Being well schooled in sales technique does not guarantee success. In fact, too much focus on technique is counterproductive.
Problem is, a buyer who has been at it for awhile has seen more sales technique than any one sales person can learn in a lifetime. Buyers know all the tricks. They’ve parried every closing thrust, they’ve dodged every closed ended question, they’ve defeated every stratagem to find out what the current price is.
Buyers have seen it all. They can’t be finessed into placing orders. Don’t get me wrong – a solid grasp of sales technique is indispensable. I spend a good deal of my time teaching it. However, sales technique is not enough. Sales reps must also have -
1. An understanding of one’s company, products, and services.
2. An ability and willingness to develop lasting customer relationships.
In the end, buyers buy from people they trust and like. I’ve helped many sales people become successful despite a lack of polish. But sales people who don’t know their stuff and don’t care about customers? No amount of polish will impress the buyer.
I completely agree. What it finally boils down to is relationships!
The relationship side of sales is way undervalued and way more valuable than any amount of technique.
The hardest part of teaching the touchy-feely side of sales is that most good sales people are not interested in it.
They just want to be taught a new technique that they can use to bulldozer the prospect with and move to the next conquest.
Maybe there’s a new service or product in here somewhere
Mike, I think you are correct. I’ve been trying to put more touchy-feely into my training … sometimes it’s well received, sometimes not.
I get emails by the boatload Brad and when I open a dialogue with the person wanting free advice and for me to revamp their sales process in 3 minutes or less, I can say, without a doubt, these people know nothing about relationship marketing or about being a professional sales person.
There is an old saying:
“People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”
Cheers
Andrew
Amen to that, Andrew.
great article…your right, too much focus on sales technique can kill a deal…sometimes you just have to listen and find the solution that works for them.