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Originally Posted by Skip Anderson
JC, I suppose nothing is totally universal in selling.
But here's the point I was trying to make: Call it whatever you want, but dialogue about needs and wants of the prospect is as universal in the process of selling as anything. I'm not talking about "my" sales system, I'm referring to teachings of top sales trainers and sales managers and sales experts, and the behaviors of top-performing sales professionals.
Having said that, I'm aware that there are contrarians in every field of endeavor (that small group of people who goes against opinions of the masses in order to stand out - Ann Coulter and Dennis Kucinich in the political realm in the U.S. for instance). There are contrarians in the sales field, too, and lots of those contrarian views about selling are discussed profusely in this forum. So some contrarians believe some very out-of-mainstream ideas. So maybe that's what you're referring to: that contrarians don't see understanding prospect needs as necessary. But let's focus on the mainstream views of the sales industry, not the small group of contrarians. That's as close to "universal" as we're going to get.
[I always smile when someone says they don't want to debate, but then proceeds to debate. But hey, debate isn't bad, as long as it's done respectfully, which you did and hopefully I do. That's part of the value of this forum, that we can debate issues to learn, share, and persuade.]
I don't understand how your soda machine analogy fits our discussion, as a can of coke is not sold by a salesperson. This forum is not devoted to discussion about "selling" hamburgers at McDonalds or toothpaste at Walgreen's or toilet paper at Target or Coke out of a machine at SalesPractice because there isn't a salesperson involved in selling those products so I don't get why you brought that up in your post.
Regarding your reference of a "laydown:" At that point, of course, a salesperson becomes an order-taker and writes up the order and then moves on. Of course a needs assessment is not in order in that scenario, but neither is any other "universal sales step" necessary in a "laydown" scenario.
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