You’ve read the headlines for sales training courses that promise more sales by using the secrets the pros use. All you have to do is follow those seven simple steps. Wouldn’t it be great if all that hype were really true?
Read the fine print about what’s covered and you will find something missing. The customer. The “formula” approach to selling is all about the salesperson having his needs met. The customer becomes a means to an end: making the sales person more money.
You’ve seen this kind of approach and perhaps have been trained in it. I know plenty of sales people who use programmed sales tactics and they do produce results in terms of “the numbers.” This is a statistical approach to sales results that says if the salesman makes 10 calls and follows the 7 steps he will sell 6 jobs with 2 rescissions which nets 4 jobs. The salesman makes a lot of money and the boss calls him a star — but, does the customer win? And should you care?
What is at the heart of selling?
If you think that selling is all about what’s in it for you then you won’t be interested in the rest of this article. What I’m suggesting is that the greatest results and rewards come to those sales people who see their sales role as one of service to the customer. The more effective you are at helping customers identify and solve their problems the more likely you are to make the sale. On top of that, it is even more likely that it will be a higher-end sale, no matter where the low-bid competition is priced.
Don’t take this to mean that you can skip using professional sales practices. Today’s consumers want to know they are dealing with a reputable company and, for many, the sales person is the company. This means that on every sales call you have to be prepared, have your game face on, and execute the fundamentals with excellence. Every call.
But when you combine professional sales excellence with a sincere customer-service attitude, you have the potential to attract the type of customers who want a value-added contractor to do their work, and who will continue to be of service to them in the future. I like to refer to these customers-for-life as clients.
Your attitude is “heard” by others.
According to a UCLA study, 93% of our communication to another is non-verbal, leaving an anemic 7% for verbal communication. This means that although people might hear the words we say, the non-verbal message we deliver is over 13 times greater!
For example, recall a time when you were at a potential client’s kitchen table and in the middle of what you thought was a super sales presentation. You were deep into explaining how the ceramic coated insulator was the same one used on the space shuttle and when you glanced at the customer you saw half-closed eyes and a stifled yawn. You didn’t need him to say that he wasn’t very interested, but you knew it. Humans are pre programmed to “hear” non-verbal information in the form of eye contact, facial expression, posture, appearance and the biggie, tone of voice — 35% of all communication.
So where does all this lead us? This information instructs us to forget about faking it, winging it, pretending, stretching the truth, avoiding the truth and all the rest. It tells us to create a personal intention to be of service and to see the importance and value in that. Then you will be perceived as someone who sincerely cares about the customer. Customers will want to buy from you because they know you care about them and they are more likely to become clients.
Last month I introduced CHOICE® selling and emphasized the importance of giving customers a choice of system solutions, without judging what they will or won’t want, or what they can or can’t afford. The rest of CHOICE® selling serves to guide us around the “heart-felt” attitude I’ve described in this column. Let’s take a quick look:
Care about the customer. Nothing fancy here. This simply means that the customer is important to you, that you want to help them, and that you are willing to serve. If you see yourself as a “consultant” or “advisor” then you are on the right track.
Help them. People don’t know much about hvacr, they generally don’t trust contractors and in particular don’t trust sales people. Still, they want someone to help them. Let that be you.
Offer your support without obligation. Be there to help all customers, whether they buy or not. If that is your attitude, they will “hear” it, and it will make you more attractive to them.
Inform and educate. See yourself as an educator and be willing to invest your time with the customer. You will be rewarded.
Create choices. Create choices that are appropriate to what the customer needs. At this stage, money is not a consideration. They trust you to give them a choice — don’t let them down.
Encourage them to become a client. There is no assurance that customers will buy from you again unless you create a very satisfying experience for them. Make sure you will be doing business again with them by including a service agreement in every sale and you will be on your way to creating a lifetime client.
Stay focused on your customers’ needs and use a professional sales approach on every call. Your customers will recognize that you are there to serve them and you will be rewarded with their business today and far into the future.
Tom Piscitelli has more than 30 years of experience in HVAC sales, sales management, marketing, and consulting. He has worked with major manufacturers, distributors, contractors, builders, and utilities. In 1997, he founded Applied Learning Associates Inc. and began teaching the System Selling That Works seminar series. For more information on Tom and his company, go to www.sellingtrust.com.
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