Sales Skills – Often Unappreciated

Recently I attended a planning session for a not-for-profit service organization. There was much discussion about how to improve their service delivery, and some discussion on their marketing and promotion efforts to make people more aware of the group’s services. 

One of the participants mentioned that the group needed to improve how they market and sell their modestly priced services. There was some quite negative reaction to the term ‘sell.’ One participant said, in a disparaging tone, that he doesn’t ‘sell’ what the agency offers, he lets the prospect decide.

Doesn’t a customer, or prospect, always decide? I don’t understand the negative reaction to selling, and I certainly don’t believe that anybody in that organization bullies or tricks prospects, but instead does allow the prospect to decide.

Ensuing discussion revealed some further negative attitudes towards sales, and particularly towards “hard selling.”   I did my best with the group to reframe the act of selling, which I’ve seen best described as ‘the generous act of offering a solution to a customers problem.”  Previously I wrote about a problem I had, learning about an available solution, and waiting and wanting to be invited to buy.

https://gycz.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-gift-of-someone-elses-enthusiasm.html

The Hard Sell

Does hard selling exist these days?   Best selling author Daniel Pink doesn’t think so.  In the article below he states that we’re all in sales these days, and the wide availability of information makes hard selling obsolete;

          “Pitching ideas in meetings, asking the boss for a raise, trying to raise money from investors. … at some level, we're all in sales now."

 

On information parity killing the “hard sell” and the emergence of the buyers market;

“"Most of what we know about sales was built for a world of information asymmetry — the seller always had more information than the buyer. Twenty years ago, when [David] Mamet wrote that play that [was] made into a movie, when you walked into a Chevy dealer, the Chevy dealer knew a heck of a lot more about cars than you ever could ... you didn't have the adequate information.”

https://www.npr.org/2012/12/31/168132488/death-of-the-predatory-salesman-these-days-its-a-buyers-market

 

Open Ended Questions

I have worked in sales.  In other roles I’ve recognized that part my responsibility was to sell ideas, investment, participation and more. 

The most successful sales people are skilled at asking open ended questions.  For example, a question to a prospective customer such as “what questions do you have?” invites the prospect to share interest areas or concerns.  Simple follow-ups such as “why,’ or “tell me more about that” will enable further clarification.

Discovering Needs

If your organization offers a product or service that addresses the need of a person, then every employee should have some interest in discovering those needs, and presenting the organization’s solution in some manner. Not every employee will be aware of all details of pricing, options and service, but all should be able to state with confidence that the organization offers a solution, and then connect the prospect with someone in the organization who can offer the required detail.

Offering a solution to someone’s need is rewarding.  Call it what you like, but that is the essence of sales, the generous act of offering a solution to someone’s problem.