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ОглавлениеSelling Didn't Come Naturally for Me
I am not a natural-born salesperson. Perhaps you aren't either. Here's the good news: there is hope for both of us! I am confident that if you have the will to learn to succeed in the world of professional selling, you can acquire the skill to succeed in the world of professional selling. That's the purpose of this book you have in your hands: to help you reach sales success.
I had to learn to be an effective sales professional. It has been hard work to learn my profession. And, I am so glad I did learn, because selling has been very rewarding to me and my family. Selling has allowed me to provide for my loved ones. Selling has allowed me to enroll my children in the university of their choice versus where I could afford to send them. Selling has literally taken me around the world. I honor the sales profession. I respect the sales profession.
However, as stated earlier, I am not a natural-born salesperson. I am jealous of those natural-born salespeople who caught on easily and didn't struggle with the stigma of being one of those "sales types." Looking back, I wouldn't trade places with the naturalborn salesperson. I am glad I had my doubts, uncertainties, and fears. (By the way, those are called DUFs. This book will teach you how to confront and overcome the DUFs.) These have made me more effective, more confident, more competent, and more successful. There is hope for the novice salesperson. There is hope for the salesperson who is struggling with moving to the next sales plateau. There is hope for the veteran sales professional who needs to be reminded what is necessary to remain a top producer. There is hope for the “non-traditional” salesperson; the person who has been mandated to sell. There is hope for the professional who doesn’t want to be a professional salesperson but must be a professional who can sell! Yes, if you have the will to succeed, there is hope for you to develop the skill to succeed.
This book provides the guidelines to do just that. If you implement the principles outlined in So, You’re New To Sales you will be able to:
Succeed in sales
Assist buyers in solving problems and enhancing their current situation
Take pride in your profession
Gain confidence as a sales professional
Understand the psychology of selling
Conduct effective sales calls
Implement a prospect-centered sales process
Initiate contacting prospective clients
Manage sales resistance and sales objections
Handle the emotional demands of the sales profession
Reach your professional goal
Enjoy the world of professional selling!!
To receive the best return on your investment, the following strategies are suggested:
1 Convert this book to your actual day-to-day sales environment. That is, modify the concepts/techniques into your real-world sales situations. By that I mean an example may refer to a tangible product such as automobiles, homes, computers, cell phones. Yet, you may sell an intangible (i.e., professional services, advice, insurance, warranty, protection…). You will have to use your industry knowledge to adjust the technique to your situation.
2 Try the technique more than once! To do something well you must first do it poorly. On your first few attempts, you will not be comfortable nor will you be confident with the sales skill or technique. Give yourself a chance to be successful by implementing the technique several times. You just might find that you are effective before you become comfortable!
3 Ask for advice. Ask senior sales professionals for insights into effective selling techniques. I love sales because it is such an individual activity. If I put forth a consistently effective effort, I will be consistently rewarded. Yet, I have never been successful in a vacuum. I have a team that I rely on to contribute to my success. Don’t hesitate to ask for help.
4 Contact me. My email is bflanagan@ziglar.com. I am open to assisting you in any way I can to better your understanding and use of the principles outlined in this book.
The book is organized in easy-to-read and easy-to-apply lessons. Each lesson is designed to be brief and to the point so that you can read a section, put the book down, and go sell somebody something!
I look forward to contributing to your growth as a top producing sales professional!!!
Now, let's get started...
Are You Also an Accidental Salesperson?
I am an accidental salesperson. When I was in college, I wanted to be a high school basketball coach. All my fraternity brothers urged me to major in marketing. They told me, "You have a sales personality. You should be in sales. That's a perfect fit for you." Those words frightened me. I didn't know a thing about selling. Besides, my mother raised me the way your mother raised you. She told me, "Never talk to strangers and don't ask people for money!" (Sound familiar?) So, what did I do? I became a salesman! Talking to strangers and asking people for money is how I earn a living!
