My Point Exactly!

Paraphrasing from Dale Carnegie, dealing with people is likely the biggest and most common problem you face in business. This is especially true for sales people for to be able to sell, to influence people, you need to be able connect with them. And what better way to connect with them than to develop a meaningful business relationship?

I’m a big fan of stories—and from what I’ve been reading, I’ve learned that we as humans have a natural disposition to listening to stories. It seems that our brains are wired to respond to stories differently than other forms of communication, such as facts and figures, or lists of features and benefits. I find it surprising that sales people don’t use stories more often in selling, for it is very effective.

In their book Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath talk about the concept of providing too much information as the “curse of knowledge”. Too much knowledge can become the culprit in hobbling sales performance. I recall a story that Dan Weilbaker, professor at Northern Illinois University shared that I included in my book,

After the holidays have ended, I tend to get nostalgic and think of other Christmases and times with family. Recently I came across a picture of my son Ryan when he was 4 years old, sitting on Santa’s lap. It brought memories back to how that happened… I recall I was eating lunch when IRead More >>

Assert control is the final part of our discussion of the three major characteristics that great sales reps possess. To be honest, when I first read this, I had a problem with the phrase “assert control”. My philosophy about selling includes creating a safe environment where an open and honest discussion can ensue. Asserting control conjured images of a hard sell which is antithetical to being a great rep. But upon learning more, I realized that this phrase referred to the ability to close the sales conversation by being direct but nonthreatening. This characteristic is in sync with the Delta Point philosophy of creating a safe environment and asking for a commitment.

For the past two weeks, I’ve been writing about the characteristics of the challenger sales rep—which research has shown to be the most effective type of sales person. The research confirms that the sales rep needs to have valuable insight before she can effectively communicate with the customer. Here at Delta Point we refer to that as the need to diagnose before prescribing. Just as a doctor will ask questions to ascertain what treatment option is best for a patient, sales reps need to ask questions that engender thinking.

In my last blog, “Buzz about the Challenger Sales Rep” I promised that I would continue my discussion about the Challenger Sales Rep and what makes this rep the top performer. The study concluded that all Challenger Sales Reps share three main characteristics. The first of these is the ability to “teach for differentiation”.

There’s been a lot of buzz lately among sales professionals and sales leaders about the characteristics/qualities of a great sales rep. In fact, a recent Harvard Business Review blog titled “Selling Is Not About Relationships” caught my attention. Anytime a group such as the Corporate Executive Board conducts a large study aimed at learning more about selling, the findings are definitely worth considering.

Part of my quest for continual improvement is reading the latest business books. These may spark new ideas or provide confirmation of what I have been advocating as a sales and business consultant. So it was gratifying to start reading Guy Kawasaki’s new book Enchantment. Right at the beginning of the book on page 3 was a reference to why Apple was not able to sell Macintosh computers to businesses in the 1980’s—basically because they were not “Thinking Like the Customer”.

The current trend towards more customer centric selling is welcomed by most customers. They find it refreshing to listen to messages that are targeted to their needs rather than listening to sales reps that deliver the same message over and over again, regardless of who they are talking to. An important component of this customer centric selling is the ability to effectively communicate how the product will be a fit for that particular customer.