have? What are some wants they have?
What are the things people want when they call you, when they come to see you face to face,
or you go to see them?
We all want to bring in bigger numbers, but that doesn’t always mean bringing in new business.
You can easily use your current customer base to increase your income.
In this session, we will look at three easy ways to pump up your sales numbers: up-selling,
cross-selling, and value-added selling. We will focus in particular on this latter idea, and teach
you how to give customers more bang for their buck, and ensure that they return to you time
and time again.
Up-Selling
This means selling the customer more of your services than originally requested, or a better,
more expensive service in the same area. For example, the customer may come in looking for a
hoe. You suggest a rototiller, which would be much easier on his/her back and faster too!
If you choose this technique, you must be well prepared to explain the benefits of the product.
If you can help the customer make an emotional connection to your service or product, they
just might buy it. On the other hand, you have to be careful that you are still recommending
something the customer needs, and that they don’t feel like you are pushing them to
something that is on your own agenda.
Cross-Selling
This means selling the customer an additional item or items that complement the original
request. For example, you may suggest that while the customer is getting a new car loan, they
may want you to do a consolidation of their other loans. Or, electronics purchases can also
include a service plan. Again, you have to present these benefits to the purchaser without being
pushy.
Value-Added Selling
Historically, "value-added" is a concept in which a company purchases raw materials and does
something to these materials that adds value to the buyer. "Value-added" now refers to how
the seller changes, enhances, or improves the basic product to increase its value to the buyer.
The salesperson finds out what is of value to the buyer and then finds ways to increase the
value of the offering.
The value-added philosophy acknowledges there are two sets of needs in any sale: your buyer
has a need to solve a problem, and you have a need to sell a product or a service for a profit. In
a value-oriented sales environment, both of you achieve your goals. The value-oriented
salesperson is constantly looking for ways to enhance his/her product, service, or company for
the buyer, while preserving his/her margins.
When you embrace this philosophy, you are making a big commitment. You are making a
commitment to your company by leveraging your sales time well. You are pursuing your
commitment to sell more profitably. You are slowly making a commitment to your buyer to
actively seek ways to increase the value of your offering to him or her. You are also making a
commitment to yourself; a commitment to realizing the performance potential within you.
Value is in the eye of the beholder. Value is determined by a buyer's unique set of factors, and
we value other things besides price. As Mark Twain said, “It's the difference of opinion that
gives us the horse race.”
Our Values
Think about the differences between classroom training and online training. What might be
the perceived value of each type of product to different customers?
Making Connections
There are some myths about value-added selling. Some believe that value-added selling only
applies to very complex technical sales. Wrong! Some of the most successful value-added
organizations sell a commodity identical to those of four or five other companies in the area.
They have simply learned how to differentiate or package their product.
Some people think that only the product can have value added.
Both the salesperson and the vendor can add value to the product. This kills the myth that only
managers or those high up in the chain of command can design and deliver added value for
customers.
Some people think that because it’s not unique, it doesn’t count.
There are salespeople who remain silent about some of the special features or benefits of their
product because everyone could say the same about their product. One example is the cell
phone that can offer travelers some protection against being stranded along the road. Yes,
every cell phone has that benefit, but not all companies, or all sales people, talk about that
benefit. Plus, not all cell phone companies have service coverage along all roadways!
We have found that there are some common mistakes that salespeople make no matter what
type of sales they do or what industry they are in.
In this session, you will learn what the top ten mistakes are. You will also think about some
ways to avoid making that mistake and ways to lessen the impact if that error is made.
After each mistake, write down some ways that you could avoid making this error, or for
resolving it if it does happen.
Poor Demonstration
Negative Attitude
Poor Presentation
Over-Talking or Under-Talking
Next to servicing the customers you have, there is nothing more important than getting new
business. But where do you find new clients? What is the best way to network? Where do you
start.
In this session, we will give you one easy way to start looking for new business. You will also
have an opportunity to explore what might be stopping you from networking and how you can
get over those barriers.
Do an Internet search for a local newspaper or directory. What client ideas can you gather
from it?
Networking
Events with strangers are our #1 fear; #2 is public speaking. Most people would prefer to do
anything rather than enter a room full of strangers. Yet, for business and social reasons, we are
obliged to do so.
Use the chart below to list some possible roadblocks to networking and how you might
resolve those.
Of all the objections sales people hear in the run of a day, price is often the most common one
and usually the most difficult one to handle. In practice, price is rarely the true outstanding
issue. When you don’t know much about what you are buying, you buy price. Part of your job
as a sales professional is to educate clients about what they pay for when they buy your
product or services.
In this session, you will think about the pros and cons of selling price. You will then be asked to
think about your current approach to price and how that style might look after this workshop.
Selling Price
The greater the cost of the product, the higher up the company ladder you have to go to make
the sale. This means that you have to get comfortable working through the organization and
finding your qualified buyer.
Use the chart below to list some pros and cons of selling price.
Pros Cons
Based on this analysis, what might your sales approach to price look like in the future?
Don’t use a low price come-on to get yourself in the door. When you promote price, you attract
low-price buyers. When we ask customers what really satisfies them, they tell us that it is not
related to the lowest price of a product, but the relationship (and frequent contact) they have
with the seller.
Remember that you are approaching customers using a customer focus. Approach them with
the benefits of what you sell, and look at the value added features that you could be offering.
If you are looking for further information on this topic, we have included a recommended
reading list below.
Post-Course Assessment
3. True or False: In order to appear professional, purchase the most expensive clothing
you can afford.
8. Cross-selling means…
a. Selling the customer more of your services than originally requested
b. Selling the customer an additional item or items that complement the original
request
c. Improving the basic product to increase its value to the buyer
d. Selling the customer a better, more expensive service in the same area
Pre-Course Assessment
1. D
2. D
3. D
4. True
5. False
6. A
7. E
8. False
9. True
10. False
Post-Course Assessment
11. A
12. B
13. False
14. True
15. D
16. True
17. True
18. B
19. C
20. Customer focused selling
Now that you have completed this course on Selling Smarter, how will you use the things you
have learned? Creating a personal action plan can help you to stay on track and on target.
When you take responsibility for yourself and your results, you get things done!
In this session, you will be asked questions to help you plan your short-term and long-term
goals. This final exercise is a way for you to synthesize the learning that you have done and to
put it into practice.
As a result of what I have My target date is… I will know I have I will follow up
learned in this workshop, I succeeded when… with myself on…
am going to…