During my second senior year at Louisiana State University (I graduated in the half of the class that made the top half possible) Cyndi and I had been dating for four years and were planning to wed. But I had no job and Cyndi was spending her final semester as a student teacher. In an effort to find employment, I answered an ad in the Student Aid office for part-time work with the IBM Corporation. I was fortunate that I dressed properly for the first interview in my life. I actually wore a three-piece suit...and all three pieces matched! Again, I was lucky because I was hired despite having no experience in sales, business, or the marketplace.
I began working as a delivery boy for the IBM Corporation in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This is how old I am: my first job was delivering typewriters for the Office Products Division of IBM. The division sold and serviced electric typewriters and copying machines. Yes, for you young readers, before “keyboarding” there was “typing.” My year-long, part-time job allowed us to get married, to live in married student housing, and to finish our degrees. Once I graduated, IBM hired me as a full-time sales representative.
My 90-day training consisted of two months in the branch office and one month in downtown Dallas at the National Training Center. In those days, we estimated that the company invested roughly $50,000 in preparing the salesperson to enter a sales territory. Once my training concluded, I was assigned my first sales territory. I was given six parishes (other states refer to these as counties) outside of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. But I had a problem: I could not sell! After investing $50,000 on my training, IBM had a salesperson who couldn’t sell. It was not IBM’s fault. I learned long ago that I am responsible for my success. I respect IBM and certainly am honored to have been a part of Big Blue for 14 years. (I still have my white shirts and 12-pound wing-tipped shoes!) I experienced a very difficult year my first year in sales. Now, that doesn’t mean I didn’t sell a lot. I did sell a lot: I sold my furniture, I sold my car, I sold some of my stocks…. If you have been in sales for a while, you will know it wasn’t entirely my fault. You see, they gave me a bad territory! My prospects were strange. Some of them would actually sit around the coffee table in their offices reading the obituary column in the newspaper trying to figure out why people died in alphabetical order!
I struggled a great deal trying to become a salesperson, but I never pulled it all together. I battled the stigma of being a salesman. I had no confidence in my selling skills. I didn't know how to conduct a sales interview and I was at a loss when a prospect said my price was too high. When a prospect said he was happy with the current equipment, I would turn and almost sprint to my car. I was unsure how to pick up the telephone and set appointments and I took "no" personally. When I got into a selling slump, I stayed in that slump for a long time. I couldn't handle the emotional demands of selling. I became an inactive salesperson. I jokingly say that I "aggressively waited for my phone to ring." I was inconsistent in achieving my sales quota. I was miserable.
My mother and father had instilled in their three children a strong work ethic. I knew that I had to tough it out. I decided to get serious about my success. I began to learn things. I learned timid salespeople have skinny kids! That converted me from passive to a bit more assertive. I started to do things better. I invested in myself by joining a local Toastmasters International Club. I began to gain confidence in my abilities to speak, communicate, and present. Inwardly, I had low self-esteem. Because of my desire to help train new salespeople at our local branch office, IBM promoted me to the National Training Center in Dallas, Texas, as a sales instructor. (Those who can, do; those who can't, teach; and those who can't teach, teach sales!!!)
I was now at the national center competing with twenty-four other staff members for future sales management positions. I had no confidence in myself as a professional or as a person. I thought of myself as a little guy from a little town with a image of myself. I was competing with men and women from large cities:
Cathy was from Chicago, Linda was from New York, Roger from Boston, Ron from Seattle. I didn’t think I could compete with them. As mentioned, my self-esteem or “deserve level” was low.
Someone noticed my struggle and suggested I invest in a book by a man named Zig Ziglar. The book was entitled See You at the Top and it cost $12.95. At the time, I was not a book-worm nor was I a tape-worm. I was not reading books nor was I listening to audio cassettes. I was not involved with Toastmasters at the time and I was not investing in myself. However, when I got to page 48 of Zig’s book, my life changed. One sentence in that book forever changed my personal life as well as my professional life. That one sentence read, “You cannot consistently perform in a manner that is inconsistent with the way you see yourself.”
My wife had told me similar things for the eight years we’d been married. But until I read those words, I was missing success by a distance of 12 inches. That’s the distance from my head to my heart. For $50,000, IBM had taught me the intellectual side, the head side of selling. For $12.95 Zig Ziglar taught me the heart side of selling, the belief side of selling. Don’t get me wrong, you need both. However, I was missing the heart side. I discovered that I had been in sales for six years, but selling wasn’t in me. I think other salespeople experience the same feeling at times.
