In my previous blog: 3 Sales Myths that Simply Aren’t True, one of the myths is that sales is “convincing people to buy things”. Logically, it just doesn’t make much sense – that’s essentially saying that there are people out there that have no need or interest in your product, and your goal is to find them and change their mind to make a sale.
Don’t get me wrong, some salespeople do still approach sales this way. However, they spend a ton more time and energy and are significantly less successful than those that spend their time and energy elsewhere.
There is another way. A better way.
I imagine the product or service you are selling has some benefit to some portion of the population (if it doesn’t, perhaps try selling something else). A portion of the population that, if they knew about this product or service, would not only love to buy it, but would also benefit and find immense value from this product or service.
In this context, sales is not about taking the entire population and trying to sell your product, but rather a finding mission: finding the people that want/need your product, who are interested in your product, and then give them the best possible buying experience.
For the past 11+ years in software sales I’ve found great success in my role and made some amazing connections with both clients and colleagues. I’ve never missed a sales quota on a fully ramped sales year and have a track record of doubling, even tripling that sales quota all while generating value and a positive buying experience for every one of my clients.
I’ve done this through a very simple 4 step sales process: EDUCATE, ASK, INFORM and NURTURE.
- EDUCATE: Present your product or service out into the world so that potentially interested buyers can find it
- ASK: Ask questions to ensure those that are interested truly have a need you can solve
- INFORM: Present your product or service in a simple, easily consumable format that makes it easy for customers to buy
- NURTURE: Continue to build your client relationships and ensure they are satisfied with their current solutions, so that they will want to buy from you again in future
Let’s expand on each of these:
#1 EDUCATE:
This is where marketing and sales overlap, because you need to get your product out into the world. People need to know about it. If they don’t know about it, they can’t buy it. How you educate the public on your solution may depend on what solution/service you are selling, but there are a lot of common ones: websites, blogs, social media, advertisements, events, tradeshows, conferences, word of mouth/referrals etc.
Find what works best for you and do a lot of it.
Notice how “outbound cold calls/emails” was not part of my list. This is for two reasons: first, as an Account Executive, your time is better spent elsewhere, and second, no one should attempt outbound cold calls/emails unless they are going to do them very very well (and unfortunately most salespeople do not). If executed improperly sloppy cold calls/emails can not only kill your chances at a sale and hurt the relationship but also tarnish your brand and your company’s brand. So, I’ll dive more into those in a later blog but for now, consider any of the other methods above.
That leaves: Website, Blogs, Social Media, Referrals and Events.
Granted, as a salesperson you probably aren’t running your company website and don’t have much control over it. However, I’ve helped marketing with blog writing in the past and posted on my own social media – both have helped with lead generation and helped kickstart some conversations. Referrals and events are two that have always been my focus, however, and have created the greatest interest and sales.
#2 ASK:
Eventually, someone will express interest in your product/service. This is where many salespeople get excited and immediately jump to explaining the product features and why it will help them. However, doing so would be doing a disservice to yourself and the client and could end up wasting everyone’s time.
Why? Because you don’t know whether it can actually help them yet. So your next step is not to talk, but to listen. Ask them questions to gain a better understanding of the current situation and need. What piqued your interest? Why are you doing now? Why isn’t that working?
Imagine you are not in sales, but tech support. When someone comes to you with an error or an issue, you don’t immediately send a fix (not usually anyway). First you ask questions to ensure that what you believe the problem is, is actually the problem. In tech support this prevents them returning even angrier when your fix doesn’t resolve the issue. Similarly, in sales, it prevents embarrassment on a demo when the client says “this is great, but not what we’re after”. Or worse, being ghosted after your demos and doomed to a life or perpetual follow ups.
#3 INFORM:
Once you have a good idea of the client’s current state and what they are after and are confident that your product/service can solve their needs, you need to be able to communicate this to the client in the simplest yet comprehensive format. This takes both talent and experience, and even many seasoned salespeople falter at this key point in the sales process. Sometimes, it’s because they know too much – they overwhelm the client with information that is irrelevant to their buying process. Other times they simply spend time on details the client is not emotionally invested in.
Either way, there is an art to presenting information clearly and logically to your customer that leads to a sale. And to be clear – we still aren’t convincing or persuading here.
Instead, we are taking information provided by the client, presenting to them all the information about our product/service and how it specifically meets their needs, and then allowing them to make an informed buying decision.
The difference between selling to clients and helping clients buy is a slight nuance that makes all the difference. It removes the pressure of “convincing” or “persuading” and leads to a much more enjoyable and effective experience for everyone involved.
#4 NURTURE
Most sales today are not transactional. Especially in the world of Software as a Service (SaaS), we aren’t selling to the client and then running away. This is now a customer relationship that needs to be nurtured.
Luckily, most companies have customer care teams that excel at this, and as a salesperson it’s so important to let them do their job and not overstep into trying to play “support”. However, it is important to let the client know that you are always still there – and act as a point of escalation wherever necessary. You are the big guns, there to ensure 100% a happy client. A happy client is a client that wants to expand, and it opens the door to future investments in additional solutions, with your guidance and support.
This is also where we find ourselves full circle back at EDUCATE. Your clients probably own some of the products/solutions you sell, but not all of them. Your organization is also probably constantly coming out with new features, products, and services that you have access to sell and that would benefit your customers. It is therefore important to continue to nurture your relationships so that you can continue to educate them on new solutions they may benefit from, and then the cycle starts all over.
Many companies will have their own sales processes and steps, and there are a ton of sales methodologies and sales books out there with their own perspective as well. I would consider these 4 steps simply a definition of sales, sales condensed to its simplest form.
This perspective has helped me in my sales career, from serving, to travel agent support, to tech support, small business on premise software sales, and even large enterprise SaaS sales. If this is something you think you might be good at, a career in sales might be right for you!
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