.KEYWORD flexible
.FLYINGHEAD THE FLEXIBLE ENTERPRISE
.TITLE Understanding the sales process
.FEATURE
.SUMMARY Selling is a complicated process, but like any process, it’s made up of clearly defined steps. In this excerpt from his book, The Flexible Enterprise, David Gewirtz outlines his view of the science of selling and highlights a number of Palm applications that can help you achieve the goals of each step.
.AUTHOR David Gewirtz
Selling is an enormously complicated process. Not only are there the issues pertaining to the sale itself, but also there are organizational issues, interpersonal issues, and political issues that accompany every large sales situation. Even so, there is a process, a "science," a set of steps that most selling situations pass through.
A few years before starting ZATZ:Pure Internet Publishing and PalmPower Magazine, I wrote a book called The Flexible Enterprise about how to reinvent your company, unlock your strengths, and prosper in a changing world. In it, I had a section called The Sales Process, in which I summarized the steps one typically goes through to close a sale. While the tools have changed in the last few years, the process of selling hasn’t. I want to share those steps with you here and point out some of the applications available for your Palm device that can assist you as you move through the process.
.H1 Plan
Make sure you know what you’re doing in the selling process. Understand each of the steps involved and plan out your actions for each of the steps. Do your homework.
A great tool to use to help you do this is an application called Project Planner. It’s available at http://www.pathcom.com/~carolron/PDA_soft.htm.
.H1 Pre-approach
Prior to actually making a sales call (approaching the prospect), make sure you’ve fully considered how you’re going to make the approach. Are you going to cold-call? Do it by phone? Go in person? What are you going to say? How are you going to open up discussion? Prepare yourself, but don’t memorize a fixed script. You need to be yourself and be comfortable.
.H1 Approach
This is the actual call itself, where you open up the discussion to what you’re selling. A typical phone approach might be:
.QUOTE Hi! My name is John Harris with the Fontana Company. Bill Donnely of Heavy Industries gave me your name. I understand you’re in the market for some high-performance, low-cost industrial processors.
Notice the use of the lead (Bill Donnely of Heavy Industries). This is a classic case of the value of maintaining a good relationship with your customers.
For the pre-approach and approach steps, you’ll probably find an application like Call Tracker very useful. You can find it at http://www.standalone.com/palmos/call_tracker/. You might also want to try Iambic’s Sales Warrior at http://www.iambic.com/pilot/saleswarrior/default.htm.
.H1 Build rapport
It’s said that first impressions take only seconds. Likewise, you’ve only got one to three minutes to build a degree of rapport with your prospect. Obviously, you’re not going to mutually decide to be friends for life. But those first few minutes will be when your prospect decides whether to listen to what you’ve got to say or to chase you out of his office.
.H1 Interview
I consider the interview the most important part of any sales process. The interview is the stage where you try to get to know your customer’s needs, concerns, issues, objections, and desires. It’s from the interview that you have enough information to determine how to present your products and services.
While I’m not a sales person by profession, being the head of a company has required me to do much deal making and selling. I tend to lean heavily on the interview process, conducting extremely detailed and intense Q&A sessions. Sometimes it’ll be necessary to ask very personal, probing questions about the businesses you’re trying to help. Most interviewees react very positively when you explain that the more you know, the more you can help.
I always like to have some notes or a script when I’m talking to potential sales prospects. There are a whole lot of Palm device aftermarket programs you can use for organizing your thoughts, from BrainForest at http://www.aportis.com, to Hi-Note at http://www.cyclos.com.
Honestly, though, creating a "Scripts" category in your Memo Pad is probably a fine approach. Write up notes and scripts for each sales situation. You can easily pull them up when you need them.
.H1 Sales pitch
The sales pitch is your presentation. Whether your presentation is verbal; accompanied by slides, overheads, or video; or is a complete product demonstration, it’s during the pitch that you’re actually communicating what you can do and how it fits with the prospect’s needs. Your presentation must take into account all that’s been learned during the interview and must address all the objections and concerns raised by the prospect in a clear, credible, honest light.
At this stage, an application called FlipChart could be very useful for designing a small but dynamic presentation. You can find it at http://www.middlecross.com/flipchart.html.
.H1 Trial close
A sales close is when the deal is done. A trial close is like a trial balloon; you attempt a low-key close to see if the prospect is ready.
This is where some sales people try to play tricks. You know the kind: Keep asking questions that the prospect will answer with, "Yes," until you’ve asked if the prospect wants the product; ask whether the prospect wants a blue or green product to try to establish a purchase desire in the prospect’s mind; and so forth. Tricks are a waste of time.
Instead, a trial close is almost like part of the interview. Honest questioning to determine whether the prospect is ready to buy is warranted. Gamesmanship is not.