You see, I was trying to give away something I did not possess. That is, I was trying to transfer to my customers something I didn’t possess: confidence in myself and in my ability to help solve a problem. I did not possess confidence in myself and because of that I had no confidence in communicating how I could help someone solve his or her challenges. I believed it with my head but not with my heart. That's why both the will and the skill r vital for new salespeople.
This discovery made a HUGE difference. I felt better about myself, I felt better about the profession of sales. I truly believed that I deserved to be successful. I truly believed that I could add value to a person's business. I truly believed that I could positively impact the bottom line and increase productivity. Yes, I was missing sales success by 12 inches, the distance from my head to my heart. Once I completed that short distance I began to produce great sales results. If you are struggling with a similar issue, my desire is that you will also get serious about investing in your "deserve level." You deserve to be successful. You deserve to professionally represent your company and yourself in solving problems that your prospects experience. You deserve to be rewarded when you are successful in helping solve those problems.
There were two elements that contributed to my becoming an effective salesperson:
1 Learning my profession
2 Respecting my profession
Learning My Profession
You never graduate from selling. You are always growing. Successful salespeople invest in themselves by learning and studying their profession. There were a couple of things I learned from this. One, you should invest more in yourself than you do in your career. You should, no, you must, be a constant student. School is never out for the professional. Enroll in “Automobile University.” By that I mean use your car as a learning chamber. Listen to audio recordings that will not only give you a motivational lift, but will prepare you for your sales day, for your next sales call, for your trip home to the family. The reason I encourage you to invest in yourself is this: Personal growth precedes professional growth. Better people build better sales professionals.
Respecting My Profession
Selling is an honorable profession because selling is something you do with the prospect, not to the prospect. If the sales transaction is not mutually benefitting you and the prospect, then cease your selling activities, ask for a referral, thank the prospect for his or her time, and conclude the interview.
Let me give you an example. I was training new luxury car salespeople over a period of several weeks. I noticed one young man who was still struggling with the title of “car salesman” and with the challenge of working on straight commission. During class I asked if he would role play with me on three questions. I asked him to think of a client whom he had sold a car four or five months earlier. When he said he had one in mind, I then asked three questions:
1 Does the person still drive the unit you sold him? The answer was yes
2 Do you still have all the commission you made when you sold the car? The answer was no.
3 The last question: who got the best deal, you or the client? The answer was, of course, the client.
Because of the sales efforts of this young car salesman, the client will enjoy the value of the transaction for years to come. The car owner has a long-term benefit. The salesman has a benefit, but it is not as long-term.
I have the same question for you: when you sell your product or service, who gets the best deal? The answer is the client (I'll help you with the difficult questions...).
Take pride in the fact that you can positively impact the lives of your prospects. If you are a commissioned salesperson, you never get paid until you've helped some other person (your prospect) improve his or her life in some fashion. Yes, selling is a great profession!
During my sales training workshops I often ask the participants, "What do you like about the sales profession and what do you dislike about the sales profession?" The answers are then listed on a flip chart in the front of the room.
These are the answers I often receive:
| What I LIKE: | What I DISLIKE: |
| Freedom | Rejection |
| Working with people | Uncertainty |
| Solving problems | Pressure |
| Money | Stigma |
| Control my future | The ups and downs |
I then ask, "What is the common denominator between the two lists?" You will notice as you review the lists, there is not one policy, procedure, or product on either side. So, what is the connection between the two?
Here it comes. Are you ready? The connection is how the salesperson handles the emotional demands of the sales profession. That’s right. How you handle the emotional side of selling.
More so than any profession, sales professionals move on emotions.
Here is an example. Let’s compare the accounting profession to that of sales. I admire accountants because I don’t have an analytical bone in my body. I can’t do what an accountant does. (Do you know what I do when my bank book doesn’t balance? I change banks!) How long is the reporting period for an accountant? A month? A quarter? A year? How long is the reporting period for a salesperson? Every door knock, every handshake, every phone call. Our reporting periods come fast and furious. We are going to hear the word “no” more often than other professionals. We will have more opportunities to fail than other professionals. Therefore, we must be emotionally stronger than other professionals.
