Far too many people in business spin their wheels chasing leads that just will not pick up the phone or return calls.
In the beginning of your interaction, it seemed the prospect was initially ‘hot’ for your services. You sent literature. You did your song and dance. Now, nothing. The prospect has turned cold to all attempts to further the selling process.
Why?
Because they suffer from a serious case of salespressuritis: a fear of being sold.
The Cure
The cure for this ailment is a simple one. Avoid selling in the first place.
I don’t mean stop all sales interactions. I mean toss out the gimmicky, 1980s talk-your-head-off, push-for-a-close techniques the ‘gurus’ of the past preached. Those gimmicky sales pitches DON’T WORK, especially in big ticket corporate sales. They never have and never will.
There are two reasons for this.
First, today’s market is far too sophisticated for outdated high-pressure manipulative gimmicks. Second, sales research has proven that the old school, fast-talking, outsmart-your-listener techniques don’t work if you are selling anything over a few hundred bucks. Such approaches actually hurt sales.
Really the key to sales success in today’s market is less talking and more listening.
Let me explain.
A Long Long Long Time Ago
Around 1992 or 1993 I came across a small case of booklets labeled, Xerox’s Professional Selling Skills System III. The sales model was unlike any sales system I had ever seen before then. I read every page of the system. Listened to the cassette recordings. Completed the sample scenarios and case studies. In taking all these steps I had no clue if my efforts would pay off or not.
The promises of the system seemed somewhat outrageous. I was skeptical. But I reserved judgment and like Mikey… I tried it.
The results? My sales doubled and my confidence quadrupled. I became the top salesperson in under 30 days at that company where I had previously been winging the sales process and struggling just to keep my job. Pretty impressive stuff.
Here’s an overview of the Xerox selling system:
- Uncover an EXPRESSED NEED or desire for the benefits you provide. If your prospective buyer won’t acknowledge a need, then they won’t buy from you. The chance of a successful outcome is next to none. You actively listen for an expressed need for a change. A complaint that your client doesn’t like their current situation isn’t good enough. Have you ever met someone who complains about their lot in life but refuses all attempts or suggestions for help? Your prospect may be the same way. According to Xerox, if they don’t acknowledge wanting a change in their situation you might as well forget about trying to sell to them.
- Memorize a number of PROBES for different situations and attitudes (see #5 below).
- Actively listen and verbally SUPPORT positive remarks about your services.
- Follow a specific structure for CLOSING (this is bad because you are focusing on
what you want–a sale–instead of focusing on honest and open communication). - Listen for attitudes of indifference, acceptance, skepticism, outright objections, and stalling… and then use specific techniques for handling each attitude type. The techniques vary according to attitude you encounter.
Here’s something that may surprise you though. Despite the results I achieved I DON’T recommend using the Xerox Selling System in today’s markets.
Why not?
Well, though effective compared to “winging it” the Xerox sales model is a tedious process to use. And worse, it’s easily fouled if you forget one or more techniques.
Danger Will Robinson, Danger!
But that isn’t its biggest danger.
The biggest danger is the Xerox selling system often causes objections where none existed before. How? By encouraging you to follow a bunch of predetermined steps and encouraging you to force replies from your listener, to move them towards a close.
People aren’t stupid. They will notice your efforts to move them along. Even if you don’t articulate a desire to close, they will notice the pressure. That’s not good.
That’s why despite the successes of using the system I went on a search for something that’s just as effective but less mentally taxing — for the client and for me.
What I found isn’t a single selling system. It’s a combination of two. SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham (available through Amazon.com) and Reverse Selling by Ari Galper (available at unlockthegame.com).
SPIN Selling makes the process of needs-based selling much easier to use because there are only four elements to focus on: situation, problem, implication, needs.
Simple Minds
Since it’s such a simple selling model (way simpler than Xerox’s) and all of my client interactions are by phone, working with SPIN is a no brainer.
To make make the process implementable to long distance consulting I’ve broken the SPIN Selling process down into individual tabs in Microsoft One Note. One tab for each of the SPIN elements. I also have tabs for initiating follow up calls.
Basically each step is one or more questions to determine the client’s interests and needs. It is not a collection of lame sales closing gimmicks. If during the process I find there’s no interest, no need, and no real match I end the call. No point in trying to ‘force’ a sale where one doesn’t exist. And no pressure on me to ‘close’ and no pressure for my listener to buy.
