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| #11 | ||
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"Top Sales Expert"
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I think we hear "sell only to those who are ready, willing, and able to buy" enough in this forum. There's no need to post it over and over and over again. Everyone who participates here gets the concept, I believe. And most of us probably agree with the concept (I do), but also believe there's a lot more to successful selling than that. If we could, we'd probably all like to be order-takers and rake in the dough doing so, but that's not reality for most salespeople. But I'd like other people to feel empowered to get involved in the forum who think it is important to establish rapport with prospects, and want to explore ways to do it better. I want to invite others who think there ways to handle objections to explore those, and share those, and learn from each other. I want to invite others who think that listening and communication techniques are good and desirable and not manipulative and discuss ways to improve it. And a host of other sales topics that deserve attention, discussion, and debate. But almost every time someone brings up one of those topics, it gets squashed by a post stating "only sell to those who are willing, able and ready to buy" and that throws the whole thread off. The "only sell to those who are willing, able, and ready to buy" opinion is well represented by MitchM and others in this community, but I'd like the community to leave room for dialogue on issues that others, and in fact the majority of the sales community, would see as important without being put down for it or constantly distracted, or having a sales trainer try to pitch his book or training that shows you how to sell only to those who are ready, willing, and able to buy. That's it, that's all I'm trying to achieve. So once again, I encourage a broadening of posting activity in this forum, not to silence any portion of the community, but to broaden the input and try to take our dialogue to a higher level rather than constantly getting caught up in the "sell only to those who are ready, willing, and able" issue.
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Selling To Consumers Sales Training to Sell More™ Free sales tips newsletter at www.SellingToConsumers.com |
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| #12 | |
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"Ready, willing, and able" is a reference to the accepted key prerequisites to be determined in the Qualifying stage of selling. I see no sane reason to toss aside discussions of that stage on a forum for sales professionals and newbies alike.
You ask more questions here, Skip, than you respond to. In fact, you rarely answer direct questions. But I'll try again anyway. Can you give me just ONE example from your experience where you made an approved sale to someone who was not ready, willing, and able to buy? |
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I may be wrong, but I can't find those words by him. If I'm not wrong, Skip, then why are you singling out a forum member for repeatedly saying things he never said? WHAT purpose does that serve? |
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I have no way of knowing if MitchM has a vested interest in the Werth progam, or if he is just bubbling with enthusiasm. But again, I believe you are correct. |
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| #18 | ||
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As I said in my post, I think almost everyone agrees with that concept. I also think almost everyone thinks there is a lot more to selling than that. What do you think, Joe? You spend a lot of time criticizing me in this forum. Your screen name seems to indicate that you fashion yourself to be a sales closer. If that's true, how do you do it? Do you ascribe to the belief that you should close without closing? What makes you good or great at what you do? What do you believe in as a salesperson? What methodology or skills or strategies do you employ to be successful? |
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| #19 | |
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"Top Sales Expert"
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How about this as a premise; sales skills have not changed since Jesus Christ walked the face of the planet!
And all those who believed the book "selling in the nineties" or a different "new millennium" version that must now be out are perhaps rolling in their eyes ... wonder if you will be after you are further exposed !?! Og Mandini, who passed away a while back, wrote one of the best selling sales books in history (The world's greatest salesman). His "hero" was a biblical carpet salesman. A man who lived thousands of years before the book was written. And, clearly, if Og used this man and his era to prove his point he felt there was no change in humanity. None that would warrant changing the way you sell. Robert Kiyosaki, whose book had the longest run as a #1 top seller on The New York Times Best Seller list (business paperback category) suggests in Rich Dad Poor Dad (still ranked #3 on that list over 5 years later!) that if you want to succeed in business, you must learn to sell. He further talks about training programs, their importance and why he choose to join Xerox. Here is my hypothesis; There are two reasons why people beleive or promote that selling has changed; (A) to sell books. tapes & DVDs, and; (B) Because they have had experiences with poor sales people who were not trained properly and/or not cut out for our profession and they somehow equated that experience with 'the way selling used to be done' instead of realizing they just had a bad experience. I see here in this thread various opinions. These opinions are based on personal experience, perhaps some without much exposure to serious training. And further perhaps some are based on limited amounts of experience. And it makes me cringe. What bothers me the most is not that others have an opinion that differs from the serious research I am sharing. It is that these opinions, which are not