One of the many reasons I love selling is that success doesn’t depend on the color of your skin. It does, however, depend on the thickness of your skin. When you became a salesperson, you accepted the chance of hearing “no.”
Here is the key: you don’t have to like everything about selling to be outrageously successful. That’s right. You don’t have to like every aspect of selling to succeed. I find that statement to be liberating. You don’t have to like all the activities associated with selling. But you do have to perform them.
As you progress through your sales career, you have to continually evaluate yourself, your skills, your attitudes, and your growth. Do not fall into the trap of “beating yourself up.” Salespeople are famous for holding themselves to unreachable standards. Yes, you need high standards. However, you need realistic standards. Give yourself permission to be successful. You have to stop being critical of yourself when you stop being fair to yourself. Do not unfairly criticize yourself. Loosen up! Relax! Remember, angels fly because they take themselves lightly.
It will be helpful for you to familiarize yourself with the following terms used throughout the book.
Preparation and Planning: Gathering information to assist you in contacting and calling on the prospect. This includes research, social networking, personal contact, and third party information. Proper planning gives you a competitive edge.
Prospecting: Identifying the organizations and individuals that have a potential need for your products/services/ solutions.
Product: Interpreting how your products/services/ solutions benefit your prospects and communicating that value to them.
Process: Implementing a formula for focusing on the prospect's needs, issues, and concerns.
The Person: Possessing the confidence in yourself and understanding your role as a sales professional.
16 Professional Selling Principles
Here are some principles you may want to think about during your sales day.
Principle #1: Selling is a process, not an event
This is one of the essentials of successful selling. Selling is a step-by-step process involving the buyer and the seller. Selling is not one-sided. It is not a process for the salesperson only. It is a methodology of discovering what problem or concern the buyer has, then assisting in solving that problem or concern.
So, You're Newto Saies introduces the Sales P.R.O.C.E.S.S. Formula of professional selling. This is a step-by-step methodology addressing the seven steps necessary to sell with confidence and competency. Whether you are selling a tangible product or an intangible service, the Sales P.R.O.C.E.S.S. will serve you well. The reason is that this process allows the salesperson to focus on the prospect and his or her needs, issues and concerns. YouTI enjoy greater sales success when implementing this process.
The process is outlined below. You may be using a similar process. However, the seven-step process below forms the acrostic "PROCESS." Each of the steps is a link in the process that provides a methodology to move to the next step. By knowing where you are in the process, and knowing where the prospect is in the process, you have a better chance of successfully reaching a favorable conclusion.
This book illustrates a specific sales process intended for those in the relationship sales environment. In other words, it works very effectively for environments conducive to establishing relationships, building long-term partnerships, and continuing to service and sell into existing accounts. At the same time, it provides an effective model for driving new business and replacing competitive installations.
Principle #2: You make more money solving problems than you do by selling products!
The only time a commissioned salesperson earns money is when he or she assists a prospect in improving his or her situation. It may be assisting the prospect in reducing stress, making or saving money, providing peace of mind, etc.
When you solve problems for prospects, you become a hero to them. You become a great resource to that person. To be a successful problem solver, you need to be others-focused. That is, you must pay attention to the other person’s needs, issues, concerns, challenges. If you can identify those areas and then place the prospect in a position to solve them, the money will follow.
Principle #3: Prospects do things for their reasons, not your reasons!
As similar as prospects are, they also have major differences. Some people may purchase your solutions for monetary gain, others for prestige, and still others for the convenience and ease your solution offers. It is imperative you uncover the reason a person would exchange money for your product or service. In chapter six on “Open a Dialogue to Uncover Needs” you will learn to identify those reasons.
So, You're New to Sales 34
Principle #4: When selling yourself, you must believe in your product.