Fortunately I learned early in my selling days that asking questions and listening are more effective than any canned sales pitches. So trying alternative sales processes with easy for me to accept. SPIN Selling confirmed what I had earlier discovered on my own — pushing people to do stuff they don’t want to do is just plain ineffective. Not to mention mentally draining.
As effective as SPIN Selling is, it’s isn’t strong enough on its own. Just like the Xerox system, the SPIN Selling method has holes too. Reverse Selling plugs those holes.
Here’s what I mean.
The underlying focus of Spin Selling is closing. As proof take a look at “Sharpening Your Skills” (chapter 12 of SPIN Selling Fieldbook). Operating with the aim of closing the sale is a disaster for selling consultative services. Trying to force a close creates unnecessary resistance.
A Sickening Dread
Preparing a bunch of features and benefits in advance and then ‘vomiting’ that noise onto a client is the main cause of skepticism and objections. How many times have you considered purchasing something and the sales rep inundated you with a list of ‘features and benefits’ you hadn’t expressed the slightest interest in but then blew right past what was important to you? It’s too common. I personally hate it and want to yell “S-H-U-T UP!”
The only thing that matters are the features and benefits I want to know about. Address those and things are good. Everything else is just noise.
How to avoid making this critical sales mistake?
Take a look at Reverse Selling. Reverse Selling forces your attention on determining if you and the client are a true match or not — not burying your listener in a long list of unrequested features and benefits.
If you find the two of you are not a match, that’s ok. You simply say so and thank them for their time. You move on.
Traditional selling forces sales reps to try to make something out of nothing. You pressure the person until they either buy, leave, or hangup. ‘No is just a request to know more, a request for more information’ is the moto of that dead dinosaur sales process. Not true. Sometimes no means just that. No. We are not a match.
The focus of Reverse Selling is NOT closing. The primary focus is helping people. That detail is what’s missing from SPIN Selling. In Reverse Selling, if you can’t help your prospective client or customer you simply let them go. You do not try to force anyone into buying.
That’s why I recommend using Spin Selling only for its structure: situation, problem, implication, needs. And when it comes to determining what to ask during a call, I recommend adapting the Reverse Selling, “no sales pitch” mindset.
Now You See It Now You Don’t
When you focus on the needs of the person you are speaking with, you eliminate all selling pressure.
Your prospective buyer will detect your sincere concern for their needs and a willingness to help, instead of an ‘always be closing’ mentality. In addition, by merging the two selling systems, you’ll develop a hybrid selling structure that presents you as a competent and concerned professional.
And the best part is, by tossing out old school sales pitches you make it easy, even a joy for others to pick up the phone and talk with you.
Sound like what you are looking for? Are you finding your company’s sales processes are just not working as well as they once worked? You may find the solution is to create a custom, hybrid sales process based on what you are selling and who you are selling to.
Obviously a low commitment one-call sales approach will vary greatly from a sales process requiring multiple client interactions and high commitment. In most cases a single off the shelf system is inappropriate regardless of industry you are working in.
That’s why for service based businesses (consulting being the example given) we recommend merging SPIN Selling with Reverse Selling. However for your company SPIN Selling/Reverse Selling hybrid might not be the best approach.
How would you know?
If you have the time and resources to study and integrate these two processes into your company, test them out and see. Grab both Spin Selling and SPIN Selling Fieldbook then purchase Ari Galper’s Reverse Selling system. Study all three and create a custom selling system for your company.
Or if time is a concern you may prefer to have the process done for you.
Hire someone who’s already tested these processes. Arrange for them to evaluate your current sales approaches and your current sales objectives, then create a custom hybrid sales program for your company based on the best of all selling systems and modern research available.
Additional recommended sales resources:
- Miller Heiman sales processes
- NLP selling techniques
| Want an unbiased review of your current sales and marketing processes? I might be able to help. Since I do not yet know anything about your company I can’t promise we are a match. But I can promise to sit with you by phone and have an honest and ethical conversation about your marketing needs and objectives — without the high-pressure ‘trial closes’, sales pitches, tie-downs, or other manipulative processes some have mislabeled as ‘consulting’. If a confidential no sales pressure consultation sounds like it might be up your alley Click Here To Contact Me By Email to schedule a no-sales pressure consultation by phone.
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