The Demise of Dysfunctional Selling

Over the last 2 days, I was fortunate to attend one of our public sessions for Helping Clients Succeed.  I was in the room with very seasoned sales professionals, CEOs and sales trainers from around the country.  Everyone was there to learn a new and better way to work with their clients. 

Let’s face it!  Dysfunctional selling is all around us.  Salespeople are trying to sell solutions to help their clients all while trying to make a quota.  Clients are struggling with their businesses and need outside vendors, yet they don’t like “being sold” and withhold valuable information that could help the salesperson help them with their products and services.  Without trust the sale will rarely happen. 

Take the comic above for example.  Do your prospects feel like wallets rather than people?  If so, you will rarely close a deal.

Here is a typical scenario.  After a few short interactions, the client asks for a proposal just to see if the solution is in their budget.  Like a dog fetching a ball, the salesperson gladly chases that opportunity, wastes a lot of time drafting a proposal and drumming up internal support without ever knowing if the client is going to buy or not.  In most cases they don’t.  The sales rep is now back at the beginning of trying to drum up new business and starting this dysfunctional process all over again.  At the same time, the client is also frustrated because they need outside assistance, yet think all salespeople are out to get their money.  The next vendor approaches them and they repeat again, too.

If the above scenario sounds like your sales process, then you might want to take a look at our Sales Performance Solutions.  We work with sales teams with an entirely different approach.  Your sales professionals learn that “Intent counts more than technique” and to “Move off the solution” and to truly focus on the client, rather than trying to make the sale.  After they go through the process, when it is time to offer the client a solution, they provide them with one that “exactly meets their needs.”  These sales have a higher close ratio, are often much bigger and clients are happy to do business with you again and refer you to other clients.

Ready for a change?  If so, use the Online Appointment Book at the top right of this page and let’s set up a 30-minute call to explore your situation.  You can also learn more by ordering a copy of the book, Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play: Transforming the Buyer/Seller Relationship. 

Helping our clients succeed,

John Vakidis

PS - if you are an executive or a sales leader, consider joining us in Dallas on April 5^th for a ½ day session to better understand this process.  Contact me directly to register.  Seats are limited.

Sales Performance

In November 2011, I wrote a 4 week blog series based on some research from Gallup about the 4 key factors that determine a salesperson’s success:   

1.       Intrinsic motivation

2.       Disciplined work style

3.       Ability to build relationships with customers

4.       Ability to close a sale

While the first 3 aspects are more linked to characteristics of a good sales person, the last one really depends on the PROCESS in which a salesperson works with their prospects and clients.  In retail, managers often push their salespeople to "Close, close, close!" because they know the statistics that when a person leaves without buying, the chance of them coming back can be thwarted by a number of factors, which leads to items remaining in the warehouse.

In more complex B-T-B sales environment, the way you consult your client will have a dramatic effect on not only if they buy, but how much they buy, how fast they buy and if they will ever buy from you again.  Many companies are good at initiating the opportunity.  Their marketing department has done good analysis of determining what companies want/need and the price they are willing to pay for their products or service.  With a well-written email or good phone call, a salesperson might be able to set up a meeting.  From that point, this is where most salespeople FAIL.

In Mahan Khalsa’s book, Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play: Transforming the Buyer/Seller Relationship, he and co-author, Randy Illig explain that when in a more complex sale envirnoment, salespeople need to learn to work with their clients in IN ORDER.  They need to understand their client’s needs (Opportunity Creation) and build them a solution that exactly meets their needs and help them get results (Opportunity Conversion).

The Key to Sustained Superior Sales Performance lies solely on getting a sales force to adopt a proven methodology and hold them accountable to execute the process.  As a sales leader, if you can do this well, you will hit your quota year after year and you’ll have plenty of happy clients that are willing to be referrals.

To learn more, consider requesting a meeting with your FranklinCovey Client Partner using the Online Appointment Book (top right of this page) or even joining us in Dallas on February 22-23 for our regional 2-day public session for Helping Clients Succeed. 

To your sales success,

John Vakidis

Are you on LinkedIn?  If so, connect with me and mention that you read this blog post on "Sales Performance"