Your sales success depends on how you present yourself. Do your prospects see you as a poised, professional individual? Or, do they see you as a person who is uncomfortable and lacking confidence? Zig Ziglar claims that selling is nothing more than a transference of feeling. If you can transfer how you feel about your solution to the prospect, you’ll have a customer for life.
The prospect buys you before buying your plan. You must first have that inner belief that you deserve to achieve the sale. Then you must believe that you can assist the prospect in improving his present situation. When you have that inner belief, that inner confidence, that belief you are worthy of success, your chances for success are greatly increased. This issue is addressed throughout So, You’re New to Sales.
Principle #5: To be convincing to others, you must first be convinced yourself!
You can’t give away something you don’t possess. Therefore, you must be convinced your product or service is superior to the competition. No, I am not saying that you have to have the perfect solution. Perfect solutions usually don’t exist. However, you must have a deep belief that your solution is the best fit for the prospect’s needs.
Many years ago, I was selling a product I did not believe in. You guessed it, I did not sell it often. The product was dictation equipment. Since I didn’t use dictation equipment for my correspondence, I didn’t have a deep belief in the benefits of the product. Consequently, I did not sell it. However, once I began to use the equipment, I began to see the advantages it offered. It saved time and energy when I produced proposals and letters. I began to believe and I began to sell dictation equipment. You have to believe.
Principle #6: If it is to be, it is up to me.
Selling is a very personal activity. If you work hard you will be rewarded. If you do not work hard, you will not be rewarded.
Principle #7: Pressure selling is caused by a lack of prospects.
Prospects are the lifeblood of any sales organization. For new salespeople, prospects are the foundation on which to build a career. Most new salespeople don’t receive a long list of existing clients. Therefore, it is important to always build your “prospect funnel.” That is, create a list of potential buyers.
When you have a short list of prospects, you put pressure on those people to buy from you. That is not the reputation you want to create in the marketplace. If you have a short list of prospects, I don’t want to be on that list. Why? Because you are going to call me all the time, you are going to push to meet with me. By always having a long list of prospects, you have more people to contact and you put less pressure on the ones on your list.
A key point about prospecting: you are always prospecting. You are not always selling, but you are always searching for potential buyers.
Principle #8: Your customers don’t buy what you do; they buy whatyou can do for them
This concept will be covered in “Sell the Value.” In that chapter the strategy of selling values, advantages, and benefits is addressed. These have to be sold from the perspective of the prospect. Once you identify what the person wants, you can then present how your solutions meet those needs.
Principle #9: You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want!
Zig Ziglar built his entire career on this simple, yet powerful statement. Salespeople should embrace this philosophy. As a sales professional, you are trying to strengthen the prospect’s position or environment or situation. If you can put a person in a position to reach his or her goals, you earn the prospect’s trust and become a “trusted advisor.”
Principle #10: Timid salespeople have skinny kids!
This is a humorous saying, the purpose of which is to have you smile or chuckle. However, there is a lot of truth in this sentence. It simply means if you aren’t stepping up to the challenges, you aren’t putting bread on the table. I will never suggest you be aggressive. I will tell you to be assertive in your sales activities, believe in yourself and your skills, and have certainty in your ability to solve prospects’ problems.
It also means to be serious about your sales success. Be serious enough to ask questions of your company’s sales leadership. Be serious enough to seek assistance when you need help.
Principle #11: You are only as good as your information.
Sales are not closed because you have a lot of facts. Sales are closed because you have a lot of information. The prospect may claim he has no money in the budget. That is a fact. However, if you understand why he is out of budget, perhaps you can better understand his concerns and place him in a position of avoiding budget problems in the future.
Principle #12: Whoever has the most information has the most influence
Information is powerful. The more information you have, the better you can understand and relate to the prospect. The more information you have, the greater your chances of influencing the purchasing decision. In order to beat your competition, you don’t have to be 10 times better than they are. You just have to have a bit more information than your competitor in order to push the decision to your side of the equation.
Principle #13: Prescription without diagnosis is malpractice in any profession.
This is the challenge for people new to sales. It is often more comfortable to talk about your products and services than it is to talk intelligently about the prospect’s issues and concerns. Therefore, we are more comfortable talking about us than we are asking questions to find out about them. The key is this: don’t tell all you know until you know what to tell.