.H1 Learn objections
Often the trial close will lead to objections. You might say, "So how’s this all look to you?" (That’s a soft form of the trial close.) Your customer will probably respond with objections (e.g., price, features, delivery, effort). During this step, don’t’ try to counter the objections. Continue the interview and learn all you can about the dimensions of the objections. Try to learn whether the objections are honest (e.g., it really is too expensive for the budget) or manufactured because the prospect doesn’t want to hurt your feelings, wants to manipulte the deal, or genuinely isn’t interested in buying.
.H1 Handle objections
Sometimes you can handle objections right away. Your options are to explain your way through an objection, change your offer, or provide other incentives. But sometimes you won’t be able to immediately handle objections. Sometimes you’ll need to do some homework away from the sales encounter. This is fine. But make sure you do the homework and actually follow up with the customer. Occasionally, you’ll find an objection is legitimate and you really can’t meet the prospect’s needs. Be honest, shake hands, and wish him luck. Then walk away.
If your prospect has been qualified, you’ve got a motivated, interested prospect. I’ve had a number of instances where my prospect has identified his objections and then we’ve gone off together to research how to overcome them. In these cases, the objections were legitimate; they weren’t gambits on the part of the prospect to manipulate the deal, but were real issues that simply needed to be resolved.
.H1 Loop to sales pitch
Usually after you’ve met the set of objections presented to you by the prospect, it’s time to go back to the sales presentation; modify it to discuss the objections; go through the attempt at the trial close; learn about new objections; meet those objections; and continue to work through the issues until the prospect indicates a willingness to move forward on the deal. This looking cycle can go quickly. Other times, it can take months. I once completed a deal where I had to loop through these steps for nearly a full year until we managed to handle (or reduce the perceived risk) of the prospect’s objections.
.H1 Trial close (again)
Another way to think of the trial close is as a checkpoint in the deal-making process. It’s the point at which both you and your prospect determine together whether all the elements of the deal have been worked out and it’s time to get down to business. As the deal gets closer to completion, you may find yourself doing trial closes on various elements of the deal, rather than the deal in its entirety.
.H1 Symbolic close
I’m a big proponent of the symbolic close. Often, even after all the parties have come to agreement on terms, the actual paperwork that makes the deal legal takes some time. The period of time can often get in the way of the enthusiasm of the moment. So, even though the actual deal isn’t closed until the purchase order is cut or the contract signed, I like to close the deal symbolically. Shaking hands, opening champagne, going out to lunch or dinner, having a party, or even doing a handshake over the phone are all symbolic ways to celebrate the completion of a deal.
With the symbolic close, the rapport dynamic changes from sales person/prospect to provider/customer and is critical as you build an entirely new type of rapport for the long-term business relationship.
.H1 Real close
Of course, the real close is nice too. This is when the deal is actually done and the paperwork is in everyone’s hands. Pat yourself on the back and do a little dance.
.H1 Follow-up
You should never consider a deal complete when you get paid. Customers are valued sources of new business (in themselves) as well as wonderful sources of referrals. Therefore (and for your own peace of mind and self-respect), you want satisfied customers. The follow-up stage is really a life cycle all its own. Follow-up means staying in touch with your customer and continuing the relationship.
Again, Iambic’s Sales Warrior could come in handy. You might also want to look at the new version of FrontRange’s GoldMine 5.0 designed for the Palm OS. You’ll find information on that at http://www.frontrange.com.
.H1 Analysis (debriefing)
Whether a deal closed easily, closed with effort, or failed, you need to debrief. Make sure you (and all the other members of your sales team) understand what worked and what didn’t. Communicate to other departments any lessons learned from the selling process and any needs you have based on prospect feedback. Learn from the process.
Most companies approach sales like a visit to a casino in Las Vegas; just toss the dice and see what happens. But selling, like every other part of your business, can have a process methodology that makes it effective. Selling is incredibly important to the success of your business. Don’t treat it like a carnival sideshow act.
.H1 Tools you can use
Elsewhere in this issue of PalmPower Magazine Enterprise Edition, you’ll find more detailed descriptions of the products I touched on above. You’ll also find many other great applications that can help you integrate your Palm device into your sales force automation strategy.
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
For David Gewirtz’s The Flexible Enterprise, visit http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/047107246X/.
For more information on Project Planner, visit http://www.pathcom.com/~carolron/PDA_soft.htm.
For more information on Sales Warrior, visit http://www.iambic.com/pilot/saleswarrior/default.htm.
For more information on FlipChart, visit http://www.middlecross.com/flipchart.html.
For more information on GoldMine 5.0, visit http://www.frontrange.com.
For more information on BrainForest, visit http://www.aportis.com.
For more information on Hi-Note, visit http://www.cyclos.com.
.H1 Bulk reprints
Bulk reprints of this article (in quantities of 100 or more) are available for a fee from Reprint Services, a ZATZ business partner. Contact them at reprints@zatz.com or by calling 1-800-217-7874.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO
.DISCUSS http://powerboards.zatz.com/cgi-bin/webx?50@@.ee6ea8b