supported by fact, may influence those who are just beginning. And the last thing we want to see happen - as their very livelihood could be affected. And the dogma can be passed on and on, affecting others. Robert was correct. Xerox did the largest effort in history of interviewing professional sales people and came to their conclusions based on thousands of interviews. They created the world's best sales training program in BASIC SELLING SKILLS. PSS was not an advanced selling skills course. But basic understand of human nature is all we need to be amazingly successful. So, please, realize, that your opinion(s) about why an objection happens cannot compare to the statistics generated by several thousand producers. After all, was Xerox's staff afflicted by mass hallucinations??? I will get back to objections in a moment. Og was right too. Nothing has changed. There are those prospects we interact with who might by what we sell and might not. And that moment, as also is mentioned the One Minute Sales Person, what we - as professionals - do next will influence the sale if done correctly. Put another way; say you are sittign with someone who is looking for a car or van. Is that person ready to buy? Sure, there can be no doubt. But why didn't they buy from you??? Gee, did I forget my cologne that day? Did I forget to brush my teeth? Did I miss putting on my under arm deodorant? Or did I miss that one moment, where I could have more appropriately understood what the prospect was thinking and turned them into a buyer who bought from me? I expect to both make an excellent argument for why they didn't buy from you/me (and it isn't they weren't willing) and point out at the same time that, yes, we should sell to those who are willing. In other words, both sides are right. In my opinion - and this is not me quoting research at the moment - those espousing the ready willing and able stuff maybe confusing what makes a qualified prospect with what we do once we have one. Hmmm .... Yes, the person you are trying to sell to (and if you dislike the term "win the business from" fine, change this phrase but the information is the same) must be a qualified prospect (with a clear need for what you offer). No professional trainer will disagree with you, your opinion in this regard is bang on. But that does not change the fact that human nature is such that as you talk to them they may misunderstand what you are saying and that can lead them to think that though they should buy, they should buy a different product! Look, this concept could make up a mini book to explain in full. However, this is absolutely critical. If you are reading my words trying to find the way I have put them together to somehow prove that I stand on the other side of the fence from you, you are sorrily mistaken and missing the point, which will absolutely change/affect how much you earn in commissions. We are on the same team ... don't we just suffer from the same kind of misinterpretation of each other that the sales person and the would be customer does from time to time? Not everyone you call on knows they have a need. The example of a couple walking in off the street ... say their lease on a Caravan is up and they don't intend to take the lease buyout option ... is clear cut. They are certainly ready, willing and able to buy. But, let's assume I am selling something that the prospect has never heard of and before I called on them had no idea they needed. Can they be sold? Should they be sold? Yes and yes. If the product or service you are selling is good for the prospect they will certainly be willing AFTER you prove it but not necessarily before. It is win-win, potentially, but the prospect does not know it yet, that is our job, to prospect, find them, qualify them and show them why they need what we have. Look, professional sales people can and do make a difference in a sales situation. And there is no doubt that would be buyers do not buy because of us. And, apart from the example of the lack of antiperspirant, the reason comes down to sales skills, which is training. And the best training ever came out of the Xerox camp but there are many other sources - Og Mandini, Dale Carnegie, Robert Kiyosaki, J. Douglas Edwards, Peter Burke (my father) ... read everything they wrote and if you get a chance to see them live (those who are still alive that is), do it. None of these people will tell you that anything had changed. Not a one. And they (including Xerox Learning Systems) sold more sales training material than anyone else who was ever published (and, yes, I know I could have put Earl Nightingale in there and a few others too). You can and will make a difference if you know how. I had hoped this thread would bring out examples of how people made a difference in the sale. And how often they felt there was one who nearly bought and didn't or one that was not going to buy and did, but this discussion maybe more important. Because if just one reader gets that there is something to understanding objections and how to handle them that person's sales figures are going to go up (I would not be surprised if that was by 25% or more, as confidence has a way to motivate sales people to do more too). Remember, objections happen for two reasons. It is not because they would not buy or were not ready to buy. It is not because of missing mouth wash. It is because; (a) They misunderstood something about your product or service that lead them to beleive that it was not for them, or; (b) They perceived a drawback. When we went in to replace our Dodge caravan a few months ago, the new ones were not on sale yet. The old Caravan did not have side curtain air bags and we transport our teenage children. Due to safety we were not really happy about that feature and did not buy from them. We were ready, willing and able until we heard that fact. Is that an OBJECTION - a PERCEIVED DRAWBACK or something else? I will answer this one next time. Best of luck always ... May your commission checks be monsters! |
| #20 | |
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"Top Sales Expert"
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Awesomely well written G.C.! Everyone should read your post.
Skip |