You wouldn’t trust a doctor who prescribed a treatment without identifying your pain and the source of your pain. Your prospects are the same way. They will not trust you unless you first perform some type of diagnosis. This is accomplished by asking questions, listening to the answers, and then connecting those answers to your solutions.
Principle #14: Process takes pressure off the person.
This is a huge principle for the new salesperson. Why? Because we often believe the personality is more important than the process. If I have the choice to tweak a process or a personality, I would rather tweak a process on a sales call than tweak a personality. You should put pressure on the process and take the pressure off of your personality.
Principle #15: Don’t quote price until you ’ve established value.
When you quote your price before you ’ve communicated the values, advantages and benefits of your product or service, you will reduce your solution to a “commodity.” This means you are just like every other competitor trying to win the prospect’s business. If you’ve not established value, then no matter what price you quote, the prospect will believe it is too much money to spend for the return she is receiving for the money.
You should postpone talking price until you have established enough value in the prospect’s mind to make a positive impact.
Principle #16: The intent behind your technique determines your ethics!
New salespeople are often concerned with “coming on too strong” with a prospect. I hear this all the time: “Oh, I couldn’t use that question, I don’t want to sound too salesy!”
Let's say you have a product that enhances the prospect's current situation. In fact, you believe with all your heart that this solution is a good match for the prospect and you know by purchasing from you the prospect will greatly benefit. Now, let's say you do not ask that question because you are too uncomfortable to ask it. If that were the case, wouldn't you be doing the prospect a disservice, or an injustice?
If your intent behind asking a question is to help the prospect, then any question you ask is ethical.
On the other hand, if you are not sure this solution is the best for the prospect, you should cease your selling efforts until you know for sure this purchase will definitely contribute to his or her betterment.
This next section is based on a model taken from Abraham Maslow's "Four Stages of Learning." Maslow's theory states that when learning a skill, we generally progress in four distinct stages. For our purposes, we will call these the "Four Stages of Sales Growth."
The first stage is where you do not know you do not know. This is called Unconsciously Incompetent. You may have found yourself in this stage when you were exposed to your company’s products or services. You did not know the meaning of industry-specific terms or “buzz words.” For example, later in the book you will be introduced to a sales concept called “upsetting the prospect’s homeostatic balance.” If you are not familiar with that term, or you have not heard it used in a sales context, you are at the first stage of growth: you don’t know that you don’t know.
The second stage is where you know you do not know. This is called Consciously Incompetent. You may be at this stage when you realize you aren’t skilled in making phone calls in order to schedule appointments. Oh, you know how to use the telephone. However, you aren’t proficient in communicating why a prospect should meet with you.
When you get to this stage, three things happen to you: first, your motivation disappears; second, your frustration rises; and third, you start to doubt yourself. You begin to have second thoughts about even being a sales professional. You talk to yourself by saying, “Oh, I should have stayed in customer service. Selling is a lot harder than anyone led me to believe!” This is the stage where you put pressure on yourself. Zig Ziglar says this is the stage where you develop “stinkin’ thinkin’.” You start to overly criticize yourself. Who is your worst critic? Of course, you are…unless you are married. (Just kidding: marriage is grand…divorce is four hundred grand!)
Two important points: First, it’s okay to be at this stage, it is NOT okay to stay there. You need to progress through this stage. When you do, you will be more confident and feel better about yourself. Second, you need to know how to get out of this stage. Once again, my mentor, boss and friend Zig can help us out here. Zig suggests you keep a victory list to remind you of your past successes. This victory list should include the things that gave you the most satisfaction and confidence. As you review your victory list you will be reminded that you have succeeded in the past and you are capable of succeeding in the future! You really should create victory list.
The third stage of growth is the point where you know you know. This is called Consciously Competent. At this stage you can be productive. It is still not second nature to you, you are still not on “auto pilot,” but you know what is required to succeed and you perform those tasks at a conscious level. After a while you will acquire the skills, techniques, and experiences to deliberately use the telephone to schedule sales appointments.
The fourth stage of growth is the stage where you are so good at something you reach the point you don’t know that you know. This is called Unconsciously Competent. Now you are on “auto-pilot.” Athletes call it “being in the zone.” Oftentimes, new salespeople are in this stage in the area of building rapport and relationships with others. They are referred to as “people people.” You know these types. They have never met a stranger. These are the people who talk on an elevator when they are the only ones on the elevator! They just take to people naturally and others are drawn to them. These salespeople couldn’t tell you how they engage others in conversations; they just seem to have a knack for it.
Sometimes salespeople are referred to as “natural-born salespeople.” If that’s the case, they are usually in the Unconsciously Competent stage. They can produce activities and behaviors that lead to sales effectiveness. I am very jealous of that. The reason I am jealous is that I am NOT a natural-born salesman. It required a lot of trial and error on my part to be an effective salesman. In fact, if I rated my sales skills on Four Stages of Growth, I would accurately rank myself solidly in the Consciously Incompetent and Consciously Competent stages. For me, selling was an acquired skill. It was not a natural skill for me. I had to move up the steps in very small increments. However, I am glad I did because I think I am a better salesperson because of those incremental steps.
In my sales seminars I often tell the participants I am in the middle two stages of the growth chart. I also tell the participants that I am so excited about being at those stages because I still have plenty of room for growth and improvement. You see, after 40 years as a sales professional, I am still growing. My greatest victories as a salesperson are ahead of me. I am excited about that! You should be excited, also. Your future is ahead of you as well!
Let me use a sports analogy. Let’s take my two boyhood heroes, Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams. Mickey Mantle is a Hall of Fame Baseball player. He hit 536 home runs and an additional 18 in World Series competition. He was a natural hitter. It was difficult for Mickey to move from Unconsciously Competent down to Consciously Competent. He was never a hitting instructor for the New York Yankees. You see, when he got into a sales slump, I mean, when he got into a batting slump, he couldn’t move down to the Consciously Competent level and self-correct. No, when he experienced a batting slump he had to hit his way out of the slump. One of his biggest regrets was that he didn’t end his career as a .300 hitter, one measure on which major league players are evaluated.
On the other hand, my other hero, Ted Williams, hit .344 as a lifetime batting average which is 46 points higher than Mickey’s average. Williams hit 521 home runs, was the last player to hit over .400, and was arguably the greatest hitter in the history of the major leagues. Ted Williams was also Unconsciously Competent. However, Williams had the ability to move down to the third level to Consciously Competent. He could self-correct. His batting slumps were shorter in duration than Mickey’s. Ted even wrote the book The Science of Hitting.
The challenge with natural-born salespeople is the same that natural-born athletes face: when things aren’t going well, what do they do? Can the natural-born salesperson move down a level to Consciously Competent? Sometimes it is more difficult for them because they did not spend a lot of time in the Consciously Competent level when they were learning to sell.
So, if you aren’t an Unconsciously Competent salesperson, there is hope. Yes, you too can grow into being an effective sales producer. Just continue to grow and invest in yourself.
Here is a mistake we make in sales departments. We often ask the superstar salesperson to coach the rookie salesperson. If the superstar is Unconsciously Competent and can’t move back to the Consciously Competent level, this superstar will not be a very good coach. This only works if the rookie is a “clone” of the superstar. That is rarely the case. It is important for new salespeople to receive instruction from a coach who is Consciously Competent so that the coach can teach the skills the rookie needs to learn.
An important concept about the Four Stages of Growth: you model from Stage Four (Unconsciously Competent) and you coach from Stage Three (Consciously Competent).
The Four Stages of Growth Exercise
This exercise requires you to be very honest with yourself. No one else needs to see your answers. This is a three-part exercise.
1 Choose a selling skill that is needed for you to be successful.
2 Rate your proficiency in that skill on the growth chart. Are you at the second level, the third level...?
3 Provide evidence to support why you rated yourself at that stage.
Here's a personal example: My skill is prospecting.
I rank myself at the third level, Consciously Competent.
The evidence: I attend networking organizations and provide 10-minute training topics. I gather the attendees' business cards and conduct a drawing by giving away Ziglar products. I then bring the business cards back to the office and distribute to the sales representatives.
I have met the three requirements: I chose a skill, prospecting. I rated myself at the third stage, Consciously Competent. I then provided specific evidence to support the ranking.
Your turn:
Skill:______________________________________________
Rate:_______________________________________________
Evidence:___________________________________________
The following story illustrates the importance of this exercise. A few years ago I was called into a client’s office to work with the new life insurance agents. As the participants were engaged in the exercise, I walked up to a young man named Troy. I asked what skill he chose. Here is the conversation that followed.
Troy: “Same as yours. I chose prospecting.” Bryan: “Where did you rank yourself?”
Troy: “Well, I rated myself as Consciously Incompetent. I’m not good at prospecting and I know I’m not good!”
Bryan: “Okay. What evidence do you have to support that ranking?”
Troy: “My manager has been harping on me to fill up my pipeline, fill up my pipeline. So, one afternoon last week, I came in and pounded the phone for an hour and set three appointments for this week.”
Bryan: “Wait a minute. You said you weren’t good at prospecting. But based on what you just said, and based on your evidence, you are good at prospecting. Why did you rate yourself so low?”
Troy: “Oh, I hate prospecting!”
I did not ask Troy if he liked prospecting. I asked Troy if he was any good at it. According to his evidence he was very good at it! He invested an hour and set three appointments. But he wasn’t really prospecting because he didn’t like it.
Can you identify with that situation? You may be uncomfortable with a sales activity so you don’t engage in the activity. Because you don’t like it, you aren’t doing it. But you may be good at it! This young man, Troy, was good at prospecting. He provided the evidence that proved he was good at it. However, he was holding himself back because he didn’t like it! As my daughter says, “Cry me a river. Build a bridge. Get over it!" You may have to get over some of the things that stand in the way of your sales success.
You don't have to like everything about prospecting (or selling) to be outrageously successful. You don't have to like it, but you do have to do it!
I suggest you choose six or seven selling skills and rate your proficiency for each on a separate Growth Chart. For those skills rated Consciously Incompetent, you have identified training areas on which you should focus. Remember to seek training from someone who can instruct from the Consciously Competent stage.
Below there are two boxes. Think of all the products or services you sell and then list three (3) things you offer in the first box. Go ahead and do so at this time. I will slow down and let you write those three things. Go on...once you have completed "what you sell," list three things your prospects want in the second box.
In my sales seminars, I usually walk around the room and observe the answers. This is what I often view:
I am not sure what you wrote in the two boxes. However, here’s the question: Do your lists match? I bet they don’t! The key to successful selling is that your lists must match!!! Oftentimes, the lists don’t match.
In the sales seminars, I sometimes receive a list that looks like this:
As you can see, these two lists don’t match either. If that is the case, the salesperson is going to face a challenge that is not easily overcome.
The left box – “what you sell” – is the salesperson’s comfort zone. The right box is the prospect’s buying zone. To be successful you must be in the same box as the prospect.
Most salespeople have a great deal of confidence in the left side. Those items listed are what most training programs drill into the salesperson. The left side is the known. That is, you know and understand what you sell and the features of what you sell. The right side is the unknown. That is, this is the side that contains the prospect’s issues and concerns. In other words, you can learn about your company and its products from your new-employee orientation. You know those things. However, to understand the prospect’s side you must communicate with him or her. You must use your questioning skills to uncover what the prospect wants. If your list of what you sell doesn’t match the list of what the prospect wants you will not be able to provide what she needs. No sale will take place.
If you are selling insurance and the prospect wants peace of mind, you will miss the sale. The list of what you sell and the list of what the prospect wants must match! In this case, you must interpret how your prospect receives peace of mind by purchasing your insurance.
It’s an easy mistake to make. In fact, I made that same mistake. When I began working for Zig Ziglar, I was living my dream. I read Zig’s best-selling book See You at the Top and it literally changed my life. Now I found myself working for my hero! After three months with the company, Zig called me one morning and asked if I’d like to have lunch with him. I said, “Of course.”
